It was a bad idea from the beginning. He was my brother’s best friend and the definition of unavailable.

But I didn’t care.

I had loved him for as long as I could remember. He was worth the risk. He was worth everything. But then he broke my heart as easily as I fell for him. He watched me fall, spiraling out of control, and as I reached for him, he wasn’t there to catch me.

So I ran.

Four years later, I never expected to see him again. He was still my brother’s best friend, and he was more unavailable than ever. He looked every bit the bad boy I knew he was, covered in tattoos and a crooked smile. Guarding my heart from him was top priority because Parker James was where good girls go to die.

Unfortunately for him, I wasn’t a good girl anymore.

Genre: Contemporary Romance 

Tropes:

• Brother’s Best Friend
• Second Chance 
• Forbidden Romance 

My Thoughts:

Where The Good Girls Go To Die (WTGGGTD) was a book I saw advertised on TikTok and the snippet I saw instantly had be intrigued, so I subsequently added it to my TBR Jar. It was also my first introduction to Holly Renee, who I’d never heard of previously.

WTGGGTD follows 22 year old Livy Conner’s, 4 years after leaving her hometown Atlanta, moving to Tennessee to leave behind heartbreak from her brother’s best friend. 

We meet Livy reeling in her heartbreak four years later, working an evening shift at her strip club job for a bachelor party. 

As Livy starts through her usual routine, she spots the eyes of someone she’s familiar with. She moves closer, curious to why she recognises those eyes, before realising they belong to Parker James – the one responsible for the heartbreak she’s still reeling in. 

Parker feels the same familiarity between them, before requesting she removes her mask so that he’s able to understand why she seems familiar. Refusing to allow Parker see who she is, she moves onto the next boy, only for her mask to removed by non other than her brother. 

After her mask is removed, her brother Mason is furious at where his sister has been hiding all these years, demanding for her to leave and return home. Livy attempts to divert the conversation away from herself, asking who is the one getting married, only for Parker to reveal it is him. Livy is forced to return home after being fired from the strip club, following the group causing an atmosphere to her dance. 

When returning home, Livy is offered a receptionist job at a local tattoo shop by one of Mason’s friends Brandon, only Livy is unaware that the tattoo shop is also part owned by Parker.

The two navigate being back in each other’s lives, whilst trying to cope with the complicated feelings that have returned following their reunion. 

Livy is determined not to fall back into Parker’s arms as she’s not wanting to suffer the same heartbreak twice. Parker is confused in his feelings for Livy, but remains in preparation for his upcoming wedding to his fiancé Emily. 

The story alternatives between Parker and Lucy’s POV in the present and also in the past of four and a half years ago. During the past chapters, we learn that Livy had a long term crush on Parker that eventually developed between them. The pair kept their short relationship a secret, fearing of the reaction from Livy’s protective brother Mason. 

During the past chapters, Parker is visited by a previous girlfriend, Madison, who he’d broken up with to be with Livy. Madison reveals that she’s pregnant with his child, causing Parker to panic at how it will impact his new relationship with Livy. Livy becomes worried about Parker, as he fails to answer her many calls and texts, so makes the decision to visit his home. When arriving, Livy sees Madison’s car in the driveway and becomes curious about the reason for her visit. She watches the pair through the window, confused at what is going on. When Madison exists Parker’s home, she sees Livy waiting and informs Livy that she’s pregnant with Parker’s child. During the reveal, Madison tells Livy that their relationship must not have been that serious, implying that her and Parker slept together whilst Parker and Livy were together, which subsequently resulted in her pregnancy. It is later revealed during the flashbacks that Madison lost the baby. 

Returning back to the present, Livy meets her work/brother’s friend group following a date, which she brings with her. Livy is introduced to Emily, Parker’s fiancé, but whilst the group are socialising, many of their friends can see Parker and Livy frequently making eye contact. 

Brandon encourages Livy to get her first tattoo, to which she agrees, only Parker forbids her from getting a tattoo unless it is from him. Livy begins looking for a design and comes across a one she can’t resist, only Brandon and Staci inform her that Parker will not allow her to use that tattoo as he’s refused everyone who’s asked for it. 

Livy books time into Parker’s schedule for him to tattoo her, hoping that he’ll allow her to have the design he’s refused from everyone. Parker agrees to tattoo the design onto Livy, revealing that he designed the tattoo for her. After tattooing the design on Livy, tension begins build between the pair, before Parker steps away remembering his fiancé. 

During a work night out, Livy becomes drunk in a bid to escape her feelings for Parker, only she becomes flirty, leaving Parker confused. Parker decides it’s time for Livy to go home, as she’s drank too much, only she refuses telling him she’s having fun. Parker ends up taking Livy home, but the continued tension builds, resulting in them to share a steamy kiss – confusing their feelings even more. Before leaving, Livy tells Parker that he’ll be the one to break Emily because he’s the person where good girls go to die.

Following their kiss, the pair agree to keep their distance and be friends, due to them working with one another and sharing the same circle of friends. 

The group of friends meet up again and during conversation, Livy asks Emily if she has any tattoos. Emily reveals she doesn’t and that she has no plans to, only Livy expresses her thoughts on how strange it is considering her fiancé is covered in them and is also a tattoo artist, before revealing her own recent tattoo done by Parker himself.

The next day, Livy is visited by Emily herself requesting to book in for a tattoo that she intends to surprise Parker with on their honeymoon. Livy is uninterested until Emily reveals the design she’s chosen, which makes her blood run cold, before agreeing to keep it a secret from Parker. Emily reveals she wants to be matching with Parker, as he has the same tattoo. 

When Parker returns, Livy emotionally demands that he doesn’t tattoo the design on Emily as it is a portrait he drew of Livy when they were younger, unbeknownst to Emily. The emotional moment leads to Parker comforting an upset Livy, which then leads to the pair sleeping with one another.

Parker awakes the next day to a missing Livy and instantly becomes worried that she’s disappeared again. He goes searching at her home, only to be met with his colleague and Livy’s friend Staci, who reveals she’s not there and doesn’t want to participate in another affair. This leads Parker to be confused, revealing that he never cheated on Livy with Madison. Staci suggests that in order to fully have Livy, he needs to call off his engagement to show her how committed he is.

Parker goes looking for Emily, where he finds her at their wedding venue for their rehearsal. Parker regretfully informs her that he’s ending their engagement, leaving behind a furious Emily. In the meantime, Livy overheard Parker’s conversation with Staci, where he revealed he didn’t cheat, leading her to begin developing a big gesture to win him back.

The pair reunite and give their relationship a real go, but before they do that, they need to tell Livy’s brother. When Parker begins to tell Mason about his relationship with his sister, Mason jumps ahead and reveals he knew about their relationship four years ago and he knew about it now. 

After telling everyone about their relationship and finally being together, Parker received a phone call informing him that Emily had been in a car accident. Parker arrived at hospital worried to find Emily had been in car accident following her drinking and driving. Parker begins blaming himself for Emily’s accident, thinking if he didn’t break up with her, it wouldn’t have happened. Parker’s friends remind him that it would be unfair to stay with Emily because he doesn’t want to hurt her. Emily wakes up and is apologetic to her drink driving, before reminding Parker that she’s thankful he ended their engagement because she deserves better. 

The story ends ten years later, where Parker and Livy are happily married with two children. 

This was a book that I was so excited to read, but I felt like I was left disappointed because I think I overhyped it in how much I would like it. 

I thought this book was very easy to read, it had very short chapters which switched between past and present, which I think are it easy to progress through the book. This book was 394, but it felt a lot shorter, like 200 pages. 

Something was massively missing from this book, which resulted in me to like it as much as I’d thought I would. I felt like the book lacked depth, it almost felt like a first draft that needed bulking out and redrafted. It felt rushed at times, topics were brushed through and overall, the plot just didn’t seem fully developed.

I enjoyed reading the brother’s best friend trope because it’s something I used to read all the time during WattPad days, but don’t really read much, especially with the whole protective brother/forbidden from dating younger sibling trope. It was revisiting this trope and made me realise how much I love it and miss reading others with the trope included. However, I felt like the writing style was very immature and it took me back to reading on WattPad because it felt like it had been written by a thirteen year old at times. 

I was gutted that I didn’t at least like this book, because I was so excited to read it and every time I choose out of my TBR Jar, I was hoping it would be this series. It just didn’t live up to the expectation I created in my head. I’d seen a teaser of the book on TikTok and it didn’t meet what I was expecting outside of that teaser. 

This is the lowest I’ve ever rated a book and I don’t know how to feel about it, both the book and rating.

My Rating: ⭐️⭐️.5