My parents divorced when I was five, so I had front-row seats to my mother’s dating life. I’d best describe her style as “I Need to Find a Husband or I’m Going to Turn into a Witch and Be Burned at the Stake.” My mother was (still is) a timeless beauty—she’s also smart and funny—but when she was dating someone, I’d watch her turn werewolf-style from a competent, determined authority figure into this entirely not-her version of herself: a desperate, overly flirtatious, subservient ding-dong for shitty men who’d inevitably dump her and leave her in tears. And yes, this is harsh, but this type of personality-corrupting toxic masculinity bullshit didn’t spring up from within her out of nowhere. She was taught to do this, taught that acting sweet, deferential, and noncombative was her best chance at securing a man, aka happiness. I don’t usually listen to podcasts but I loved this book so much I’m actually considering listening to their podcast because I feel like I’m going to miss their sense of humor after I finish this book The book is a dual memoir of Kilgariff and Hardstark. Along with the title of the book, chapter titles in the book are also common catch phrases taken from the podcast, My Favorite Murder. The book also includes personal photos from Kilgariff and Hardstark's life such as family photos or photos from their youth. Critics have noted that though the book does touch on true crime, it is largely a mixture of memoir and self-help. [4] Structure [ edit ] Readers who enjoyed “Tiny Beautiful Things’....advice on love and life by Cheryl Strayed might enjoy this one too. After eighteen years, I was finally free! I was a grown-up, goddamn it! And I was confident my chutzpah and tenacity would get me through anything. Eighteen-year-olds are stupid that way.

In Stay Sexy & Don’t Get Murdered, Karen and Georgia focus on the importance of self-advocating and valuing personal safety over being ‘nice’ or ‘helpful.’ They delve into their own pasts, true crime stories, and beyond to discuss meaningful cultural and societal issues with fierce empathy and unapologetic frankness. My first reaction was "This is another shitty memoir written by some 'popular' blogger who has dipped into narcissism and thinks she has "advice" for the rest of us (or s/he assumes we want to hear every last word about her life and childhood).Karen's chapters were my favorite, by far. But both tended to veer towards Debbie Downer territory. Was it wrong of me to expect more humor and comedy from them? Freaking hysterical, these ladies have a hilarious way of story telling and I was laughing out loud so many times listening it this audiobook Ha... lots more ‘words-of-wisdom’ from where that came from. Eye-rolling cringing stories of “are you kidding me?” Each chapter of Stay Sexy & Don't Get Murdered, is split between Hardstark and Kilgariff telling their own experiences. After a thoughtful pause, I thought maybe I'm just not the intended reader, as I had no clue who these people were or had ever heard of their podcast... Perhaps if I had already known and liked them I would want to hear their life story. For example, I met a new friend a couple of weeks ago (Stephany). I'm jonesing to learn more about her/get to know her better, and I would welcome any story she wanted to shared with me VS. you've never met Stephany so if she showed up at your house talking about her childhood and parents you'd probably yawn and tell her to get off your porch...

Kilgariff and Hardstark bring a much needed dimension to our current, true crime fever dream—an empathetic, slangy dose of acidic humor, weary compassion, and nervous hope. Their podcast is a joy to listen to and this book captures its energy and hilarity perfectly.” —Patton Oswalt, New York Times bestselling author of Silver Screen Fiend If you are a fan of the podcast already: There's a good chance you'll love it. They do talk about things they've discussed on the podcast, but they go into more detail and depth in a heartbreaking, hilarious matter. They also talk about stories and situations they've never talked about on the show. Obviously, the tone's different; it's more demonstrative and narrative. With MFM, it's like you're sitting at a table next to/with Karen and Georgia (and Steven!) as they're talking. With SS&DGM, it's more like they're talking to you, the reader, directly in a one-on-one long phone conversation. The book had its awkward, clunky parts—I think they were trying to keep the podcast vibe going too strongly and the tone didn't translate well in parts—but overall, I still loved it. But amongst all the tears and emotion, there’s so much humour, as to be expected from these two! Karen’s guide on how to be a latchkey kid is hilarious, as is her analogy that being an alcoholic is like shitting in a hot tub ie killing the buzz of everyone around you! LOL. And there were quite a few Stephen King references as well, which I particularly enjoyed... I feel like the story of how Georgia got into true crime is something that a lot of us murderinos can relate to. I feel like a lot of times, people who discuss true crime can rub others the wrong way - after all, this is someone's tragedy that you are consuming for your enjoyment. God, I cried so hard during the first two chapters. And then some more in chapter 5. I LAUGHED MY ASS OFF throughout all of chapter 4 because THAT WAS MY LIFE. And I was totally moved when both Karen and Georgia admitted that we’re always making mistakes and learning from them and that’s “OKAY”.

So apparently this book is written by two ladies who have a podcast called My Favorite Murder which is devoted to their love of true crime. I haven't read the podcast and anyway, this book isn't even really about the podcast; it's about growing up and confronting trauma and overcoming addiction and seeking out therapy and learning to tell people where to get off when you, as a nice person, have been taken advantage of one too many times-- or maybe you're a user, and you need to learn how to tell yourself where to get off for your own bad behavior. This book is about all of those things. It's kind of like someone tossed a self-help book and a memoir into a blender and hit "Murderino." I’d been dreaming of being done with public education and escaping all its bullshit rules since I got detention for yawning too loud when I was in kindergarten, so the dream of college was one I was happy to have neither the academic nor the financial resources to obtain. Instead I moved forty-five minutes away to the sprawling, gritty, insane world that is Los Angeles.

It’s not that I needed the advice given from this book ( I’m an old fart).... but I grew up in the 70s- like Karen did.all in all, 3 stars. one for karen’s chapter about alzheimer’s, another one for karen’s chapter about paul bernardo and one more for karen’s chapter about heloise. there was so much more they could have done with this. they could have inserted more true crime, more interesting stories (gosh, some of them were lame) and I still don’t understand how “being a 13 year old girl is worse than cancer”... BUT that never happens with Karen and Georgia - they always respectful when discussing difficult topics. I have a love/hate relationship with these girls. I love their podcast and normally enjoy listening to them, I love how casual the whole thing feels and I think they’re intelligent and hilarious. We barely get enough time on this planet, so it’s crazy spending that time pleasing others at the cost ourselves”.