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3 “I KNEW IT�� stars

༺♥�� Overview

I think I was expecting something grand and surprising like AGGGTM and this fell a little short but let’s be honest, nothing can top AGGGTM literally the best <3

I thinking reading mystery after mystery started to make me a bit more observant 'cause I started to pick up on things very quickly and started piecing together stuff before it was even mentioned (im so proud). But let’s just say I read it for the mystery and stayed for the family. like everyone says - it is one fucked up family.

༺♥༻What to expect

📬familial secrets
📬captivating writing
📬almost a slow burn mystery (i say this as if i didn't finish it in one sitting)

SPOILERS AHEAD
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(view spoiler)[I did not like Bel (at first). Bel was a bold, relentlessly annoying, sharp-tongued kid [complete contrast to Pip (AGGGTM)] so I wasn’t used to it and it took the whole book for me to actually warm up to her 😭 She was unique tho, a flawed character and seeing things from her perspective helped me warm up to her. For example, in the beginning I was thought she was being paranoid, suspecting Rachel and stuff, like hello its your mother, but given her life story, it started to make sense. Then there were moments where SHE acted like the 15 year old kid and Carter was the older cousin instead 😭 But her unfiltered comments and unhinged interactions with Ash were kinda funny and I loved it loll. I’m so glad to see her grow.

“Some hurts were good: friends grew apart, people moved away, they left. It didn’t have to last forever to count. Things ended, this was ending, but that didn’t mean it never mattered.��

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🎥Rachel and The Prices

(view spoiler)[Rachel was a force to be reckoned with, Idt i doubted her for one moment and honestly she might have been one of my fav characters (if there were others that were likable��) she did what she had to do and all her interactions with the other family members especially Charlie and Carter started to make sense after the ending. (hide spoiler)]

༺♥༻Plot & Writing/Pace

A couple of things that knocked down the stars:

1. The main thing about the book that confused me was the plot. (view spoiler)[Holly Jackson is really good with her writing ofc but the plot uhhhh��. the beginning and everything leading up to the big reveal made sense, it looked like it was going to be connected in one swift, non-confusing conclusion. but after the big reveal i was just left with more questions. the reappearance of Rachel made more sense than the story behind her disappearing and enacting revenge. idt i ever pictured Rachel capable of doing anything like revenge and the stuff following it, but ig anything for our family right? I will admit, the family bond made me a bit emotional near the end. (hide spoiler)]

2. The ending felt so rushed and felt like just everything was swept under the rug. (view spoiler)[Like let’s not get into the messy detail of how three people ran away and how easy it was to convince one of them blah blah blah. (hide spoiler)]

3. The mention of gut and twisting and knotting. I honestly thought it would be like one of those characters tells where we know we got something right or were close to the truth, it prob was i just didn't last long enough to find out. it got too much, at one point, I skimmed past the pages.

4. Like I mentioned I was expecting something grand. (view spoiler)[Alot of woahhhh twists and turns, ig we got that with the grandpa and Carter reveal…but with Charlie I was expecting a bit more backstory, a stronger intention that would tip the scales and be like ohhh shii. Also the fact that Rachel knew he was going to kill her was like woah wait what. that part was unexpected oop. i think i would have liked Charlie’s character to be developed a bit more, instead he was just a name on the page acting as a main antagonist. (hide spoiler)]

I loved AGGGTM and ig i expected the same wow factor but still I’m curious to see what Holly Jackson will bring to our literary world in the future! Overall, at least we got our happy ending. #familyfirst