Reviews tagging 'Sexual content'

Plain Bad Heroines by Emily M. Danforth

36 reviews

sparklefarm's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Loveable characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

Well, that was a weird one. Very very gay. I didn't not like it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Sexual violence

Minor: Sexual content

thekatreturns's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny mysterious medium-paced

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

4.75

I adored this book. I won’t say too much so as not to spoil it, but it was my favorite read of the year. It feels like a rebuttal to the way that horror stories are often told, but beyond being a statement about the world, it is frightening, engaging, and deeply, darkly funny in its own right. The main cast is almost entirely lesbian and bisexual women who are distinct and flawed and real and so interesting to watch interact. That said, unless I missed something, the main cast is all white Americans with some degree of class privilege. The class aspect is intentional and absolutely commented upon, for what that’s worth, and the supporting cast is racially diverse, so that’s why I marked “it’s complicated” for diversity. I knocked a half point off because I wanted more worldbuilding out of the ending, for what was revealed then to be discussed as it relates to the previous events of the book, but the very last chapters were immensely satisfying nonetheless. I would highly recommend this to horror fans of all kinds, metafiction fans, those who like stories interweaving the past and present, anyone into Fraught Female Friendships, and those who just love really wonderful-in-all-their-flaws queer woman characters. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Mental illness, Suicide, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Cursing, Drug use, Homophobia, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual content, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Lesbophobia, Fire/Fire injury, Outing, and Classism

Minor: Addiction, Alcoholism, Biphobia, Racism, Violence, Car accident, Murder, and Pregnancy

Insects, specifically yellowjackets, feature heavily in this book. They are included in nearly all of the horror elements. For me, graphic=extremely unavoidable, long, plot crucial elements. moderate= plot or thematically relevant, but don’t stand out as particularly graphic. Minor=not described in detail.

matcha_cat's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death

Moderate: Sexual content, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Body shaming, Homophobia, Infidelity, Vomit, Fire/Fire injury, and Alcohol

ksgoetz's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content

Moderate: Body horror, Death, Drug use, Fatphobia, Homophobia, Mental illness, Misogyny, Sexual assault, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Suicide attempt, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pregnancy, Lesbophobia, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

eve_reads's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

3.25

Overall Thoughts:

⁕ Danforth's ability to flesh out characters is strong, but comes at the cost of a painfully slow narrative. Even though I appreciated the depth of the contemporary characters (Meritt, Audrey, and Harper), it took FOREVER for them to be united and on the set of Brookhants. Once there, only a minimal amount time was spent in the spooky gothic setting that I picked the book up for in the first place.

⁕ I was disappointed with the weak connection between the contemporary storyline and the historic one. There was so much potential for a paranormal overlap (or, at the least, a metaphorical one), but after hundreds of pages of build-up, both storylines diverged and went their separate ways? It was infuriating!

⁕ This book did have its moments. The unreliable, self-aware narrator gives major Lemony-Snicket-tells-ghost-story-vibes, and when the action did move forward I was gripped by it. I just wish these features of the book had been more consistent.

⁕ SPOILER: I hate that the entirety of the horror elements in this book are rooted in the sexual assault of a woman that's not even really introduced until the last 100 pages or so. Way to use random, gendered acts of violence as a plot device (*read that last sentence as sarcasm*)!

To read my full review, visit: https://evereads.online/
For regular book-related content, follow my Instagram account: @eve_reads 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Bullying, Child death, Confinement, Death, Mental illness, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Grief, and Lesbophobia

kharlan3's review against another edition

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Gore, Death of parent, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Suicide

Minor: Homophobia, Mental illness, Sexual content, Pregnancy, and Alcohol

Yellow jackets feature heavily in the horror

eleanora's review against another edition

dark medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, and Grief

Moderate: Mental illness, Forced institutionalization, Pregnancy, and Gaslighting

Minor: Homophobia, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Dementia, Car accident, Abortion, Fire/Fire injury, and Alcohol

callikat's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-paced

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

3.75

I think the premise is extremely cool. I love the movie set twist, the haunted location, and the wlw romances. However, I do not feel it met my expectations.

First of all, it is LONG. I almost DNFed it 150 pages in, because nothing had happened yet. And for so much character exposition, the characters themselves didn't feel very authentic. We got glimpses of their insecurities, feelings, and secrets but it never went past the surface. I think that's why the climax at the end didn't work for me -- you expect to get emotional over all of the betrayal, but then no one has any reaction and everything just ends. 

I also didn't really like the switch from different time periods. One part of the book takes place in modern day, as they film a movie about these two girls who died under mysterious circumstances, Clara and Flo. The other part of the book takes place in 1902 - the time period the girls actually died. However, while we learn about the two actresses (and the writer) in modern day, we never really learn about Clara and Flo, because the 1902 scenes are not about them -- they're about the headmistress and her partner. And to be honest it's hard to get interested in their story when the girls in modern day only talk about Clara and Flo. I wish the 1902 scenes had been about Clara and Flo, and then we could learn more about the girls in modern day/how they connect to the original heroines. 

It was still a good book, I really did like the plot. I guess I just wish there had been a clearer point to it all, I wish we had gotten to know the characters better, and I wish we could have seen more of the movie being filmed! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Homophobia, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Homophobia, Infidelity, Mental illness, Sexual content, and Fire/Fire injury

jacemchale's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

I really didn't expect to enjoy this book so much when I started it but now I think a piece of me will hold onto the story and all of it's characters.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Drug use, Sexual content, and Alcohol

Minor: Alcoholism, Cursing, Mental illness, Sexism, Sexual violence, Suicide, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Vomit, Dementia, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

maryellen's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Grief, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Sexual assault and Lesbophobia

Minor: Sexual content