Reviews with content warning for Alcohol - Plain Bad Heroines

glad to have read this, because the concept is fresh and interesting, and I need to read more wholly sapphic books. but it tried to do too much and didnt pull it off.
this review on tumblr by flying-elliska has all my thoughts well said:
https://www.tumblr.com/flying-elliska/672822130083233792/and-now-for-sapphic-reads-time-the-sequel-tm?source=share

pros:
- the setting was a fleshed out character in itself and I loved that. the orchard apples, the tower, the orangerie, the beach, etc.
- I liked the story of the original woman, simone, who lived on the land.
- some imagery was definitely creepy and disturbing, especially eating wasps.
- the main characters were interesting, and I liked that they became a poly triad rather than a love triangle.

cons:
- too many characters, too much rambling, too meta, too plotty and just too long.
- I never really got truly creeped out. it just didnt sink deep enough into that and there wasnt enough real danger. the deaths were distant and over fast. didnt feel that sad at any of them.
- more interesting to see more flo and Clara for sure.

a different read for sure and I'm glad I read it, but disappointing and a bit slow too.

Content Warnings

brookey8888's review against another edition

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dark funny mysterious slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

This is such a hard book for me to rate and review. There’s so much I loved about it, but it was just so long and drawn out that I would find myself not caring or interested. It also was hardly spooky except like one part. I really liked all the character interactions and the plot when it happened, but there was just to much explaining. I did really like the queer relationships in this and that was one of my favorite parts. I do like how the author would talk to you at times as well as the footnotes.

Content Warnings

jessiereads98's review against another edition

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dark mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Plain Bad Heroines is a dual timeline story encompassing a cursed boarding school from the 1900s and the Hollywood movie being made about it today.

This story is told with a very distinctive narrative voice. I enjoyed the humour and snark of it. I for one didn’t mind the footnotes. I can see how this voice and the use of footnotes might grate on some people though. I do wish the narration choice had been explained, as that seemed to be part of the story. I didn’t always care for the frequently repeated Mary MacLane quotes. Some of them worked, but at times it felt forced in and not relevant. I also didn’t understand the refusal to state the year of current timeline, then ultimately revealing it indirectly towards the end.

The sapphic relationships in both timelines play a starring role and it’s main characters are one of the most compelling parts. I enjoyed the relationship between our modern plain bad heroines the most. The relationship between Alex and Libbie was fine, but I found it boring and repetitive at times. I did appreciate the look at historical queer culture and relationships. The relationship between Flo and Clara which the book purports to be partially about is pretty much ignored which is disappointing. I would’ve much rather read about the original Plain Bad Heroines Society and that year at Brookhants from the students’ perspectives than Alex and Libbie’s perspective. Emily Danforth does do a great job comparing and contrasting the two timelines as foils throughout the book.

Unfortunately, side characters who are sorely neglected. I was left wondering throughout the book about Audrey’s mom, Merritt’s parents, and Elaine Brookhants and their stories. Emily Danforth couldn’t seem to decide whether to include these stories or not, so what I was left with as a reader was a bunch of pointless dangling threads.

Bringing things up to leave them unresolved is a common problem in this book. Harper’s family and relationships are brought up a few times, but there never seems to be any point or any furthering of the story surrounding them. Audrey’s friend Noel pops up on occasion seemingly just to tell Audrey that something is bad, as if Audrey and the readers couldn’t already tell. Details are brought up or events happen that are later just ignored or contradicted. There is a whole lot of nothing or wasted pages, which creates problems in pacing. This book drags through the middle and then rushes at the end.

I liked the ending while reading it, it’s immersive in the storytelling and makes sense on its own. However, it does make the previous 600ish pages seem pointless and leave multiple holes. The ending was almost completely unrelated to the story I read, and left several holes. In an ideal world, that ending would’ve been better set up for rather than spending the book on a completely different track not even able to see the track that the ending was on at almost any point. I was left with more questions than answers by the ending.

This did do some horror bits very well. There were times where I found myself legitimately a little scared while reading. Danforth’s use of metafiction to make it so the reader is left unsure along with the protagonist enhances the horror throughout the story.

While I enjoyed this for the most part, it was too long and had too much going on.

Content Warnings