It was a lot of fun to read the prequel to A Good Girl's Guide to Murder and spend time with Pip playing a murder mystery game in the Agatha Christie/Clue style.

What I enjoyed most about this book: I'm very grateful for the opportunity to visit Pippa Fitz-Amobi! I didn't like how her personality changed in the third and final book, and I still hope the author will give her another chance to make amends and have a happy ending with Ravi. But getting to know her persona before she resolved the Andie Bell case was quite significant.

- The creepy murder mystery game was also enjoyable. The storyline makes us think of "And Then There Were None" crossed with Clue.

A nice novella prequel to the A Good Girls Guide to Murder series. Holly Jackson set a good stage for a nice tale with Pip and her friends, before everything went down in the first book. While it was nice to read something fun happening for Pip, instead of all the traumatic experiences she went through, yet it was weird to see her interact with people who we now know were not real friends. More importantly this set the scene for the topic she ended up picking for her capstone project that set the whole book in motion. A good fun, easy read for AGGTM fans.

Overall

At this point, I don't feel like I need to (or even can) say how much I loved A Good Girl's Guide to Murder. But all right, I guess I technically said it already. If I'm being quite frank, I absolutely devoured that series and couldn't get enough. So of course, the moment I saw there would be an addition (even a prequel), I immediately knew I had to read it!

Kill Joy is an adorable, fluffy murder mystery set before the events of A Good Girl's Guide to Murder, where all our favorite characters are still just normal teens, and Pip has yet to have the flash of inspiration that leads her to start her famous investigation.

Honestly, this is a super quick read that's a must-read for fans of the series. Pip's friends are fun, and I really enjoyed the peek into what inspired her to focus so much on the case! The murder mystery in and of itself is okay, but the characters themselves are what really steal the show in this book. The only thing that really made it hard for me was knowing how things end with certain characters, which made it difficult for me to enjoy their presence and behavior in this book. What can I say? I carry grudges, even against fictional characters. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

My Thoughts

- It's an absolute pleasure to get the chance to rejoin Pip (a younger, still innocent Pip at that) and her friends in this short prequel in this low-stakes, utterly adorable mystery dinner.The premise is still interesting. Who doesn't love those dinner mysteries that you can do with a group? Getting to see the characters adopt their new roles—and often break them, as they interact with each other—was a ton of fun. Plus, it's incredibly fun trying to solve the case from Pip's perspective, too, and having it unravel little by little. If a reader goes in expecting the sort of high-stakes, plot-twist-filled mystery from the rest of the books, they'll be disappointed. That's not at all the point of this book! It really works well to establish the characters and motive. It'd be a great introductory book for readers new to the series, and it doesn't spoil anything from the rest of the series.

- If you're at all curious about why Pip decided to take on the Andie Bell/Sal Singh case, you absolutely need to read this book! Okay, sure, on the surface it makes sense that Pip would hyperfocus on solving a mystery, given her personality. That part was never hard to believe. Still, this book does a fantastic job of setting the scene and introducing motive and inspiration for the series. It was super interesting to read about, too.

- This squad of friends is an absolutely HOOT. Their banter and playfulness is my absolute favorite and is always a joy to read. The plot itself isn't super heavy or concrete in this book, but the characters jump right off the page! I laughed way too hard at certain parts (in one instance, in a very awkward setting, but I guess I should've known better). As I said previously, it was a little harder knowing how things turn out with some of the characters, and that definitely dampened my enjoyability a bit. However, I highly recommend that readers who are new to the series start here! And anyone needing their Pip fill after finishing the series, this is still one I'd recommend checking out.

Since this was a novella, I will keep this review short.

It was wonderful to see one of my favorite detectives, Pippa “Pip” Fitz-Amobi, in this prequel, before she really got to dive deep into the world of small town crime. I had forgotten what Pip was like at the beginning of the series and it was nice to see her in her element before all the stress and anxiety of what she would go through later in the series. There was stress and tension, but considering you knew it was a mystery dinner, it was pretty low stakes, which just left the fun of a whodunnit. If you enjoyed this series, I would highly recommend giving this novella a read, simply because it was fun to take a look at the elements that turned the characters into who they would become later in the series.

The only problem I really had was the lack of my favorite character, Ravi, but I suppose I can get over that because his presence have made any sense at all.

Overall, great read and I highly recommend this novella to any fans of the “Good Girls Guide to Murder” series.

⅘ Stars

Thank you to Netgalley and Random House Children’s for the opportunity to read this eARC in exchange for my honest review

This was a really fun look at the characters from the Good Girl’s Guide to Murder series.

Pippa Fitz-Amobi is talked into going to a murder mystery party and along with her friends try to figure out a fictional crime.

I thought it was really neat seeing how Pippa got her start in solving crimes. There wasn’t a lot of tense moments or anything else like in the rest of the series but definitely a fun look at how if all began

I received this book in exchange for my honest opinion

Pippa is invited to a murder mystery party along with her friends, and uses her detective skills to try catch a murder. Everyone plays their roles well and no one knows who the killer is until the very end. I really enjoyed this novella by Holly Jackson, and would recommend it for anyone wanting a good, short read!

This novella is set before A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder and depicts what initially sparked Pippa’s interest in the case from the main series. I think it is important to read the main series before this, even though it is listed as a prequel, otherwise so much context will be lost. The characters are not really developed or introduced in this at all, and it might be confusing if you have not read the other three books where we actually do get to know them.

I don’t know if a prequel was particularly necessary. I don’t think it added anything to the main books and would not work well on its own.

Thank you to NetGalley, Random House Children’s/Delacorte Press, and Holly Jackson for an e-arc of Kill Joy in exchange for an honest review.

A perfect prequel to A Good Girl's Guide to Murder. This book has Pip and friends getting together for a 1920's themed murder mystery dinner party. Throughout the night, they are presented with clues about who killed a rich millionnaire for their fictional story/roleplay. Of course, Pip's brain works differently than everyone else's and she notices clues that no one else does. Also, characters throughout this story refer to the Sal Singh/Andie Bell case, tying this book directly to A Good Girl's Guide to Murder. and ends with Pip deciding on her Capstone Project for school.

I really wanted to love this novella. I picked up the trilogy and just fell in love with it. So when I saw a prequel was coming out I couldn't wait. So they are all getting together for a murder mystery dinner party. Which seriously is one of my favorite things I want to do. It was an interesting story but just didn't stick the landing.

I enjoyed this! It was a quick, easy, and mysterious read. I loved feeling like I was at the dinner party.

I really missed Pip. I wouldn’t mind a collection of Pip stories. This was a great intro to Pip before Pip and Ravi!

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Children's, Delacorte Press for allowing me to read this book. Do I think that this book was necessary to the series? No. But did I have a lot of fun reading it? Absolutely! I love a good who done it, even in a murder mystery party form. I was trying to figure out who it was along with Pip, which made this book so fun and fast paced. Gosh I love this series. 5 stars ⭐️

This is a prequel novella about Pip Fitz-Amobi, the MC of A Good Girl's Guide to Murder. Pip and her friends attend a murder-mystery party and Pip funds herself taking the game quite seriously which ultimately leads her to the decision on what her senior Capstone project will be. It is a fun read and sets the stage for future Pip's actions and discoveries.

If you're a fan of the Good Girl's Guide to Murder series, you will enjoy this quick read.

Thank you NetGalley and Delacorte Press for the advanced reader ebook.

My daughter is 14 years old. Her name is Madilyn (Madi). She has auditory processing disorder & is classified special education in main stream classes with an aid. She never liked to read until this year!! This year, she has been tearing through books! She started the @hojay92 Good girl series & when she was halfway through the second book, I was approved for Kill Joy on NetGalley! She has completed all four books & wanted to share her review on here!!
Here's some general book details:
Book 1: A Good Girls Guide to Murder
Goodreads: 4.35 Madi: 5 Stars
Book 2: Good Girl, Bad Blood Goodreads: 4.35 Madi: 5 Stars Book 3: As Good As Dead Goodreads: 4.20 Madi: 5 Stars Book .5 (Prequel): Kill Joy Goodreads: 3.95 Madi: 4 Stars
Madi's thoughts:
I really liked Holly Jackson's A Good Girls Guide to Murder Series! The writing was so good & kept me so interested. I read these books in under 10 days. The first book made me fall in love with the series. I really enjoyed how Pip obsessed with the case & everything clicked. I loved the way the book was told journal style, I think I felt more connected to Pip this way. The second book was amazing. She thought one more &!it would fix her but it didn't. This book had so many twists & turns & kept me guessing the whole time. The last book was heartbreaking. I was crying every other chapter but i'm glad it ended the way it did. The prequel really brought everything together. It made all three books so much more!
The 2nd book was my favorite & my favorite characters were
Pip & Ravi. I love the two of them together, they have so much chemistry!
Hope you enjoyed this special guest review! Stay tuned for my review shortly!! Thank you to NetGalley, Random House Children's & the author for an arc copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

This novella is a prequel to A Good GirI's Guide To Murder. I loved this book and will definitely be bumping A Good Girl's Guide To Murder up on my TBR. The idea of a murder mystery game was an awesome idea and the story pulled me right in. Pip is my kind of girl definitely interested in learning more about her. The ending was entertaining and a little shocking and Pip's reaction was priceless. Thank you Netgalley and Random House Children's for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Kill Joy is a fun little prequel novella to A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder. While it is written before the events in the first book, it’s really not an introduction to this series. I kind of felt like you’d been thrown in with no idea who these characters were. So, with that in mind, if I was starting this series, I would start with the first book and then you can hit this novella whenever you want within the series. It gives you Pip’s reason’s why she starts the podcast so that was interesting. It’s a murder mystery game and you get sucked in immediately. It’s quite entertaining and I would recommend it.

* ARC provided by NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review. Thank you!

This was a fun read to see how it all started for Pip. I also enjoyed reading about the characters before AGGGTM and knowing the truth about them while Pip didn’t. The game the characters played was interesting and I have the same questions as Pip.
Ant and Lauren are still the worst, if you know you know.
I highly recommend reading this.

I received this book free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Killjoy was a bit of a "killjoy" for me. Holly Jackson's book "A Good Girl's Guide to Murder" was fun to read and moved quickly. I loved her protagonist, Pip, but the books in the series that came after, and now the prequel, Killjoy, were not a big hit for me. While the other books were chunkier, Killjoy was very short. It was simply okay. I liked the game aspect of this and can see her YA audience enjoying it as well. Even though it missed the mark for me, I do think it has potential to enjoyed by the diehard fans of Pip and A Good Girl's Guide to Murder. In my opinion, Jackson had a great thing going and then phoned it in for the rest of the series.

Thanks to NetGalley and Electric Monkey for this ARC.

This was a quick read and it definitely helped me out of my reading slump. I loved the idea of the murder mystery party theme- a bit cliché but so what, lol. I love Holly Jacksons writing and my only gripe I would say is that I am not the right audience for this book. It was a bit YA for me and I felt like I was able to predict a lot of what happened.

Holly Jackson is an instant buy/borrow/request/read author for me. I have read all of her books and they keep me engaged, thinking, plotting, guessing, and amazed every time.
In this novella we are an audience to a murder mystery dinner game with the whole gang. While the mystery is a game, we get a glimpse of Pip and the way her mind works. During the course of this game and afterward we get to be there for when Pip makes the decision on her senior capstone project that sets the rest of the series ablaze. I am currently finishing up the last book in the Good Girls Guide to Murder series and this was a fun prequel to see just how far the story has come.