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

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.

Content Warnings