When it comes to challenging protagonists, I adore an angry, unhinged woman with an ax to grind – sometimes literally! If you support women’s wrongs, these four titles will leave you cackling, wincing in horror, or perhaps wondering, “Good for her?” Please enjoy these hard-to-love heroines for your book bingo square.
Best Offer Wins by Marisa Kashino
Kashino based her debut novel on the outrageously stressful experience of purchasing her first home in 2021 when interest rates were at a historic low. Best Offer Wins follows Margo, an extremely motivated buyer, who is fixated on purchasing her dream home in a devastatingly competitive market. Margo’s increasing desperation leads to a more aggressive strategy, and her behavior accelerates from cringe to criminal.
Without a doubt, Margo is a monstrous main character, and yet…many recent homeowners have experienced this specific madness firsthand. I found the premise disturbingly relatable – to a point! This story is twisted, and I loved every deranged and well-paced minute. Best Offer Wins has a strong voice, a thrilling plot, and a gratifying conclusion.
A Good Person by Kirsten King
The titular “good person” in King’s story is Lillian, a troubled young woman in a doomed situationship with a mediocre jerk named Henry. When Henry ends their relationship unceremoniously, she drunkenly hexes him using a spell learned from a cultish witchy influencer. Unfortunately for Lillian, Henry winds up stabbed to death later that evening. The next day she discovers Henry was already in a committed relationship and that she is the prime suspect in his brutal murder.
Lillian is positively feral; she is one of the most shockingly self-destructive characters I’ve come across in literature. Her actions are downright illness inducing, but she’s also perceptive, determined, and viciously funny.
Immaculate Conception by Ling Ling Huang
In Immaculate Conception we meet two brilliant artists, Enka and Mathilde, who bond intensely during art school. Their futures are thrown into question after the catastrophic emergence of a generative AI archive that rocks the art world. What follows is a lifelong, deeply intimate friendship that is sullied by the corrosive effect of envy and the hideous application of invasive tech. Immaculate Conception is a fascinating look at trauma, creativity, art, and the intersection of humanity and technology. It’s also a pitch-black dive into the obsessive mind of a woman that cannot bear freely given intimacy. Our protagonist’s parasitic relationship to her best friend and her escalating betrayals is truly sickening. This psychological drama rattled me to the core.
Play Nice by Rachel Harrison
Play Nice is Harrison’s haunted house story about a fashion influencer managing the affairs of her estranged and recently deceased mother. In the wake of her death, Clio and her sisters are surprised to learn they have inherited the spooky house where they grew up. Their mother claimed to be plagued by a relentless demon, but the girls experienced the house primarily as a site of parental abuse. Navigating painful memories, Clio moves into the house to fix it up before they sell it. She sees this project as an opportunity to connect with the ghosts of the past and finally understand what happened in her childhood. As terrifying incidents mount within the walls, Clio must reckon with demons both real and imagined.
Clio is a selfish, immature, and irritating youngest sibling. She makes terrible decisions and hurts the people who care about her. But I still found myself rooting for her, her sisters, and her cute neighbor.
For these and more suggestions, visit Book Bingo NW 2026: Hard-to-Love Protagonist.
Happy Reading!
For more ideas for books to meet your Summer Book Bingo challenge, follow our Shelf Talk BookBingoNW2026 series or check the hashtag #BookBingoNW2026 on social media. Book Bingo is presented in partnership with Seattle Arts & Lectures and the King County Library System.
~ posted by Jennie D.
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