minimicropup's reviews
479 reviews

dark emotional funny mysterious relaxing slow-paced

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

5.0

This was so fascinating. Mundane yet intriguing, strange yet familiar. Gotta be in the mood for it though. And have time– if I took long breaks, I would have been so lost coming back. It’s what I’d call a flexible read if you can get invested in the story. Could go with the flow just watching what happens or dissect all the nuanced commentary.

Energy: Desultory. Jaunty. Perceptive.

🐩 Tail Wags

Realistic well-developed characters and dialogue [take character notes, there are many]. Fine-tuned, very detailed character appearances and settings [could feel like too much detail if you aren’t a mind’s eye reader or prefer to customize your imaginings]. The randomness. Just taking it all in and watching things unfold. How the character arcs and plot points start to interconnect. Writing style that is almost jolting at times.

Scene: 🇺🇸 Set in Fayetteville, Arkansas, mostly at the University of Arkansas.

Perspectives (3): A professor with relationship struggles starts a new writing project but gets sidetracked during their research. A residential assistant majoring in Hospitality Management is eager to start their adult life after taking a break to help their mother out. A transfer student is nervous about their new school but hoping to make friends and put their past behind them.

Timeline: 2017 mostly. Takes place over the academic term, so it’s multi-season with summer breaks, autumn chill, and winter festivities.

🔥 Fuel: Character investment. Parallel plots. Evolving relationships between characters. What’s the deal with ____? Almost everyone is a little mysterious in that way getting to know someone can be.

📖 Cred: Hyper realistic with a based-on-a-true-story feel.

Mood Reading Match-Up:

Febreze. Candy perfume. Lanyard jingles. Dryer sheets. Wet laundry. Frozen pizza. Music from laptop speakers. Shea cream. Deodorant. Whole Foods. Christmas albums. Dirty dishes.

Thrown in the story, figure it out as you go
Slice-of-life University life randomness
Dorm life, roommate drama and dysfunction, friendship and relationship struggles
‘No plot, just vibes’ vibe
Nothing happens…unless you look closer
Detailed descriptions and world-building
Many morally grey and unlikeable characters (ymmv)
Parallel character studies that gradually overlap
Exploration and social commentary around race, class, academia, and finances/consumerism
Questionable journalism, getting the tea
Psychological mystery/suspense driven by character investment
You Never Know What Someone Is Going Through complexities
Fly on the wall, observation driven narratives

Content Heads-Up: Prejudice, bias (ignorance, comments; sexuality, race). Cannabis use (medicinal, recreational). Adderall (recreational). Glaucoma. Relationship breakdown (finances, resentment). Loneliness. Suicidal thoughts. Social anxiety. Dog death (very brief but on page). Sexual content (brief; intoxicated/regretful but coherent, meaningless, consenting, experimenting). Substance abuse (anti-anxiety, recreational). Tietze Syndrome.

Rep: Black, Biracial, Indigenous, and White Americans. Mexican, Irish-Danish, ancestry. Diverse bodies (above avg height, pear shaped, gapped teeth). Lesbian. Questioning. Hetero. Cisgender. Pale pink, rosy brown, tan, and very dark brown skin tones. Crohn’s Disease.

📚 Format: Library Digital

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😍 Potential Fav of 2024

Content Warnings

The Hurricane Blonde by Halley Sutton

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dark sad medium-paced

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

1.0

This sounded interesting but failed to capture my interest. Kept reading hoping that would change (it did not).

Energy: Brusque. Dogmatic. Impulsive.

🐺 Growls

Author has specific appearance in mind for the main character but waited to tell it 31 pages in (annoying for mind’s eye readers). Many events related to some past thing were introduced to far too late and on a shallow level (putting the ‘past’ timeline earlier would have helped). Reader is left out of story or kept distant – like when Salma reacts with shock about Hurricane Blonde stuff I didn’t feel anything because I didn’t know enough about it. Referring to one character as ‘the Black lady’, while our MC noticed the nuanced hair and accessories of White people was cringe.

🐕 Howls

We're told the sister is famous, the fam is famous, our MC was famous, but I never got a sense of that (too much Tell, not enough Show); same for the sisterly bonds. The writing style felt cheesy and dialogue was too. Convoluted plotting that ignores things like being recognized. Or stuff like “I don’t trust him” ~immediately signs contract without reading~. Murder mystery is so sub-plot it’s C-level at best. Chapters focused on revisiting the main plot point(s) over and over.

Scene: 🇺🇸 Set in Los Angeles, California

Perspective: A former child star from a famous acting family fallen from grace in a public way after substance abuse was documented by tabloids. They lead a celeb death tour, including the spot where their sister was murdered.

Timelines: Current (2020s). 1997 (when main character’s sister died).

🔥 Fuel: Withholding. Quests and scheming. Was Salma’s sister murdered? If so, by who? Is the death of another actress in the same spot related?

📖 Cred: Realistic to plausible

Mood Reading Match-Up:

Bus hydraulics. Gnarled cypress. Marble staircases. Miles Davis. Tuberose. Neroli. Cherry air freshener.

Antihero main character
Child star all grown up
Villainous characters
Haunted by the past, regrets, dark secrets
Toxic fame, fall from grace
Observing from afar, ‘Telling’ dominant narratives
Real settings can follow along on Google Earth
Overcoming addiction struggles
Dysfunctional family drama
Amateur sleuthing chaos

Content Heads-Up: Death. Dead body. Murder. Addiction (drugs, alcohol; rehab, maintenance). Loss of parent (as adult). Infidelity. Domestic abuse. Physical assault. Adult/minor relations. Rape (off page; of preteen).

Rep: White, Black Americans. Pale and dark skin tones. Cisgender. Hetero.

📚 Format: Paperback

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Content Warnings

The Hollywood Assistant by May Cobb

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funny lighthearted 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? It's complicated

5.0

I can’t explain why I loved this. The slow-creeping unease and predicting who the most unhinged character will be? It was a fun eyeroll, ‘one-more-chapter’ read.

Energy: Bright. Troubling. Foolish.

🐺 Growls

The epilogue.

🐩 Tail Wags

Immersive setting. Storytelling. Slow build foreshadowing. Knowing that something crazy will happen and trying to predict it. Unhinged twists. The cheesy lusting and longing. Only having the main character’s POV for the first 70%.

Scene: 🇺🇸 Set in the Hollywood Hills and Malibu California

Perspective: Our main character is fresh from a break-up trying to move on by focusing on their new job as a personal assistant for a famous movie director’s wife. Four weeks later, we know is something happened, and police are taking notice.

Timeline: Current (2020s) with snippets from four weeks later after an incident

🔥 Fuel: Foreshadowing. Tension. Unreliable characters. What happened in Cassidy’s past relationship? Will she get stars in her eyes? How is she involved with what happens? Innocent or guilty?

📖 Cred: Suspended disbelief campy

Mood Reading Match-Up:

Aquamarine pool. Loquats. Morning sunlight. Simmering sugar. Tangerines. Terra cotta tile. Prosecco. Quivering candlelight. Helicopters. Gouda and honey. Full wine glasses.

Love ‘em or hate ‘em characters
Behind closed doors with a private, charming Hollywood couple
Atmospheric, cinematic, immersive world-building
Hints of throuple tension & who to trust romantic suspense
From shy-girl to material-girl
Whodunit and Whowillitbe (as in, who ends up the victim) murder mystery
Tunnel vision observing the world through the eyes of the main character
Not a lot happens…until it does
Head empty no thoughts, go with the flow narratives
Slow burn popcorn thriller style psychological suspense

Content Heads-Up: Relationship breakup (off page). Parental disinterest, abandonment. Post-pandemic, lockdowns (timeline, context/setting). Alcohol (cocktails, casual, descriptive preparation, intoxication). Infidelity. Sexual content (consenting). Unrequited love. Stalking, voyeurism (sex, day-to-day life). Obsession.

Rep: American. Spanish-American. Albanian-American. Pale and olive skin tones. Cisgender. Hetero.

📚 Format: Library Digital

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Content Warnings

Safe and Sound: A Novel by Laura McHugh

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dark emotional funny mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

Although this has a bit of a popcorn thriller style later on, most of it is a contemporary family study with an underlying mystery. I really enjoyed it, especially the characters and how they handled the darkness around them.

Energy: Determined. Astute. Hopeful.

🐕 Howls
Twist at the ending could feel rushed and too open-ended (after sitting with it, I was okay with it).

🐩 Tail Wags
Sadness, darkness, bittersweet moments. The cousins and their bond. Sensitive but realistic portrayal of impoverished towns and dysfunctional families. Atmospheric.

Scene: 🇺🇸 Meat-packing town of Beaumont Missouri

Perspectives (2): A recently graduated high school student saving up to move away from the town with their younger sister. Their cousin, who was doing the same but went missing while babysitting them six years ago.

Timeline: Dual-timeline chunks. Spring-Summer (2020s) for Kylee and Amelia. Six years ago and earlier for Grace growing up.

🔥 Fuel: Character investment. Relatable themes/conflicts. Intrigue and tension. What happened to Grace? Will Kylee and Amelia make a better future for themselves or succumb to peer and parental pressures?

📖 Cred: Plausible to suspended disbelief, with hyper-realistic moments

Mood Reading Match-Up:

Dirty snow. Beer. Cigarette smoke. Barrel fire. Waffle house. Empty fridge. Old patio. Pickles. Stale air. Fresh hay. Frito pie.

Piecing together the puzzle while riding the emotional developments of the characters’ lives
Cinematic, atmospheric world-building capturing run-down town energy
Punchy, gritty contemporary fiction with underlying mystery
Coming-of-age social injustice
Likeable, realistic characters; rooting for the underdogs
Exploring complex, dysfunctional families
Whodunit, whathappened missing babysitter/cousin
Multiple suspects amateur sleuthing and sneaking
Supportive sibling & cousin bonds
First love, friends to lovers, enemies to lovers romances
Open, unresolved endings

Content Heads-Up: Adderall use. Missing family member. Grief. Corpse (discovery, identification). Vomit. Alcohol, drug use (partying). Cancer, terminal illness (~one chapter, on page). Racial profiling (brief recall). Sexual harassment (workplace). Nicotine (cigarettes). Child sexual abuse; child sexual exploitation material; pedophilia; incest (on page; graphic). Loss of child. Sexism (education; forced limitations and gender roles). Nepotism (education). Poverty, financial insecurity. Misogyny. Deportation threat (brief). Theft (workplace). Dismissive parent. Corruption (mention; police).

Rep: White and non-White Americans. Cisgender. Hetero. Ambiguous skin tones.

📚 Format: Library Audio

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Content Warnings

Look In the Mirror by Catherine Steadman

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dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

2.0

Convoluted, convenient, cliché…Yet I finished it. Why? My sunk cost fallacy. Fun intrigue in the first 25% and then I had to Know Why.

Energy: Perplexing. Assertive. Calculating.

🐺 Growls
Ridiculous plot points. Puzzle/trivia fatigue. Unsatisfying ending. Outdated, stereotypical, propaganda Villain.

Being Russian was their whole personality.

. The entire premise was flawed

…watching what happened would be boring unless you could hear their thoughts, never mind paying billionaire bucks for the privilege. I could watch better reality TV for free on YouTube rn

🐕 Howls
Hitting us over the head with Nina’s contradictory Father-Daughter relationship

…Dad would never try to kill me, but he totally is

. Stay out of _____= immediately enters _____. Cliché escape scenes. Silliness, surviving the impossible, cringy action star abilities wrapped in a slow burn mystery that takes itself too seriously. Awkward pacing of action scenes (it’s hard to pull off ‘we have seconds until death, now let’s do math.’ Especially when it’s entirely focused on the kind that requires the ability to remember that ‘one time with Dad’). Super flat characters and romance (I felt nothing for Nina).

🐩 Tail Wags
The first 25%.

Scene: 🇻🇬 Set in the British Virgin Islands.

Perspectives: An English Professor whose father recently passed inherits a luxurious home in the British Virgin Islands they never knew about. A student working as a nanny to the rich to save for med school. An electrician working on a house has a bad feeling about it.

Timeline: Current (2020s) or the not-too-distant future

🔥 Fuel: Escalating stakes puzzle trivia. Race against time. What is up with the basement? Will the occupants survive? Who is behind the puzzles?

📖 Cred: Far-fetched over the top

Mood Reading Match-Up:

Marble flooring. Cliffside stairs. Peach pink sunset. Marina. Blueprints. Sunglasses. CCTV. Alarm blaring. Chignon. Light classical music. Escape rooms.

Deep in their minds monologues (possibly active participant if you try solving the puzzles).
Tropical setting
Easy listening narration and voices
Father-daughter bonds
Puzzle box games and quizzes
Convoluted go-with-the-flow don’t overanalyze strategizing
First season of Lost meets escape room drama
Pursued by the unknown, game of wits survival thriller
Secret evil criminal organization
Random lust, finding your person

Content Heads-Up: Loss of parent (as baby; as child; as adult). Confinement/trapped. Voyeurism. Refugee, death, starvation (brief recall). Starvation, dehydration (on page). PTSD. Murder. Violence, attack, self defense. Torture. Terminal illness (brief mention). Gun violence. Organized crime.

Rep: British. Korean-British Virgin Islander. Russian-British Virgin Islander. Venezuelan refugee descended from Armenian refugees. Cisgender. Heterosexual. Pale and ambiguous skin tones.

📚 Format: Library Audio

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Under the Surface by Diana Urban

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adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

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

4.0

I’m not great with most survival thrillers but this one kept me hooked!

Energy: Gripping. Diabolical. Spontaneous.

🐕 Howls

The Big Bad premise was good, but the execution was cheesy and too contrived, particularly how others connect and the history/rationale behind it. Having above-ground be from Sean's POV was such a bore, but he kinda grew on me after a while.

🐩 Tail Wags

The mix of above-ground and below-ground tension and drama. The characters and their personalities. How the group dynamics evolve. Exploring (and learning) about the Paris Catacombs. Class trip energy was kinda nostalgic. Character arcs and evolution. Balance of intense chase-escape scenes with slower psychological creepiness and existential dread. Realistic consequences.

Scene: 🇫🇷 Set in Paris, France

Perspectives (2): A teen on a class trip who aspires to grow their YouTube travel channel after graduation. Their friend, also on the class trip, whose parents expect them to attend the US Military Academy after graduation, without consideration for what they want.

Timeline: Current (2020s). Linear.

🔥 Fuel: Character evolution. Escalating stakes race against time. Philosophical, thought-provoking discussions. Will they make it out of the catacombs? What else is down there with them?

📖 Cred: Semi-realistic

Mood Reading Match-Up:

Eiffel tower. Class tour. Hotel room sneak outs. WhatsApp. YouTube filming. Flashlights illuminating tunnels. Slippery stone. Femur. Skulls. Murky water.

Observing from the sidelines and being deep in the characters’ minds narration (first person)
Foreboding, easy to imagine (and Google) world building
Clear, straightforward YA writing style and dialogue
Fast-paced tense survival thriller
Class trip gone wrong
Quest for inner strength, dealing with loss and grief
Exploring the Paris catacombs
Psychological thrills, things that go bump in the night, urban legends
Escapes and strategizing + high school hierarchies
Mini-Bildungsroman
Culty vibes
Real world with a twist
Slow burn YA romance

Content Heads-Up: Loss of parent (at birth; recall). Confinement (lost, trapped). Asthma attack. Violent threats (chased). Existential thoughts, discussion. Authoritarian parent. Grieving parent (for spouse). Death (graphic; on page). Betrayal. Drugging. Spiders (arachnophobia; brief). Gun violence (brief). Injury, blood (graphic; on page).

Rep: Americans. French peripheral characters. Alabaster, pale, and ambiguous skin tones. Cisgender. Lesbian. Bisexual. Heterosexual. Celiac disease. Asthma.

📚 Format: Library Audio

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Content Warnings

Like Mother, Like Daughter by Kimberly McCreight

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dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.5

A fun, fast read that felt popcorn thriller without being too over-the-top.

Energy: Precarious. Watchful. Headstrong.

🐕 Howls: Tricks the reader in a way that kills mind-movies if you make them. World-building was mostly name-dropping NYC neighbourhoods and I got tired of Googling them after a while. Does that thing where people often tell the characters everything or let them in restricted areas because they're insistent.

🐩 Tail Wags: Mix of amateur and professional sleuthing that didn’t feel contrived or silly. The intrigue and mysteries. Epistolary clues. Being kept in the dark but not in a frustrating way (usually).

Scene: 🇺🇸 Set in Prospect Park, Brooklyn and other NYC neighbourhoods

Perspectives (2): A ‘fixer’ employed by a law firm aims to protect their adult daughter against the dangers of the world. A university student trying to figure out what happened to their mother finds out she was more complex than she thought. Chapters often end with legal documents, therapy notes, or journal entries.

Timeline: Days leading up to and just after Katrina goes missing (2020s). Litigation case notes from 2024. Journal entries from 1990s.

🔥 Fuel: Interlocking mysteries. Revelatory backstories. Tension and intrigue.

📖 Cred Rating: Suspended disbelief plausible

Mood Reading Match-Up:

Burned chicken. Distant saxophone. Coffee shop. Text pings. Laptop sleuthing. Brownstones. Dorm room.

Direct, easy to follow writing style
First person narratives
Bittersweet mother-daughter character study with popcorn thriller plot
Mysterious threats, on the run…but from who?
Dual investigations with mother investigating daughter and vice versa
Journal entry and case file snippets
Tangled web of lies, secrets, and intrigue
Sneaky plots (kinda tricking the reader)
Red herrings and multiple suspects
Touch of coming-of-age reluctant hero
Shattered illusions family drama

Content Heads-Up: Medical harm/side effects (in pregnancy). Parental abandonment (as toddler). Car accident (fatal). Stalking. Loss of romantic partner. Blackmail, threats. Divorce/separation. Sexual and physical harassment of minors. Corruption (pharmaceutical). Seizures (off page mention; medication). Adult/minor relationship, grooming. Drugging. Rape.

Rep: American. Cisgender. Heterosexual. Ambiguous and dark brown skin tones.

📚 Format: Library Hardcover

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Content Warnings

Heads Will Roll by Josh Winning

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adventurous dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

2.0

Great idea for a story, but I just couldn’t get into this one. I felt ‘meh’ about the characters and eventually the whole plot.

Energy: Artificial. Chatty. Enthusiastic.

🐺 Growls: Storytelling felt middle grade with adult themes. Explaining to the reader what cancel culture is, what fentanyl does, how social media works…it the target audience people who live off-planet? Having characters ask dumb questions and needing obvious things explained to them. Over-mystifying every little thing to be a Big Secret.

🐕 Howls: Not knowing why anyone chose to go to the camp, while not-so-subtly referring to it in every conversation got annoying. Too dialogue heavy with lots of humming-and-hawing. Slog pacing in the middle became boring and formulaic. Too long. Felt cartoony (might be better on a screen for impact from the costumes and stuff). Cheesy amateur sleuthing overshadows the high stakes survival. Unconvincing instant-love romance.

🐩 Tail Wags: Not knowing why anyone chose to go to the camp (at first) builds character suspense since we are getting to know them but wondering how we’ll feel about them after we find out. The slasher scenes.

Scene: 🇺🇸 Upstate New York at an adults-only disconnection camp with no technology.

Perspectives: The star of a quirky sitcom recently cancelled after a Twitter comment. Snippets of perspective of other characters at key moments (previous camper, current campers, staff). Snippets of social media & comments about characters. A text conversation between two unknown parties.

Timeline: Current (2020s). Linear.

Cred: Campy over-the-top

Mood Reading Match-Up:

Pine. Dirt. Gong. Campfire crackling. Burnt marshmallows. Yoga mat. Canteen. Lake lapping shore. Rising sun. Picnic bench. Wooden cross. Carved bark. Costume party.

Quirky immature main character
First person in the character’s mind but kept at a distance narrative
Reluctant hero, secret pasts, final girls, anti-heroes
Slasher suspense
Simplistic YA-style writing
Proximity instant-love romance
Enemies to lovers
Technologically isolated adult summer camp
Ghostie camp legends
Amateur sleuth questing with the campers
Social commentary about cancellation culture, online personas, finding yourself, and fame
Cat-and-mouse action survival thriller

Content Heads-Up: Doxxing, online threats. Animal death (very brief; rats). Infidelity (very brief). Gore, blood, murder, wounds (graphic, on page). Loss of sibling, grief. Religious abuse, trauma. Child abuse (confinement, punishment). Panic attacks. Homophobia (from family; rejection, shaming, ‘conversion’ attempts, abuse). Relationship break-up. Gambling addiction (brief mention). Suicide (off page mention).

Rep: Black, White, and Chinese American. Olive, dark, and pale skin tones. Bisexual, pansexual, heterosexual, lesbian, gay. Cisgender.

📚 Format: Library Digital

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Content Warnings

INSIDE by Sarah McKnight

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adventurous dark funny mysterious relaxing tense medium-paced

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

3.5

This was more of a slice-of-life contemporary fiction about Cora and Sean’s life for the first 57%, but I was loving it. I was excited for the spooky stuff since I was invested in the characters. But for me, the character reactions and scheming how to get rid of the horrors felt too flat and I lost interest.

🐺 Growls: Almost too clinical in dealing with the evils.

🐕 Howls: Lots of hints leading up to reveals makes it predictable. Cora seems kinda dense sometimes. Unbelievable character reactions in that ‘huh, I guess I just forgot everything I did today ~shrug~’ way.

🐩 Tail Wags: The experiences and information about Japanese etiquette, culture, education and transit systems, food etc [but if you’re familiar with it or just here for horror, it could feel like dull info-dumping]. World-building. Slow, day-in-the-life style pacing.

Energy: Animated. Attentive. Educational.

Scene: 🇯🇵 A rural community near Hiroshima, Japan

Perspective: Our main character is moving to Japan with their spouse, who has a position at the local university. They are teaching English to Japanese students, while navigating the strange happenings in their new home and culture shock.

🤓 Reader Role: Deep in the main character’s mind experiencing things alongside them.

🗺️ World-Building: Atmospheric and immersive.

🔥 Fuel: Dynamic relationships and getting to know the neighbourhood, exploring parts of Japan. Later on switches to loss of memories, time, unhinged mind or something more?

📖 Cred: Gradient from realistic to suspended disbelief campy.

Mood Reading Match-Up:

Sakura flavoured latte. Soba noddles. Sizzling grill. Puffy donuts. Bamboo clacking. Thick forests. Hot garbage. Beer foam. Steam. Pokémon stickers.

Straightforward writing style and storytelling
Expat culture shock and navigating life & friendships in Japan
Slow-burn day-in-the-life of an assisted language teacher
Japanese folklore
Rural home with history
Psychological possession suspense
Paranormal spiritual realism
Haunted person unhingedness

Content Heads-Up: Blood. Injury. Self injury, abortion, institutionalization, murder (off page). Fire (fatality; off page). Loss of child (brief mention; off page). Vomit, nausea (descriptive, on page). Birth control. Hallucination. Blackouts, lost time. Demonic/possession.

Rep: Black and White American-Japanese. Australian, Jamaican, British peripheral characters. Expat/newly immigrated. Cisgender. Heterosexual. Pale, dark, tanned skin tones. Student in wheelchair (preteen). Childfree by choice.

📚 Format: Advance Reader’s Copy from BookSirens.

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Midnight Rooms by Donyae Coles

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dark hopeful mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

What did I just read? Couldn’t explain this if I tried. This won’t be for everyone but I loved it.

Energy: Curious. Whimsical. Strange.

🐩 Tail Wags: Fantastical elements. Strangeness and symbolism. Flowery-ish flowing writing style. Slow burn, steady paced, speculative surrealism. The blend of cozy gothic slice-of-life with dark fairy tale. Intimate sensory world-building. Creeeeepy vibes.

🤔 Random Thoughts: I read text along with audio. Audio alone wsa too easy to get miss a few lines that were important to the story without knowing. I try to get the audio for historical fiction because I suck at hfs. And fpr vibes.

Scene: 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Set in Bristol and Oxbury, England.

Perspective: A late twenties adult stuck living with extended family per societal rules. They have little hopes for romance and independence in their future because of the prejudice and racism surrounding them. When a suitor suddenly claims them, they begin to wonder if their life could change for the better.

Timeline: Spring of 1840.

🤓 Reader Role: Intimately exposed to Orabella’s thoughts, feelings, and experiences.

🔥 Fuel: Orabella’s fate. Atmospheric tension and exploring this eerie world. What is up with the family Orabella has married into? Can she trust her husband? Is she safe? Who has ulterior motives and why?

📖 Cred: Speculative historical

Mood Reading Match-Up:

Ginger, smoke, and wool. Dust. Mildew. Honeyed tea. Cold silk. Tallow. Twisted branches. Cubes of meat. Snarling. Sweet wine. Birdsong. Barking laughter. Mushrooms. Moss.

Poetic, lyrical, sometime flowery, fairy tale style
Intimate, sensory world building
Gothic historical fiction (mid-1800s)
Steamy forced marriage
Symbolic tales using imagery, allegory, paradoxes
Surreal manor in the woods
Distorted time fragmented reality
Alienated, likeable main character
Ominous in-laws and fam
Folklore and fae magical realism horrors
Absurd, stream of consciousness, grotesque
Books to start head-empty-no-thoughts go-with-the-flow

Content Heads-Up: Patriarchy, misogyny. Racism (otherness, exclusion, prejudice). Hallucination. Drugging. Alcohol. Sexual content (descriptive on page; consenting, first time, steamy, rough). Incest. Murder. Vomit. Blood. Physical attacks. Infertility. Confinement/locked in. Fire. Cannibalism (brief).

Rep: Mixed race (Black, White). British. Peach-white, finch-brown, cream, porcelain-white, bronze, sallow skin tones.

📚 Format: Library Digital + Everand Audio

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minimicropup's reviews 479 reviews

minimicropup's reviews
479 reviews