News/Interviews/Reviews
The Guardian (UK) calls Plain Bad Heroines: “beguilingly clever, very sexy and seriously frightening.”
Plain Bad Heroines named a best book of 2020 by: The Washington Post, O (The Oprah Magazine), Vulture.com, Buzzfeed.com, E! News, and Book Riot.
emily talks with Anna in a special book episode of the always excellent The Final Girls horror/films podcast.
Read an interview with emily and O Magazine’s Michelle Hart.
PBH named one of the “Best Reviewed Books” of its launch week by Lit Hub’s Book Marks.
Plain Bad Heroines gets a remarkable review from Lee Mandelo at Tor.Com, who says, in part: “Allow me to drop my critical detachment and say: I fucking loved this book. Readers whose genres of choice are gay novels, gothics or horror, and tricksy metafiction will be satisfied… but so will folks who appreciate the painful, beautiful stories of loss and dissatisfaction that run through the book. Plus it’s genuinely frightening or upsetting at points as the hauntings build, which is worth a lot to me in a spooky novel. From the chapter headings (“Finally, Someone Tends to Those Fucking Plants”) to the grimly sketchy illustrations provided by Sara Lautman that interrupt the text, the book is an experience, and I luxuriated in it.”
The Kirkus reviewer calls Plain Bad Heroines “a confection—surprising and honey-sweet on the tongue, to be savored. . .” Their final take: “Creepy, meta, and a whole lot of fun.”
The American Library Association’s Rainbow Committee names Plain Bad Heroines one of its top 10 LGBTQIA+ books of the year.
Plain Bad Heroines is in stellar company as a finalist in the Best Horror category for the 2020 Goodreads Choice Awards.
Plain Bad Heroines mentioned in this Washington Post feature by Ron Charles on recent illustrated novels for adults.
Plain Bad Heroines included as part of the Los Angeles Times United We Read feature.
In her review in the Los Angeles Times, Hillary Kelly says this about Plain Bad Heroines: “The sheer queerness of it all is exhilarating. No stock lesbians, and no coyness. Every major character is a queer woman — every last one — and each of them wears her sexuality differently, an idea that shouldn’t feel revelatory in 2020 but annoyingly does. Fiction with lesbian women at the helm is so often presented as if it has to stand for all queer culture. “Plain Bad Heroines” giggles at the very idea.
But the biggest zing in “Plain Bad Heroines” is how joyfully it digs up old notions of fiction by and for ladies and spritzes them with glitter, heightening the tropes of romanticized literature until it doesn’t matter if Danforth is laughing at them or loving on them. There’s a house with a leaning old tower, a howling snowstorm, a vine-choked love shack, a mysterious baby. “The Haunting of Hill House” plus “Ethan Frome” plus “Picnic at Hanging Rock” with some dashes of Sarah Waters. Every chapter gallops.”
Plain Bad Heroines gets a *starred* review from Publishers Weekly, whose reviewer calls the novel: “. . . sumptuous and bighearted while it champions queer relationships throughout and builds a fantastic sense of dread!”
Popsugar.com names Plain Bad Heroines to its list of the Fall’s Most Exciting New Books, calling it the year’s must read horror novel!
Parade.com names Plain Bad Heroines one of Fall’s Most Anticipated Books!
Read an interview with emily and Publisher’s Weekly’s Alex Sanidad about Plain Bad Heroines and “bad books.”
Plain Bad Heroines named to Oprah.com’s list of The 55 Best LGBTQ Books of 2020! Editor Michelle Hart says this: “The author of The Miseducation of Cameron Post has described her follow-up novel as "Picnic at Hanging Rock + The Blair Witch Project + Lesbians" and it's absurdly difficult to come up with anything to match the thrill of that description. But here is something that does indeed match that thrill: the novel itself, which is full of victorian sapphic romance, metafictional horror, biting misandrist humor, Hollywood intrigue, and multiple timeliness—all replete with evocative illustrations that are icing on a deviously delicious cake.”
PBH makes HeyAlma.com’s Favorite Books for Fall 2020, with their reviewer saying: “To be honest, this is the perfect fall read. Moody, atmospheric, gripping story, complex female leads, scary: Plain Bad Heroines has it all.”
Plain Bad Heroines nabs a Ron Charles review in the Washington Post: “What makes all this so much fun is Danforth’s deliciously ghoulish voice, a kind of Victorian “Gossip Girl.” (And Sara Lautman’s period illustrations are a wistful reminder that books didn’t always look so dull.) Winking to her Dear Reader, Danforth laces the text with ironical footnotes, ribald asides and witty clues of past and future disaster. The supernatural elements grow across these pages as slowly — and ominously — as black mold.”