Holly Jackson did a wonderful job with her first novel as a re-release I think it is a classic mystery, thriller, suspense that we bookies enjoy! The twists, turns, and the emotional heartstrings that were invested in finding Jet's killer before she herself passes. Having been attacked, the timeline in this book is very condensed, but it truly works. I was a huge fan of Jet and her pursuing her own resolve. Power to the FMC! If you enjoy Holly Jackson and twists and turns, someone in their mid-to-late 20's, and modern times I believe that you will love this just as I did! I did not put all the pieces together and it was surprising to me, I enjoyed it nonetheless! I got through this in 24 hours and I am not sad about it!! Thank you so much to Netgalley, Ballantine Publishing, and Holly Jackson for the ARC!

After being attacked in her kitchen on Halloween, Jet wakes up in the hospital with only a week to live and sets out to find her killer.

I loved loved loved this book and couldn’t put it down. The constant anxiety was so worth it. Knowing the entire book that the main character is going to die… what a ride. The author wrote that part of the plot perfectly. It was funny, it was sad, it had me on the edge of my seat the entire time. Small town living and family dysfunction at its finest. This is Holly Jackson’s first adult novel and she really knocked it out of the park!

Thanks to the publisher and netgalley!

Am a huge fan of Holly Jackson and her ya novels. I was super excited to get this book because it sounded fantastic. The idea was new and interesting and I couldn't wait to read it. It immediately went to the top of my TBR pile.

Needless to say I could not put this book down. I started it Mid-Afternoon while my kids were swimming in the pool. Thinking I was just going to read for a few hours while they were in the pool.. I didn't put the book down until close to midnight. I had to finish it. I had to know who did it. Had to know how it wrapped up.

I sort of figured out the killer before it was announced. It seemed obvious once I figured it out and it was announced, but Holly Jackson did such a good job placing seeds of doubt. + Suspicion on several other characters. For most of the book. I thought one person did it + he was innocent the whole time. That is the mark of a a great author, and I can't wait to read whatever she thinks of next.

Thank you netgalley for this Arc in exchange for an honest review.

I had been debating to give this a 4 star, very close!! I couldn’t get into it at first unlike her other books. One of my favorite things about the book was the writing style, it made the book more enjoyable. I felt like the plot was a little stuck, meaning like there was nothing happening for a bit and it caused me not to want to pick up the book again. I liked how the story ended, it was intriguing. I still had a very delightful time with this book, 3.80/5

This is Holly’s best work yet. She has a way of making her characters so relatable and human. I found myself wanting to be Jet’s friend and witness first-hand her wit and sarcasm. Not Quite Dead Yet made me laugh, cry, and want to throw my book. It is in my top 3 thrillers of all time!

Wow! I've never read any of Holly Jackson's previous novels and this one hooked me. I couldn't put this down. The story takes place over a weeks time making it a quick read. Quick reads make a book great to pick up when you don't know what else to read or haven't read in quite some time. I loved Jet's character more and more as the story went on. The chemistry between Jet and Billy was a great addition to the novel. I'm thoroughly impressed by how the novel read from start to finish. The character development. The back story of each character. It was all very thorough and well done. I was sucked in. So deep. The ending shook me. Completely unexpected, but so perfect.

If you like true crime mysteries then this is for you. The twists and turns keep on coming, but you get to experience the solve in real time. It's thrilling. I'm looking forward to reading some of Holly Jackson's back log.

Please note: The F word is used on repeat. I just overlooked it, but if that is offensive to you then this might bother you.

I’ll start right out by saying – I loved this book! I wasn’t sure what to expect, as this author can be a bit hit and miss for me, but once I started reading, I couldn’t stop.

Not Quite Dead Yet has a unique promise- after a brutal attack, Jet Mason has only a week to live. And what better way to spend that week, then by solving her own murder. Her investigation uncovers family secrets, town scandals, and even past murders. I enjoyed reading Jet’s perspective, which is humorous and poignant, and the secondary characters offered a lot of dimension and even romance! While I did figure out the ending, I still felt that there were a lot of surprises along the way. Highly recommend!

Thank you to the author, publishers, and NetGalley for allowing me to read this ARC.

4.5 stars

Thank you to #Netgalley and Ballantine for the advanced copy of this book. This publishes July 22.

What to expect in this book:

-Neighborhood thriller
-Told over the course of one week
-Solving a murder
-Unique concept
-New England setting
-Told in chronological order

Thoughts

Okay this is hands down my favorite thriller of 2025! Holly Jackson is brilliant, as always, and I feel that this one ties with The Reappearance of Rachel Price as my favorite of hers. Jet Mason has seven days to live. She is part of one of the wealthiest families in her small town of Woodstock, Vermont and at twenty-seven years old, Jet has not accompished as much as she thought she would. On Halloween night, Jet goes to a party and when she returns home she is violently attacked. Upon waking, Jet learns that she despite almost dying in the attack, she now only has a week to live due to a a deadly aneurysm. With only days left of her life, Jet teams up with her best friend, Billy, to solve her own murder.

I think every single person in my life has heard me talk about this book this week. I love when there is some underlying storyline at the heart of a thriller that makes it more interesting and there were several in this one. I think this is one of the most unique thrillers I have read, as we have a character trying to solve her own murder while she is still alive. There were so many side characters in this and while I thought it would get confusing, I ended up understanding everything and felt that the author tied up all the loose ends well. This was told over the course of the week after Halloween and I love when a book is written chronologically, especially since our main character had a deadline, her own life. This made the pace feel excelerated and kept me reading. I could not stop thinking about this book when I was not reading it.

The pacing was a little slow in the beginning, but I think once you understand the characters, it picks up really quick. There are no mentions of sex and while there is violence and murder, there is nothing terribly graphic. Overall, I highly recommend this to anyone who has loved Holly's previous works, especially the Good Girls Guide to Murder series, as we have a

I would rate this book 3,5 stars.. I did enjoy this book and it kept me entertained but one detail kept bothering me. It was very unrealistic that the main character would get her head bashed in and then proceed to do all of things that she did to try to solve her “murder”.

also posted on goodreads

✨✨✨ - 3 stars rounded to 3

𝓸𝓿𝓮𝓻𝓪𝓵𝓵:
💣 violence: 6/10 (skull bashed in, punches, guns, mentions of a roof falling on someone, <b>got pretty graphic</b>)
🌶️ spice: 1/10 (nothing except a kiss & mentions of 'screwing around')
🤬 language: 😳/10 (d*mn, b*tch, h*ll, sh*t, f**k [used SO MUCH 💀], c*nt, etc.)
➕ other content: 1/10 (woman had an affair)
👩🏼 age rating: 15+

𝓽𝓻𝓸𝓹𝓮𝓼:
↠ 7 days to live
↠ victim gets revenge
↠ the amateur detective
↠ detective team-up
↠ twist ending
↠ somewhat slow burn

**SPOILERS AHEAD**

𝓬𝓱𝓪𝓻𝓪𝓬𝓽𝓮𝓻𝓼:

<u>jet</u>:
↠ SO A-NNOY-ING. like what
↠ I was actually kinda bothered about the fact that she didn't really care that she had limited time, like in public she would pull the 'I have 7 days left' card, but then with family or billy, she acted like an obnoxious teenager
↠ her mom was def not my fav, but I feel like jet shouldn't have pushed her mom and dad away as much bc that's hard for her and her parents in the end
↠ okay yes she WAS funny at times like she had me laughing before I realized that I didn't like her and had to stop ("<i>die now, or in a week? toast or cereal? both?</i>" 😂 like reallll)
↠ SHE LIKES FROGS!!!! 🫂🐸
↠ the fact that she called it a murder when in reality it wasn't since SHE DIDN'T DIE WHEN SHE WAS CONKED IN HER HEAD 😒
↠ I won't lie, I am SO glad holly followed through with the 7 days left plot and actually killed this girl off because 1. I was so done with her at the end, although she was getting kinda better and 2. every other author tries to get out of killing of the fmc in these types of books, so the fact that holly actually did it made me so happy and she got a star for that <33

<u>billy</u>:
↠ MY MANNNN 🤭😘💗💕💜💐
↠ idek how he handled her for that long
↠ byyye the fact that she wasn't friends with billy for YEARS, but then wants to be friends with him again just made me sad for billy bc like he's only wanted when
↠ one of the stars is for him because he's so sweet to a girl who is a brat
↠ and like the end how she basically died thinking he was the murderer?! made my heart hurt for billy and billy only
↠ ...where can I find him!?!? 😏🤭

<u>luke</u>:
↠ DUUUUDE, I THOUGHT IT WAS HIM (I mean it was, just different murder)
↠ like it worked out! he touched jj's red wig, the hair was on the ground where jet was “murdered”, he had no alibi since jet found the evidence on his phone that he wasn’t with sophia…
↠ LIKE SERIOUSLY THOUGH I. WAS. CONVINCED. IT WAS HIM!! 🕵🏼‍♀️😒
↠ not much else, he really had no personality, some anger issues, and then ending was nice ig

<u>sophia</u>:
↠ I STRONGLY disliked her! she was really annoying, reminded me of a cranky teen
↠ like wdym you can't swear around the baby?! HE 👏🏼 CAN'T 👏🏼 UN- 👏🏼 DER - 👏🏼 STAND 👏🏼 YOU👏🏼 HE'S A BABY 😯🧐 like I don’t condone swearing, but I’m not seeing the problem here

<u>jet’s parents</u>:
↠ tbh I liked her dad at the beginning, but then I didn’t really after awhile
↠ like I get their daughter only had 7 days left to live and they had the right to want to spend time w/ her, but they were just like really pushy *eye twitch*
↠ also the fact that her mom had an affair, like WHAT EWW

𝓸𝓽𝓱𝓮𝓻 𝓽𝓱𝓸𝓾𝓰𝓱𝓽𝓼:
↠ okay so I thought I had predicted the murderer 25% in (WHICH I DID, JUST FOR A DIFFERENT MURDER) which made the rest of the book really boring tbh, BUT. the end?! I was really looking forward to holly's plot twist since this was murder and there's no way she can't not write a plot twist
↠ I get this was her first adult book and reading it from a teen pov, I honestly think if you can handle the gory, violent details, any teens would be fine. it was a little slow, but that's expected since she was writing for a different audience
↠ also, except for a couple things, it really felt like she was writing for her teen audience, like at some points when jet was talking, I was just like wait is she really 27? bc she wasn’t acting like it…
↠

𝓮𝓭𝓲𝓽𝓸𝓻𝓲𝓪𝓵 𝓷𝓸𝓽𝓮𝓼:
↠ none…?? Might re-read at some point when the actual book comes out 😄


𝓬𝓸𝓷𝓬𝓵𝓾𝓼𝓲𝓸𝓷:
tbh, I really tried to like this book! the only thing that kept me going was billy (<33) but then it really wasn’t worth it at the end.
if you’re a holly jackson fan who’s an adult, or even a mature teen, then I would most likely recommend this to you on the basis that it can get more towards the ya side at some parts.



thanks for reading my review! 🫶🏼💜

Absolute favorite Holly Jackson book to date.... love the combination of humor and suspense. Jet can't finish anything she starts, but she's got big plans. However, suddenly all the things she's been saving for "later" have a very, very fast timeline. With just days to live, can Jet figure out who killed her before she dies... for real. Twisty, turny, funny, but also a reminder that life is fleeting. So good.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me to review this book.

There were a lot of twists in this one that I appreciated. I thought I knew what was going on...until I didn't. I love how the MC learned how to live even as she was fighting death. I didn't want to put this book down!

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House for the an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Y’all this book made me cry and not in a fun way. In my opinion this was one of Holly Jackson’s sadder books. Starting the book knowing the main character is going to die just makes it all the more tragic. There was definitely humor in this book though (maybe one too many death jokes). I was excited about this book since it was Holly’s first novel in the adult genre. However, it read like all her YA books other than a lot of swearing. I tend to not gravitate toward murder mystery because it’s generally easy to guess the killer but this book had enough twists to keep me guessing.

This book is not my favorite Holly Jackson, but it sits comfortably with the rest of her catalogue. I liked the premise of a women solving her own murder, and her compelling characterizations of Jet and Billy made me root for them even when the mystery slogged on a bit. I think that you will enjoy this book less than the others if you are not interested in the characters at all, and only are reading for the mystery, you won't be interested. However, I was very moved by the characters, Jet redeems herself with her new outlook in life, and Billy is perpetually charming. The mystery does take a little while longer, and it isn't the most shocking result, but the last 15% of the book is a wild ride, and kept me on my toes. I liked the discussion about Jet's debilitating state and how that affected her. Holly Jackson's writing style is more mature and melodic than her YA books, which make the book more immersive. I would recommend this book to be read during Fall. Was pleasant to read in the moment, but not the most memorable.

This was such a great debut to adult thriller/mystery for Holly Jackson. I loved everything about this book and it really kept me guessing until the very end. Excellent job I will be raving about this one for a while!

Not Quite Dead Yet by Holly Jackson
5 stars

arc read
Pub Date | 7/22/2025

Holly Jackson is my QUEEN of YA thrillers. She is one of the authors that really got me into thrillers and I was so excited to get this arc from netgalley so I could devour another HJ book.

Story takes place around Halloween in our little small town, we have our FMC who is back home because life just has not been working out for her. We have her ex show up pretty early saying how desperately he needs to talk to her, she blows him off because life moto is literally "i'll do it later" Hence why she is back home in her small town.

Unfortunately the story literally takes a tragic turn on our day of Halloween. Our FMC is attacked, meant to be murdered (when I tell you my flabbers were gasted because I did not read the blurb and it was literally right there lol) BUT she LIVES. Barely. The doctor tells her she has 7 days. So life moto from "i'll do it later" switched up to "i'm going to solve my own murder"

This is not a happy story. This is not a romance. This is a thriller. This is emotional. There are secrets and there are threats. There is no point in this book where you do not know what to believe and who did this. Every page was a true page turner and I truly felt so many emotions for the FMC during this like I personally knew her.

I requested this ARC fully expecting it to get denied because Holly Jackson is such a big author, so you can imagine my surprise when I got accepted. I just knew that I had to read this as soon as I could because this is highly anticipated read for me. And where do I even start? Holly Jackson, you have done it again!

Jet has a seven days to solve her own murder, and yes this is a fact. Not Quite Dead Yet follows Jet who has received several blows to the head during her attempted murder on Halloween. The doctors diagnose her with seven days until her injuries will cause a huge aneurysm with will ultimately leave to her death, and during the seven days, she is determined to catch the killer.

Let's face it, Jet is not that likeable, she's not supposed to be but yet you can understand why. Imagine knowing that you've been murdered but it's going to happen in a weeks time and you've done nothing with you life. She's desperate to do a something that actually might make a difference that is important to her because who else will? Certainly not her family that's for sure. However, on the other hand, protect Billy at all costs! I just wanted to give him a big hug and for him to have a happy ending. Holly Jackson, when I find you!

This books is fast paced, the premise is unique and the end! You know exactly what's going to happen but I was hoping for a miracle. I wanted my Billy to be happy! It had me hooked from the first page. Holly Jackson has created a story that is gripping but heartbreaking at the same time. Though as much I enjoyed and love this book, I did think that it read like her other young adult novels, just making Jet older to appear more mature.

I'm going to need three business to recover because I am unwell. Not Quite Dead Yet does not disappoint, everyone needs to read this when it officially comes out next month.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with this ARC in exchange for a honest review.

I was thoroughly delighted reading this book, as I love a good whodunit. This is billed an adult thriller/mystery, but I felt the writing put it squarely in the New Adult category. The twists and turns were well plotted and the characters were all well fleshed out. The murder was violent and graphic. I found the ending to be thoroughly satisfying. I loved Jet and determination, and liked how she reacted to the situations within the story. An A+ read!

4.5 stars

Holly Jackson, the way your mind works is insane and I love it. The concept of this was so intriguing and unlike anything I've ever read. Following a character who tries to solve their own murder with only 7 days left to live is one of the most interesting plots I've come across and I enjoyed everything about it. I adored our two main characters, Jet and Billy, and I loved the small sprinkles of romance. The writing was engaging, easy to get lost in, and full of twists, as expected from a Holly Jackson book. It was a rollercoaster of emotions and I had no idea where anything was going, but I loved every second. This was one of my most anticipated reads of the year and it absolutely did not disappoint.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an arc!

I loved AGGGTM so I was really excited to read her newest book. The premise was so interesting and just a crazy idea. I wasn’t sure how it would work but it was pretty engaging and interesting. I felt it was a bit hard to believe and buy into, but once I did, i was hooked.