minimicropup's reviews
479 reviews

Rotten Tommy: A Horror Novel by David Sodergren

dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

Omg I loved this. I can’t even explain, it hit me right in the feels. Scary, satisfying, and cathartic 🥹.

Energy: Enduring. Hopeful. Imaginative.

🐩 Tail Wags: Becky as a main character (so relatable). Cinematic writing (effortlessly played out in my mind’s eye). The pacing and ratio of mysteries to reveals. The slashings and gore (just enough detail to be scary, not enough to be cheesy). The balance of funny sarcastic moments to horrific ones without feeling campy. Vindicating story for introverts and neurodivergents. Bizarre yet oddly satisfying ending.

Scene: 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 Set in Scotland near Edinburgh

Perspectives: Our main character discovers a set of VHS tapes in their house wall while renovating and sets about trying to view them, leading to a series of life-changing events and realizations.

Timeline: 1984 and current (2010s or 2020s).

🔥 Fuel: Mysteries. Murderous intentions. Emotional stakes. Compelling characters. Romantic tension. Pacing. Blast from the Past. What happened on the children’s show from the 1980s? What will be on the VHS tapes hidden in the walls? Why is Becky’s childhood photo on a missing poster?

📖 Cred: Magical surrealism

Mood Reading Match-Up:

Home renovation. Missing poster. Nursery rhymes. Subliminal edits. Rotten eggs. Lighthouse. VCR.

Man-thing summoned
Unhinged body gore
Gritty, noir energy
Missing mother mystery
Deranged, lost media children’s show
Escaping a toxic relationship romance
Swipes of road trip adventuring
Strange town frozen in time
Puppets attack
Fairy tale come true bizarro grotesquery
Atmospheric and cinematic
Watching things unfold, tagging along with the characters narrative style

Content Heads-Up: Self-mutilation. Dementia (on page; parent). Loss of parent (as toddler). Ableism (dismissing, ignorance, antagonizing). Domestic abuse (physical attacks). Murder, body horror, gore, dismemberment. Infidelity, betrayal (on page). Sexual content (on page; descriptive). Vomit. Corpses. Gun violence (police). Panic attacks (on page).

Rep: Scottish. British. Cis. Hetero. Ambiguous skin tones. Autism spectrum.

📚 Format: Kindle Unlimited

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🤩 Potential Fav of 2024

Content Warnings

This Cursed House by Del Sandeen

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.5

This wasn’t a bad read and I liked the premise, but it dragged out with too much reiteration of plot points. If you enjoy a historical fiction with some light paranormal elements and don’t mind that, it could be a good fit. But I didn’t get any horror or atmosphere from it.

Energy: Watchful. Self-conscious. Contemplative.

🐺 Growls Repetitive, slow-moving narrative. Story circled the same plot points, worsened by the MC’s indecision. The plot kept stalling out with lots of inner musings and over-explaining small details. Atmosphere after the first chapter was minimal and eventually lost the sense of place.

🐕 Howls This is more of a historical fiction with a bit of paranormal elements, with the curse explained through family history rather than ominously present day to day. It was too long for the amount of story. Read like a YA book (on the younger side) in writing style and over-explaining.

🐩 Tail Wags Audio easy to listen to while multi-tasking. The concept (premise, setting, and characters).

Scene: 🇺🇸 Set in Louisiana on a family plantation.

Perspective: Our main character is hired as a tutor for above average pay. As they come to learn more about the family that hired them and their connection, they discover what they were really hired for and why they were lied to.

Timeline: 1960s

🔥 Fuel: Hope and redemption. Race against time. Backstories and family drama. Will our main character be affected by the curse? Can she reverse it? Why was she chosen to deal with it?

📖 Cred: Gothic fantastical spiritual realism

Mood Reading Match-Up:

Burnt taste. Oak trees. Seance. Distant singing. Smoky scent. Bones.

Bio-fam drama
Inherited trauma symbolism and social commentary
Hints of magical realism
Southern fairy tale
Easy reading YA style horror-lite
Power of forgiveness
Ghostly, beyond the grave revenge
Curses that bind
Elements of reluctant hero chosen one with special gifts
Slow moving historical fiction

Content Heads-Up: Racism (historical; segregation, prejudice, persecution, internalized). Loss of loved ones (mention, recall). Incest (cousins). Classism, elitism (bloodline, race). Familial rejection. Mutilation (off page;

tongue removal

). Adoption (reluctant). Forced gender roles.

Rep: American. Cis. Hetero. Dark, brown, and pale skin tones.

📚 Format: Library Audio

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Content Warnings

Hum by Helen Phillips

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emotional funny lighthearted mysterious reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

I loved this. It felt so balanced and thought-provoking. I like how it explored the benefits and dangers of tech in a gentler way that left room for reader interpretation. And the references at the end were pretty surreal – we’re already living parts of this future 😵‍💫.

Energy: Debatable. Soothing. Empathetic.

🐩 Tail Wags Mix of strange and familiar. Authentic sounding dialogue. Third person narration gave slight distance that prevented the story being too dramatic or stressful. How tech isn’t portrayed as inherently good or bad, just exists with pros and cons. The backdrop of environmental collapse. Balanced commentary that’s open to reader interpretation. May’s conflicts and struggles to find balance. Realistically flawed characters and family dynamics. How technology understanding our deepest feelings doesn’t have to be a bad thing necessarily. Bittersweet look at what our future could be.

Scene: 🌆 Set in an unspecified American metropolis.

Perspective: Our main character’s job as an AI trainer is no longer required, so while looking for work they sign up for a trial to subtly change their face, so it is no longer recognized by the technology of the time. They decide to use a chunk of the payout to treat their spouse and two kids (6 and 8) to a vacation at the local Botanical Gardens.

Timeline: Near future. 🥵 Heatwaves

🔥 Fuel: Emotional investment. Relatable dilemmas and themes. World-building. Intrigue. Thoughts and Feels. What is the botanical garden going to be like? Will the hum help the family? Who leaked what happened in the garden? How will May manage it?

📖 Cred: Speculative sci-fi realism

Mood Reading Match-Up:

Pigeons. Entertainment pods. Subway. Gauze scarf. Horsies go round. Hot, stifling air. Humidity. Ads.

Day-in-the-life mundanity wrapped in a techno climate sci-fi
Family vacay chaos
Ironic exploration of technology and connecting with nature
Not too distant future realism
Hints of surrealism
Everything snowballing, life slowly unraveling
Financial struggles, consumerism
Unexpected allies
Going viral for all the wrong reasons
Through the eyes of the main character, watching everything unfold linear narrative style
Immersive, vibey atmosphere

Content Heads-Up: Missing/lost child. Financial struggles/overspending. Accusations of negligence. Loneliness.

Rep: American. Cis. Hetero. Ambiguous skin tones.

📚 Format: Library Digital

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😀 Potential Fav of 2024

Tiny Threads by Lilliam Rivera

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Did not finish book. Stopped at 24%.

I just cannot get into this. It’s not interesting and at first I thought it was just because I don’t know much about how fashion works, so it’d take me awhile to clue in. But now that I’ve moved into the plot more, I just feel so bored. It’s trying to create a mood but trying a little too hard. Also not getting any horror from this, more like it’s just pointing out the traumatic terrible things people do to each other by explaining how it’s terrible, then using symbolism (like fashion houses and slaughterhouses) to reiterate. Skimmed ahead and can tell this one just isn’t for me.

You Shouldn't Be Here by Lauren Thoman

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Did not finish book. Stopped at 99%.

Skimmed through starting at 50% mark. It’s mostly a wholesome romance, but with so much humming and hawing about whether to accept invites, show interest, reveal huge clues as they investigate together. It was frustrating me. The premise was interesting to start but it dragged on by mid point and the Big Bad way of handling things at the end was too cartoony and convenient to allow for rescuing, veering off into cheesy popcorn thriller territory. I also found it hugely predictable and that made it feel even more drawn out as the same clues were being waved around for the reader while the main character was oblivious.

Not a bad book though, and if you like will-they-or-won’t-they romances and meet cutes, and cozy mysteries with a heaping side of corruption and rich, conservative, gun-toting Americans behaving badly, you may find this a more enjoyable read than I did.

On the Surface by Rachel McGuire

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dark lighthearted mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

Overall, I didn’t love it, but I didn’t hate it either. It’s an okay read, but if you’re a regular thriller reader, the plot and writing style might feel boring and predictable. I mostly found myself waiting for it to wrap up.

Energy: Jaded. Indignant. Narcissistic.

🐺 Growls The setting was forgettable unless I actively worked to visualize it.

🐕 Howls The story focuses too much on the characters’ inner monologues and emotional tension at the expense of intrigue. The present-tense narration made everything seem overly dramatic, although it fit the vibe. The repetitive resentments and schemings of the main characters dragged the plot down. Inconsistency in accents with audio (the narrators voiced the characters so differently, it hard to keep track of who was speaking at times, especially early on when I mistook characters for new ones).

🐩 Tail Wags The question of who’s reliable and what really happened the night Dani went missing.

Scene: 🇧🇸 Set in Bahamas where cruisers are docked.

Perspectives (5): A up-and-coming sailing influencer who just got monetized. The partner of the influencer. A friend of the influencer. Someone associated with the influencer. The detective investigating the missing person report.

Timeline: Current (2020s-ish). ☀️ Summery

🔥 Fuel: Twists and reveals. Unreliable narrators. Relationship dynamics. Conflict, drama, tea. What happened to Dani? Who is telling the truth? Are we insider or outsiders as the reader?

📖 Cred: Over-the-Top

Mood Reading Match-Up:

Cryptocurrency. Cruiser parties. Monetization. Butter sauce. Drab office.

Domestic suspense
Sailing influencer behind-the-scenes
Present-tense dramatic writing style
Riches to rags
Make a prediction, who to believe moments
Deeply flawed unlikeable and narcissistic characters
Tagging along with the detective getting clues
Tanged webs, everyone behaving badly
Time jumping narratives

Content Heads-Up: Alcohol (parties, intoxication, blackouts). Missing person. Potential false accusation. Domestic abuse (discussion, accusation, evidence of). Sexual content (toys, foursomes, bondage gear, promiscuity; mention/discovery). Voyeurism (hidden cameras). Malingering, manipulation, lies. Personality disorder. Racism (discussion of media, coverage of missing persons).

Rep: American. Bahamian. Dominican. Cis. Bi. Gay. Hetero. Dark, pale, and ambiguous skin tones.

📚 Format: Libro.fm

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Heads of the Colored People by Nafissa Thompson-Spires

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dark emotional funny tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

I like how these stories connected but were also independent. I think these were a great exploration of humanity using day in the life snapshots to show all the horrors humans do to each other while sometimes exploring the horrible humans too.

1-A cosplayer rejecting a solicitor’s flyer shouldn’t be the end

2-Waring officemates see the light

3-Petty parents acting like children while defending their children

4-How a children’s feud came to be

5-The fragmentation of a high school student

6-A cultural appropriator slowly killing their family

7-A narcissistic irony

8-An ASMR content creator dealing with the loud expectations of school, family, and their online audience

9-A catch 22 of rejection and anger is explored at the DMV.

10-A little unhinged while looking for Mr Right

11-Anthropology grad students studying each other

12-A nurse is visited by patients while they wonder about their son’s future being bleak

Mood Reading Match-Up:

Cosplay. Sketchbooks. Food court. Clinique. Sulfuric eggs. Perspiration. Kawaii. Microwave.

Show not tell social commentary
1990s settings
Snapshot stories and character vignettes
Thrown in the story, start off confused
Short stories that connect
Inferring style reads
Mix of complex, morally grey, unlikeable, unhinged characters
Touch of randomness and irony
Psychological exploration of Black American experiences and navigating White normativity

Content Heads-Up: Gun violence (police, medical). Police brutality (against unarmed; excessive force; fatal). Racism (microaggressions; prejudice; media angles and coverage). Body shaming (weight). Bullying (preteens). Eating disorders (intentional malnourishment of self and child; anorexia; bulimia). Fire (accidental; building, cat death; very brief mention). Blood. Cultural appropriation. Mental illness (schizophrenia; family history). Suicidal ideation, attempt. Narcissism. Sexual harassment (online, groping, threats). Victim blaming. Infidelity (brief mention). Child abuse (physical punishment, rejection). Fetishizing disability.

Rep: Black American. Venezuelan. Cis. Hetero. Dark, chestnut, brown, deep brown, sable, pink, light, bronzed, and pale skin tones. Hyperhidrosis. Wheelchair user. Fibroids. Endometriosis. Albinism. Diverse body sizes.

📚 Format: Kobo

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Content Warnings

The Keeper of the Key by Nicole Willson

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challenging dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

Creepy and well-paced, and I really liked the main character.

Energy: Assertive. Intuitive. Compassionate.

🐕 Howls The writing leans to the younger side of YA (the tone, not the topics!), but it still worked for me. The very end was a little predictable, but that’s probably because I’m an adult reading a YA book 🤓.

🐩 Tail Wags Relatable main character and feeling how horrifying her life situation has become. The insufferable stepdad character. Mix of creepy paranormal elements and real-life horrors. The spooks. The pacing. How Rachel sticks up for herself. Subtle but powerful commentary on how women’s fears and anxieties are often brushed off as overreactions. Commentary naturally woven through the story. Darker moments I was not expecting.

Scene: 🇺🇸 Old Victorian-style home near the town of St Marys, Virginia, USA

Perspective: A 3rd year high school student spending the summer break adjusting to life in their new stepparent’s home after their bioparent’s whirlwind romance.

Timeline: Current (2010s or 2020s). Over the summer break from school.

🔥 Fuel: The romance, the family life, the basement visions, the missing girls, the situation with Geoff's past and the house history.

📖 Cred: Supernatural/paranormal realism

Mood Reading Match-Up:

Thai restaurant. Furniture polish. Must. Cozy bookstore. Creepy basement. Black hair dye. Cemeteries. Coffee.

My house my rules stepparent
Moving to an old Victorian mansion
Main character you can root for
Touch of missing teens mystery
Bookstore meet-cute
First love romance
Imperfect parents
Gothic coming-of-age
Ghostly visions and vengeance
First person narrator sharing their thoughts and observations
Hints of supernatural and magical realism

Content Heads-Up: Loss of parent (as toddler; child; preteen). Body shaming (appearance, hair dye, style). Blood, death. Alcohol (underage; provided by adult). Dietary shaming (vegetarian). Home invasion, gun violence (brief, on page). Murder. Night terrors, sleepwalking. Sexual content (consenting; make out, first time, birth control; on page). Infidelity (recall). Abusive relationship (physical assault, obsession, stalking). Confinement. Fire (building).

Rep: American. Hispanic or Latin American peripheral character. Cis. Hetero. Pale and dark skin tones.

📚 Format: Advance Reader’s Copy from BooksGoSocial, Parliament House Press, and NetGalley

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Content Warnings

Bitter Is the Heart by Mina Hardy

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dark emotional mysterious reflective tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

Strong start with eerie vibes and body horror, but it loses steam in the final stretch. Has some solid body horror and tense moments!

Energy: Tumultuous. Neurotic. Distraught.

🐺 Growls Bogged down at tend with negotiations between MC and the Big Bad, explaining the mechanics of what happened, the original plan, what would happen if the MC made certain choices etc etc.

🐕 Howls In the text there are italics when we get flashbacks or a scene change, but on audio there’s no indicator and it was jarring sometimes, I kept rewinding thinking I missed a transition or to rehear it in the right setting. Lost momentum near the end, too dialogue heavy.

🐩 Tail Wags Slow burn with creepy undertones. Chaotic, unpredictable mother character. Gorey, visceral things happening but can’t look away. The nightwalking sequences. Including Jewish traditions and cultural references without it feeling like info dumping (I’m not very familiar with them, so needed some background).

Scene: Set in Kettering, Ohio, USA

Perspective: A fifty-something who lives alone suddenly finds themselves caring for their elderly mother after she’s kicked out of her independent living facility.

Timeline: 2020s

Fuel: Unsettling vibes and happenings. Mother-daughter dynamics. Unreliable narrator potential. Gore and grossness. Unpredictability.

Is her mother’s condition due to biology/medical issues or is she being purposeful? Who or what is causing the creepiness?

Cred: Mix of surreal, spiritual, and hyper-realism.

Mood Reading Match-Up:

Boxes. Facetime. Hair. Grilled cheese. DNA test. Dirt. TV. Vomit.

Creepy things elderly parents say
Haunted childhood
Parent-child role reversal
Jewish folklore and traditions horror
Spiraling narrator
Swipes of second chance romance
Sleepwalking spooks
Mother-things
Exorcism & possession
Generational trauma mother-daughter symbolism
Tagging along with the main character day-to-day

Content Heads-Up: Pandemic/lockdowns (very brief mention; restrictions recently lifted). Menopause (hot flashes). Alcoholism, alcohol abuse (self-medicating, intoxication; descriptively drinking/enjoying). Abusive parent (emotional, alcoholic). Delusions, hallucinations (auditory). Cannabis (gummies, vaping; prescribed). Gaslighting. Parental abandonment, resentment, rejection. Suicide (recall, description). Dementia (signs of). Abortion (memories, discussion). Vomit, body fluids (descriptive on page). Disrespecting dietary restrictions (Jewish, vegetarian). Sexual harassment (brief; of male). Sexual content (consenting). Matriarchy. Burn injury.

Rep: American. Jewish. Cis. Hetero. Pink and dark skin tones. Childfree by choice.

📚 Format: Library Digital and Everand Audio

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Content Warnings

The Sequel: A Novel by Jean Hanff Korelitz

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dark emotional funny mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

This was the perfect multi-tasking audio read for me. I liked this one more than the first, but they’re both good.

If you read The Plot, there’s a bit of a recap woven into the story to remind us of what happened if it’s been awhile.

If you haven’t read The Plot, you should still be able to follow along, but there are parts that might seem vague or overly mysterious without the background (and it may be a little more confusing).

Energy: Exacting. Compelling. Indignant.

🐕 Howls

Aspiring writers may find parts of this a bit harsh or pretentious? It reminded me of Yellowface in that it’s not clear whether there’s some author intrusion going on, but I’m no writer so I loved the drama of it all. The names and aliases sent me for a loop, I had to pause and think it over if I took so much as a tiny reading break.

🐩 Tail Wags

Tangled web of lies and truths. Even when I predicted something it was still fascinating to watch it unfold. Easy listening, great narration (if I read it as text, I may have been a bit bored sometimes). The roller coaster of feelings I had for our morally grey main character. How the story led me to overthink things.

Scene: 🇺🇸 Set in Vermont, New York, and Athens, Georgia, USA

Perspective: The widow of a best-selling author finds themselves in the spotlight after writing about it. They thought their secrets were safely hidden, but someone out there knows the truth and plans to reveal all. We get snippets of manuscript versions being sent to people.

Timeline: Current (2010s or 2020s).

🔥 Fuel: Starting at the end (of the previous book). Intrigue. Escalating guilt, paranoia, unhingedness. Layered secrets. Conflict, drama, tea. Who is the new harasser? Why now? What truly happened that is the “inspiration” for this story?

📖 Cred: Suspended disbelief on the plausible-ish side

Mood Reading Match-Up:

Book signing. Manuscripts. Phone calls. Cash. Pub. Envelopes. Mail.

Morally grey main character
Elements of good-for-them revenge
Book within a book
Authors behaving badly
Air of pretension taletelling
Stolen stories
Plot-driven, vibe-heavy web of secrets and lies
Bad decisions snowballing
Slow burn rampages
Authorship, fiction-writing, and publishing commentary
Reading manuscript snippets

Content Heads-Up: Loss of spouse. Murder. Plagiarism. Rape (off page, memories). Parental rejection. Suicide, suicide attempts. Attempted murder. Lies, manipulation. Drugging. Gun violence (brief, on page). Kidnapping.

Rep: American. Cis. Hetero. Ambiguous skin tones.

📚 Format: Library Audio

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minimicropup's reviews 479 reviews

minimicropup's reviews
479 reviews