Review originally posted at between-the-shelves.com!

Thanks to HarperCollins and NetGalley for an advanced copy of this to review! Honestly, I thought that this was YA until I started reading it. Not in a bad way. But the characters, for the most part, aren’t teenagers. This is still a great read for October, with lots of spooky vibes and gothic feels.

I’d really emphasize the gothic feel because the overall tone of this book felt like Jane Eyre to me. Which is fantastic! Jane Eyre is one of my favorite classics. Plain Bad Heroines is completely different from Danforth’s first novel, both in genre and in form. You’re sucked in with the story of Flo and Clara at the beginning, and the rest of the stories always connect back. The weaving of the narratives is masterful; combining each level of story in such a way that you need to know what happens next.

The narration is almost a character on its own and adds a lot to the story as well. It’s never clear who is narrating the novel, and none of the characters ever know the full story. This adds to the mystery element of the story, and definitely what adds to its gothic appeal. And the characters! Though some of them weren’t as fully fleshed out as I would have liked, they really add to the whole atmosphere of the book. A full cast affected by the curse at Brookhants.

While I enjoyed each story in here, this book could have been trimmed down a bit. There were parts that felt a little dragged out. But the characters and the atmosphere by the end definitely make up for it.

Looking for a great sapphic horror to read just in time for Halloween? Definitely pick this one up!

Full review to come later tonight!