minimicropup's reviews
496 reviews

Busybodies: There's A Mystery Around Every Corner by Jesse Q. Sutanto, Emma Rosenblum, Alicia Thompson, Nita Prose, Elle Cosimano, Kellye Garrett

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funny lighthearted mysterious 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? It's complicated

2.5

This is a cozy mystery collection with quick, convenient resolutions that didn’t give enough depth or suspense for me. The last two leaned more into romance and were a bit more enjoyable. But the writing isn’t bad so if you’re a fan of cozy mysteries, you might enjoy this collection more than I did.

🐕 Howls Interesting concept but most stories felt rushed and hollow. Endings felt too convenient or incomplete. Some stories seemed to end randomly/mid-story. Other felt almost pointless or unsatisfying.

Staged 2

Real estate staging should be for showcasing life, not death.

Vacuum tracks in carpet. Mallet. Azalea bushes. BMW. Pink carpet.

Real estate gone wrong
Hot landscaper
Amateur sleuth sisters
Quippy dark comedy
Hints of enemies to lovers romance

The Reunion Dinner 2.5

A sixty-something main character plans to upstage their sibling’s family holiday dinner when given the chance.

Chinese New Year. Roast pig. Cocktails. Yu sheng.

Cozy holiday
Dinner party gone wrong
Family celebration and reunions
Mother Knows Best
Unhinged sabotage

Crime of Fashion 2

A missing necklace at a photo shoot. A responsible assistant in the hot seat.

Black dress. Wavy hair. Gems. Handbags. Yellow diamond.

Photoshoot drama
Gumshoe sleuthing
Find the thief
Job at risk

The Nosy Neighbour 3

Snooping while house-sitting for a neighbour.

Hobbies. Bungalow. Picture window. Hydrangeas.

Older adult sleuthing
House-sitting for a neighbour
Unreliable, unhinged characters
Flip the script twists

One Lucky Subscriber 4

Hide and seek in a mall for a YouTuber’s competition.

Shopping mall. Numbered contestants. Tesla. Rose wall. Livestream. Stuffed animal.

Content creation hide and seek
Attempt to sabotage the game or clumsy host?
Cheating to win attempts
Everyone’s a suspect attempted murder mystery

A Classic Case 5

A video rental customer worries when a usual customer doesn’t show up at his regular time.

Movie rental. Black-and-white movies. Peanut butter. Flannel.

Missing acquaintance
Clue hunting with a crush
Quirky main character
Meet-cute movie style romance

Content Heads-Up: Blood. Death. Dead body (discovery of). Drugging. Poisoning. Murder. Jealousy. Theft. Potential false accusation. Dementia (implied). Loss of spouse. Parental ambivalence (gave up custody to family).

Rep: American. Chinese. English. Cis. Hetero. Pansexual. Dark, pale, and ambiguous skin tones. Obsessive compulsive disorder. Stutter.

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

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Memorials by Richard Chizmar

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dark emotional mysterious reflective tense 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

4.0

Slow-burn, atmospheric, well-paced tension, subtle scares…if only the ending didn’t feel so cheesy to me. I liked it up until then though.

Energy: Adaptable. Convivial. Malicious.

🐕 Howls Ending was bit of a letdown with cheesy explanation and I missed the previous creepy energy. I don’t love religious horror and good-vs-evil tropes but that’s just me.

🐩 Tail Wags Eerie slow-building thriller vibes. Creeping sense of dread. Nightmares added to the story and didn’t feel drawn out. Deliberate pacing. Immersive, cinematic feelings. Gradual character development. Getting invested in the characters’ fates. (Mostly) grounded plot with attention to detail. Integration of grief themes. Each town and setting had distinct energy. Red flags piling up.

Scene: 🇺🇸 Set in various Appalachian (Pennsylvania) towns.

Perspectives: Our main character as they head out with their college communications groupmates to document roadside memorials.

Snippets of video showing when freezes or rewinds/fast forwards like we are watching it.

Excerpts from books on local legends and Satanism

Timeline: 1983-1984. 🍃☀️ May (but summery).

🔥 Fuel: Why are there women missing from all these towns? What are the symbols etched on all the memorials? Who or what seems to be stalking them? Can they trust the police? Their family?

📖 Cred: Suspended disbelief

Mood Reading Match-Up:

Volvo van. Road trip. Vapour trail. Tent. Heat wave. Watermelon. Coors. Campfire. Photocopier paper. Library. Gas stations. Distant thunder. Fast food wrappers.

Atmospheric, cinematic world building
Heading into the heart of small town Americana
Tagging along with documentary makers
Satanic cultiness, dark rituals suspected
Nightmares and premonitions
Leave or Else threat
Witchy curses, Appalachian folklore, legends, creeps
Library research quest
Increasing paranoia psychological suspense
Conspiracies and who-to-trust moments
First person filling us in, sometimes speaking directly to us

Content Heads-Up: Loss of parents (as child; as teen). Loss of sibling (as child). Loss of child. Gun violence (brief recall; drive-by, fatal). Nicotine (cigarettes, chewing tobacco). Driving while intoxicated (brief recalls). Weather event (severe storm, tornado; damage; brief). Abusive, controlling relationship (very brief recall). Animal cruelty, death (very brief recall; rumoured; cats, dogs, cows). Racism (microaggressions, prejudice, hatred, White privilege). Blood. Sexual content (descriptive, brief; on page imaginings). Bullying (childhood; physical assault). Satanism (rituals, beliefs). Murder (on page; blood, injury, violence). Fire (on page; fatal burns). Car crashes (recall; fatal).

Rep: American. Third generation Puerto Rican. Cis. Dark, olive, freckled, and ambiguous skin tones.

📚 Format: Library Digital

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I Know She Was There by Jennifer Sadera

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dark emotional funny mysterious sad fast-paced

4.5

I love unhinged, unreliable narrators and obsession-driven thrillers, so I really enjoyed this. It starts off almost relatable—who hasn’t glanced into an open window at night? (😇)—and spirals from there. I admit it might not be for everyone, but if you like a complex portrayal of a mind in turmoil it could be a hit for you too.

Energy: Effusive. Evasive. Impassioned.

🐕 Howls The ending veers into a high-stakes, popcorn thriller style I didn’t love. The dark comedy moments and action went on a bit too long for my taste at the end, but if you like that style, it’s well done and keeps the tension high. The neighbourhood characters are referred to by both their nicknames (assigned by the MC earlier) and their real names (which we learn later) - by the end I had trouble keeping track.

🐩 Tail Wags A main character that is fascinatingly off-kilter, yet totally unaware of that fact. Mysterious vibes. Being deep in the character’s head while also picking up on other people’s reactions and that something is ‘off’ about her interpretation of events. Despite predicting one big plot twist early on, I still wanted to see how everything would play out. Heavy on the inner monologue but didn’t feel repetitive or corny.

Scene: 🇺🇸 Set in a New York suburb with a mix of high- and lower-end homes.

Perspective: Our main character is dealing with the loss of friendships after the breakdown of their marriage. They spy on their old friends using walks with their baby as an excuse if they get caught.

Timeline: Current (2010s or 2020s).☀️ August and September.

🔥 Fuel: Unreliable narrator. Is our MC seeing reality clearly, or has she lost all sense of it? Mysteries, hints, and puzzling reactions. Is someone in danger or is she misinterpreting events? Who to trust. Did our main character do something terrible? Are the people in her life there to help or harm?

📖 Cred: Suspended disbelief plausible-ish

Mood Reading Match-Up:

Baby carriage. Suburban night walks. Humidity. Sour sweat. Pond fountain. Streetlights. Un-curtained windows. Orange nail.

Unreliable/unhinged character
Suburban tea and secrets behind closed doors
Was there a crime? Mystery
Domestic suspense
Losing track of time
Dark comedy-ish popcorn mystery moments
Psychological suburban suspense
First person deep in their minds, watching and hearing the main character’s version of things

Content Heads-Up:

Stalking, voyeurism, obsession. Mental illness, psychosis, memory loss. Mentally ill parent (bipolar). Loss of parent (as child). Divorce, break up (one sided). Loss of a child. Postpartum depression. Toxic relationship (marriage). Drug use (prescription but misused; anti-anxiety, miscellaneous psychiatric medications). Infidelity. Nicotine (cigarettes). Alcohol (addiction; self-medicating). Car crash (brief mention off page). Dismissive authorities (police). Loss of spouse (very brief recall). Murder. Drowning. Forced institutionalization (attempt). Drugging (of child). Ableism (prejudice and persecution of mentally ill). Narcissism, gaslighting. False accusation. Body fluids. Kidnapping, confinement. Physical attack. Financial crime (embezzlement). Suicide (very brief recall; off page).

Rep: American. Cis. Hetero. Tawny, dark, dusky, pale, and ambiguous skin tones.

📚 Format: Advance Reader’s Copy from CamCat Books and BookSirens.

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The Haunting of Leigh Harker by Darcy Coates

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dark emotional mysterious sad fast-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

3.5

Devouring Tomorrow: Fiction from the Future of Food by A.G. Pasquella, J.J. Dupuis

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sad medium-paced

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

2.5

Overall, this was an okay read, but nothing really stood out for me. If you enjoy dystopian stories with recurring themes around food scarcity and survival, give it a try. For me, it was hit or miss—some stories caught my interest, but most fell flat or felt like “telling” rather than “showing.”

Energy: Bleak. Acerbic. Lamenting.

🐺 Growls Some of the stories felt underdeveloped or overly focused on commentary - the focus is post-apocalyptic “worst-case” scenarios, but the constant emphasis on what’s “lost” felt repetitive, and it made the overall collection feel like it was hitting me over the head with the theme instead of just letting the plots unfold and speak for themselves.

🐕 Howls The majority either were too simplistic or too complex to fit in such a short length. Each story has different societal rules, technologies, and settings, but they’re often introduced with minimal explanation, making them confusing and difficult to follow. Some of these worlds felt so big that they needed more room to breathe—perhaps better suited to novellas or longer stories?

🐩 Tail Wags: Some stories were thought-provoking.

Mood Reading Match-Up:

Restaurant reviews. Protein synthesizer. Centrifuge. Smart glasses. Gum. Memories. Death. Hunger.

Touch of bleak future randomness
Witty, dark comedy moments
Eco sci fi disaster energy
Post apocalyptic and dystopian stories
Using little details to infer what the situations are

Content Heads-Up: War (nuclear, mass death). Food insecurity. Financial insecurity. Natural disasters. Pregnancy. Dog abandonment. Death. Loss of loved ones. Climate/environmental collapse. Gun violence.

Rep: Canadian.

📚 Format: Advance Reader’s Copy from Dundurn Press | Rare Machines and NetGalley

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Such Lovely Skin by Tatiana Schlote-Bonne

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dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-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? It's complicated

3.5

I liked the overall premise of this, but I wish I knew much less going in. I found myself zoning out regularly. The synopsis gives away too much! Other than that, I liked how I kept wondering what I would do in the same situation (until the reveal of what Viv did, yikes), and there were some super dark moments.

Energy: Heavy. Troubled. Valiant.

🐺 Growls The synopsis spoils the story.

🐕 Howls The main characters know what is going on and for the most part how to stop it, so it’s just watching that all play out and could feel one-dimensional sometimes. I was hoping for more mystery trying to figure out what is going on and why; maybe it’s a me-thing, but then all the spooks would hit harder, and I’d be wondering if the events are real or just in our MC’s grief-stricken mind.

🐩 Tail Wags First person present tense without feeling overdramatic. Well-executed gaming and pop-culture references. Modern twist on a possession story. Finding out what the MC did was fully unhinged and the parents’ reaction…wtf

Scene: 🇺🇸 Small-town Iowa with a bit of Chicago, Illinois, USA

Perspective: A high school student and Twitch horror game streamer whose younger sibling passed away a few months ago.

Timeline: Current (2020s).

🔥 Fuel: Withholding. Moral quandaries. What happened to Viv’s sister this past summer? Emotional stakes, quests and journeys. A clear goal. Will she be able to stop the doppelganger?

📖 Cred: Supernatural realism

Mood Reading Match-Up:

Twitch. Indie horror game. Rooftop view. Watching from the darkness. Last minute road trip.

Navigating grief, guilt, and shame
Evil Doppelgänger
Streamer struggles
Ick to friends
YA grief horror
Keeping huge secrets
Disbelieving parents
Friends to lovers
Slow burn demon possession horrors
Sprinkling of modern dark fantasy quests
First person present tense walking in the character’s shoes, like she’s sharing an aside and introspections.

Content Heads-Up: Loss of sibling (as teen). Loss of child. Bullying (high school; rumours, rejection). False accusation (school threats; sexting; sexual abuse; murder). Accidental death. Racism (microaggression, biases).

Rep: Mixed race (half-Japanese). Cis. Hetero. Porcelain and ambiguous skin tones.

📚 Format: Spotify

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The Queen by Nick Cutter

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Did not finish book. Stopped at 10%.

Soft dnf. Wrong format for me (maybe).

I just cant get into this on audio. Maybe text will work better. Narration is fine, it’s just that right from the start I’ve been so clueless as to what is going on with the bug horror and it’s super descriptive which usually I love for my mind’s eye. But I have no investment or context for it. It’s like if someone just started describing a bug-human hybrid to you in grotesque detail.

The Hitchcock Hotel by Stephanie Wrobel

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.0

This started off great but gradually fizzled out for me. The withholding-things-from-the-reader bits got tiring when it became the main driver of the suspense. I felt increasingly distant from the story the longer it went on.

Note there are spoilers for some Hitchcock films...it'd be kinda weird if there weren't.

Energy: Conniving. Imposing. Duplicitous.

🐺 Growls Over-withholding near the end (literally as someone is about to reveal the big past secret the text skips over it abruptly. Then we watch the characters gasp and make decisions based on that big reveal but we’re completely out of the loop, so I got bored).

🐕 Howls Take character notes. There are a lot of characters, and at first it was hard to keep them all straight (I did get a feel for them eventually).

🐩 Tail Wags Making it clear that the characters aren’t exactly friends so we can dive into the tension right away. Not being sure whether we should root for Alfred and his scheming. Insufferable friend group so it’s fun to watch them squirm. The hotel setting and ‘off’ vibes Alfred's giving.

Scene: 🇺🇸 Set in a Victorian mansion converted to a hotel in a campus town near the White Mountains.

Perspectives (7): A Hitchcock stan who recently opened a Hitchcock-inspired hotel and invites former college film studies friends for a stay. The eighty-something housekeeper and Alfred’s confidante. The five friends – a former restauranteur struggling with substance abuse; a parent and sexual health entrepreneur; a freelance security specialist; a rich soon to be richer heir to their grandfather’s fashion brand; a hedge fund manager unsatisfied in their marriage.

Timeline: Current (2010s or 2020s). October.

🔥 Fuel: If all the friendships are so strained, why did they all agree to stay at the hotel together? What happened between them in college? What is Alfred’s motivation for reuniting with them?

📖 Cred: Suspended disbelief

Mood Reading Match-Up:

Smoke and leather. Bacon and thyme. Crows. Movie memorabilia. TUMS. Velvet pouch. Attic vents.

Atmospheric Hitchcock-inspired hotel
Frenemies reunite suspense
Technologically isolated
Secrets from the past
Found fam gone wrong
Regretful actions snowballing
Long haul vengeance schemes
Popcorn-mystery vibes
First person setting the scene hearing select thoughts and musings

Content Heads-Up: Alcohol abuse (recovery/sobriety; maintenance; temptation/cravings). Alcohol use (recreational, intoxication, hangovers). Car crash (fatal; very brief mention). Loss of parent (as child; as adult). Brain aneurysm (very brief recall). Body shaming (height). Pregnancy. Voyeurism. Sexual content (on page; brief). Infidelity, unrequited love. Divorce. Cancer (brief mention; early diagnosis; terminal). Death, corpse (discovery of). Betrayal. Academic dishonesty. Nicotine (cigarettes; very brief recall). Suicide (implied). Loss of spouse. Murder.

Rep: American. Cis. Hetero. Chinese ancestry. Pale and ambiguous skin tones.

📚 Format: Library Paperback

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The Examiner by Janice Hallett

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funny mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

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

5.0

Gobbled this up! This plot is so ridiculous in hindsight but something about how it was written had me invested and felt like it could happen 😁. I recommend the book so you can flip back and forth to double-check things (reading this w/o being able to do that I think I’d start to feel frustrated because it’s quite a tangled plot).

Energy: Cynical. Adventurous. Suspicious.

🐩 Tail Wags Feeling like part of the investigation. Flipping through all the documents, message boards, DMs to piecing things together. The combination of group drama, pettiness, mysteries, and subtle humor. The epistolary format. Getting to know the characters and their personalities before we ever get a clear image of them physically. Playing with assumptions/bias.

Scene: 🇬🇧 Documents and communications related to a new master’s degree in Multimedia Art at Royal Hastings school.

Perspectives (mixed, ~9): Six students of varying ages - A ‘real’ artist whose career spans ten years; an art supplies store owner hoping to switch to artist in retirement; a mature student continuing studies after they paused them to assist the family with running an art gallery; a full-time financial marketer taking a creative course to ‘balance the stress’; a single parent of two kids and freelance graphic designer; the youngest student aimning to be the best in the class. There are also communications and grading discussions from the course leader, course administrator, and external examiner.

Timeline: The academic year from Sept 2023 to June 2024.

🔥 Fuel: Gradually revealed mysteries and clues. Drama, chaos, back-stabbing. Side quests and conspiracies. What is going on with group members behind the scenes? Why is going on with the course leader? Why is the radio making those sounds? Is a student dead or is everyone just caught up in the drama?

📖 Cred: Over-the-top realism

Mood Reading Match-Up:

Vintage radio. Electric minivan. Doodle group chats. Assignments. Cloud based company promotions. Binaural beats. Resin.

Getting the tea, picking up things from messaging apps
Sifting through documents, eavesdropping, immersive epistolary format
Creepy radio
Grad student drama
Satirical (but accurate) portrayals of academia and team/group dynamics
Mini memoirs, essays, and art projects
Mysterious tech organization
Tangled web of twists, fake-outs, and flips the script moments
Decisions snowballing
Dark dramedy mystery
Conspiracy, exposes, infiltration conundrums

Content Heads-Up: Burglary (brief off page recall). PTSD (brief off page recall). Organized crime. Drug trafficking (brief recall). Childhood poverty, abandonment (brief recall; off page). Murder. Sabotage. War (brief mentions, discussion/topic).

Rep: British. Irish. Second/third generation Bengali British. Chinese British. Second generation Albanian British. Visual impairment. Ambiguous skin tones.

📚 Format: Library Hardcover

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The Last One at the Wedding by Jason Rekulak

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dark emotional funny hopeful lighthearted mysterious reflective 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

I’m so glad I gave in to my FoMO. I fully expected ‘thriller filler’ based on that synopsis, but this was almost a low-key parody of thriller filler. I loved the intrigue and realism without idealism. Also, streaming dramedy miniseries asap pls 🤩.

Energy: Responsive. Grounded. Astute.

🐩 Tail Wags Refreshing use of thriller tropes (no drawn-out withholding or convoluted action scenes). Side-eyeing all the characters at some point. The dynamic between the main character and his sister. Abigail. Balance of humour and tension. Low key clues sprinkled throughout. Pacing. Making predictions (some wrong, some spot-on). Unsettling scenes (the cereal and milk…wtf 🤢). Believable dialogue and behaviour. Admittedly unsatisfying, but all too real ending that felt like a statement on the struggle it is for parents to see their kids as they truly are. The contrast between the Deeply Empathetic One and the Disaffected Psychopathic One.

Scene: 🇺🇸 Set in Hopps Ferry, New Hampshire; Boston, Massachusetts; and Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania, USA

Perspective: A fifty-something UPS driver and parent estranged from their adult daughter the past three years gets an unexpected invite back into their life and to attend their surprise wedding.

Timeline: Current (2020s?) or not too distant future / alt universe. ☀️ Summer.

🔥 Fuel: Why was our main character estranged from his daughter? Can we trust his interpretation of events? Is he too overprotective, or does he intuit his daughter needs protecting? How will the wedding go? Where is the missing person and what happened to them? Why can’t he meet the mother of his son-in-law?

📖 Cred: Realistic

Mood Reading Match-Up:

Lady Evelyn’s Complete Guide to Wedding Etiquette. UPS. Daddy long legs. Mineral spirits, turpentine, linseed oil. Whiskey. Jazz music. Milk and cereal. Heatwave.

Through a father’s eyes domestic suspense
Short chapters, easy reading
Road trip elements
Dramedy vibe
Summer camp of luxury
Emotionally invested amateur sleuthing
1% behaving badly, dark secrets
How far would you go for your grown kid?
Get Out vibes, something’s ‘off’
Exploration of Nature vs Nurture
Tagging along with the main character, piecing together the puzzle, getting his thoughts first person

Content Heads-Up: Loss of parent (as preteen). Brain aneurysm (very brief mention). War (1990s, Veteran, brief recalls). Drug abuse, overdose (implied, discussed). Cannabis (edibles, recreational). Microdosing. Intoxication. Vomit. Spiders. Fire (building, fatal; off page). First responder fatality (off page mention). Physical violence (brief on page). Sexual content (brief on page; consenting). Infidelity. Cover-ups, destroying evidence. Murder. Personality disorder. Corruption. Blackmail (off page mention). Suicide (brief but graphic, on page). Car crash (injuries). Human rights violations (very brief mention).

Rep: American. Congolese peripheral character. Cis. Hetero. Polish ancestry. Foster parent.

📚 Format: Library Hardcover

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minimicropup's reviews 496 reviews

minimicropup's reviews
496 reviews