If this book taught me anything, besides how to do away with self-absorbed relatives, it’s that fiction needs more anti-heroines.

This novel doesn’t hold back on observations and critiques of society, social classes, powerlessness, entitlement, disappointing relatives, and how young women try to get by.

Very funny at moments, occasionally predictable, it takes you on the journey of someone who is single-minded in her ambition. Her motive was not as strong as it could have been, but still, the fast pace kept me playing in in every spare minute I had. There is a twist that I suspect is especially chilling as an audiobook.

I understand why some have said that there is a deus ex machina, but it’s bigger than that; it’s another example of what Grace has been fighting all along.

Well worth the read for this funny, unsympathetic heroine.

-Thank you to Net Galley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review

Thank you for an advance copy of this book.
I love Bella on Instagram and this book did not disappoint. The book is really well written with a few twists and turns I did not see coming. Very 2021 in the techniques Grace uses to orchestrate her plans and the sly digs towards the vapid influencer culture. A great read.

Grace Bernard wants the same things as most of us. A good job, maybe a boyfriend, a dog. But first she has some things to do. Kill her family. Claim the family fortune. Oh and getting out of prison would be good too.

Killers probably shouldn't be this funny. But Grace is. Bitter, twisted but very funny. The novel recounts from her perspective how she has devised and executed (literally) her plan to destroy the family of the father who cruelly rejected her and her mother. And how she ends up in prison for something entirely different.

This was narrated mainly by Charly Clive who gave this just the right amount of wry deadpan delivery. It's the first time I've heard her narration and will definitely look for more from her. A short segment is performed by Paul Panting....whilst short he definitely has impact!

If you like the Sweetpea books then this should definitely be on your TBR list.

A Compelling Seduction to The Dark Side

💜 I do enjoy a spot of vicarious revenge. And that is the theme of this unexpectedly dark story. This is very much a does-what-it-says-on-the-tin situation. Main character, Grace, recounts killing her family. But there's much more than that. This is an insight into the psyche of the worst kind of humans; the truly ruthless, the deeply selfish, the uninhibitedly ambitious unconstrained by morals or ethics. And it is a story that seduced me to root for one such person: Grace.

💛 Grace is a compelling antihero. She sounds so reasonable, so self-assured, so refined, that she lulled me into complicity. I was driven, as she was, to see it through to the end.

🧡 Would I call this funny? Not exactly. My descriptor would be wry. But as to whether I would recommend it, the answer is yes, in a heartbeat.
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SOUNDBITE

Charly Clive is the main narrator. Both she and Paul Panting were excellent. Both had an inherent arrogance and confidence in their delivery, but managed to imbue even the craziest of things with nonchalant normalcy.
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SHALL I COMPARE THEE TO...
Let's just say I now know what Clarice Starling felt like when confronted with Hannibal Lecter...

Big thanks to Bella Mackie, HarperCollins UK Audio, The Borough Press
And NetGalley for providing me with an audio ARC in return for an honest review.


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SPOILERS
💥This book deserves the rating I gave because:

a) All of it is well written and interesting; and
b)I enjoyed 90% of it.

However, the ending is incredibly frustrating. I thought the twist might have been that Grace's dad didn't die and then there'd be a confrontation. Even if he had managed to kill Grace, that ending would have been less maddening than the introduction of a new character who swept in and destroyed everything Grace had planned. Does that mean I'm sad the possible psychopath was bested by another possible psychopath? Yes. Yes it does. And am I comfortable with that? Um.... 💥

Thank you netgalley for an advanced copy of the book for an honest review
A brilliant deduct by an author who has a Bright future
The writing style is in first person style of a woman who is innocent of murdering her family
I don't want to give too much away but this is a rip roaring ride and highly recommended I will be reading more books by this author

This was a dark and addictive story of revenge and strangely I enjoyed it! I'm not normally a fan of morally grey (or just plain unlikeable!) main characters, but Grace's dark, caustic humour and drive, alongside her introspection and views on society made for a really interesting point of view, and there were enough twists to keep me interested even when we know what the book is about from the outset - guess what, killing her family! It was paced really well, and I liked the structure of Grace recounting events from her prison cell, jumping from the past to the present day.

I would definitely recommend this book for people who enjoy thrillers but don't want too much gore, and want to read from a perspective other than that of the victim. The audiobook was really fun to listen to, and I thought Charly Clive and Paul Panting did an excellent job narrating, although I did have to go back and re-listen to sections because sometimes I got lost in the main character's tangents, and to make sure I understood the connections between the people she was talking about. I adore this cover - the colour and illustration are great, and I think really match the tone of the book.

A deliciously twisted and fun look at crime, family, and female identity - great for fans of Killing Eve. Grace is a fantastic narrator and I loved the particularly British sensibility and attitude of this book. The audiobook narrator was excellent and really brought the story to life!

Thank you so much to Harper Collins UK Audio for this audiobook arc in exchange for an honest review!

The premise of this book immediatley had me drawn in and i was hoping for a dark tale with a lot of twisted humour thrown in and thats exactly what i got.

The book follows Grace an illgetimate child born to her foreign and vulnerable mother and fathered by a wealthy businessman. Turns out that businessman had a family and wife of his own and after learning that Graces mother is pregnant who soon leaves them high and dry. Graces mother does her best to raise her alone but after she dies Grace is somewhat left to her own devices. She decides to take revenge on her fathers family to ultimately inherit his fortune after they are all dead. This plan takes many years to come to fruition as Grace plans to make every death look like an accident and something that cannot be linked back to her.

We learn from very early on that Grace is currently in prison at the beginning of the book so the book is told in a dual timeline of present day prison and slowly finding out what Grace is in there for and past tense of Grace carrying out her plans to murder her fathers extended family.

The humour had me laughing out loud, Grace is very dry witted and i really appreciated that. I really enjoyed the ending but wanted an epilogue of Graces reaction to it and maybe a 1 year later of what she was doing now. All in all a really great read!

Often when you see a book title and cover, you think you know the direction the story will take. It will be predictable, and within that formulaic storyline, you will find entertainment and relaxation. And then comes a book like this where your assumptions fall flat after a few plot twists and you are left satisfied at having being proven wrong.

Story:
Grace Bernard has been in prison since 14 months. And she’s quite irritated about it. Why, you ask? Is she innocent? Au contraire! She has killed six people. The problem is that she got away with all those murders, and is in prison for a crime she didn’t commit. The irony! What follows is a heartfelt and humorous confession of sorts with Grace revealing what made her kill her family members and how she “executed” her plans.

A major chunk of the story comes to us via a journal that Grace is writing in prison to divulge her outrage at having being unfairly imprisoned. This journal broadly contains three elements: Grace’s background about why her family became her target, her modus operandi behind the crimes, and her life in prison. Each of these is interestingly written with a great deal of sarcasm and practicality. The book goes by very fast because of her candid approach about her offences.

Grace is such an interesting character. As most of the book is in the first person perspective of Grace, you will enjoy being in her mind as she unveils her life story. For one, it was refreshing to see a lead character acknowledge that she was attractive, such a refreshing change from all those beauties who seem unaware of their appeal until a man convinces them otherwise. Grace is also meticulous in planning out her tasks. The sincerity with which she plans out her targeted murders is simultaneously admirable and scary. She actually delights in her crimes, but she isn’t a psychopath. She is judgemental but justifies her critiques with a solid reasoning. This is one confusing character who will still make a mark on your heart.

The story is dark and gruesome but Grace’s macabre deeds are overshadowed by her wittiness. The humour in the book is quite acerbic and tongue-in-cheek. I especially enjoyed those barbs at SM influencers in the Briony section. Couldn’t stop myself laughing at Grace’s hashtags!

Overall, this is an easy-going book that seems predictable until you see that it is not quite as you thought. Pick it up when you want some light-hearted humour with dark twists.

Trigger Alert: (Some of the content contains details of BDSM, so if that gets your goat, consider yourself warned.)

I heard the audiobook but I don’t want to talk directly about the narrator as it will end up revealing a spoiler. All I will say is, I enjoyed the narration immensely and the almost eleven hours audiobook simply whizzed by!
The one thing I wish I could change about the book: its cover. That bland salmon pink cover just doesn’t do justice to this story. I would have preferred it bolder and darker.

A 4.25 from me.

Thank you, NetGalley and HarperCollins UK Audio, for the audio ARC of the book in exchange for an honest review.

3.75/5

I'm at least 90% sure that I enjoyed this book. I'm sure it'll take a few days to really solidify because WOAH a lot happened in, like, 400 pages. Also, it would not surprise if this book gets snapped almost instantly for television adaptation because people love crime. And rich people getting what's coming to them.

Jumping between multiple perspectives, 'How To Kill Your Family' follows a woman named Grace who recounts the methods through which she killed the family of her father who abandoned her and her mother. It's an extravagant, clever, complex series of revenge plots played out across multiple months and retold in excruciating detail. But it's also incredibly compelling to read. It dives into the glittering falsehood of high society and sinks into the dingy depths of the seedy underbelly too.

The things that stops me from giving this book a higher rating is largely down to its stream-of-consciousness writing style - particularly in sections where nothing is actually happening. I'm convinced, with some decent editing, this book could have had many pages taken out of it. Grace, who is obviously an anti-hero, unlikeable protagonist, whatever - is RIDICULOUSLY judgemental throughout this book, and after it while it stops adding to her character and starts just making her sound like a dick. There's a clear superiority complex in the character and I got really irritated by it as the book went by because it was done again and again and again. You can tell that this book is a fiction debut, where it's got great moments, but some leave things to be desired.

If you liked 'You', you'll probably like this. It has that same creepy, sociopathic theme running through it. I wouldn't say this is the most original book in the world, but props for the ending - that one really did come out of nowhere.

**Listened to the audio book and read along to the kindle version**

I really like Bella Mackie's writing, and I enjoyed her first book - non fiction - all about the joy of running and how it changed her life. So when i found out she was releasing a fiction book I was super excited.
However, I was left disappointed by this. I'm a big fan of CJ Skuse's Sweetpea books, and this book just reminded me of that. It had similar plot, and had the same dry sense of humour (but no where near as funny as Sweetpea)
The opening chapters of this book were really intriguing and definitely got me interested from the beginning - but overall the plot was very slow paced and I lost interest by the end. It was as gripping as I had hoped.

I liked the narrators of the audio book, they helped to bring it to life. We spend more time with the female narrator - and I did prefer her.

Overall this book was a real let down. I definitely would read what Bella Mackie does next - I just hope it's a bit more gripping, and a bit more original than this book.

4.25⭐️
🎧The audiobook version.A new author to me. I don’t think that the cover does anything for the book.

Grace is imprisoned for a murder which she didn’t commit. That doesn’t mean that she is innocent.

When Grace learns that her absentee father ignored her dying mothers pleas for help she vows to get revenge. The reader gets a frontline seat.

The writing style feels young,trendy and chatty and a very light tone considering the subject matter. It’s written in the first person so it feels that Grace is talking directly to the reader.
It has dark sardonic humour, and at the same time emotional which had me on side with Grace,although I did feel sorry for Andrew.

Grace is organised,manipulative, and totally self absorbed on her mission. The tone is all very matter of fact and she shows absolutely no remorse.

The pace is fast, and the narrator rattles through the book at a sprint.
What an ending! Can’t say more because of spoilers.

If you love the CJ Skuse Sweetpea trilogy I think you’ll love this.

Grace is in prison for a crime she didn’t commit! Although she certainly isn’t innocent and is definitely a murderer!
She is a complex , dark and troubled character, Grace finds out she is an illegitimate child , and begins planning the murders of her estranged family.
The writing is acerbic and witty even though the subject matter is dark in in it’s nature., due to the quality of the writing the book flowed easily .
A cleverly written story with a great twist at the end. Highly recommended and an enjoyable read.
Thanks to NetGalley and HarperCollins UK Audio.

Bella Mackie’s How to Kill Your Family is an enjoyable rip-roaring romp.

Grace is in prison. She protests her innocence. But her innocence only stretches to the crime she has been imprisoned for. Not the many others that she’s got away with, thus far. Grace is a serial murderer, her victims part of a plan for revenge.

Grace is a smart character with a definite Killing Eve vibe, blackness and humour are prevalent throughout. However I didn’t quite buy into the concept. The rationale for her actions (certainly the extent of them) was a little thin and I found the story ran out of steam. I’m also unsure as to what to make of the ending. However, on a day when I was walking and doing DIY, I have listened to Grace’s escapades in their entirety and it was fun. The narration is excellent.

Thanks to Harper Collins and Netgalley for an audio ARC.