Did you giggle when you read this title?

I know I did.

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

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

Don't believe me?

Check out this teaser :

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

Message M.

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

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

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

Because M can also stand for murder…

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

After one too many unpleasant encounters with the opposite sex, Millie Masters sets up an escort hotline for women feel unsafe walking home alone at night. That is the extent of her services until her own sister is assaulted and her business takes a more sinister approach: murder. Millie soon becomes the serial killer women have always needed. Such a fun take on revenge with dark humor.

DNF @ 20%. I could not get into this book and found the FMC to be very whiny. I don’t like to give lower than 2 star ratings, just because I didn’t like it doesn’t mean this isn’t a good book or that someone else won’t enjoy it. This book just wasn’t for me.

Wow! This novel had to be hard to write. This is a deeply funny and very dark and astonishingly clever gem of a story. And that is all hard to do with the main character becoming a serial killer. But you know only against villains…mostly. The humor made LOL and the friendship and dedication to her sister? No notes. Thank you NetGalley for the preview in exchange for my honest review. If you have a dark sense of humor or even just a little witty please pick this up!

I’m beginning to think vigilante women seeking justice against deranged men is my new favorite trope. If you agree this is the perfect read for you.

I was SHOCKED to read this was a debut because it is just so masterfully crafted. I could not get enough of Millie and Nina and I really hope there is more of them to come.

Although this is lighthearted and fun to read, please just trigger warnings for sexual assault, self harming and well murder.

Over the last few years I have become a fan of The Finlay Donovan series from Elle Cosimano and who can count out the revenge set by Layne Fargo in They Never Learn, this could be their love child.

I don’t want to say too much and spoil anything, you’ll just have to sacrifice the next 5 hours of your life diving in just like I did.

Don’t forget to grab a glass (or bottle) of wine. 🍷

Thanks to NetGalley for the eARC
5 ⭐️

I knew going in I was going to love this book justice for victims with lots of dark humor thrown in...what's not to love?!
Millie runs a hotline for women to call when they find themselves in a dangerous situation with a man. However when she realizes some of these men need to be stopped, for good, Millie moves to a more permanent solution. You can't help but love Millie and any woman can relate to many of the feelings laid out in "How to Kill a Guy in Ten Ways". If you enjoyed Finlay Donovan, you'll enjoy this book by Eve Kellman.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book in advance of publication.

“Things are not going to plan, but I’m only a quitter when it comes to work, hobbies, relationships, diets and most friendships. Not murder. So we will roll with what we have.”

Special thanks to the author & NetGalley.com for the Advanced Reader Copy 🥰

Ok talk about a rollercoaster ride. I think the rating I was going to give was everything from 1⭐️ to 5⭐️ throughout reading. Our FMC Millie is a lot to unpack, at least for me. There were times I wanted to punch her, times I wanted to hug her and times I wanted to just tell her to take a deep breath. At the beginning of the story, her interactions with her “friends” had me making a note of “ok, then why hang out with them if you dislike them so much”.. but the way her relationship and friendship blossoms with Nina is very important to what my final rating ended up being. Without giving too much away, the way Millie protects her sister feels extremely realistic however there are points throughout the story where you question whether you agree or disagree with Millie’s morals while protecting Katie. All in all, a great 4 ⭐️ with a plot that felt new, fresh and unique. Would def recommend to the right person!

I love women empowerment type thrillers. I was really rooting for the main character, and loved how she was helping people. The twists and story were so exciting

"How to Kill a Guy in Ten Ways" is a darkly hilarious and socially relevant book about vigilante justice, led by Millie Masters, who is committed to protect women from predatory men. She starts this hotline, Message M, to help out girls who feel unsafe, but things escalate real quick when she decides murder might be the best solution to deal with repeat offenders. Kellman did amazing job with combining comedy and important social commentary, with Millie's relentless pursuit of justice.

But in spite of its intriguing premise, the book has trouble keeping up with the pace, especially in the middle when the story gets overtaken by a lot of detail and too many characters. The story's overall impact is diminished by its recurrent themes and dull middle sections.

Even while Millie has a fascinating personality, her critical and aloof attitude make it hard to like her, especially with her interactions with her sister and closest friend. However, the book is successful in depicting Millie's slow spiral into obsession and provides a nuanced view of her complicated mental state. As readers are dragged farther into her world of unclear morals and revenge, the novel becomes more tense as her sanity slowly unravels.

This was really interesting read, I would recommend it for readers who like unconventional books with strong female characters.

Delivers exactly what it promises! Sort of stomach-churning to be in Millie’s head but in the best way. A big recommend for people disappointed by the execution of Promising Young Woman.

At first, I was hesitant to read a book about a serial killer. However, I loved this. A revenge fiction story that was feminist and thrilling and dark and twisted, but also,,,, surprisingly funny? What a fantastic debut! I was super impressed by this book, and I'll definitely be waiting impatiently to see what Eve Kellman writes next!

This was a refreshing plot and based on how it shaped out, I feel like it came straight out of my own brain. I've always kind of wished for a book where the main character didn't back out after all of the bad and fall in love with the love interest who miraculously forgave her. Having this end the way it did was unique and interesting and brings up a lot of good book discussion questions on morality and doing bad for good reasons. Obviously the main character did bad for a bad reason at the end, but there's an optimistic spin on it and I appreciate how she stuck through with it and came out the other side.

I am very excited to be reading this book! My full review to follow.
Thank you to the author, publisher and NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I requested this book on NetGalley because it was categorized as humor and as mystery/thriller. It is neither of these things. It is instead the tale of a narcissistic female serial killer who, while meting out her sense of vigilante(?) justice, also manages to kill and otherwise harm innocents to protect herself from the consequences of her actions.

Millie, our protagonist, had a horrific childhood and is having a not very important adulthood, until her younger sister is raped and Millie decides to take action. She starts with an anonymous helpline for women and ends with murdering numerous men whom she believes - rightly or wrongly - have harmed or will harm women.

Millie's story is not funny in any way. She is not funny in any way. Her actions erase most sympathy a reader might feel about her past and the book overall falls flat and just feels really sad. Sad that Millie's mother sucks, sad that a hotline like hers is needed, sad that she isn't really sad about all of the things she does. Sad that she allows good men to fall for the sake of her own continued existence and freedom. I only did not DNF this book because I was hoping to see some ending other than the one Millie got.

One star. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a complimentary ARC of this book. These opinions are my own.

This ARC eBook was sent to me by NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

DNF @ 16%
I found the main character annoying and unrealistic. I didn’t like the formatting of the book or the crude commentary from the main character. It tried to keep going but ultimately it is a no from me.