I’d heard a lot of great things about this book so had put it off thinking it might not live up to it, but I thoroughly enjoyed it and can’t wait to see what Bella writes next!

If, like me, you're a fan of an unlikeable narrator, then you'll probably enjoy this. There's a lot of brilliant dark humour too.

Thank you to Netgalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Thoroughly enjoyed this dark humoured story!
Peering through Grace’s twisted mind as she sets about whacking off her family, you’re taken through a gripping journey which cannot leave you unsmiling!

Ah sadly this really didn't do it for me. The tone from the beginning was already off and while I liked the premise in theory, the second I started reading the book I was not impressed.

Despite the premise and the actual descriptions of the anti-hero, everything feels quite flat and a bit passive. The writing was not amazing (doesn't have to be I guess, but it would've helped) and overall the whole book is quite boring. Maybe I'm just the wrong audience!

I really didn't know what to expect with this story, such an intriguing title and plot idea!

The opening had me gripped "I killed several people (some brutally, others calmly) and yet I currently languish in jail for a murder I did not commit." from that opening you are drawn into a complex read of relationships, dark humour and thrills.

I loved the central character Grace, is she a hero or a villain? Do you know, I still don't think I have decided.

Grace is a damaged soul, murdering members of her biological father's family as revenge for the abuse and abandonment her mother experienced. Some of the stories and backgrounds to the characters were so raw that I found myself shouting "no" as Grace took her calculated revenge, but the story for the plot twist was emotional.

A great book and my first by this author

Enjoyable enough, but sometimes the hype is just that…

How to review this book? It’s a tough one, because in some ways I enjoyed it and in others it left me feeling exasperated. The concept is great and the execution in many ways is very enjoyable. I definitely enjoyed the inventive ways Grace found to dispatch her gnarly relatives. It was good fun to read the crazy plans and how she put them into practice. They definitely border on the absurd, but somehow that fits the entire tone of this book. It’s imaginative and ridiculous, but that’s totally ok. The thing I struggled with was the wit. What started out as humorous banter style snark, quickly turned into a one track stream that felt vicious and nasty. Now don’t get me wrong, we all enjoy poking fun at the super-rich, über-privileged and wouldn’t mind seeing some of them get their comeuppance. However, Grace’s motivation for her killing spree felt like it lacked any real justification. Again, I get it. It’s fiction, it’s an extreme situation and so on. Trust me, that’s what I love about thrillers! For me though, it felt a little flat here and it prevented me from fully investing. Similarly, I generally love an unlikeable character and almost always find some way to connect with them. I struggled here though, liking Grace to a point but not enough to really root for her. I definitely found the book more of a crime comedy than a thriller, so I’m not going to lie, the twist at the end totally threw me…just not in the right kind of way. Whilst I totally didn’t see it coming, it was also so far departed from the rest of what I’d read, there was genuinely no way I could have guessed it. That made it feel shoehorned in and there for the sake of it, which is probably the worst thing to do in book.

I listened to this predominantly on audio and found the adaptation was very good. The narration felt pitch perfect, really getting across the catty humour and Grace’s sardonic personality. I really felt like I was inside Grace’s head as I listened, which was unsettling at times! Being written in the first person means that the book translates really well to audio and I felt like I was listening to a friend tell me about their life (although, honestly, there’s no way I’d be mates with Grace!). If you’re going to give this book a go, I definitely think audio is the best way to consume it.

I’m sad not to have loved this one, as the premise is so strong and it started off well. It’s definitely funny in places and if b*tchy humour is your go to, you’ll probably love it. For me though, I feel like it’s a bit of a victim of its own hype.

How to Kill Your Family by Bella Mackie is a blackly funny book about class, family and of course murder. The premise is simple but interesting, we meet our protagonist Grace as she languishes in prison for a murder she did not commit, while nobody knows about the six other murders she has managed to get away with. These murders have been carried out as a form of vengeance against the man who got her mother pregnant then abandoned her, and refused to acknowledge Grace as his daughter even when her mother died while she was still very young. Determined to make him pay , Grace has made it her mission to kill everyone he loves, while leaving him for last to ensure maximum suffering.
This was a fast paced fun read, while Grace may not be the most likeable of characters she is certainly an entertaining one and her often caustic observations about wealth and privilege were definitely on point, Where it fell apart for me was the ending, the twist felt a little too convenient and unearned, It undercut much of the momentum that had been building as the story unfolded and left me feeling a little disappointed .
I read a review copy courtesy of NetGalley and the publisher, all opinions are my own.

Unfortunately not for me! I enjoyed the first few kills but the ending was really disappointing and unsatisfying.

LOVED this book!! How to Kill Your Family is a blackly funny novel about Grace Bernard, a young woman who is convicted of murdering her family. The book is told from Grace's perspective, and she uses her wit and humor to try to justify her actions. Mackie's writing is sharp and funny, and she does a great job of creating a sympathetic character in Grace. However, the book is also dark and disturbing, and it raises some uncomfortable questions about family, violence, and justice. Highly recommend.

I received an advanced reading copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to NetGalley, Harper Collins UK and the author Bella Mackie.
I was excited to read this after seeing all the hype, but unfortunately it didn't live up to expectations.
The writing style was incredibly irritating, with over-use of hyperbole and unnecessary additions that seemed to be there to showcase the author's condescending opinions through constant sniping. It was trying too hard to be witty and funny. For that reason I found it difficult to enjoy it but might still recommend for a beach read with low expectations, entertaining at times but forgettable. 2 stars.

Funny, dark and twisted. What ‘s not to love.

Brilliantly book, could not put down. Hopefully more to come from Bella Mackie

The beginning was really intriguing but then I lost all interest. It was boring to read. And I did not have any sympathy to the protagonist. The ending was good though.

How to Kill Your Family

Read it if: you enjoy a first person narration that goes into deep character detail when bringing others into the story.

Don’t read it if: you need a neat ending to feel fulfilled by a book.

Expecting to hate this due to the numerous poor (and sometimes angry!) reviews, I wonder if my reaction to this book is over-burdened with the need to give it a fair hearing. I tried to keep the opinions of others out of my mind but I did have them ringing in my mind as I read, which might have made me a little over-kind. Criticisms have been aimed at the writing style ( described as longwinded and overly detailed) but I enjoyed learning about Grace’s relatives and appreciated the class commentary and Grace’s elder millennial mindset. I found Grace to be witty and complex, and I felt deeply sorry for her most of the time.

I read it pretty quickly and the fact that I kept picking it up is testament to the intrigue of the story.

Thanks to Harper Collins UK and NetGalley for this copy in exchange for an honest review.

How To Kill Your Family ⭐️⭐️⭐️

They say you can’t choose your family. But you can kill them.

Meet Grace Bernard.
Daughter, sister, serial killer…
Grace has lost everything.
And she will stop at nothing to get revenge.

Really enjoyed this fast paced and very twisted read. Thought Grace made for a likeable and sympathetic main character, and you were really rooting for her as she dispatched her family in a variety of gruesome ways! Also how the book went back and forth to reveal more of her history was very clever.

I never thought it was possible for someone to write a book about murder, in a lighthearted kind of way. But Bella Mackie smashed it with ‘How to kill your family’

Grace is a serial killer, she has a pretty evil and dark streak in her personality, she shows no remorse and I thought she was bloody fantastic. Definitely not a character I will forget in a hurry, let me tell you. This girl could be my bff!

How to kill your family was mainly based on Grace, what she did and what she wanted. She was an incredibly strong character and incredibly likeable. She had one goal, and as the reader, we are immersed into her world, into the wrongs she wants to make right, you can understand her rage, why she feels the way she does and why she has that end goal. She is cunning, and evil but definitely in a fun way, she is conniving and sleek in her actions.

The story has an incredible tension building to the finale, and what we as the reader think is going to happen, the closer to the end the more my heart was pounding, the last one is going to be a douzy – how could it not be?

BUT… in every great Murder book even the lighthearted ones quite obviously I see now, there is always that incredible twist that leaves you dumbfounded. And dumbfounded I was definitely left. I was shocked and hurt. For Grace, I really felt for her.

The amazing twist, was an incredible little trick played by the author… and it is not one I think anyone could ever see coming.

How to kill your family is definitely a book that could be recommended to any reader no matter what genre they enjoy.

I had planned to read this a while back, and ended up postponing it because the negative reviews discouraged me. I ended up liking it in the end, although I can see why the main character would be off putting to many. The tone of the narrator, Grace, is very Anna Delvey: haughty, superior, hateful. She hates absolutely everything and everyone. But I like a good revenge plot and it was enjoyable to follow Grace, driven and meticulous, as she organises six murders but ends up in jail for the one she did not commit. The vibe is very much Eat the Rich, ironically since Grace's goal is ultimately to get to her estranged father's money. A plot twist at the end somehow ruined it a bit for me but overall I found it quite interesting and fun.

I loved this book, it is so incredibly well written with a brilliant dark humour. The style of writing uis unusual but engaging and builds a depth of character I was not expecting initially. Whilst I didn't love the last couple of chapters I really hope that Bella's next book is going to be a continuation on the story to give a more suitable ending. I will definitely be recommending this book, I had already mentioned it to several people within the first 30 minutes of reading! I'll be counting down to her next publication.

Grace Bernard is in jail for murder, not particularly surprising in a novel with the title, "How To Kill Your Family". What is surprising is the early revelation from Grace (not a spoiler as she reveals this information in the opening pages) that she has been convicted of murder, but not any of the murders that she actually committed! In this instance, Grace is innocent.
Our unfortunate protagonist then goes on to elaborate on her daily life in prison before explaining how to decided to become a murderer and talks us slowly through each murder.
She does so in a non-linear manner so we hear of some deaths just in passing and she will refer to tue scenario in depth at a later point.
The humour in the novel is decidedly dark and much of it comes from Grace's disgust at the privileged, pampered and nouveau-riche snobbery of her relatives. I certainly could see the humour here but found myself struggling to like or sympathise with Grace at any stage. Her single minded attitude could become grating at times.
For me, the most intriguing aspect as the story is when a relative decides to write to Grace and her life takes a sudden turn.
Over the past two years, there have been many novels along the theme of women taking revenge on ex-lovers/friends/attackers etc. And I think if "How To Kill Your Family" was the first novel in this genre that I read, then I would have found it more enjoyable but at this stage, I'm a little disinterested in the topic. And that's not a fault of the author, just me. Definitely the book for you if you like sarcasm, biting commentary on contemporary life and lots of murders.

this book has been on my the list for the longest time ever and i am so happy that i managed to get this book! i just want to start off this review by thanking the publisher for allowing me to have this book!

the title definitely grabbed my attention - i made sure i didn’t read this anywhere near my family because i didn’t want them to get scared of me reading it! i spoke to my parents about it when i finished reading it and their eyes popped out of their head with fear! now onto the actual review!

i am a short chapter lover, so i wasn’t too keen on the chapters being rather long but that did not take away from the tension and fast paced nature of the book. i just wish that the super long chapters were broken up a little bit just to make it a little easier to read. this book is dark, brutal, crazy and just one hell of a ride and i am obsessed with it. this is a very dark satirical book with so meant twists and turns.

i know grace is such a bad person, but…. i can’t help but root for her. i know i shouldn’t but i 100% do. her confession shook me. i really really shouldn’t like her, but i kinda do, she is awful and has done some truly horrific things, but she is so funny at times.

thank you again, harper collins and netgalley for allowing me to read this book. i am going to grab a physical copy of it right away!

This is a great book - funny, arch and with a really twisty plot. The character of Grace Bernard is brilliantly imagined - part psychopath and part critic of the modern world, she had the best put downs and one-liners. I didn’t see the twist coming (I usually do) so tat was fun too. All in all, a fantastic book.