FUN - messy fun, but it feels churlish to object to things like the third act collapse when the whole novel has such bravura and so many good, horrible images. Really glad it was such a sprawling brick, too - more modern horror should be long!

A glorious novel that really entwines the myth and mystery of a classic historical saga with the gothic, satirical edge of contemporary life in film. I particularly enjoyed the sapphic parallelism throughout and took real joy in understanding each character intimately both as an individual and within their romantic frames. It really does highlight that lesbians have truly always existed (shock gasp!) in a beautiful way that shares the individual nature of love. I found the saga spellbinding and a true quest to finish so spent some of my time listening to the story as an audio and some of it with ebook. This did not detract from the immersion I felt consuming this gothic masterpiece and would gladly do so again!

I am a sucker for a boarding school setting... this was a let down. I DNF'd it. In fact, I DNF'd it ages ago and didn't realise I forgot to leave a review. I guess I was feeling hopeful that I'd try it again when in a different reading mood but I think it's clear I'm never going to be in the mood for this one.

I can't remember anything about it other than it was such a slog. Actually that's a lie - I do remember constantly looking at the "time remaining" and wondering A: why it was so long, and B: why it was barely going down by a minute or two when I'd been reading for what felt like hours...

I wanted to love this but it just wasn't to be

LOVED this one!

I saw someone call this weird books for weird girls and that is my kind of book.

Plain bad Heroines is compelling, and i couldn't put it town. It's dark academia and set in a school full of history and mystery. Plain Bad Heroines is two stories in one, one set in the past and one set in the present. In the past, we learn about the tragic and spooky histories of two lesbian women as they navigate life and supernatural wasps. In the present, we follow three teenagers involved in making a movie about a tragedy which happened at the school the women in the past ran.

It was entertaining, spooky and i loved this much more than i thought i would.

Overall i really enjoyed it and can't wait to buy a copy of the book.

Weird books for weird girls - yes please.

Plain Bad Heroines is a strange and totally compelling read. A dual timeline Gothic tale of sapphic love, ghosts, art, and darkness, this is a book that totally consumed me. If you're looking for a book that is more vibes than plot, but stays on track and tells a rollicking good tale, this is one to pick up.

An incredible book, that I feel a desire to re-read this autumn now I am thinking about the atmosphere.

Like so many dark academia books the setting is the third character in the book. The school itself is steeped in history and mystery, the author takes the time to set up the beautiful but abandoned imagery that I can still so clearly imagine in my head years after reading.

The plot is one of the elements that I think keeps this book in my memory, because it has layers to the different elements. Because the plot has 3 timelines, mostly 2 if I remember correctly, the reader gets to see the same locations, feelings and themes in different time periods. I really think that provided the extra momentum and action that elevated the story for me.

Highly reccomend and I should do and investigate if the author is releasing another book. You should too!

Don’t love that it seemed to tell the most exciting part of the story in its entirety right at the very beginning, as I wasn’t as interested in the modern setting of the rest of the story.

This is very much a slow burn. I loved so many parts of this book but I also disliked many parts too.
This book is too long. I also found the authors writing style unusual.

Really enjoyed this - will definitely be recommending and looking forward to the next one by this author!

I do wanted to like this book more than I did, however the ending is so abrupt and things don’t wrap up. I felt like the book was trying to to do too many things at the same time, plus the size of it is so long that the middle starts to drag especially the movie part of it, I wasn’t sure what the impact of that arc was as it don’t affect the rest of the story. I appreciate the efforts though and really enjoyed the pictures included. In the end it just wasn’t the right book for me.

This was a dark, gothic, weird, feminist treat and I loved it! A story nestled inside a story, this describes what happens when a film crew adapt a book about Brookhants School for Girls and the murders that rocked it over 100 years prior.

Thank you to Netgalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I received an ARC of this book thanks to NetGalley and publisher HarperCollins UK Children's in exchange for an honest review.

I really wanted to love this book.

Plain Bad Heroines is two stories in one, one set in the past and one set in the present. In the past, we learn about the tragic and spooky histories of two lesbian women as they navigate life and supernatural wasps. In the present, we follow three teenagers involved in making a movie about a tragedy which happened at the school the women in the past ran. I feel like both these stories had potential but neither one ended up being particularly interesting.

The main issue I had with this book was the pacing. It is long and more importantly, it is longer than it feels like it should be. If this was shorter and snappier then a lot of my other issues would be sorted. It is difficult to keep track of what is happening in the past because you get long segments about it and then nothing for ages, so by the time you revisit it you're no longer sure what was going on. Meanwhile, nothing is going on in the present at all and yet we still spend hundreds of pages dwelling on that nothing. It fits thematically and the three girls are interesting enough, but because we spend so much time with them, I just found myself tuning out until the book returned to the past segments.

There were parts of this book I really enjoyed. There's a spooky scene with the wasps and a bathtub and lots of good stuff, but that's one of the only spooky scenes in the whole book. I like the idea in theory of what is happening in the present (haunted set, horror movie legend of a mother, queer stuff) but it doesn't feel like it is happening. And I did like the style of narration, again with the caveat that I would have liked it a lot more if it was more concise and didn't have time to get on my nerves.

I also got an ARC of the audiobook so I listened to that, which didn't help with the pacing but did improve my enjoyment of the narrative style and helped me keep track of the characters a little better. I do recommend the audiobook, although again the length is off-putting as most people listen slower than they read.

Overall, I sadly can't recommend this book. It had such potential but it quickly became a drag, and the moments I liked weren't enough to make the whole experience worth it. A perfect case of 'needed a good edit' and it might have been perfect.

Overall Rating: 3/5 stars

Due to a sudden, unexpected passing in the family a few years ago and another more recently and my subsequent (mental) health issues stemming from that, I was unable to download this book in time to review it before it was archived as I did not visit this site for several years after the bereavements. This meant I didn't read or venture onto netgalley for years as not only did it remind me of that person as they shared my passion for reading, but I also struggled to maintain interest in anything due to overwhelming depression. I was therefore unable to download this title in time and so I couldn't give a review as it wasn't successfully acquired before it was archived. The second issue that has happened with some of my other books is that I had them downloaded to one particular device and said device is now defunct, so I have no access to those books anymore, sadly.

This means I can't leave an accurate reflection of my feelings towards the book as I am unable to read it now and so I am leaving a message of explanation instead. I am now back to reading and reviewing full time as once considerable time had passed I have found that books have been helping me significantly in terms of my mindset and mental health - this was after having no interest in anything for quite a number of years after the passings. Anything requested and approved will be read and a review written and posted to Amazon (where I am a Hall of Famer & Top Reviewer), Goodreads (where I have several thousand friends and the same amount who follow my reviews) and Waterstones (or Barnes & Noble if the publisher is American based). Thank you for the opportunity and apologies for the inconvenience

Wonderfully hilarious, harrowing and equally a joy to read, and unputdownable. A must-read.

The book glides effortlessly between 1902 and the present day. In 1902 readers are introduced to Clara and Flo, students living in Rhode Island and attending Brookhants School for Girls.

In the modern day, the now-abandoned school is now the site of a film production, based on a book detailing Brookhants' history - one that unfolds to be harrowing and possibly haunted.

It’s a delight that every character wears their queerness openly and delightfully on their sleeve - something that shouldn’t be a revelation but still somehow managed to be.

Plain Bad Heriones is a truly delightful, sapphic, spooky/creepy beast of a book and I devoured it!

It’s long and detailed and the plot unravels so slowly, little details and pieces slotting together right up until the very end & even then nothing is completely tied up and you’re left with Questions and a burning desire to Know More.

With two timelines, an unknown but knows-it-all narrator and multiple character views (of which every single woman was messy, chaotic and slightly untrustworthy and also literally every single one of them was sapphic which just wonderful) this book is like cluedo, a giant puzzle & the very spirit of dark academia all mixed together with terrifying wasps and an eerie sense of Other.

Genre wise this one is far, far out of my normal reading tastes but I totally loved it. The descriptions were wonderful; the sense of place was enthralling and I completely lost myself in the story! Yes it’s long and rambling and descriptive but every part of it just added to the overall creepy feeling and delightfully dark and suspicious atmosphere

I was definitely drawn into reading 'Plain Bad Heroines' by the plot, which I found to be incredibly intriguing, but whilst reading this book I found myself to be bored by the sheer length of this book and the lack of exciting plot that is going on throughout.
There were definitely aspects of this book that were interesting but I spent the majority of the book so bored and having to push my way through the majority of the book in order to get to the good parts, therefore it took me a lot longer to finish this book than it should have.
I think the dual timeline aspect was definitely my favourite part of the book and I did really enjoy that part as it kept the book somewhat interesting.
I think the length of 'Plain Bad Heroines' was one of the reasons I did not like this book and maybe if a lot of the book was cut out and the length was a lot shorter, then maybe I could have enjoyed it a lot more.

The atmosphere at the beginning of the novel was dark and tense but unfortunately the rest of the book did not read in a similar way.

As someone who has read different novels by Emily M Danforth, one of her most prominent problems is that she drags the story with needless information. This book could've been many pages shorter but alas, it was a behemoth.

Overall, I liked the characters and Emily M Danforth's writing style but the length of the novel along with the needless literary jargon killed the vibe for me.

I’ve FINALLY got around to reading this book, and oh boy is it a long one! Was it worth it? Almost.

I’ll start this off by saying I’m not usually a horror reader. What appealed to me about this book was the sapphic and feminist themes, and the settings – a boarding school in the early 1900s, and modern day Hollywood. So while I can’t comment on how it compares to other horror books, I can say that it was sufficiently creepy and was definitely one I avoided reading late at night!

In many ways, I got what I was hoping for. Almost every character is queer, and many of them obsessed with the writings of a slightly odd first-wave feminist. Those themes were very present and strong throughout the book, and it was great to see them explored in a genre book like this one. I liked some of the characters, and the ones I didn’t like I loved to hate.

There are two timelines, one in the past and one in the present. While I initially really enjoyed seeing how they interacted, as the book went on I kept hoping for more linking between the two, and was ultimately disappointed. It fizzled out rather than ending with a bang, and I would have liked to see both storylines become much more intertwined.

It was also just too long. The very start was so creepy and intriguing, but we were soon going on meandering side-quests with the modern-day storyline. It could easily have been 100 pages shorter, and much more effective.

Had this book had one more ruthless edit, it would have been a very different reading experience. As it is, I will remember it for its creepiest moments, which were absolutely brilliant.

I received a free copy for review. All opinions are my own.

It had all the makings of a book I'd love, even just down to the setting. But it was too easy to put down and in parts it seemed like it really dragged for me.

A spooky dark academia with a mystery at its core, sapphic romances, dual timelines and hint of the supernatural, Plain Bad Heroines is the perfect gothic horror read.

1902: A creepy and mysterious tragedy befalls Brookhants School for Girls, where students Flo and Clara are found dead, attacked by yellowjackets. The girls had formed the Plain Bad Heroine Society in honour of real-life notorious young writer Mary MacLane, whose scandalous memoir is found with their bodies. This is just the first a series of macabre deaths which go on to plague the school until its closure, with Headmistress Libbie and her partner Alex beginning to question if the school might be cursed.

Over a century later, literary prodigy Merritt Emmons pens a bestselling book based on Flo and Clara's story. When her book is adapted into a film, starring 'it girl' Harper Harper' and former child star Audrey Wells, the trio return to a crumbling Brookhants, revisiting the past, and the curse.

Plain Bad Heroines follows both storylines, interwoven to reveal bits of each story at just the opportune moment. It's an epic book clocking in at over 600 pages. It's a complicated meta-narrative - this isn’t just a story within a story. It’s a story, which is being retold in a film, which is capturing the very story we are reading… lost yet? It is a lot to follow but, ultimately it doesn’t matter - just go with it. While the book constantly twists and turns but the force of the novel carries you all the way through, and you'll be so desperate to know more and uncover the mysteries at the heart of the narrative that you won't want to put it down.

Danforth creates exceptional characters - especially our three main heroines. Each of them felt so well rounded, each on their own journeys. Through Harper, Merritt and Audrey, Danforth explores much of modern celebrity culture, identity, sexuality and relationships, and through witty satire she also interrogates the genre of horror itself.

The only criticism I could level at this otherwise perfect book is that I do wish we’d got more of Flo and Clara. (here’s hoping Emily Danforth fancies doing The Happenings at Brookhants!) but honestly this book is already mammoth so I’m sure she had to stop somewhere. Plain Bad Heroines has everything - horror, gothic, fairytale-esque stories, modern glamor and Hollywood, contemporary commentary and satire, obscure literary references. It's also a genuinely scary horror. The quirky intrusive narrative style was perfect and if all of the above wasn't enough it also has the most incredible illustrations which I adored and gave the book even more life and personality.

Plain Bad Heroines is a completely unparalleled gothic horror. It is already one of my all time favourite books and I can't wait to reread it.