‘It was hot – the kind of heat that makes you yearn for the weather to cool down’ is genuinely one of the first lines
So, last week Millie Bobby Brown released her new book “Nineteen Steps”. It’s a historical romance novel set in the Second World War and is based around the Bethnal Green Tube Disaster. But the reviews are coming in thick and fast and yikes, some of them are genuinely shocking.
The book is described as an “epic story of love, loss, and secrets” and actually inspired by Millie’s own family history. Millie’s Nanny Ruth was involved in the 1943 Bethnal Green tube station disaster where 173 people died going down the steps in an air raid.
But like loads of celebs before her, she’s also come under fire for the book being ghostwritten. Despite the cover reading “Millie Bobby Brown” in very big gold letters, most of the book was actually written by writer Kathleen McGurl.
In a blog post in March, Kathleen McGurl explained that she was sent “a lot of research that had already been pulled together by Millie and her family, and plenty of ideas”. They then had a “couple” of Zoom calls before Kathleen wrote the first draft. Millie carried on sending her more ideas on WhatsApp but it was predominantly not actually written by Millie Bobby Brown.
Arguably, this actually makes some of these reviews worse considering she had so much help. So here are some reviews of Millie Bobby Brown’s new book where it’s getting absolutely violated:
Literally just read the opening paragraph
I’m sorry but who actually read “It was hot – the kind of heat that makes you yearn for the weather to cool down” and gave it the thumbs up?
It’s so bad – the kind of bad that makes you yearn for it to be good x
‘Can Millie Bobby Brown write novels? Absolutely not’
Jessa Crispin from The Telegraph absolutely went IN on Millie and described her book as “flat and repetitive”. She gave the book two stars overall.
“Within three pages, she has mentioned that her heroine Nellie is not like other girls.” I’m sorry but that is the most Millie Bobby Brown thing I’ve ever heard and it’s giving big Enola Holmes vibes.
She also slated the historical accuracy: “As we go, there are period touches. Did you know that during the Second World War, things such as food were rationed? Millie Bobby Brown knows; you can tell because she mentions it almost a dozen times.” Yikes.
What in the year five literacy class?
I refuse to believe this is from an actual book and not an eight-year-old’s entry into a creative writing contest to win an Easter Egg. It’s supposed to sound like a teenager from 1943 but this person definitely sounds like they’s had a few puffs of an Elf Bar or watched an episode of reality TV.
A ‘pretty tasteless’ and ‘queasy affair’
Barry Pierce for i-D described Milly Bobby Brown’s book as a “pretty tasteless” and “queasy affair”. He said the first 150-pages of the book are just characters pointing out just how dodgy the steps down to the station are. Sounds like she just learnt what foreshadowing was in year seven English and wanted to impress her teacher with it.
“It’s a bit like setting a novel on the Titanic and having guests randomly come out with, ‘oh, I sure do hope we won’t see any icebergs on our journey’,” he said.
“Look, nobody is going into Nineteen Steps expecting a masterpiece. Personally, I wasn’t even expecting it to be good. It’s a curiosity piece: a young actor branching out into (albeit ghostwritten) fiction. But even as a curiosity piece, it’s pretty tasteless. It’s a goodies vs. baddies account of World War II that uncritically praises figures such as Churchill and Montgomery.” Oh dear.
A war tore apart families? What?!
Thanks for that insight Millie!
‘I expected her debut novel The Nineteen Steps would be pretty good. Sadly, I was disappointed.’
Anne Marie Scanlon in The Irish Independent also left a scathing review calling out all the historical inaccuracies in the book. She said: “Brown gets the big facts right but utterly fails to grasp the historical period she’s dealing with and has cheerfully imposed modern social mores and values onto the past. An unmarried mother is loved by all, and no one judges.” She also described it as EastEnders written by Disney and I’m genuinely lol-ing.
“As celebrities go, I’ve always liked Brown and think she has been sorely let down. There’s little doubt that The Nineteen Steps will sell well to her young fans, but given a few more years and a rigorous editor, Brown might have written something a bit more substantial.”
‘No plot no vibes’
Some of the Goodreads reviews also do not hold back. A one star review reads: “No plot, no vibes and it’s not even written by her” and another two star review pointed out how predictable the plot was and how the “character development is non-existent”. Kind of feel bad for her not gonna lie.
Featured image via @milliebobbybrown on Instagram.
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