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A review by thesincoucher
Plain Bad Heroines by Emily M. Danforth
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
I want to pat myself on the head because I thought I didn't have the ability of reading a book longer than 400pp anymore. It helps when a book is as awesome as this one so not all the credit goes to me. Before I forget I want to give a shout-out to one of the characters that doesn't even have a line in the book, Lily Strichtfield, who, when told about the messy business of the movie, said Hell No and went on to live her life in a normal way. Not all heroes wear capes!
Things that I really loved about Plain Bad Heroines:
- The narrator: I love when the narrator is a separate character and this one gave a lot of flavor to the book. This was the best way to tell this story, without a doubt. I'm a huge fan of footnotes on novels so they added more brownie points for me.
- This is the story of a book inside a book and very much aware of that and I love that fully awareness. I loved that Danforth knows her characters and uses them to maximum effect to tell this story.
- The story is the sapphic story of my dreams involving a boarding school and a horror movie and the people who are trapped there. This kind of books make me so happy because they were not there when I was growing up (or at least, not in easy reach) and now I have so many to choose from.
- There were moments deliciously atmospheric. Danforth knows how to write gothic horror well.
- This book was chunky but it did very much feel like it needed to be. It tells a whole story and when you finish it, you feel satisfied with it. I cannot ask for more.
I have the Miseducation of Cameron Post but now I'm putting it higher in my reading pile.
Things that I really loved about Plain Bad Heroines:
- The narrator: I love when the narrator is a separate character and this one gave a lot of flavor to the book. This was the best way to tell this story, without a doubt. I'm a huge fan of footnotes on novels so they added more brownie points for me.
- This is the story of a book inside a book and very much aware of that and I love that fully awareness. I loved that Danforth knows her characters and uses them to maximum effect to tell this story.
- The story is the sapphic story of my dreams involving a boarding school and a horror movie and the people who are trapped there. This kind of books make me so happy because they were not there when I was growing up (or at least, not in easy reach) and now I have so many to choose from.
- There were moments deliciously atmospheric. Danforth knows how to write gothic horror well.
- This book was chunky but it did very much feel like it needed to be. It tells a whole story and when you finish it, you feel satisfied with it. I cannot ask for more.
I have the Miseducation of Cameron Post but now I'm putting it higher in my reading pile.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Car accident
Moderate: Confinement, Mental illness, Suicide, and Forced institutionalization