Reviews with content warning for Murder - Plain Bad Heroines

Reviews tagging 'Murder'

Plain Bad Heroines by Emily M. Danforth

34 reviews

lisa_m's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

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

3.75

This book was unlike anything I have read before. I was bored sometimes and sometimes I didn't know what exactly the author was trying to do but all in all I did really enjoy it. I think if you want to read this book you have to like the creepy vibes it has. It is not a horror of creepy book at all but it does have a few creepy aspects throughout the book. It is creepy but also just a lot of talking and descriptions of film production, meetings and just day to day activities..

I think the only way to enjoy this book is to just take the time and not expect anything to happen. It will take you on a ride through different times, perspectives, stories and deaths.

This book was definitely weird. In a good way but still quite strange..

And also suuuper queer! Like pretty much every important character was a queer woman. I enjoyed that but it got to a point where it was a bit ridiculous (but also it fitted into the story perfectly and made total sense)

My favourite thing about this book is the formatting. I love the different fonts and especially the footnotes! (I love to see footnotes in books)
Also the illustrations are amazing! The yellow jackets were so cool and gave the book that extra something.

The narration was interesting but I did really enjoy it. It felt like a weird friend writing down a story for you and also like some Jane Austen esc writing.

My biggest problem was the length of the book. Especially in the middle it got quite boring and I wanted to quit a couple of times. Also the ending confused me. I mean it is a kind of open end and you can keep thinking about it which is cool..?
I don't think the book could have been shorter and still be the same. The whole feeling came from the whole mixture of it all. Still I get that this is definitely not for everyone.

There are also so many different perspectives. There are quite a lot of jumps between time and people. Also it's kind of about a movie about a book about a legend about a book.

I would say reading this is definitely an experience - and one you have to want. If you want to read a very sapphic book that is also a bit spooky and has some great illustrations: this is the book for you. Be warned though as it is very slow paced and it has a LOT of unanswered questions at the end.

Content Warnings

writtenontheflyleaves's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark funny mysterious tense 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? It's complicated

5.0

Plain Bad Heroines by Emily M Danforth 🐝
🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

🐝 The plot: In the early 1900s, two students at Brookhants School for Girls fall in love, brought together by a controversial memoir. Soon after, they die gruesome deaths, and they aren't the last before the school is forced to close. Over a century later, the school is reopened to become the set of a Hollywood film about the tragedies - but will our three young heroines survive the school's infamous curse?

I knew within about 20 pages of picking up this book that I was going to love it. There were so many elements that reminded me of my favourite books - the pulpy horror of Grady Hendrix, the buoyant characterisation and LGBTQ rep of Casey McQuiston, the metafictional playfulness of Jess Walter. From the very first page it was fun.

Given the fact that the cast of main characters is five-strong across two timelines, it's no surprise that the plot moves pretty slowly, but I felt like I knew who every character was and their place in the story. There was real defiance in the way they were written, a refusal to let them be beaten into submission either by society or the reader's expectations. I actually really admire Danforth for letting her characters go to uncomfortable places and win the reader over later - there is no character who is uniformly likeable throughout, and a lot of times they were at their most real when they were being most frustrating!

This is a five star read for me for sure, but I will say that the ending was a liiiiittle bit of a letdown. I expected more of a showdown with the forces at work throughout the novel, and instead I got zero resolution, just a partial explanation. And like, that's fine. But also I wanted some drama!!! Sue me!!

🐝 Read it if you like any of the authors I mentioned above and want to be creeped out while also enjoying the company of a cast of brilliant queer characters.

🚫 Avoid it if you want an out and out horror read (this is more creepy than horrific), if you hate unorthodox narration or spiky central characters (Merritt can be a... challenge...)

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kathleencoughlin's review

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dark mysterious slow-paced

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

2.0

This books is very long snd yet it feels like not much happened. I thought the different narrative threads were hard to follow and the ending was unclear. The second-person narration ended up being kind of confusing and condescending at times. Of course I appreciate sapphic MCs buy that just wasn't enough for me here

Content Warnings

wordwilderness's review against another edition

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dark mysterious sad slow-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

4.5

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maryy_r0se's review

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

“Don’t find yourself regretting this. You’re much too young to haunt your own life.”

In the early 1900s, a series of gruesome deaths occurrs at the the Brookhants School for Girls. Speculation runs rampant that these deaths are somehow connected to The Story of Mary MacLane, a radical new book that has several of the students transfixed. Headmistress Libbie Brookhants and teacher Alexandra Trills are stuck trying to protect the girls (and trying to protect themselves.) In present-day, Merritt Emmons’ book about Brookhants is being adapted into a movie starring queer superstar Harper Harper and former child actress Audrey Wells. The women go to Brookhants to film and find its history is still alive.

This book was incredibly ambitious, and to me it more than succeeded. Despite being over 600 pages, I found myself wishing it was even longer because I enjoyed it so much and would have loved to learn even more about the school’s lore. The narration style and use of footnotes was so unique, and I fell in love with the characters (Audrey and Libbie were my personal faves!) After hearing this book somehow combined gothic, horror, comedy, and dark academia (and had all sapphic main characters), I had very high expectations, and I was elated to find that this book surpassed them. The tone is very unique and it certainly takes some getting used to, but I had such a fun time with this one.

(Aside from the content warnings mentioned below, this book also has a lot of horror surrounding wasps, so if you have any sort of wasp or bee phobia you may want to tread carefully!)

Content Warnings

mallory10100's review

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious sad tense 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? No

5.0

oh my god i loved this book so much, what a creative story. i LOVED how gay it was

Content Warnings

jas_kv's review against another edition

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dark funny mysterious medium-paced

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

4.0

Content Warnings

ehmannky's review

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dark emotional tense slow-paced

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

5.0

This book was creepy and weird and queer in all senses of the word. I fucking loved it. It's a dense read, and at times it felt a bit overwhelming. Danforth portrays the oppressive nature of the haunted school area incredibly well, and the mental break some of these characters experience, that it felt like I was having a empathetic experience with them. Also, I love a good use of fictional footnotes, and Danforth uses them so well throughout the novel.

I didn't particularly love the reveal of the source of the curse at the end, and would have preferred if it had stayed much more abstract, but the rest of the book is so good that it kind of renders that complaint to a far off and distant concern.

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just_one_more_paige's review

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adventurous challenging dark informative mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.0

Despite seeing so many mixed reviews of this one, my “I’m looking for a spooky but not too scary October read” self, decided it was a winner. Plus, thanks to Libro.fm’s ALC program, I had an audiobook of it on deck (convenient, since work this month has had me driving all over the state). Though I also grabbed a copy from my library because I saw an illustrator credited as well and you know I had to see what that was all about (worth it, is the verdict there).

There is quite a bit going on in this novel (makes sense, considering its length), but let me see if I can distill it down. In 1902, at only 19 years old, Mary MacLane published a controversial and groundbreaking memoir of feminism and sexuality and just general women stuff that theretofore had not really been acknowledged openly, or even behind closed doors. It was a hit. (And, as this reader has just learned, a real publication, but that’s besides the point.) Around that same time, a rash of creepy and possibly not-explainable deaths struck at the Brookhants School for Girls. These deaths were all tied in some way to a group a girls self-proclaimed as the Bad Heroine Society (a group named after and devoted to MacLane’s words). MacLane’s memoir was on-site at all the deaths. In the present day, Brookhants is old and crumbling, but is about to get a second life as a movie adaptation of The Happenings at Brookhants, a queer, feminist account of those “cursed” days and the potential haunting of the Brookhants site. Starring current darling Harper Harper, B-list actress Audrey Wells, and helped along by the book’s author, Merritt Emmons, this horror movie (with shades of The Omen as far as on-set disasters go), is creating quite a bit of buzz (pun intended). And as the story of the original events and the current day production unfold alongside each other, a sinister tale of queer and female repression emerges, plus a whole lot of low-key horror vibes to keep it company.

Phew – I don’t know if that made sense or was too much or not enough, but I did my best. Let’s start easier…with the writing. It was wonderful. Danforth’s narrative voice is strong and clear and unique and I truly enjoyed it. Speaking directly, in asides, to the reader is a device that can, and did, get a little stale, at times. But it also did feel like the right choice; it was just a long book. The scene-setting and atmosphere-creation were truly top notch. (The yellow jackets – this novel did nothing for my fear of bees – and the algae and the apples and the angel’s trumpet were all given deeply sinister descriptions and roles and hit home but were never too much to deal with.) And the illustrations, as I mentioned, were a phenomenal addition and right in line stylistically.

Let’s talk about the plot a little. This is the part where I felt like the book suffered the most. Danforth’s vision was so expansive, and the book so long to accommodate it, I think a few things got lost. The character development was great, both in present-tense with our three leading ladies, as well as with Libbie and Alex (who led Brookhants in 1902 when the macabre deaths all occurred). And though the book did feel a bit dragging at times, I also felt like, to be fair, the depth and believability of the way those relationships evolved would not have happened in less time. This is especially true of Merritt/Harper/Audrey, as the slow build tension/fear/attraction amongst them really needed the time to marinate. Whereas Libbie and Alex in 1902 were buoyed much more by the plot-advancement that occurred more primarily during their sections. Relatedly, Danforth walks that line of “what your mind can make you believe” with suggestion/guilt/drugs versus actually unbelievable horror aspects with skill. I was super impressed by that throughout. And when the final details do emerge about who was pulling strings in the background, and for what specifically and why, the length of time and depth of effort it all took to unfold, was intense…and scarier for it. And it left just enough unanswered questions to make you wonder if that’s all that was behind these events, but not so much that you know not to believe it. Applause for that.

Anyways, back to the places where I felt like a bit of the plot got lost. Really, it came down to the end, the last few chapters. I got a little confused in the details. The story took so long to get underway, since the set-up was so key to the atmosphere built, that when the explanations and reveals all came together, things sort of blended together for me. I wasn’t totally clear on who was related to who and how. Plus, I was confused about why Libbie and Alex were blamed/at fault since they just seemed taken advantage of to me? Maybe it was more just wrong place/wrong time and they got suspicious and they were loose ends? Or maybe I missed something? Trying to keep It vague here, to avoid spoilers. I did appreciate the “original” story of the Brookhants land that was revealed – I am always here for calling out the ways the “winners,” the powerful, the (in this case and in many others) white cis men, rewrite history to leave out the parts that make them “look bad” at best and are straight evil/illegal at worst (as in this case).

A note worth its own moment: I deeply cannot describe how much the sapphic aspects of this novel were gratifying. From the historical depictions and realities and workarounds to the present day for our three leading ladies, the way Brookhants was a haven in all cases, for better or worse, was viscerally affecting. I felt…safe? seen? comforted? in those details. And I despite the fantastical aspects, and the creeping fearful pieces, the always-there discomfort in those horror pieces, I will also be taking that deep-seated belonging feeling away from the book as well.

I was really unsure about the book jacket descriptions of this novel being “wickedly whimsical” and a “horror-comedy,” because I just wasn’t sure those were really achievable descriptors. But color me wrong because they’re actually rather accurate. And while some parts of the development fell a bit flat, I do have to say the overall aesthetic of sapphic, rebellious women hit the dang spot. I can’t figure out how I felt about the book as a whole yet, but I am pretty confident saying that I feel like my time with this ambitious novel was, in fact, time well spent.

“Isn’t that what the swell of a crush is, after all? Recognizing the flush of truth in all the love cliches?”

“That’s history for you, my darlings. When you dig it up, it always carries a whiff of rot.”

Content Warnings

rileyxchaos's review

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challenging dark slow-paced

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

3.25

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