Eileen FavoriteRecensioni

This book was a disappointment. It needed to be about 100 pages longer to fully flesh out the narrative, character development, back story, and even the main plotline. It felt like a half-finished book. The ending was a HUGE cop-out.

Which really is a shame. It's such an original idea with so much potential, and the book just fell flat with me. Too many things going on, too many story lines, and not enough pages to do them all justice.

Interesting concept regarding actual literary heroines showing up at a B&B, but the book didn't quite work for me. I was expecting more heroine action. Instead, lots of flashbacks mixed somewhat unsuccessfully with the teen protagonist's current situation.

An interesting premise coupled with a mother-daughter/coming-of-age conflict, that takes a left turn into [book: Girl, Interrupted] territory and never quite recovers.

After reading the summary, I would say that you don't really need to read the book. It pretty much sums up the whole thing. I found it difficult to get into the story, then once I was into the action, I found it hard to understand why Anne-Marie chose the heroines over her own daughter time and time again. As a mother, that is completely unbelievable.

Toward the end, there was a spark of whether or not Penny may be a heroine. I would have LOVED that twist in the story. It would have made it more compelling.

While this is an intriguing storyline, I can't recommend it.

As far as I know, the idea of mixing classical, historical heroines with a present day narrative is unique and deserves credit. On the other hand, my background in classical "soap opera" literature is weak, so perhaps I didn't glean as much of the subtlety intended by the author. Nevertheless, it is an interesting read, and would certainly be recommended to readers familiar with heroines of the past century.

disappointing: This book really fell short of my expectations. 1st of all, the "heroines" of the title make little more than cameo appearances throughout the book. 2ndly, the author spends time and pages introducing scores of characters with involved backstories, and then never goes anywhere with most of them. An editor should have helped her chose between the stories she needed to tell and the distracting extras. Between the messy storytelling and the misleading synopsis on the marketing materials, I think you'd do well to pass on this book and move on to something else.

Sometimes a clever conceit should remain just that--a conceit. Because no matter how you try to develop it, it will never be as as wonderful as the idea itself. Trying to build upon it and give it complexity strips it of its fanciful "What if?" brilliance and plummets it back to earth. And so we have The Heroines, a novel built around one of the most wonderful ideas I've ever encountered--what if the heroines from famous novels needed a respite from the tragedies of their own storylines--and promptly clustermugs the whole thing up.

Basically, I feel as though I was sold a false bill of goods. The novel purports to be about a bed and breakfast that attracts the heroines of famous novels. Deirdre of the Sorrows, Franny Glass, Daisy Buchanan, Anna Karenina, Hester Prynne, Catherine Earnshaw have all signed the guest book and checked in for a few days of freedom from the misery of their lives. This is what I wanted to read about--how the heroines come to be at the bed and breakfast and how they interact with a modern world. I expected quirky, witty, and humorous. What I got was dark, disjointed, and ordinary. Instead of focusing on the heroines (who are little more than footnotes), the novel focuses on Anne-Marie Entwhistle and her daughter, Penny. Anne-Marie and Penny run the bed and breakfast and, unfortunately, the novel chooses to focus on their problematic relationship as a result of Penny's coming of age. WTF? Scarlett O'Hara's pounding on the door and instead of focusing on that, a pedestrian mother/daughter conflict is the subject of the book? And that is, in essence, the root source of my disappointment with the book. When heroines do (very briefly) make an appearance, they are flat, one-dimensional versions of their colorful, complex selves. Hester sets about sewing an A on the front of her dress and throwing just enough "thou" into her dialogue to make her seem authentic, Scarlett wakes in the middle of the night to pull down the curtains (for dressmaking purposes, of course) and try to steal the sweet potatoes, Deirdre constantly weeps. They read as caricatures of themselves.

As for the plot, Penny is rebelling by going out into the nearby woods against her mother's rule against doing so. While there she meets and falls in lust with the Irish King of Ulster, Connor (better known as Conchobar in the original Deirdre mythology), who has followed Deirdre into our time. Through a muddled turn of events, Penny is locked up in a psych ward and we have to read about her "it's-just-so-all-unfair!" experiences there. After finally breaking free, Penny returns to the woods with Connor, during which some awkward sexual awakening occurs and Penny is going through withdrawal from the meds given to her in the psych ward. She spends her days smoking pot while Connor hunts deer and builds huts. Aaannnnndddddd that's pretty much it. Basically, there's just enough inexplicable tragedy and unresolved longing in Penny's life to make one wonder if Penny is herself a heroine (a thought which Penny also considers).

Then we have a peculiar shift in narrative and we go back in time to when Penny's mother was a young woman. A point of contention between Penny and her mother has always been the void that is Penny's father. Penny knows that her mother became pregnant out of wedlock, decided to keep the baby against the wishes of her parents, and that her father died in a car accident. Penny's mom is mum on the details of who Penny's father was and what, exactly, her relationship with him was. This part of the narrative answers all of the questions Penny has regarding her father. I won't reveal any more here as to do so would be to spoil the ending, but this storyline was the best in the book and took about 10-15 pages. The payoff was not worth the other 200+ pages through which I had to drag myself.

The story could have been saved if the characters had been more likable, the heroines had made more frequent (and more satisfying) appearances, or if the story hadn't been so self-aware of how clever it was being with all of its metaphysical musings on the nature of "heroines" and storytelling itself.

I was so disappointed with this book the second half that I almost wanted to rate it lower, but overall, I found it fine, so tried to be fair and rate it thus!The premise of the heroines at the b&b interested me so much that I think I just had higher hopes for it, and when the book didn't end up being what I'd expected, I wasn't as interested.It didn't end up being my thing.

I have to agree with many of the other reviews of this book... what a great premise, and if anyone knows of a book with a similar premise that is better executed, please let me know!I gave the book three stars because I did enjoy reading it while I was reading it, but it was disappointing because it could have been done SOOOO much better. I loved all of the main characters, but would have really enjoyed getting to know them better. More about the mother as she grows up, more about Penny before the time which is the focus of the novel, and more about what happens after Deirdre's visit... just more, more, more!As it is now, it's good beach reading (which was my use for it). And I'll just be sad for what it could have been.

This is a wonderful book for lovers of literary characters. Anne Marie Entwhistle runs a b-and-b which could be considered a halfway home for runaway literary females such as Scarlett O'Hara, Blanche Dubois, Franny Glass, and others. This is great for Anne Marie, a bookworm who considers these women closer to her than her affluent parents. This is not so great for her teenage daughter, Penny who is coming to terms with her own sexuality, a crush on a visiting Hero, and her own teenage angst.
Favorite portrays the characters both hers and others in very honest realistic terms, despite the fantastic premise. The Heroines just arrive in contemporary clothing. Anne Marie lets them rest but sends them on their way, Penny however question their existance.
. Anne Marie's interactions with the characters and the final chapters which recount her girlhood are brilliantly realized as she is equal parts exasperating and warm, as she assists her new friends argues with her daughter,and suffers through a past love affair with Penny's father. Penny is like every other teen protagonist, confused, rebellious, precocious.
This is a wonderful book to be read by any book fan.

The premise of this book is fantastic. Thirteen-year-old Penny and her mother run a bed and breakfast that is frequented by literary heroines who have stopped in to take a respite from their own fraught plot lines. The heroines show up unexpectedly and leave just as suddenly, and Penny, her mother, and their housekeeper Gretta are the only ones who know of the heroines and who care for them during their stay.

As others have said, the premise for this story is enthralling, and has so much potential. The breakdown seems to stem largely from Favorite's choice to use teen angst and a stint in a mental institution as a major plot device. Rather than work through the characters' issues, the author offers them the escape of presumed insanity, which -- though an interesting take on mental health care in the 1970s -- stifles the otherwise fascinating trajectory of the plot and lands it smack in the middle of irrelevance. Some plot points just don't add up, and overall any purported literary loftiness falls flat on its backside.

I would much preferred to have seen the heroines interact with the plot in a more direct way. So many of these characters are such important figures (archetypes, even), and could have been used much more effectively. Instead, the entering heroine with whom Penny has the most contact is a near-nameless character from an obscure work of medieval literature. Again, this seems a bit of a cop-out: it's almost as if Favorite didn't want to offend her readers through possible misrepresentation of one of the great heroines from more modern and well known fiction.

Nevertheless, I really enjoyed this book. I found it to be quite the page-turner, and the premise was sufficiently interesting to keep me reading straight through, even when it didn't turn out to be quite the book I was expecting it to be. This makes for great light reading, and could be a fun read for those who are well versed in the classics and familiar with the heroines of many of these stories.

Have finished reading The Heroines, thank goodness. It sounded interesting on the cover blurb, but was messy, I thought , poorly written and hard to follow. Is written from the view point of a 13 year old girl who lives with her single mother and housekeeper in the boarding house run by her mother. Into the house come all these heroines from novels, Scarlet O'Hara, Catherine Earnshaw, Anna Karenina etc., all at the point in their story when they are in some sort of trouble. Found the book disjointed and hard to engage with. I will not be keeping this one on my books shelves, it will go out to leave room for books I do enjoy.

Shallow, ill conceived, unbelievable, poorly written.

This one is told from bed and breakfast owner Anne-Marie’s thirteen-year-old daughter Penny’s point of view. It is incredibly charming and sweet!

Definitely recommended to English Lit majors!

a fun read about a mother and daughter and the bed and breakfast that literary heroines come to stay at when they need a break from their storyline. And ironically, I've never read any of the books of the heroines that come to visit.

A fun, quirky premise, but............awful, dreadful, terrible.

I puzzled over this book for a while before finally buying it on sale.Then, I waited even longer to sit down and read it. Oh, how I wish I had read it right away. This charming novel is the perfect blend of famous heroines from literature mixed with a spunky, headstrong American girl's thoughts and experiences. It was an easy read, taking me just under a day once I got past a slightly rocky beginning.

The book is definitely worth the read, and will provide the reader with hours of "what if" imaginings after the end. It's definitely one I'll pass on to friends, both literature lovers and casual readers, alike. Although the main character is 13, the book can be enjoyed by YA readers and adults, thanks to its many layers of allusions and humor. Not only was it enjoyable, but it's motivated me to revisit some of my favorite classics, next!

The only thing I have to say about this book is.....blah.
Don't waste money buying this book, don't waste time reading it. Yak.

Grade Levels: 10-12 Category: Realistic/Fantasy Fiction

Read Alouds: pp. 8-14 (the Heroines); 28-34 (Emma Bovary); 85-94 (the mental hospital); 112-120 (Scarlett O’Hara); 155-163 (Hester Prynne); 176-180 (Catherine Earnshaw); 207-216 (Heathcliff); 227-231 (Epilogue)

Summary: Thirteen-year-old Penny Entwhistle lives at a magical bed and breakfast where Heroines from classic literature occasionally come to stay for a break from their plotlines. Penny finds herself messing with the storylines of one of the guests and is hurt. Her mother takes her to the doctor and ends up committing her to a mental hospital. Penny escapes with a Villain who wants to capture the current guest at her house. He hides Penny in the woods and holds her captive until an exchange can be made for the Heroine. Penny eventually learns that her own father was a Villain and never messes with another storyline of a visiting Heroine.

Themes: The major theme in this book is “what is real?/what is fantasy?” The premise of this book is very interesting. The idea that these famous fictional women need a break from their “jobs” as heroines is fascinating. That is real. Don’t we all need a break once in awhile? Yet, they use this time off to figure out how their fictional lives will work themselves out. Then there is Penny, her mother, and Gretta who are privy to the thoughts and plots of the Heroines. Real women helping fictional women: it is very strange, maybe even crazy. But after Penny ends up at the hospital you don’t want to believe that she is crazy, but maybe she is. Maybe her mother is. Maybe Gretta is. You are left wondering if it is all a fantasy, but you don’t want to believe that it is make believe. Which is weird, because after all, the book itself is a work of fiction.

Discussion Questions:
Why is Penny’s mother so afraid for Penny?
Describe the character of Gretta. Why is she so important to this story?
Who is really crazy at the hospital? Who isn’t? How do you feel about the treatment the girls receive there?
Why is Penny do fascinated with Conor? Why does she resent Deidre?
Who was the only Heroine that Penny liked? Why did she like her?

Reader Response: This was a really weird book. That said, I think it is an excellent introduction to some of the great women heroines of classic literature. I don’t think you necessarily have to read the classics to understand the story. If anything, it lights a little fire in your head to revisit or visit for the first time, those women from those books that seemed like they would be too boring to really get into. An excellent book about books.

Yikes. Just yikes. I can't imagine a worse treatment of classic characters. I think that the concept of reimaging literary/historical characters and bringing them into "our world" reached its peak with Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure. Everything since then has just paled in comparison.

Plus the idea of a literary charcter leaving his book and lusting after a young "reality" girl creeped me out.

Just don't.

I felt like I needed to watch American Idol to make me smarter after reading this.

The author uses characters from wonderful literature in such sad sordid ways. There were many instances throughout this that made me feel she didn't comprehend any of the classics she used so brutally. (one character sports the wrong hair color for the whole book, the WHOLE miserable book)

Grab something by Jasper Fford, be assured this is nothing but a pale, pathetic, sad, poor immitation.½

This looked promising and I like the premise, but by the time I hit p. 49, I realized I didn't care about any of the characters½

The Heroines is about a young girl who lives on the premises of a bed and breakfast run by her mother. This is no ordinary bed and breakfast, however. This bed and breakfast is the place where distressed heroines from famous novels such as Wurthering Heights and the Scarlett Letter come to escape from the perils of their story lines in their respective books. This is also a story of the trials and tribulations of adolescent angst.

This is exactly the type of plot that in defter and more talented hands would have enraptured me. Unfortunately, Ms. Favorite's writing was uninspired and flat. I read this book in one day. It barely skimmed the surface of the emotions of the characters. The characters were not well-rounded or drawn out.

I had high expectations after reading the book description on the inside flap, but The Heroines needs more than a good plot idea to rescue it from the well of soon-to-be forgotten books.½

found today 8/2/2013 1 of 20 books for $10