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minimicropup's reviews
506 reviews

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

2.0

This stalled out until a blur of things happened at the end. I struggled to stay interested. Avoid the audiobook, it’s terribly produced and does the book a huge disservice 😒.

Energy: Guarded. Hesitant. Stately.

🐺 Growls

Repetitive, dull romantic ponderings. Current day romance felt forced. Too contradictory… Shanice is suspicious and prone to over-thinking, but at convenient times she’s a totally different person blindly trusting strangers and ignoring huge red flags. Spotlighting plot twists with character inaction.

Terribly edited audio was so jarring, what was that? There were huge differences in volume mid-sentence from muffled (standing in a different room?!) to WAY too loud (like standing too close to the mic) and parts were obviously re-recorded but not spliced in properly.

🐕 Howls

Gaps in the story that were hard to overlook. Switched tone and style in an erratic way at times (felt unfinished?). Didn’t get any gothic or horror vibes from this.

🐩 Tail Wags

The concept. Intriguing 1920s timeline. Estelle’s character arc.

Scene: Set in Washington DC (current timeline) and New York City (past timeline).

Perspectives (2): An unpaid intern trying to get into the magazine industry after giving up their well-paying job to follow their dreams. A talented artist confined by racism gets a chance to invest in their work with a too-good-to-be-true offer.

Timelines: Current (2020s). Harlem Renaissance (1920s).

🔥 Fuel: Emotional investment in characters. Foreshadowing. Crossing paths and layered mysteries. Past meets present. What’s the story of the painting? Would someone kill to get it? Why? Will Shanice get over her break-up and trust again? Is Estelle in danger as a commissioned artist?

📖 Cred: Blended historical suspended disbelief

Mood Reading Match-Up:

Metro card. Grandma’s bungalow. Art appraisals. Coast-side mansions. Parking garage.

New romance while getting over the old
Family heirloom with a past
Deep in their minds character studies
Dual timelines
Snippets of Harlem renaissance
Mentally yelling at characters
Multiple suspects stalker suspense
Horror Lite though horrific things happen
Occult, omens, ghostie séance energy historical fiction romance
Commentary around race, gender, what we inherit, and class inequality
Ancestral connections cozy mystery

Content Heads-Up: Racism, classism (prejudice, bias, slurs, exploitation). Murder. Relationship Break-up. False accusation. Theft, burglary. Panic attacks, hyperventilation (on page). Unemployment, financial insecurity. Generalized anxiety disorder. Car accident (fatal). Loss of parent (as child). Loss of family. Confinement (in room). Abortion (discussion). Forced pregnancy. Stalking, home invasion, threats. Sexual content (consenting).

Rep: Black, White, Indian American. Nutmeg-hued, brown, peachy, pale, and freckled skin tones. Cisgender. Hetero. Generalized anxiety disorder.

📚 Format: Everand Audio

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Content Warnings

You're Invited by Amanda Jayatissa

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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? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Everyone was a mess I couldn’t look away 🤭

Energy: Frenzied. Brazen. Lively.

🐕 Howls

Relies a little too much on ‘this story would be over if people just communicated even a little’, but that’s also life.

🐩 Tail Wags

Hooked by the Prologue. Thrown into the story style. Withholding that works, since it adds intrigue and we get the tea from interviews between chapters. Sprinkling nuanced clues we can use to make predictions and piece together the story (but can also go with the flow and still enjoyable).

Scene: 🇱🇰 A historic and luxury beach hotel and the Colombo 07 district of Colombo, Sri Lanka

Perspectives (2): The bride’s childhood friend on the morning of the wedding and leading up to the wedding. The bride leading up to the wedding.

Interview transcripts with police speaking to wedding guests and family/friends.

Timeline: 2020 (no COVID).

🔥 Fuel: Withholding. Starting at the End. Revelatory backstories. Unreliable narrator. Why is Amaya so intent on attending the wedding? Why does something seem so off about her invitation? What is Plan A,B,C?

📖 Cred: Plausible to suspended disbelief

Mood Reading Match-Up:

Art deco. Instagram likes. Avocado toast. Email notifications. Humidity. Car horns. Aftershave. Araliya tree flowers. Cocktail dress. Fairy lights.

· Past friends, past romance rivalry

· Revenge fantasies and scheming

· Getting the tea, scandals, cons, gossip

· Unhinged, desperate, or hopeful?

· Insufferable influencer

· Sri Lankan culture and insight

· Rich family drama and secrets

· Weddings gone wrong

· Whodunnit, whatisit mystery

· Red herrings and multiple suspects

· Nuanced clues, hints and puzzles

· Good for Them Revenge

· Interview transcripts, eavesdropping on thoughts, characters diretly musing to the reader

· Easy to imagine settings and somewhat explorable with Google Earth (some real addresses/places given)

Content Heads-Up: Obsessive, intrusive thoughts. Sexual content (off page; consenting, sub-dom). Jealousy. Class divides. Impacts of colonization. Loss of parent (as child). Parental rejection. Cancer (brief mention, terminal). Self-inflicting pain. Fatphobia. Body shaming (clothing, size). Relationship shaming/pressure (marriage, children). Forced gender roles. Patriarchy. Toxic femininity. Outing, possible sexual assault/rape. Blackmail. Domestic abuse (threats, violence, controlling). Cocaine use (off page). Pedophilia (off page). Guns.

Rep: Sri Lankan, Sri Lankan-American. Sri Lankan/British ancestry. American. Cisgender. Hetero. Sinhalese Buddhism.

📚 Format: Kindle

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Best House On the Block by T.R. Ragan

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Did not finish book. Stopped at 20%.

Scene: 🇺🇸 Set in the Fabulous Forties neighbourhood of Sacramento, California.

Starts off strong with that prologue but dnf at ~20%:

Handles the cast of characters by listing first and last names, at best some hair colour, but mostly just names we gotta remember. There’s nothing to anchor them in our minds or give us first impressions. [This might only be a mind’s eye reader problem]
This is made worse by peripheral/seemingly one-off characters being referred to the same way. ___ is ____’s golfing buddy and they met via ____, who’s related to ___. I’m slightly exaggerating, but my character notes were a mess.
This is made much worse by how the characters all sound the same and feel robotic or stilted in how they speak
Too much info dumping the plot with little room for intrigue, immersion, or inferring for ourselves. If you like that style or want a basic easy read it could work except that character problem makes it not that.
I was looking forward to the world building but other than what reads like a list of facts I already Googled, this story could take place anywhere with big houses.
Instead of the reader being thrown in the story the story is thrown at the reader. ___ does this, then that, then thinks this, that says that.

📚 Format: Advance Reader’s Copy from Thomas & Mercer and NetGalley

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Content Warnings

After Image by JAIME. DEBLANC

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dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

3.5

This started off so good. The last half and end did not work for me. It felt like someone was like, ‘Needs More Action Thrills’ and tried to work it into the plot at the last minute. 😅

Energy: Frustrated. Moody. Impatient.

🐺 Growls

Situations seeming orchestrated for action-suspense knocked me completely out of the story. MC mucks things up constantly but stumbles into answers through ‘mind-reading’/incredible luck. Contradictory inner monologue with unbelievable main character decisions. Plotholes, rushed ending. Convoluted, unresolved ending left too much unanswered.

🐕 Howls

Main character doesn’t learn, has no survival instincts, and interferes too much with the police investigation in a way that is both frustrating and boring. Unconvincing romance and dialogue.

🐩 Tail Wags

Being hooked on the story for most of the book. The plot premise (until the end). Learning about the backstories and circumstances leading up to Allie’s disappearance. The complex sister bonds. The realistic obstacles to amateur sleuthing attempts (at first). The flashbacks timeline and family dynamics.

Scene: 🇺🇸 North Hollywood and surrounding area, California.

Perspective: Our main character was enamored by their stepsister’s parents – a famous director and actress, and the stepsisters formed a close bond growing up. Then in college, their stepsister went missing under mysterious circumstances.

Timeline: Current. Recent past 2012 to 2014 when the characters were in College together. 2007 when our MC first met their stepsister.

🔥 Fuel: Cliffhangers. Layered secrets. Not all is as it seems. Did Allie voluntarily disappear or was she a victim? What happened to her? Why?

📖 Cred: Starts off true crime style realism. Ends far-fetched over the top.

Mood Reading Match-Up:

Disinfectant. Body odour. Nikon SLR. Diners. Apple pie. Police station. House parties. Vodka. Expensive perfume.

Haunted by the past missing sibling mystery
Blended family drama and dysfunction
How ‘missing or murdered’ cases affect family
True crime-ish contemporary fiction
Complex sisterhood
Amateur sleuthing bad-at-it-but-still-get-results
Hidden in plain sight slow burn to action suspense
Narratives where reader is the listener/tag-along
Will they or won’t they romance
Red herrings
Tragic friendship, odd couple beta hero romances

Content Heads-Up: Alcohol, drug use (partying, addiction, intoxicated, self-medicating). Vomit. Conversion disorder (blindness). Sobriety. Loss of parent. Loss of sibling. Suicide attempt, suicidal ideation (recall). Homophobia (parental rejection). Incest, pedophilia, grooming, child sex abuse and exploitation (recall).

Rep: Hispanic and White American. Cisgender. Hetero. Gay. Conversion disorder.

📚 Format: Advance Reader’s Copy from Thomas & Mercer and NetGalley

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Content Warnings

The Plus One by S.C. Lalli

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Did not finish book. Stopped at 15%.

getting the feeling from the first bit that this will be a frustrating read - annoying mc, withholding for tricking the reader etc. Checked reviews and looks like that is the general approach. Thanks to everyone else who read it for saving me the slump!

The Clinic by Cate Quinn

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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? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

At first I liked this story. But the over-scheming and a corny convoluted plot that was so boringgg killed it for me.

Energy: Accusatory. Audacious. Judgemental.

🐺 Growls: Abrupt shift from intriguing to silly. Villain monologue + everyone making dumb decisions…constantly. Contrived, convoluted, and scientifically/psychologically contradictory storyline. One-dimensional villain.

🐕 Howls: Not sure about that mental health rep….seemed preachy and didn’t address wildly inaccurate claims presented as fact by characters. Poorly researched scientific context that kept knocking me out of the story.

🐩 Tail Wags: Easy listening audiobook for long commutes. Character personalities. The setting. Visceral exploration of addiction and rehab industry.

Scene: A high-end but secretive rehab facility in the Pacific Northwest.

Perspectives (3): A famous country singer who died in rehab. Their sister also struggling with addiction determined to infiltrate the rehab facility and find out what happened. A manager recruited to work at the rehab facility.

Timeline: Current (2020s). Linear.

🔥 Fuel: Foreshadowing. Undercover quest. Unreliable/struggling narrator.

📖 Cred: Turn all your disbelief off over-the-top far-fetched

Mood Reading Match-Up:

Emerald grass. Mist. Meditation. Incense. Tiger Balm. Blowfish. Lavender. Liquid nitrogen.

Addiction struggles
Accident, suicide, or murder?
Mad psychiatrist sci-fi moments
Dark side of celebrity and rehab
Close proximity hook-ups and catching Feelings
Machiavellian scheming, traitor among us
Patient journal and med file snippets
Brooding, self-sacrificing main characters
Bystander style narratives ranging from in the character’s minds to fly on the wall
Meandering plots, silly situations

Content Heads-Up: Addiction (graphic, on page; experiences, withdrawal, denial, enabling). Gambling. Drug use (oxy, heroin). Loss of sibling. Alcoholism. Overdose. Violence (physical). Parental abuse/rejection. Repressed childhood memories. Medical (sedation, seizures). Intrusive thoughts. Human trafficking (brief mention). Hallucination. Sociopathy/antisocial personality disorder/psychopathy. Suicide attempt (off page). Confinement. Hypothermia.

Rep: White, Black, and Latina American. British. Pale, golden, caramel, and dark skin tones. Cisgender. Hetero.

📚 Format: Everand Audio

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Content Warnings

You Will Never Be Me by Jesse Q. Sutanto

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dark funny mysterious tense fast-paced

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

5.0

Listened to this in one day, it went so fast. This is one of those books where I was always relieved to find there were pages left to read 😀

Energy: Exacting. Devious. All-consuming.

🐩 Tail Wags: Pacing of twists and turns. Catching myself rooting for the Big Bad. Insufferable characters (in the fun way). Exploration of influencer culture. Getting the tea, behind closed doors. Narrative style. Intrigue.

Scene: 🇺🇸 Set in Los Angeles, California

Perspectives (2): A beauty influencer who took an aspiring social media star under her wing and together they turned into Momfluencers. The aspiring social media star after making it big with 5 million followers as a Momfluencer.

Timeline: Current (2020s), linear.

🔥 Fuel: Unhinged narrators. Twists and turns. Atmospheric tension. Both narrators seem to believe what they’re telling us, but is it all true?

📖 Cred: Over-the-top true crime realism

Mood Reading Match-Up:

Roast chicken. Burnt brussel sprouts. Diaper bags. TikTok. DMs. Toddlers. Filters. iPad. Calendars. Hectic home life.

Narratives that have you feeling complicit in the characters’ secrets and bad behaviours
Written like the characters are speaking to us sometimes, addressing what reader probably thinking
Straightforward, slightly melodramatic, gritty writing style
Plot driven twists and turns, elevating tension and intrigue
Betrayal and revenge
Manipulative, unhinged characters
Shattered social media illusions
Momfluencers behaving badly
Psychological thriller
Supporting women’s wrongs

Content Heads-Up: Relationship breakdown (marriage). Breast feeding, milk, nipples (descriptive, brief). Personality disorder/psychopathy. Infidelity. Online harassment, trolling. Loss of parent (as child). False accusation. Internalized racism (negative stereotypes and attitudes). Fatphobia. Domestic abuse. Toxic friendship, toxic relationship. Obsession, stalking. Resentment. Theft, trespassing.

Rep: Asian ancestry. American. Peach, cream, and ambiguous skin tones. Cisgender. Hetero.

📚 Format: Libro.fm

🤩 Potential Fav of 2024!

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Content Warnings

Come & Get It by Kiley Reid

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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

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minimicropup's reviews 506 reviews

minimicropup's reviews
506 reviews