Good Girl, Bad Blood By Holly Jackson Book Review

“I bet everyone dreads the day they get a knock at the door from Pip Fitz-Amboi,” Ravi whispered.

(pg 336)

About

Author: Holly Jackson

Genre: Young Adult Mystery

Series: Good Girl’s Guide to Murder book 2

Click to buy Good Girl, Bad Blood

Click to buy A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder

Click to read my A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder book review

Click to read other book reviews

Synopsis

Pip Fitz-Amobi is not a detective anymore.

With the help of Ravi Singh, she released a true-crime podcast about the murder case they solved together last year. The podcast has gone viral, yet Pip insists her investigating days are behind her.

But she will have to break that promise when someone she knows goes missing. Jamie Reynolds has disappeared but the police won’t do anything about it. And if they won’t look for Jamie then Pip will, uncovering more of her town’s dark secrets along the way& and this time EVERYONE is listening.

But will she find him before it’s too late?

Review

🛑 SPOILERS CONTAINED BELOW FOR SURE 🛑

To all the Good Girls and Bad,

As an American, I would just like to say, I truly wanted to read this book SO BADLY that I ordered it from the Book Depository because Good Girl, Bad Blood (GGBB) was not out in America yet. And I waited practically a month and a half for GGBB to come to me, but it was well worth the wait because I LOVE Holly Jackson. I don’t read a lot of mystery thrillers, but I have read one, one, before reading A Good Girl’s Guide To Murder earlier this year, but after reading AGGGTM, I was sold. Holly Jackson had me as a fan for life—-has me as a fan for life. Truly my favorite mystery writer! ❣️

I will say I loved AGGGTM because it introduced me more to the genre, but it also introduced me to Holly Jackson as an author. I adore her writing style and the way she sets up the mystery so clearly that even the most-out-of-synch-with-mystery-person (like me) can understand the mystery. She truly makes it easy to follow along. The surprise factor was also there in the first book. A lot of people say that the second book in the sequel isn’t always the best, but let me tell you, Good Girl, Bad Blood was even better. I didn’t think it was even possible for it to be better. But it was. ❤️ I liked how the style and format was the same with a little bit more pizzazz with the photos, the podcast interviews, the file notes, and diagrams. I will say, one thing I missed from the last book that wasn’t in this one was the web diagrams or the suspect list that Pip would make. I loved reading those because it was clear-cut for me. But it was okay that it wasn’t in this book because, hey, it’s great to change it up a bit, so I respect that. I also loved how it had just the right amount of love, friendship, family drama, personal hardships, school/teenage things, and of course, mystery in it. Not one moment was dull. I also loved the way Holly Jackson expanded/continued what happened in the first book because I had a lot of questions after reading AGGGTM, and in that book review I wrote (linked above in the about section), so it was nice to have most of those questions answered. The one thing that I enjoyed most about reading the GGBB—the reason it truly attested to Holly Jackson’s artistry—-was that no matter how MUCH or HARD I tried to guess who took Jamie or what happened to him or who Layla was, I COULD NOT 😂. None of my guesses were right! It’s like with AGGGTM and how for the majority of the book, I thought it was Ravi 😂. I have no detective skill in my body.

Anyway, I could hype up Holly Jackson this whole blog post, but let’s get into the book.

When I read the synopsis, I really liked how Pip was starting a podcast. I mean, true crime podcasts are all the rage these days, so I liked how Holly Jackson was like, “Oh, let’s have Pippa do a podcast.” It was very on brand 👌🏼. And it was on brand too to have people reach out to to Pippa to do brand deals 😆. Let’s not forget the internet trolls because my gosh, they’re rude as heck. I couldn’t believe some people would send her death threats or threats at all. I’m sorry, what satisfaction do you get from threatening someone? I don’t know. But it was a cute moment when Ravi and Pip were thinking of podcasts titles and then Ravi was like:

“A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder.”

“Nooooo.” Pip shook her head. “That’s bad, way too try hard.”

“What are you talking about? It’s perfect.”

“Good girl?” She said dubiously. “I turn eighteen in two weeks; I won’t contribute to my own infantilization.”

. . .”Yes,” he retorted. . .

“Absolutely not.”

(pg. 7)

And then the next page, the title says A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder 😂. We love a name drop!

Then there’s the one month time jump. One of the first questions I had from last time was: What was going to happen to Naomi and Cara now that their dad was in prison? Their grandparents now lived with them, which I thought was good for them. I think it was Cara who visited the dad still because he was their dad, but Naomi didn’t, which I understand. That’s such a difficult position to be in because Elliot was still their father and was he a killer? Not really. But did he do something “bad”? Yea. But I don’t think that made him a bad person. He still loved his daughters I bet. But that’s something they’re going to have to work through and work on and it’s hard. Truly. Pip was such a good friend though. I loved how she knew how hard this was for Cara and how everything kept her up at night. So to be there for Cara and help her sleep, Pip and her would call each other at night, turn on a show and watch it together on each other’s laptops at the same time. Pip would stay with her until Cara fell asleep because Pip knew that watching movies helped Cara fall asleep easier. I mean, that’s the prime example of what it means to be a friend. And I loved that ❣️.

The beginning also highlights everything that happened after the Andie Bell and Sal Singh case, which I really liked. People were kind of blaming Pip for stirring things up in town and tarnishing this “safe, clean” image Kilton had. It caused some people to move out, some people to move farther . It also made people respect Pip a bit more because she solved a double crime case that was closed. The police had a bit more tolerance for her. I still don’t really like Daniel Da Silva. He just seems off to me and it’s not just because he was on Pip’s suspect list—-he just gives me a bad vibe. And there’s also the fact Stanley Forbes apologized to her. One of the other questions I had with the last book: What’s with Stanley Forbes? And my gosh, if I went back to my book review and read that question, I think all my guesses would have been different throughout the book, but man! 😆 I knew it even then, there was something off with him. I’ll get into that later. But it felt weird how from the get-go Pip mentioned he issued a public apology to Pip and the Singhs. It was an act of good faith, but after the last book and how adamant he was that it was Sal who killed Andie and how hard a time he gave Pip, I wasn’t buying his whole “I’m a good guy who just harshly judged Pip and Ravi” person. You know? Something was up, but I brushed it off because gosh only knows there were so many other things going on in this book.

I wondered if there was a proper burial for Andie Bell, but I guess there wasn’t because it wasn’t mentioned. It was mentioned, however, that Andie’s parents moved and that Becca confessed to murdering her sister, so she was going to spend three years in prison. So that wrapped the Bell family in a big bow with where they were now. And Sal was having a proper burial, as he should have. I loved how a lot of people turned up for Sal because it’s such a contrast to how people thought him a murderer before then, but now they knew the truth and wanted to celebrate who he was as a son and a student. I loved the dad’s whole speech with how Sal liked to sing. The lantern moment gave me Tangled and P.S I Still Love You vibes. Before the lanterns though, Jamie Reynolds, Connor Reynolds older brother who was 24, bumped into Pip during the ceremony. His eyes were hurried and he looked distracted, and that right there, I was like, something’s up with him 😂. Something was wrong.

And it was because the next day, Connor went to Pip saying Jamie was missing. Jamie is known for running away, but he always comes back. However, Connor and his mom, Joanna, had a high hunch that this time was different and something was wrong based on how Connor had been acting recently. And if someone has a gut feeling, it’s usually right. So now there was a mystery. I LOVE a mystery.

Pippa loves a mystery. The thing was, she told herself she wasn’t going to solve another mystery—-she was going to hang up her mystery shoes or whatever shoes a person wears to solve murder cases. Given Pippa’s age, I understood where her parents were coming from, heck, if I knew my daughter was out there solving murder mysteries, I would be highly off-put. Especially what happened to her last time. But I felt her parents made her feel guilty about “damaging the family” or causing all this worry since the last case. They kept reminding her how they last Barney, their dog, because of it. They told her to keep Josh, her younger brother, out of it and to dispel any part of him that was interested in crime now. I thought it was cute he found what his sister did cool enough that he would take an interest. Not a lot of younger brothers think what their older sister does is cool. Pippa is cool if you ask me. The parents I think also engraved it into her brain that last time she had this crazy obsession with murder cases and it got people hurt. I mean, it’s a murder case, of course she would have a crazy obsession to solve it! 🤪 I have a crazy obsession to read it! Because if you don’t know the culprit, then it makes you want to keep going and that’s the obsession. Is it a bad obsession? No. Is it a safe obsession? No. So I got it.

Deep down, I knew Pippa wanted to take this case even if she initially said no to Connor. Because it was everyone else telling Pippa to let it go when she had a passion for it. Heck, she started a whole podcast for it and the podcast might have been a way for her to get closure on the case, but it was also for her to still have a connection to what she loved—solving mysteries.

But she promised herself for the sake of her parents, to not. In those initial moments, she went to the police station to ask them to make Jamie’s case a priority, but they didn’t. I liked how Holly Jackson included all the information about which cases get a priority because I truly never knew any of that. Apparently, police don’t put a priority on people older than 18 because at that point, a person is an “adult” and they can run away if they want to. But that made me think about how if a person older than 18 were missing, it doesn’t mean that person ran away because they are “responsible adults.” It seems unfair and wrong to just assume that if you are over 18 that you can take care of yourself if you go missing for more than 24 hours of your parents noticing. And I understand the police can’t handle all cases, but it’s truly sad what they deem a priority or not. In my eyes, all missing people should take priority, they’re missing. Maybe there should be a line of police work specifically for missing cases like this, maybe there is and I’m very unaware/unknowledgeable, but I don’t know the police world 😅, so please don’t judge me 😂. No matter how much Pippa tried to get the police to do anything, they wouldn’t budge because a high-risk case of an eight-year-old taken from her backyard was more important, and it is. But if someone is coming to you saying that they have a GUT feeling that something is wrong with someone they know is missing, you best bet trust that gut feeling because gut feelings are there for a reason 👏🏼. Honestly, people should have listened to Pippa more.

Adults 😆.

So Pippa took on the case herself. She wanted to help her friend, but we all know from the get-go that she wanted to do it in the first place.

I loved how Holly Jackson had the whole initial interview with Connor and the mom to get an understanding of who Jamie was and what happened the day of the funeral. It really set the stage in an interesting way. I got a sense that Jamie was a good kid who had insecurities with his weight and with feeling like he was a disappointment in his family because he was the eldest and lived at home and didn’t really know what he wanted to do with his life. I can’t blame him. It’s natural to feel that way. What made my heart hurt was the insecurity he felt in his weight and the fact his dad bought him a Fitbit for Christmas. That’s basically like telling a person you need to workout or be more active without actually saying the words out loud. It’s like an undercut jab or a hidden insult—something offensive like that. Jamie also had his heart broken by Nat Da Silva because Nat got a new boyfriend and crushed his dreams of ever being with her, which had to suck. He liked her for sure. A guy’s not just beat up about not getting the girl if it wasn’t truly real to him. In Connor’s interview, Connor talked about how the dad and Jamie had a row right before the funeral. When the dad told Jamie he was a “waste of space,” and Jamie was like, “I know,” I just wanted to reach through the pages and hug Jamie! 😫 You are NOT a waste of space and my gosh, HOW DARE the dad say that to his own son!? I don’t care how angry you are or how much tough love you have for your son, you don’t just straight up tell your son that he is a waste of FREAKING SPACE!!!! YOU DON’T. I could not. The fact that the dad wasn’t invested in the case or that he was distant and closed off to it, put up serious red flags for me.

So, in AGGGTM style, let’s do a suspect list (in no particular order):

1) Arthur Reynolds

He was on the list for me because, again, there was something that didn’t seem right with how he just brushed off Jamie’s disappearance. Did I think he would kill his own son? Gosh, NO . . . but you know sometimes people are just beyond malicious. So I couldn’t rule the idea out of my head. And I get it. Jamie ran away tons before, so he thought nothing of it. I think he thought he could just ignore it and Jamie would be back and he would be right and all would be right in the world with his male righteousness. But it wasn’t.

Then there was that argument when he called Jamie a waste of space and all those hidden insults about his weight or him not having his life together. But it still didn’t seem like a good enough reason to kill his son for that. But then there was that inconsistency with the times in what people said to Pippa. According to Pippa, Jamie would have made a trip back home the time Arthur would have been home that night and it wouldn’t have made sense if the dad didn’t notice or see Jamie walk through the front door when Arthur was watching TV in the living room that night. So someone was lying. And it could have been the dad.

But when there was that scare where they found a body, my heart dropped. PLUMMETED. I kept screaming no no no no no no no. It couldn’t be Jamie. And then Pippa went to Connor’s house and the mom and him were bawling their eyes out like they already knew. Arthur was on the phone with the police station trying to see if it really was Jamie. But it wasn’t. And I kid you not, this would have been the prime real life example of letting out a breath I didn’t know I was holding. IT WASN’T JAMIE!!!! 🙌🏼 I’m still curious, who was it then? 🤪 Third book, anyone? 😉

The dad’s reaction to it not being Jamie—-the way the dad broke down in sobs of relief—made me know in my heart it truly wasn’t the dad. Then Pippa does the interview with the dad and it made so much more sense to his actions. Because Arthur, like any typical male, probably grew up with a lot of tough love and so he translated that tough love to Jamie. Arthur didn’t know how to love Jamie except be hard on him and have all these high expectations and when he said that “Maybe I go about it the wrong way. I just don’t know how to help him.” And that really hit something in me. Because it’s a father’s natural instinct to protect his kid’s. But when it seems like the dad can’t protect his kids from something that can’t be controlled by external forces like a parent—–feelings, future, etc.—-sometimes the parents just get angry because they don’t know how to react or how to help. They feel helpless. So the dad reacted in anger to Jamie and his lack of success these last few years because he didn’t know how to help him and he didn’t express it in the right way.

There’s also the fact Jamie went to the dad to borrow 900 pounds, which was asking way too much of the dad. Especially since Jamie was a grown man living at home for free and couldn’t give the dad a reason for why he needed that much money, probably seemed like a lot to the dad. I get it. It made my heart hurt that the dad felt like he could have prevented Jamie going missing if he just lent him the money in the first place—he felt like it was his fault that he didn’t help his son when he truly needed it. It also saddened me how the dad regretted having an argument with his son as the last time he saw him and that he didn’t tell Jamie that he loved him. It goes back to that sentiment, never let the last words be in anger, but in love . . . because you never know when.

The thing I liked about the dad was how even if he thought Jamie was coming back and that this was another “running away episode for Jamie,” after a while the dad went on his own search for his son to talk to him. That made my heart swell because at least the dad wanted to make things right in his own way because he thought he pushed Jamie too hard/too far.

I genuinely think that people love their loved ones but sometimes they show it in different ways. They mean well. This was that. And Arthur wasn’t the killer.

I’ll talk more about my list of suspects as the review continues, but let’s go back to when they were first piecing things together. The biggest insight to help solve the case was Jamie’s house.

They naturally had to check his room first. It was a mess, more than just any mess for a guy. There was that note with the words Hillary F. Weiseman left 11, which made absolutely no sense because Hillary Weiseman passed away. Later in the book, Pippa posts on the podcast the clue about the note and a person in the comments had the idea that maybe the note is a location like a meet up place. So Pippa and Ravi went to Hillary’s grave where they saw how secluded it was and away from prying eyes. And while there, they see Stanley who was going to meet with someone from the office for a newspaper article. I thought nothing off it because Stanley seemed to have a pretty dull job doing menial interviews. I mean, when Pippa went to him to put the article up about Jamie missing, he was like:

“So, will you help? Can you print that notice tomorrow?”

Stanley looked up for a moment, eyes spooling he considered it. “Suppose I can move the article about the potholes until next week.”

(pg. 99)

You know for a place that had a double murder cased resolved, you would think they would have more intercity news to talk about than potholes 😂.

Then there was the laptop. To me, the laptop seemed like the most promising. I mean, a person’s laptop is basically a bigger version of a person’s phone and we all know we have private things on our devices. I mean, my search history is probably telling. And right now . . . it’s saying I shop online too much 😂. But of course, like all smart people, Jamie had a password. Freaking password on his laptop. They couldn’t crack it until Joanna called Pip back one day, telling her about the missing hoodie from Jamie’s closet. This went along with the interview with the bookstore workers—Harry, Sophie, and Mike—-who two of them said they saw Jamie coming up the street wearing what he wore to the funeral, which was a burgundy shirt, faded jeans, and white trainers. But when coming out of the bar later that night, the other two people from the bookstore said they saw Jamie in a hood. So either someone wasn’t remembering correctly or someone was lying. But to me, it meant Jamie went home that night to do an outfit change and grab the missing kitchen knife. Another clue they found? The missing yellow kitchen knife. That screams BAD NEWS. A knife missing? For defense? For intention? I was scared for Jamie and what he did or what he was going through. He really sounded like a good person, so I don’t know why he would need a knife or want to use it. Because gosh knows he didn’t bring the biggest kitchen knife to a darn funeral. That SCREAMS MORBID! They found the knife later on near the farm house where Andie Bell was kept, which begged all the questions of why the knife was there and why Jamie would need it. Thank goodness it wasn’t a bloody knife because gosh knows that’s never good. I’m not sure Joanna would like her knife back to cook. Heck, she should get a new knife set 😂.

But back to the laptop, Joanna was crying about how much it seemed like she didn’t know her son anymore and she didn’t know if she would ever hear him call her Jomumma again. Get it? Because her name was Joanna and she was his mum. I mean, Jomumma sounds like Yo Mama and I couldn’t stop laughing 😂. They tried all the passwords, except this word, and even then it didn’t work. But a variation of it did: J0Mumma66. 1966 for the year Joanna was born. But my gosh, I give Pip a lot of credit for even getting the variation right. There’s what? A gazillion ways she could have typed that, but she got it—capital, numbers, order and all. That’s impressive.I could not 😂. What they found on the laptop was interesting. The saddest thing Pip found was a search for controlling fathers 😢. That’s soooo sad. I think we all Googled that one niggling suspicion we have about the people in our life, if they’re controlling, toxic, how to let go of toxic friendships or relationships, or things like that and this was Jamie’s sad Google search or whatever search engine he used. It made my heart clench knowing he felt his father was so controlling that he felt like he needed to turn to the internet to understand that. Because isn’t that why we search those kinds of things? To understand. Anyway, he also searched how to fight. Which sounds like something I would need to search if I ever wanted to fight because gosh knows I don’t 😂, so I wouldn’t know how. It really highlighted how innocent Jamie seemed. He didn’t want to fight, but for some reason he had to fight, so he searched for how. Why? And then there was the search about brain cancer, which seemed odd. Like did Jamie go to the doctors and hid this from his family? Did he need money for secret treatment? But that didn’t explain the old lady note or why he would do an outfit change to a hoodie and grab a knife. But then again, you know the dad was verbally abusive about Jamie’s weight and his failures, so it did cross my mind that Jamie might have self-harmed himself because he felt like a “waste of space.” That was the most disheartening thought—-if Jamie went missing because he took his own life because he felt like he was worthless. That would hurt more. It would also hurt if he was diagnosed with something and he needed help but didn’t know how to tell his family. I didn’t think he ran away for a health reason at all, but there are so many things I thought about because that’s what mysteries do—keeps you guessing.

Then there was the search about how to make fast money, which goes with every story of Jamie going to people to borrow money, or in other cases steal to make money. Which made me wonder why he needed that much money in the first place? And here’s the thing, my overactive mind knows that drugs cost a lot of money. Kilton is known for selling drugs behind the scenes. Was Jamie doing drugs and that’s why he was so anxious/changed? Was he buying drugs and he got into debt and couldn’t pay someone back and that person threatened him so that’s why Jamie was desperate enough to steal to ask for money, heck, desperate enough to kill to save his own face, but somehow it backfired? I don’t know. But I thought his actions could be linked with drugs.

It was highly out of character for Jamie to steal. He worked at the company Pippa’s mom worked at—-even helped him get the job—-but then one day, the mom caught him trying to steal the company credit card. If it was anyone else who found him, GOSH KNOWS, his butt would be in jail because he tried to steal company property, a credit card no less. Jamie said it was life or death, which was very mysterious. What was life or death? Obviously he owed money and didn’t have it? But WHY? That was the big question.

Another thing Pip figured out was the Fitbit 😂. This was probably more funny than it actually was, but I have a Fitbit, so this was just soooo funny to me! Truly! Because I knew once Pippa said the word Fitbit, I was like, “OOOOH, she’s smart, she’s smart!” 👌🏼 Fitbit’s can track steps, so they can see where Jamie went. And they tracked heartbeat as the book says and they could see whether or not Jamie was alive. You gotta love modern technology! The mom came back with the Fitbit box and they got into his account where they tracked his steps and time. But after 12:30 am, his heart rate flatlined. That had to just make the Connor and Joanna’s heart drop to see that—all the possibilities in their head. But it could have flatlined for any reason. But before that, Jamie’s heart rate fluctuated a lot—mostly in a high rage, like he was scared. I like the flight or fight detail Holly Jackson added, it truly built the mysteriousness around the Fitbit. From this, they were able to create a map of the area Jamie would have been, hence where they found the knife.

Jamie was also spotted at a teenage calamity party after the funeral when he said he was going to be at Nat Da Silva’s house. But he never went. He was at a party because he was supposedly following someone. I would just like to say, everyone who sent Pip pictures and videos of the party were very helpful. My goodness knows that teens couldn’t care less to be involved with things, but I loved how they tried to help Pippa in any way they could. And I liked how they actually came forward to talk to her about these things—-that they had that much respect and trust in her. At the party, George saw Jamie just standing by a wall, staring out at people. I mean, that screams Joe Goldberg 😂. Jamie, you are an older man at a teenage party, STARING. THAT’S CREEPY! Go home! When he was at the party, it was also said how he walked around the front of the house all mad and talking about some kid, which I was confused about? Was he talking about the eight-year-old abducted from her backyard? Was he saving a kid? I don’t know.

By looking at various videos, house diagrams, and witness stories, Pip was able to put it together. I truly admire the way Pip could create a timeline of things—-the detail 👌🏼. Apparently, Jamie was probably shocked at seeing Stella, a student who looked like this girl Layla, who Jamie mistaken her for. Stella has a big following, so anyone could have taken her pictures, edited them, and used them.

Pip guessed Jamie was catfished though a dating app and the photos used were of Stella, but edited. It made sense, but I thought Pip was very clever for putting all that together. It made sense. Jamie was sad after Nat broke his heart and then he was happy again because he was on Tinder and found this cute girl that was his age. So he held onto her because it made him happy. He was shocked when he saw Stella at the funeral because she looked different, but the same and so he followed her to the party to look for her. When he saw Stella and Jamie asked her if she was Layla, that’s why she was confused and Jamie was smitten. I didn’t fully believe the catfish until later on because it seemed kind of an out there theory.

I only believed it when Connor, Ravi, and Pippa were scrolling on Tinder and found her and decided to message her to get information. And my goodness, Pippa truly has never been on a dating app in her life and it showed 😂. “Hey, how are you?” You don’t say “Hey, how are you?” on a dating app like that! You write something flirty. When Layla wrote back, MY HEART POUNDED, RACED. IT WAS SOOOOOOOO CREEEEPEPPPPPPY! I GOT CHILLS!

Layla knew who Pip was and then Layla had the audacity to send a : ) and a “You’re getting closer.” Like WHAT?! I would have been spooked out. Triggered. ABORT ABORT ABORT MISSION. 😆 This is why I don’t go on dating apps: there’s creep-os. And this is why you should set your account to private: creep-os can take your photo and make it theirs. Be safe online everyone.

That was creepy as heck to get that. But now I believed the whole Layla theory so Layla was number one on the suspect list. But who was Layla? Was it a girl? What did she want?

The thing about Layla that didn’t sit right with me, besides her being a catfish, was that she had a type. She liked them older men who were 30 and were Caucasian with brown hair. I was like, “Oh, is Layla looking for a Sugar Daddy? 😂 Because she hit on Adam Clark, the new history teacher, but once she found out he was a teacher, I thought Layla was like, “Oh, not with that salary.” 😂 And then with Luke Eaton, she probably was like, “Ooooh, he deals drugs, that’s a deal breaker.”

Luke Eaton, Nat’s boyfriend. Pip interviewed Nat at her boyfriend’s house in the beginning. Nat didn’t like Pippa and didn’t really care to share anything, but there was that moment when Nat and her boyfriend looked at each other and Pippa saw something funny in their communication, and I was like something’s up. Then there was the whole Luke went to sell drugs at the barn in his white BMW and then he sped away, scared to be caught by Pip and her stakeout crew. Then it was discovered Luke was kind of sexting/flirting with this Layla girl, honestly these men are so privy to this Layla chick, and they met up. So Luke knew who Layla was. When confronting Luke, he told her how Jamie was Layla, which didn’t make sense because if Jamie was flirting with Layla, why would he flirt with himself? Then I thought, was Layla two different people? But they weren’t. Luke just wanted the 900 pounds Jamie owed him because Jamie went to Luke as a last resort of money. So it now begged the question why was Jamie at the barn that day when Luke was supposed to meet Layla?

The one thing that never got answers about Layla, I noticed, was how Daniel Da Silva knew how Layla was. Did he flirt with her too? What a loser 😂. I’m joking, but he seemed so worked up about it when Pip mentioned her name to him.

So here’s who I thought was Layla:

1. Becca Bell

I mean, it could have been her. She could have been running things through prison to mess with everyone. And she kind of would have “bad blood” with Pippa. She also wasn’t around that much in the book, so it would have been a surprise if it was her.

2. Max Hastings

This PRICK. THIS GARBAGE BAG OF A PERSON. I truly wouldn’t have put it past him to be Layla as some sick joke 😡. Did you picture Bryce from 13 Reasons Why as Max? I did, but with blonde hair. I don’t know, it just gave me that feeling with how Bryce got away with the SICK actions he did. And I knew he was going to get away with everything no matter if he plain outright, clear-as-day admitted he raped lots of women and drugged them. He wasn’t going to get away with it because we live in a sick society that enables men to act in the notion of “boys will be boys.” FREAK NO! I throw garbage at that saying. Boys will only be boys if we let them. We can’t let them get away with something they obviously, and admittedly did. My gosh, I WAS ANGRY. I AM ANGRY. It’s not fair that sick, twisted rapists, because that is what they are, go free. No, they aren’t innocent by any means, they didn’t “take advantage of a person,” or all those innocent euphemisms, it’s simple and clear—-he drugged and raped her. And he said it.

I don’t get it. What more do people need to hear to know that’s wrong and to lock him up for his actions?

So when Pippa kept saying, oh Max will get his justice and be locked up and all that nonsense, I was like, Pippa, don’t get ahead of yourself. Because I knew he wasn’t.

My gosh, when Pippa raged, PIPPA RAGED! Remind me to not make her mad! 😂 But man, her rage was a living entity and I could feel it. She had a beyond bad day. First the Jamie scare, then trying to talk to Nat again and getting nowhere, and then Max was “innocent.” TO HECK HE WAS! I wasn’t surprised she dumped a can of coke over Tom’s head because he lied to her for clout.

What I liked most about this part was how Pip went back to be with Nat because she didn’t want her to handle this alone. But Nat didn’t know until Pip told her and when she did, the way Nat broke down in sobs, made me break down in sobs. And the way Pip held her and let her cry, was so beautiful. The way Pip still felt Nat’s sobs and heard her crying highlighted how empathic Pip was.

I loved the moment when Pip took the paint and the hammer and she busted Max’s car and said she was going to get him. Kind of morbid if you ask me, but man, I understood her rage. She knew Max did all these immoral actions and hurt so many women. She had the evidence and he wasn’t guilty. It seemed unfair. So she released the evidence on her podcast so the world knew the truth. But her taking her anger out on Max’s car was kind of spur-of-the-moment and maybe done in hot-headed-anger, but it was also for all those Max raped and drugged. He deserved so much more than a broken car. And can we all talk about the moment that she saw Max on the street after a while and he was hanging with his friends, smiling. Someone better wipe that smile off his face. But he kept smiling because he knew he won. People like him always did.

And it sickens me. ☹️

In the great words of Pippa Fitz-Amboi: It makes me sick.

That night, I liked the conversation she had with her new neighbor Charlie. Charlie, Charlie, Charlie. MY GOSH, Charlie. I legit wrote in my notes during this scene, “I like Charlie—what a nice neighbor.”

BOY WAS I DUMB! 😂

But I’ll get into that later.

But she had a nice conversation with him about justice.

“You know for what it’s worth, the Justice system is supposed to be the purveyor of right and wrong, good and bad. But sometimes, I think it gets it wrong almost as much as it gets it right. I’ve had to learn that too, and it’s hard to accept. What do you do when the things that are supposed to protect you, fail you like that?”

(pg. 319)

Charlie had a good point. The justice system is messed up in a lot of ways because it’s supposed to create justice for the wrongdoings, but it doesn’t always do that. Like it knows that a murder is wrong and it brings justice for that, but somehow if a person rapes someone else, all of a sudden it’s this big debate over if the accusation of rape was real or if a person was “asking for it.” The justice system fails. It’s kind of like the police system too. It’s supposed to protect you, but sometimes it only harms.

That’s why it’s so important to be aware of what’s going on in the system to be the change—voice the change—-in the justice system, prison industrial complex system, the police system, all systems.

But what really made me say Charlie was a nice neighbor was how he said he believed in Pippa. As someone who doesn’t have people who believe in my dreams, hearing someone say they do believe in you means the absolute world. It makes you feel invincible. It makes you feel seen. Charlie saw her. And he knew that she loved mysteries and that she shouldn’t feel guilty for it because this was her—-the madness, the obsession, doing what was right.

So I really enjoyed this moment between them.

I also enjoyed the moment between Pip and Nat. Nat finally crossed a bridge with Pip and I felt it was because Pip was there for her when she was most vulnerable and sad. I also thought Nat finally let herself like Pip because of the anger Pip had and what she did to Max’s car. To Nat it showed that Pip understood her and that she wasn’t just some annoying teen to blame. I liked how Nat opened up about how she tried so hard to displace all her anger for Andie on Pip. But Pip wasn’t her enemy. I’m glad she saw it as that. She helped Pip with more information that led her to Luke. And I’m happy that Nat was going to dump his butt because he’s a two-timing cheater and she deserved better.

Luke told them about how Jamie was there at the barn instead of Layla and how Jamie said something like child broomstick at him and ran off 😂. Sounds pretty weird if you ask me. When searching child broomstick or whatever sounded like that, it came up with Child Brunswick, which fit the child they were talking about early on. Child Brunswick is, duh, the child of a serial killer named Scott Brunswick, where he would use his child as bait to lure people out to hurt them. Scott went to jail and got beat up and the child went into a protection program where they changed his looks and his names over the course of the year. Apparently, he was in Kilton now according to a source and that’s who Layla was looking for.

Child could be Daniel Da Silva, Luke Eaton, Adam Clark, Jamie (not anymore because Jamie lied about his age to Layla), or Stanley Forbes.

It was Stanley. And it made kind of a lot of sense given the last book when I asked what’s up with Stanley 😂. He just didn’t seem right. Or he seemed mysterious. I say that because of the moment when Stanley handed Howie Bowers money because Howie and Stanley were friends and Howie knew his real identity and to keep Howie quiet, Stanley paid him off. But now Howie was in jail and he couldn’t care less who knew. But now that whole scene made sense now excuse it was the one thing that I kept thinking about after reading AGGGTM.

Pip baited Stanley with a text from “Layla” to meet her at the barn while Connor and Ravi went to his house to scope things out. Given last time, I didn’t think it was smart for Pip to go by herself. And I remember the promise she made to her parents in the beginning when she told them about another mystery. She said she would tell them if things got dangerous. Oh, honey, they were dangerous now. She should have told her parents.

Stanley showed up and he thought she was Layla but she wasn’t. She told him he knew who he really was and why he went into hiding and why he kept Jamie locked in his bathroom now. Jamie, thank GOSH, was alive! I loved that for him! 🤪

But my gosh, when Charlie came out of the blue with a bag of trash and asked for Pip’s phone I was like, it’s OVER. NOOOOO.

I could not. I said, I SAID, this guy was nice. I told you I was DUMB 😂.

Because no way in HECK, would he just have randomly driven to a farmhouse in the middle of the night with a bag of trash (which reminds me how when they had the justice conversation earlier, he also had a bag, no, a sack of trash, and how that was already creepy) and ask for her phone. I mean, what were you doing there Charlie and how did you know they were there?

This creep-o. It made so much sense because he egged her on to solve this mystery and HELPED her so he could figure out who Child was. My gosh, what a user! And he was new to town, so of course he could play the innocent neighbor act. And gosh knows no one knew a lot about him either way. And how he tested Jamie to steal a watch from their house just so he could test Jamie’s allegiance to Layla, what a savage! I mean, earlier in the case, Charlie called Pip over because he had footage of Jamie stealing his wife, Flora’s watch, from their house, the same watch that was in Jamie’s nightstand. I wondered how Layla even knew or wanted Flora’s specific watch. That seemed wrong to me. Like why that watch? How did Layla know about that watch and where it would be in the first place? I really should have asked myself those questions sooner 😅.

Because it was Charlie and Flora this whole time. Charlie who sent these texts and Flora’s voice they used.

“Some people are pretty good at hiding who they really are.”

(pg. 195)

Looking back on what Charlie said to Pip at that moment with the footage, made me shake my head at myself! If only I read that in the cryptic way it was 😂. This sucker was hiding who he really was the whole time!

And here’s the thing, I understand Charlie. His sister was one of the young girls that Child lured as a kid to his dad. Charlie was angry. He wanted justice. He felt it was wrong that they let Child go free when he was an accomplice to his dad. I get it. But it’s such a complicated situation to judge. Child was a kid, you can’t blame him for not knowing any better than to help his dad. Maybe he was scared that if he didn’t, the dad would kill him or that he wouldn’t have a dad. Maybe he didn’t even know the reason why he was doing what he was doing, but just that his dad wanted him to do it. I don’t know. But he was a child. Give him a break. I understand it too, he was a child, but he was old enough to be aware of his actions and what he was doing. He was abetting his dad in murder. It’s not right. But I do believe it when people say they have the power to change. Child wasn’t his dad and he didn’t want to be his dad. He was better.

When Jamie tried to kill him, he didn’t kill him back. Instead, he locked Jamie in his house because he was scared Jamie would try to kill him again and it’s not like he could go to the police about it because then they would know who he truly was. Stanley/Child fed Jamie, made sure he had blankets, heck, Jamie said he even tried to fit a mattress through the bathroom door to Jamie. A bad person, I don’t think, would try to do so. Because if he really was his dad, he would have killed Jamie already and be done with it. But he didn’t. That spoke volumes. Stanley/Child also talked to Jamie to understand why he did what he did and how he got there. I don’t think he would have given the time of day to let Jamie explain himself if he wanted to truly hurt him. Instead, Stanley/Child wanted to work with Jamie to help him figure out how Layla was before everything blew up and people knew his real identity.

But Charlie knew. He enlisted Jamie to help him, thus testing him with stealing the watch, borrowing all this money, and killing. Honestly, if I was Jamie, I wouldn’t have gone to such lengths to prove to a person I liked that I liked them. I would not kill for it. HECK, no. I don’t care if your name is Zac Efron or Harry Styles, it ain’t worth it. But it goes back to how sad Jamie was to put all his love and effort into this girl he didn’t even know just to have someone love him. You know?

And Charlie kept saying how he and Pip were similar. They are not similar, at all. Pippa’s anger at Max being a free rapist didn’t mean that she wanted to kill Max, she was angry at the systems that enabled and let Max free, but do I ever think Pippa would kill him for it? No. Because Pip is better than that and if she stooped to that level, she would be no better than Max. But I do think Charlie was trying to justify what he was doing and make Pip understand his actions, but I just don’t think it was right for Charlie to do what he was going to do. Because it made him no better than Scott or Child. He should have moved on and tried to live well, and live a better life for his sister, not harboring all this hurt and anger for years because that turned into malicious vengeance. Sure, Charlie had every right to be hurt and angry and I get it, he gets to be angry and hurt, but he shouldn’t hurt others for it.

When Pip pleaded for Charlie to put down the gun, my heart was crying with her. I could feel Charlie hesitate for a second—-he didn’t want to do it—-because he’s just a good person who something bad happened to and he was hurt by it and wanted to hurt the person who had a hand in it. He acted from a hurt place. I get it. I understood why he said he wasn’t sorry for shooting Stanley, but my gosh, when Stanley went down, my heart plummeted further.

The scene was highly well-written with the echoing of the sounds and the graphicness of the blood and Pippa trying to bring Stanley back to life. It felt soooo real. So real. Pip tried to keep him awake and talk to him and I loved how he revealed how his real name was Jack Brunswick and that his favorite version of himself was Stanley because Stanley was trying to be better.

He really was 😢.

The scene that had my breath taken away was how adamant Pippa was about giving Stanley CPR even though deep down she probably knew Stanley was gone. But she kept trying and each time, she would press harder and a rib would crack, and gosh, I kid you not CHILLS. But it also made me wonder, if Pippa ever thought that if she cracked a rib of his that it wasn’t helping him? 🤔 I give her so much respect for trying and.

Then freaking Charlie had to dramatically burn the farmhouse down, and only then did the cops show up. I swear, these cops need to be on their game because they are slacking. After that, Pippa was in a daze and everything seemed numb and distant from her. And I just wanted to hug Pip close and never let her go. She watched someone get shot, bleed out, and pass before her eyes. And she couldn’t save him. My gosh, that’s going to leave an imprint on her life for sure. I must say, the title of the book is fitting for the ending with all the blood. The book cover itself really gave me Taylor Swift, Bad Blood vibes.

When in the police office to change and sign forms to prove she didn’t do it, Pippa asked the police one question:

“And after, Pip asked a question of her own: “Did you find her?”

“Find who?”

“The eight-year-old abducted from her garden?”

Hawkins nods. “Yesterday. She was found, her father was with her there. Domestic dispute.”

And “Oh,” Is all Pip can say to that.”

(pg. 399)

When she said that, I was like, she’s got them there 👏🏼. Because they should have listened to her and her concerns. All of the bloodshed could have been avoided (maybe), if they helped out and maybe Pip wouldn’t have been the one to go in too deep and be there when Stanley got shot. She was a teenager, she shouldn’t be seeing those kinds of things in real life. She should be studying for college or doing homework on a Friday night. Something besides watching a person who was trying to be better, be shot. No. But the cops focused on the little girl—-rightfully so—-and in the end it was only a domestic dispute, something they said was high-risk. And yes, it could have been worse than that and the cops were right to put their effort on the child first, but I really do believe there needs to be a change in the system, because all lives missing matters. And I understand there’s not enough resources and people to go around to solve all these cases, but I do believe that people can be trained for it and there can be job positions for a missing person’s field that people can fill. If Pippa, a teenager with her whole life ahead of her can do it, others can learn and help out so cases like the eight-year-old and Jamie could have been solved in tandem. It didn’t need to be like what happened.

I found it beyond heartbreaking how only eight people showed up for Stanley’s funeral, and most of them showed up as a courtesy for Pip. It made my heart hurt that Pip planned the whole thing because Stanley didn’t have any family or person really close to him who would do so. And I loved how she considered what Stanley would want from not being cremated, the name on his tombstone, and the saying on the tombstone.

You were better.

My heart really hurt.

Because I do think people can change. People are not their past and they are not their parents. And just because someone made a mistake back then, doesn’t mean that they will always make the same mistakes going forward if that person really has the drive and passion to change and get the help to change. Stanley wanted to be better and it showed in his actions and his compassion to Jamie and others. He could have raged against the world in anger after his father, but did he? No. He wanted to do better. He wanted to be better. And that’s the difference between someone like Stanley and Max, two people who messed up. One learned and changed, and one got away with a smirk on his face, probably going to do the same thing he always did. Max will probably ride high on his privilege, taking advantage of drugs and women because he won’t learn because he doesn’t believe what he did was wrong. He doesn’t want to change. He doesn’t want to be better. He’s oblivious to his privilege and abuses it. He’s worse than Stanley will ever be. And that’s the problem. The world’s so messed up sometimes and people are beyond complex that it’s not fair to judge anyone. It’s so complicated to dictate what is “good” or what is “bad” because it’s truly a socialized construction of what we think. Anyone can think Stanley or Max good or bad, but from my perceptive, it’s how the person lives that proves whether or not they are. Stanley was good. Max is not.

It’s not right.

Sometimes justice is not right.

It sucks.

What sucked even more was how people had the audacity to rage at Stanley’s funeral and call Pip and everyone out that they were mourning a killer. That was highly disrespectful! 😡In the words of Pip, “LEAVE HIM ALONE!” Stanley’s gone, just leave him alone and let him rest in peace and stop bringing up a past that he shouldn’t be fully held responsible for because he was a used kid!!! How DISRESPECTFUL were people to just show up and be rude like that!? I was sickened. Honestly, I would have raged alongside Pip because she had every right to be mad. She’s been mad and I think this book we really see Pippa RAGE because she’s been through so much more than any person should experience and she’s tired of all the injustice and blurred lines of good and bad and she’s tired of seeing innocent people die and bad people go on acting innocent. It’s messed up.

It’s anger-inducing.

I’m angry.

We’re all angry.

It’s angry.

Pippa is a changed person. You can feel it. I can feel it. She’s numb, she’s hurt, and she’s angry. She’s very distant because she’s processing everything she saw and heard. My goodness, her heart, I just want to hug her! She hears the crack of ribs, the gun shots in her head, she feels and sees the blood. She’s going through a lot of trauma right now and I’m interested to see how this will develop in the next book and how Pippa will heal? Will she go to a therapist? I hope so. Pip needs help 😢 and I want her to be okay.

Jamie’s okay. This whole book was about finding Jamie and we don’t see him that much in the fall out except at the party where they celebrate his return. I like how Nat seemed happy and how Jamie was happy to see her. I hope they become something. But I also liked how Jamie and Pip had that conversation where Pip asked him to promise something:

“All Stanley wanted was a quiet life, to learn to be better, to try do some good with it. And doesn’t get to do that anymore. But we’re still here, we’re alive.” She paused, meeting Jamie’s eyes. “Can you promise me something? Can you promise me you’ll live a good life? A full life, a happy one. Live will, and do it for him, because he can’t anymore.”

(pg. 409)

It goes back to what Charlie Knowell (his real name) and Flora should have done instead of harboring all this vengeance. Because whoever said that living well is the best vengeance, was right. It shows others that you aren’t beneath them. Jamie had another chance at life, he was going to not give it up. He was going to be better and to try—-with Nat, his family, his career. And Pip was going to try too, and I really wonder what that will be like for her.

Ravi and Pip’s romance wasn’t the forefront plot of the story, but it had it’s good moments. I just love the way Ravi was always patient with Pip and gave her space when she was angry. And let’s applaud for a true man! 👏🏼 He left the argument in anger, but he left it with an “I love you.” ❣️ His mom raised him well 😂. I thought it was so sweet that he said that though. Then Pip went back to him and they said I love you to each other for the first time, and it was so sweet. Out of everyone in Pip’s life, Ravi knew her best and understood her. He supported her and he was there and I loved that. And I loved how he always checked in on her, where she was at mentally with things. Because sometimes you need people like that in your life.

At the end, Pip was snappish with Ravi again too, but Ravi knew she was going through a lot and when I say Ravi Singh is a gentleman he really is a gentle man because he was like “And I’m here, whenever you need me.” What a man! 👌🏼 So I’m curious to see where their relationship goes with Pip’s change in personality.

The ending scene, to me, wasn’t as satisfying as I hoped. Pip was up late at night searching where Charlie and Flora were and having the sound of the gun live in her heart. What does that even mean? Is Pip out for vengeance? Or is this part of the ongoing trauma she will battle in the future? Is she going to find Charlie and Flora? To be honest, I wouldn’t put it past Pip to successfully find them.

I don’t know.

There’s a lot up in the air with the ending.

So here are my questions:

1. Are we going to find Charlie and Flora in the next book?

Obviously this is the question of the hour. I think we will because Pip is an intelligent young woman and she can do anything she sets her mind too . . . the thing is, what state is Pip’s mind in?

2. Is Pippa going to let the anger consume her? Is Pippa going to heal? What about Pippa?

Pip is angered and we see it build and release itself all throughout the book. But what happened to Stanley could have been the last straw, the last push to drive Pip truly over the edge into a vengeful state. So is she going to fall down a path similar to Charlie to bring Justice for Stanley and all the people who were done wrong? Is this the gun waiting to go off? Is she a live wire?

Or is she going to heal by going to a therapist. What is going to happen with her and Ravi and how will her newfound anger affect their relationships? Her relationships with her friends? Her family? How will her schooling be affected by her path?

3. Are we going to take down Max Hastings in the next book?

This sucker needs to be brought down. There needs to be justice for his actions and I don’t think he’s going to get off that easy. Maybe there will be a reevaluation of his case now that the evidence of him admitting to his wrongdoing is out there for the public, so maybe the public will fight back with him being set free. But I do not believe for a second that he will stay out.

And this sicko needs to wipe the smile off his face before I wipe it from him 😂.

4. Nat and Jamie?

This isn’t so much a question, but a it’s-going-to-happen. I’m so happy for Nat though because she deserves love and to be with someone who cares for her.

5. Is there more to Harry, Marry, and Joe (the bookshop people) being related to Hillary F. Weiseman?

This seemed significant in the book, but it was brushed over. Apparently Hillary’s daughter was Mary Scythe (and what an interesting last name 🤔) and her sons were Harry and Joe. Somehow Mary’s significant and so are Harry and Joe. I’m curious how and why? Why were they in Kilton? What’s up with the bookshop? Is there more to this storyline?

6. What about Luke Eaton?

Where does he go? Is he still going to sell drugs? Does Pip ever repay him the money she owes him? Is he going to have it out for Jamie?

I don’t know.

But that’s the good part of a mystery, the not knowing until you do. Hopefully there’s going to be another book because I’M READY! Heck, that’s the first thing I Googled after reading this 😂.

What are some burning questions you have after the book? What was your favorite part of the book? Least favorite part? Anything I mentioned that you want to discuss more about? Let me know below in the comments as I love hearing from you all 💕

I hope you have a beautiful day whenever and wherever you might be reading this.

And as always, with love,

Rating

5 Full Bloom Flowers

Characters: I loved how we got to know more of the other characters in this world like Connor, Jamie, and Nat. I also am very curious to see how Pip evolves with the trauma and anger she has.

Plot: So well-thought out and every piece fits together like the perfect puzzle you just can’t solve, but keep trying to anyway.

Writing: Holly Jackson is the queen of YA mystery and you can’t tell me otherwise.

Mystery: Too legit to quit 🤪

Romance: Love how the book had a perfect amount of mystery balanced with romantic aspects.