Reviews with content warning for Murder - Bad Girls Never Say Die

An Outsiders retelling written by the author of Moxie? Yes please. Picking this up, I thought it would be a vague retell influence, just set in the same class battle. But no it was especially a carbon copy, just gender-flipped and dealing with other issues from the 60’s like sexism and racism. Did I spend the entire book guessing who the Johnny and the Daley were so I could prepare myself? Yes, yes I did. But dang, this was a great book.

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thewoodlandbookshelf's review

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emotional 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

3.0

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nytephoenyx's review

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emotional sad fast-paced

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

2.25

I really wanted to enjoy this book. I was hoping for that same fervor Mathieu presented in Moxie. The inspired YA story about modern day feminism was exciting! Nothing like that materialized in Bad Girls Never Say Die. A few different things kept this book from reaching its potential, and I ultimately did not enjoy it very much.

It’s undeniable that Mathieu is passionate about women’s rights and creating an inclusive world. Everything I have read of hers points out the inequities in society and makes sure to look at them through various lenses to keep it intersectional. Despite her obvious research, Bad Girls Never Say Die failed to balance the story of five different young women in various situations trying to break the mold expected of them in the 1960s. If that wasn’t a big enough challenge, this is also a historical fiction retelling of Romeo and Juliet and a murder story. There is so much going on that Mathieu does not give adequate space to any particular plot line and in all her bouncing fails to create compelling characters.

Without a doubt, Diane was the most exasperating character in this book. Her behavior that sets the story running is completely inconsistent with everything else we know about her. Even as the novel progresses and we learn more of her story, the initial event doesn’t fit, like a piece that has been pulled from a different puzzle. Nearly all of Diane’s dialogue was vapid and overly-romantic; I wanted to scream. I’m not sure if she was written this way on purpose, or if her Pleasantville-style behavior came about accidentally. Either way, it’s extremely difficult to enjoy a book when everything about one of the principal characters is irksome.

I should note, Diane is not the main character of Bad Girls Never Say Die. The main character is Evie, but Diane as a person and as a plot-driver takes so much space that Evie is more of a vehicle to telling Diane’s story then she is an independent entity. In fact, so much of the story is told in dialogue between Diane and Evie that it feels like our main character exists solely to be the recipient of this backstory. Don’t get me wrong, Evie has her own stuff going on, but at every turn it took a backseat to whatever Diane was dealing with.

Honestly? It was a bit infuriating.

Mathieu is running with too many characters, too many plot lines, and not enough substance. This is one of the shorter YA books I’ve read in a while, and if she wanted to flush out the story a bit more, Mathieu had plenty of space to do it. There is no inspirational content here. At most, there are a few lines of throwaway dialogue complaining about women’s roles in this era. It’s impossible to have an emotional connection with the characters, because they’re so shallow and under developed. I don’t think this is indicative of the authors normal work, but it makes me hesitate before picking up another one of her books because not only do it I think that Bad Girls Never Say Die is an an unimpressive book, but I very nearly came to hate it.

Give me a story with lots of passion that powers forward into its plot like an unstoppable train, and I’m all here for it. Give me a story that meanders around a lot of different ideas without quite addressing them and drops in a pair of ridiculous lovebirds with the cheesiest dialogue, and I am out. At the end of the day, I was grateful for how short this book was, because I finished it all that more quickly.

I might try one more book by Mathieu but my experience with Moxie and Bad Girls Never Say Die was such polar opposites that I am unsure whether or not her writing is for me. That said, if you’re thinking about picking up this book, may I suggest Moxie instead? It’s much better.

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sweetsanchia's review

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fast-paced

Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

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mallory10100's review

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dark emotional funny informative inspiring mysterious sad 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? Yes

5.0

the friendships in this book were amazing and heartwarming 💖

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thebooknook180's review

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adventurous dark emotional inspiring sad tense slow-paced

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

2.75

I really wanted this book to be better than it was, but ultimately the story as a whole was pretty disappointing. The last 30 pages were probably the most interesting, and the most well written. But otherwise the book and main character just fell flat. For Evie, it honestly felt like she was a side character for this entire story. I think a multi perspective book could’ve helped this book a lot. To really show what each of these girls from the “wrong side of the tracks” was going through. (Also the random lines about segregation felt incredibly out of place? Either further develop on that, or maybe don’t include it? As it was random and did not further or add to the story in anyway.) The mentor teacher and the “Bad Girls Never Say Die” lines were also underdeveloped and half baked. If you want (particularly the line) to really hit hard with your reader, it needs to be more important and weaved throughout the story. The weird and blatant foreshadowing was odd and not very well written or subtle at all. Overall this book moved way too slow for me, and took me way to long to get through. The writing was okay, and I understand what the author was trying to do. But overall I wanted this book to hit a lot harder than it did. Side Note- don’t market this book as an adventurous feminist read, if it’s not going to be adventurous. You are setting the reader up for disappointment.

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whatskatiereading's review

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medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Loveable characters? Yes

5.0

Thank you BookishFirst and Roaring Brook Press for my copy of BAD GIRLS NEVER SAY DIE!

I thought this was a fantastic YA book--one that I would have absolutely loved had it come out when I was in high school. The story is an all-female take on The Outsiders, following the story of "bad girl" Evie who takes in "good girl" Diane after after a tense encounter at their town's local teen hangout spot. I enjoyed the main themes of the book: friendship among young women and the lengths they will go to in order to protect their friends, as well as socioeconomic class. This book does take place in high school so the characters are dealing with the typical struggles that many high schoolers go through. While I did enjoy reading this book as an adult, I think I would have loved it even more had I read it when I was the same age as the characters. Coming from someone who typically reads fiction set in the present day, I enjoyed the historical aspects of the book taking place in the 1960s.

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