This is my first book by this author. That being said, the plotline for this book sounded amazing, but I personally think this book was not for me. I felt the writing was lacking, and something just fell short for me.

I had a hard time getting through this book, but it was probably because I personally struggle with British authors and writing. If you’re looking for a somewhat fun, quick paced story, this is definitely for you.

I want to personally thank NetGalley, as well as the author, publisher, and anyone else involved in providing copies, for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. Reviews will also be submitted to Goodreads when possible.

Trigger warning for sexual assault--

I love a good female revenge novel with an interesting and lovable FMC. There is tons of dark humor and sexual assault references. Its a quick read that weaves humor with a very real non humorous topic--but doesn't seem insensitive r disrespectful to survivors. Really enjoyed this book overall.

Alexa, play “Vigilante Sh!t” by Taylor Swift.

This book is a very fun romp that will tickle (and yes, maybe trigger) any woman who has been sexually assaulted or who knows someone who has. So, all of us, and lots of gender nonconforming people, and some men, too. As the main character Millie Masters says to her boyfriend, “I know, I know. NOT ALL MEN,” (I’m paraphrasing), but… yes, all women.

Our vigilante may not have a heart of gold, and goodness knows she makes mistakes, but other than the actual, you know, killing, it’s all pretty relatable. We all need a gal pal like Nina.

I enjoyed this book a lot and flew through it!

Note: I do NOT recommend this book if you are still coping with and in recovery from your trauma, but I *do* heartily recommend it if you are at the dark humor stage of recovery (just me?).

Thanks NetGalley for my complimentary copy in exchange for an honest review. 3.75 stars! Entertaining and thrilling, this book explores the concept of a woman taking justice into her own hands and inadvertently becoming a serial killer. The storyline of female rage is unique and captivating. As the protagonist, Millie, becomes increasingly unhinged, the uncertainty of how her actions will unfold kept me engaged until the very end. While I appreciated the insight into her past and motivations, her overly judgmental personality, especially towards other women, felt out of character at times. Nevertheless, the character development was exceptional, with Millie's descent into darkness portrayed as a gripping rollercoaster ride. Despite the dark humor, the novel delivers a social commentary that adds depth to the narrative. With its witty portrayal of a female serial killer and intriguing plot twists, this book offers a refreshing entry into the genre. Millie's hotline, Message M, initially a beacon of hope, takes a sinister turn, adding layers of complexity to the story. Despite her flaws, Millie remains a compelling and relatable character, making her journey both captivating and disturbing. Supported by a well-developed friend group and dynamic family relationships, the book offers a satisfying blend of suspense and dark comedy. Overall, 'How to Kill a Guy Ten Ways' is a gripping and enjoyable read that challenges the conventions of the female serial killer genre.

Overall, I enjoyed this book. It was interesting, entertaining and even funny at times (despite the ominous title)! It was a little slow paced at times which is why I removed a few stars. Overall, enjoyable.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with this book for free in exchange for my review! All opinions are my own.

I thought this was a quick and fun read. It was kind of like a British version of a Finlay Donovan novel. I thought the characters were well developed and very entertaining. I would definitely read more by Eve Kellman in the future.

Many Thanks again to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with this book in exchange for my honest review.

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Thank you Harper 360 for providing this book for review consideration via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

Unfortaunaly, this just was not the story for me. The crude humor and overall vibes the main character was giving off just wasn't something I enjoyed reading. I believe this is a very personal reason as to why I did not enjoy this book.

Millie is at war with the scumbags and baddies out there. She has turned vigilante and wants justice for her sister and friends. Some parts of the book were dark and some a little humorous. I did feel her character became unhinged. Not sure if I found her likable or unlikable. Overall it was an okay read for me.

Thank you to Harper360, NetGalley and Eve Kellman for the opportunity.

No Spoilers-
The dark humor of Harley Quinn with the vigilante side of Dexter!
This story follows our main character, Millie, as she helps women through her murder hotline business. If this book had a theme song, it would be 'Earl Had to Die' by the Dixie Chicks. If you were a fan of Butcher and Blackbird, but wanted more thriller and less romance, this is for you.

All in all, I give it 4 stars. Funny, dark, and refreshing read. Slightly slow on the front end, so you have to stick with it for a bit, but well worth it!

I thoroughly enjoyed this book! I feel like the premise of How to Kill a Guy in Ten Ways is very different from many mystery/thriller novels I've read over the years. To say Ive been unimpressed with many books lately would be an understatement, but this was the "something different" I've been looking for.

Millie, our MC, runs a messenging service, Message M, that helps women who are in uncomfortable and/or unsafe situations involving men, until one night her efforts go a little too far. Without revealing too many details, the title of the book is upheld by Millie for various reasons, including one very important one. I found myself counting off each murder, wondering how the next one would happen and who it would be. Millie does run into some conflicts with her love interest, James, and her best friend, Nina, but they just add more to the story.

Thank you the NetGalley and Harper 360 | Avon for the ARC of this book in exchange for my honest and unbiased review.

Thanks NetGalley and Eve Kellman for the chance to read this ARC!

The description of this book was amazing and sounded right up my alley so I was so excited when I was approved for it! Unfortunately, I tried 3 separate times and just couldn't get through this book. I will try again in the future but for right now it is a DNF for me. I do still encourage others to try though!

📚 PUBLICATION MONTH BOOK REVIEW 📚

How To Kill A Guy in Ten Ways
By Eve Kellman
Publication Date: May 14, 2024
Publisher: Harper 360 | Avon

📚MY RATING: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

📚MY REVIEW:

Ultimately, this book was a really enjoyable and darkly satirical thriller that definitely got better as the book went on...and I feel good about rating it a solid four stars. But it definitely took time for me to get to that rating. Let me explain...

I started reading this book several weeks ago, before it's publication date. Unfortunately for me, and maybe for my rating, I had just finished reading Katy Brent's How To Kill Men and Get Away With It.

Kellman's initial plotline and darkly satirical female serial killer storyline was SO wildly similar to the plotline and darkly satirical female serial killer killer storyline of Brent's book, I had to stop reading it. The similarities for the first third of the book were A LOT. Female main character, normal-girl-turned-serial-killer who only kills men who demonstrate predatory behavior towards women. Even the titles were so similar I often confused them in conversations about the two books.

But when I picked Kellman's book back up as a Buddy Read, I started reading with a fresher perspective. And while the similarities remained prevalent, and I almost DNFed it for that very reason, I kept reading... And I'm really glad I did.

Around the half way point of the book, something changed. The storyline turned a corner and the pace of the plot picked up. I found myself reading faster and so much more curious about what would ultimately happen to our heroine Millie. The book didn't end up being an exact replica of Brent's book, which I appreciated and made the second half of the book much more enjoyable for me. There were some really fun twists at the end that I didn't expect, though looking back now, I see the clues that should have led me to that conclusion earlier.

This book was cleverly written, oozing with sarcasm, satire, and witty banter. This is female revenge fantasy at its most brilliant -- if you've ever been in the dating world or frequented bars & pubs in the hopes of meeting Mr. Right, you'll likely relate to the humor. And if this is your first encounter with a female serial killer storyline, you'll probably love this book! The similarities to Brent's book impacted my rating, but this is a fantastic read for this summer and one I definitely recommend. Thank you to NetGalley and Harper 360 | Avon for gifting me this advanced copy in exchange for my honest review!

**Trigger Warnings: Much of the book includes themes of sexual assault, sexual abuse, date rape, and family trauma. If these are difficult topics for you, you may want to skip this one.**

#HowToKillAGuyInTenDays #EveKellman #NetGalley #ARC #bookreviews #bookrecommendations #bookcommunity #thrillerreads #thrilleraddict #satirethrillers

I am sadly dnfing this book. Maybe I am not the audience for it but I was not a fan to be honest of how snarky the tone of voice is. I couldn’t get past it.

Thank you to NetGalley and Avon for the ARC in exchange for a honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley for a copy of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.

This book really wasn't at all what I was expecting. Where I thought it would cover the deaths of ten different men and how they happened, it actually goes through about seven and they are shown through the FMC's progression into being a full blown Dexter-esque serial killer. The FMC's inner dialogue was very amusing, and the plot moved right along, so if you are a fan of the HBO series Dexter, this would probably be something you would enjoy.

Did you giggle when you read this title?

I know I did.

I instantly gravitated toward the bright cover, mysterious description and of course... the title.

Eve Kellman, has hit the ground running with a sure to be bestseller. How to Kill a Guy in Ten Ways, is going to be THE talked about book of the Summer and I am so here for it 

Don't believe me?

Check out this teaser :

Are you on a date that doesn’t feel right?
Can’t shake that creepy guy at the bar?
Worried you’re being followed home?

Message M.

After one too many terrifying encounters, Millie Masters sets up a hotline for women who feel unsafe walking home alone at night: Message M.

But very quickly she realises that there’s much more to be done to help the women who call in. Because the men just do it again the next night, and the next, and the next…

And when her own sister is assaulted on a night out, the temptation to take the law into her own hands becomes too much to resist.

Because M can also stand for murder…

Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC of this story, this is my honest and objective review. I'm not sure where to start with this one because I have a lot of mixed feelings. There are definitely spoilers here so please proceed with caution. Our fmc Millie runs an anonymous safe ride service for young women who need help getting out of unsafe situations while out on the town. She started the free service after her sister Katie was sexually assaulted while at college; Katie subsequently dropped out of school and fell into a deep depression. Millie is extremely protective of her sister Katie, and Millie's best friend Nina is her emotional anchor.

This book was a *lot* and almost all of it heavy. The description plays up on "hilariously twisted" story but while there is a surprising amount of dry humor in Millie's inner dialogue, this is most definitely not a humorous book. It is instead a grim and dark progression of Millie's (justified) rage killings and her sharp descent in obsession. As the book goes on, Millie becomes angrier and struggles more and more to contain it; at one point it seems as if she may have gotten addicted to killing. This is definitely one of those books that should have a list of content warnings, and I'm really surprised it didn't. If you've picked up a book with this title and description then you can't be too surprised at the dark themes. That said, I didn't see some of the darkest stuff coming and I wish I'd been forewarned (you absolutely should warn people about the incest). Given what has driven Millie to vengeance, including the horrific events from her own childhood, her character is surprisingly unsympathetic. She gets increasingly bitchy and irritable as the story goes on, probably to demonstrate how she's unraveling. It was harder to see her as being able to be redeemed as the book progresses. I got to the point where I genuinely wanted her to get caught so she could get the psychiatric help she desperately needed.

Millie's dry observations about humanity are mainly what earned it three stars from me instead of less. The story was unexpectedly slow moving until closer to the end, when things escalate quickly. I found the push-pull from whether or not I was supposed to like and cheer for Millie to be very distracting, and her cold observations on why she killed were unnerving. I definitely didn't always like Millie, even when I knew her actions were coming from a place of trauma and that she became a vigilante out of love for her sister. I did like her close relationship with Nina and her love for her sister, and I loved her ride share service for women. The side plot with James the detective ratcheted up the tension nicely, but he really got the short end of the stick at the end, which was a shame as he definitely didn't deserve it. Although there were a few places where I was tempted not to finish, the story had enough twists to keep me reading until the end.

Millie has a hotline for women to call when they need help getting away from a man at a bar or don’t feel safe walking home alone. She has flyers up in pub bathrooms that tell the women to “Message M.” But then she ends up killing a man while helping a woman escape. She realizes that M can also stand for murder…

In fiction, I’m a big fan of vigilantes. Two of my favorite superheroes—Green Arrow and Batman—are vigilantes. So, a book where the main character is a serial killer who kills men who drug, harass, and sexually assault women is right up my alley, but the main character is very judgmental of pretty much everyone, and it made me not really like her at times. Despite that, it was a wild ride of a story and the plot did entertain me.

Honestly I didn’t like this one. I don’t know what it was, I didn’t feel like this intrigued me or grasped me the way I thought it would.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for the advanced copy. How to Kill a Guy in Ten Ways (HTKAGITW) follows Millie as she deals with the aftermath of her sister’s rape. There are mentions of murder, self-harm, child abuse, suicide attempts, stalking, drugging, and incest. The story follows Millie as she is on a revenge path against men she has deemed guilty. I enjoyed the story. It started out slow, but towards the end, I did not want to put it down.

How to Kill a Guy in Ten Ways was quite the read. At first, I was really into the book. The protagonist's inner monologues were quite humourous and she was pretty relatable. Then it escalated, first it was just extra judgemental remarks about everything and then slowly spiraled into full-blown psychopathy.
The author tries to get us to sympathize with Millie and bring a more relatable light to psychopaths. Kellman is pretty successful in her efforts and I did have moments of sympathy for her. However, the blatant acts of someone desperate and psychotic could not be looked over.
You are stuck in the head of a budding psychopath until about 85% of the way in and then all he** breaks loose. While I did enjoy the last 15% of the book much more because it was quick-paced and packed a punch it was VERY heavy. I will list the trigger warnings at the end, but just know some of them were not easy to get through.
This is Kellman's debut novel, a very good one at that. The majority of the plot was slow and the lack of immersion into the plot and characters is what kept me from a higher rating.

TW: SA, molestation, domestic abuse, date rape drugs, detailed murder scenes, and suicidal thoughts and actions.
Had I known of the trigger warnings I probably would not have read this book.

Thank you, NetGalley and the publisher for providing me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.