Reviews

The Dead Queens Club by Hannah Capin

mkot's review against another edition

4.0

This was honestly a great book, the only reason I didn’t give it 5 was because of how long it took me to get into it - although to be fair, as a high school teacher, I am biased.
The characterization was solid, the dialogue was decent and the character arch was *chefs kiss*.
10/10 would read again.

marieintheraw's review against another edition

4.0

Listen. I was dedicated. The events of the dust jacket take half the book to come to fruition. Obviously, at that point I was too far in. That was helped by impulsively readable this book turned out to be. Unfortunately, it was not as realistic as I was hoping.

I'm interested in works by this author in the future; however, this one missed the mark for me.

Edit: I am a bad egg who didn't appreciate this story and am bumping my rating up to a four because I'm still thinking about it 9 months later.

tophat8855's review against another edition

4.0

This was a really fun read. I've been watching the Tudors, so it was fun to see references to the real story (which I know the Tudors is not, but it at least gave me a visual): the yellow dress, for example. Spot on Anne Boleyn reference. And the references are throughout the book so it's not like it stops doing them. So that's fun.

Lost a point because it felt choppy in the beginning and there were a lot of current pop culture references that I'm not sure how well they'll age.

But if you like YA and you like Henry VIII drama, it's for you.

kvreadsandrecs's review against another edition

4.0

Solid 4. The narration was a little speedy (it felt like I was reading an episode of Gilmore Girls) but the plot was fun. I know it’s historical fiction, but I really hated how so many of the girls had the same name. I couldn’t keep them straight. But! I liked the high school version of Henry VIII. I like that I was on his team until the end. It was a bit dramatic, but all worth it in the end.

baronvonwaffle's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional funny informative lighthearted mysterious tense medium-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

4.25

christiana's review against another edition

2.0

Retellings are usually up my alley, but this one was just not for me. I found Anne "Cleveland/Cleves" Marck unfunny and couldn't follow her motives (Katie is her best friend, but she gaslights her because Henry asks her to? I don't know, I get that love blinds people and makes them do stuff they don't usually do, but this flew in the face of the girl gang offerings she makes later in the book). I didn't buy the dialogue (everyone has jokes, but none of them are good) or the characters as teens (I get that Anne Boelyn is real and these are some of her character traits, but her being a teen real estate mogul feels like just a bit too much of a stretch for me). As someone who knows very little about Henry VIII and that part of history, I had some trouble seeing the point of characters from the paper besides Eustace. The rave reviews kept me from DNFing, but I don't know that I gained that much by continuing all the way through.

indigoivee's review against another edition

5.0

Holy fuck.

I’ve read this book once before and enjoyed it but didn’t really appreciate it as much because I had been uncultured in the likes of King Henry VIII and his wives. Cut two, I gobbled this book in one delicious day because of how conversationally brilliant it was written and the complete modernisation and sheer brilliance of the entire plot.

I mean, reading this felt like gossip, like my friend and I were catching up after a year and she was spilling the tea she had witnessed first-hand that happened at school. It was dramatic, it was cunning, it was feisty and it was amazing. I felt everything every girl in this book felt and their bond made me appreciate being a girl. Cleves was iconic, as were the other queens of course.

By far one of the best books I’ve read and more people need to be talking about it!

Favourite quote: “Fuck that. It’s time to live. No more teen angst bullshit.”

this_girl_reads_a_lot's review against another edition

adventurous emotional inspiring lighthearted sad medium-paced

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

4.5

emilialaw's review against another edition

funny lighthearted 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? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

dearbhlanoonan's review against another edition

adventurous funny lighthearted fast-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

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexism

Moderate: Murder and Sexual content