Minnie's Fiction Addiction

Every so often, a book hands you a heroine who’s just… a little off. Maybe she’s morally slippery, maybe she’s socially awkward in the most watchable way, or maybe she’s just marching to the beat of her own strange little drum. Today’s picks are for readers who love a female main character who’s weird, wild, or wonderfully unpredictable.

🕵️‍♀️ None of This Is True — Lisa Jewell

Alix Summers, a successful true-crime podcaster, bumps into Josie Fair at a restaurant and discovers they’re “birthday twins.” Josie seems quiet and unassuming at first, but soon wriggles her way into Alix’s life, dropping unsettling hints about her past and pushing for an interview. The more Alix records, the stranger and darker Josie becomes, until the lines between storyteller and subject blur completely.

🧵 Yellowface — R.F. Kuang

June Hayward, a struggling writer, witnesses the sudden death of her far more successful friend Athena Liu, and steals Athena’s unpublished manuscript. As June rides the wave of literary fame under a new, racially ambiguous pen name, her paranoia grows. She’s defensive, delusional, and weirdly compelling, giving us a front-row seat to self-sabotage and the darkly comic side of ambition.

🎭 Bunny — Mona Awad

Samantha Mackey feels like an outsider in her ultra-elite MFA writing program, until the clique of saccharine, creepy “Bunnies” invites her into their world. Soon she’s swept into their cult-like workshops where imagination bleeds into reality, stuffed animals come to life, and art and horror mingle. Samantha herself is sharp, lonely, and increasingly unhinged in a way that’s hypnotic and strange.

🧟‍♀️ Plain Bad Heroines — Emily M. Danforth

Dual timelines, a cursed early-1900s girls’ school and a modern-day horror film about it, feature queer, eccentric, complicated women. The FMCs are messy, artistic, and just strange enough to keep you on edge as the book blends metafiction, satire, and haunted-house vibes.

🖤 My Year of Rest and Relaxation — Ottessa Moshfegh

The unnamed narrator has everything: beauty, money, a Manhattan apartment — and a deep desire to check out of life entirely. She embarks on a year-long experiment of drug-induced sleep, fueled by a wildly unethical psychiatrist and a nihilistic worldview. Detached, self-absorbed, and strangely magnetic, she’s a heroine who will fascinate you even as you side-eye her every choice.

💡 Final Thoughts

If you love a heroine who’s twisted, unpredictable, or just plain odd, these reads deliver. Some are darkly funny, some are eerie and atmospheric, and all of them centre women you’ll never forget, even if you’re not sure you’d want to meet them in real life.