minimicropup's reviews
496 reviews

The Dark Becomes Her by Judy I. Lin

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adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad 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

3.5

I loved the psychological horror, vivid imagery, and challenges the main character faced. What dulled it for me was the lengthy, hard-to-visualize action scenes and overly chatty Big Bad villain moments.  
 
Energy: Secretive. Thoughtful. Enduring. 
 
🐕 Howls The action scenes were dense and lasted a long time with so many moving parts it was hard to keep track of who was where and who was still alive, what was happening. Dialogue in the final battle scenes was a little cheesy and cliché with the villain taunting and explaining everything in the middle of high-stake chaos. I pictured them yelling over the noise of destruction, which just felt cartoonish (to be fair, I’m not a big action-adventure scene reader, so that may have been part of it).
 
🐩 Tail Wags Intense, vivid imagery that kinda scared me sometimes. Effortlessly formed scenes in my mind. Painful but all too real exploration of good kids being crushed by the intense pressure of parents’ expectations. 
 
Scene: 🇨🇦 Set in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
Perspective: Our 16-year-old main character loves playing piano, but their parents’ view it only as an ‘in’ to a good University. They also can see ghouls, thought it’s never been a problem before…unit now. 
Timeline: 2020s. 🍂 ❄️Fall and winter. 
🔥 Fuel: Prose. World-building and spiritual system. Intrigue. High stakes emotional investment. Quests and journeys. What are the macabre things our main character is seeing? Can they hurt her? Why has her little sister changed so much? Will she be able to save her? 
📖 Cred: Fantastical folklore realism
 
Mood Reading Match-Up:
Bus 22. Alleyway. Tiger tattoo. Half-empty mall. Bubble tea. Playing piano. Talisman. Snowflakes. Darkness. 
  • Ghoulish gore and frights
  • Strict parents, denied interests
  • Strained sibling bonds
  • Psychological Taiwanese folklore fantasy horror
  • Possession and spirits
  • Curses and talismans
  • Vivid, immersive world building
  • Short, one-more-page chapters
  • Wholesome hero romance
  • Spiritual war and sacrifice
  • Good vs evil in plain sight urban atmosphere
  • Seeing through the main character’s eyes narrative style
 
Content Heads-Up: Pandemic (very brief mentions; change in parental employment). Vomit. Racism (discrimination; memories). Hierarchical/strict upbringing. Murder (on page). Blood. Fire (structure). Body horror (injuries, attacks).
 
Rep: Canadian. Second generation Taiwanese. Cis. Hetero. Queer. Bi, questioning. Lesbian. Pale and ambiguous skin tones. 
 
📚 Format: Library Hardcover
 
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No One Will Know by Rose Carlyle

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emotional mysterious tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

This was an over-the-top, popcorn-style thriller that was ridiculous but kinda fun. Everyone’s insufferable, so it’s not too stressful to watch them all get their comeuppance hehe 🤪. 
 
If you’re sensitive about topics like neglect, mother-baby bonds, or irresponsible caregiving, this might be a distressing read.
 
Energy: Diverting. Derelict. Scathing. 
 
🐕 Howls The main character’s level of denial could be frustrating sometimes when she overexplained her thinking. Super predictable plot. I think I would have found this dull/annoying sometimes if I read it as text – as audio the classic villain monologues were kind of fun.
 
🐩 Tail Wags The train wreck of a story. The main character making one bad decision after another. Still entertaining even though I wasn’t rooting for anyone. Easy listening audiobook.
 
Scene: 🇦🇺  Set on a remote Tasmanian island, Australia.
Perspectives (2): Our MC finds out they’re pregnant just as the father, their new boyfriend, dies in a car crash. Penniless and alone, they are met with skepticism from his rich family who they were on the way to meet.    
We also get the perspective later on in the book of a character with a past who has just gotten married and wants a baby. 
Timeline: Current (2010s or 2020s). Six years after a birth. Eight years before a birth. 
🔥 Fuel: Twists and turns. Conflict, drama, tea. Pacing. High stakes. Will the main character take the offer to be a nanny on the remote island? Will she be able to keep up the façade if she does? Can she trust her employers to keep their side of the bargain?
📖 Cred: Over-the-top Melodrama
 
Mood Reading Match-Up:
  • Potential unreliable narrator
  • Secret inheritance scheme
  • Keeping secrets, in cahoots
  • Disaster of a situation, red flags everywhere
  • Twisty, easy-to-follow, plot-driven narratives
  • Melodramatic popcorn thriller plots
  • How far would you go for your child?
  • Insufferable characters and caricatures
  • Tagging along with the MC who tells us all her thoughts/feels/plans/assumptions
 
Content Heads-Up: Sexual content (off page, brief). Pregnancy, birth (on page). Loss of romantic partner. Car accident (on page; brief description, fatal). Fire (accident, burns, scarring). Kidnapping (baby). Trafficking (
babies for adoption; geckos for pet trade
). Smuggling, organized crime, gun violence. Narcissism. 
 
Rep: Australian. Cis. Hetero. Pale skin tones.
 
📚 Format: Library Audio
 
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Model Home by Rivers Solomon

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challenging dark emotional reflective sad medium-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? No

3.5

This was unexpectedly heavy and spends a lot of time exploring the horrors people inflict on each other. I found it overwhelming, but I’d recommend if you’re looking for a philosophical, slow-burn horror that mixes stream-of-consciousness with grotesque, strange moments. 
 
Energy: Disorienting. Bleak. Confessional.  
 
🐕 Howls The philosophizing around the halfway point (that might be a me thing). Long stretches of reflection that were heavy and sad (this could be a 'tail wag' for many though). Bizarro confusing moments got tiring after a while. Kept mixing up the siblings (probably the similar names, they had their own personas). 
 
🐩 Tail Wags The “wait…what?” moments. Confusing bizarro and grotesque moments. Mix of rooting for and being horrified by the main character. The ‘haunted’ house being a newer build. The nonsensical and unhingedness. 
 
Scene: 🇺🇸 Set mostly in a gated community of North Dallas, Texas, USA
Perspective: Our MC grew up in a gated community in the house that once served as a model home during development. As an adult, they live in England with their 14-year-old child. The death of their parents prompts a return to their hometown and reuniting with their siblings.  
We get brief perspective of the MC’s 14-year-old who meets up with a friend they met on social media.  
Timeline: Current (2010s or 2020s).
🔥 Fuel: Foreshadowing. Atmospheric tension. Family and relationship dynamics. Layered secrets. Provoking thoughts and feels. Unpredictability. What happened to our main character in childhood? Why are their parents dead? What does it all mean? Are they going to be okay?
📖 Cred: Hyper-realistic surrealism
 
Mood Reading Match-Up:
Dried flowers. Roasted potatoes. Lemon disinfectant. Sawdust. Grilled hotdogs. French double doors. Greasy pizza. Wide highway. Shopping mall. 
  • Thrown in the story, coming in to focus as we go along
  • Bizarre, philosophical literary social horror
  • Strange moments treated as mundane
  • Haunted house or haunted fam?
  • Hints of unreliable narrator
  • Flashback to childhood vignettes
  • Toxic suburbia
  • Return to hometown
  • Heartstring horrors and gut punch endings
  • Humans are monsters
  • Philosophical exploration of grief, family dynamics, sibling bonds, parenthood, mental illness, racism, and child abuse
 
Content Heads-Up: Dissociation. Food restriction (as child). Depression, low moods (symptoms). Ambiguous diagnoses (personality disorder, dissociative, generalized anxiety, complex-PTSD). Loss of parents (as adult). Corpses (discovery of). Racism (graphic; disbelief, threats, prejudice, persecution, mental attacks; hypocrisy). Murder-suicide (implied). Chemical burns, scars. Animal torture, death (off page mention; very brief;
dog, fish, ant farm, guinea pig
). Cancer (brief mention; cervical). Grief. Suicide attempt (recall). Suicidal ideation, planning (discussion; on page). Sexual content (consenting; on page). Homophobic slurs. Grooming, adult/minor relationship. Munchausen by proxy (discussion). Gaslighting. Home invasion. Child abuse, pedophilia (rape, sexual abuse,
female perpetrator
). Fire (building; arson). 
 
Rep: American. Mixed race (Black, White). American British. Cis. Genderfluid. Trans. Hetero. Queer. Lesbian. Dark, brown, freckled, light brown, and ambiguous skin tones. Fat. Jewish convert. Diabetes. Autism. Dyslexia. 
 
📚 Format: Library Hardcover
 
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Scrap by Calla Henkel

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dark emotional funny mysterious medium-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

4.5

The is so entertaining and intriguing, especially if you enjoy character-driven chaos! 
Hold off on this if you haven’t read Gone Girl but plan to soon. There are spoilers for that book in this one. 
 
Energy: Neurotic. Misunderstood. Adrift. 
 
🐕 Howls The moments when the mystery took a back seat to Esther’s character development and reflecting on her choices, but it was still interesting. 
 
🐩 Tail Wags The mix of literary fiction and mystery. Story is both entertaining and heartbreaking. Fun main character to follow (she’s insufferable yet oddly sympathetic). Captivating and cringe-worthy character development. Piecing together the puzzle alongside the MC while she jumps to conclusions without thinking things through. Unexpected bittersweet ending. 
 
Scene: 🇺🇸 Set mainly in Asheville, North Carolina.
Perspective: A book binder artisan tries to reconnect with a friend at a post-art show dinner without success. Instead they are stuck at a table with someone who really wants to hire them to craft a family scrapbook. 
Timeline: 2018 
🔥 Fuel: Emotional investment. Unreliable narrator. Intrigue and secrets. Multi layered plot. What was the incident at the studio? Why is there so much secrecy around the scrapbook our main character was hired to make? Why is she so invested in this family? Is her client okay? 
📖 Cred: Semi-realistic/plausible
 
Mood Reading Match-Up:
Barn studio. True crime podcast on Bluetooth speakers. Tortilla soup. Report cards. Family photos. Eggshell white paper. Burner phone. Oil paint. Honey buns. Gone Girl. Rose quartz. 
  • Obsessive, morally grey main character chaos
  • True crime commentary and stories
  • Unexpected sidekick
  • Mysterious family history and drama
  • Commentary on true crime, law enforcement, wealth, consumerism, and need
  • Character driven stories 
  • Was there even a crime? 
  • Literary cozy mystery amateur sleuthing
  • Sprinkling of popcorn thriller energy
  • Infiltrating the inner circle sneakiness
  • Thrown in the story, tagging along with the main character first person
 
Content Heads-Up: Alcohol (intoxication, hangovers). Loss of parent (as preteen; as adult). Alcoholic parent. Car crash (fatal; recall). Intoxicated driving. Anti-police sentiments (character opinion). Infanticide (implied). Psychopathy (child; implied). Loss of child (infant; SIDS). Loneliness. Long term relationship break-up (unexpected). Infidelity, betrayal (descriptive recall). Mass shooting (school; off page recalls, brief). Adult/minor sex, non-consensual sexual images. Suicidal ideation. Home invasion, threats, drugging (brief). Domestic abuse. Emotionally distant parent. Obsession, obsessive thinking. Cancer (lung; brief discussion).
 
Rep: American. Dutch ancestry, Croatian, Armenian and Pakistani heritage, and Polish peripheral characters. Cis. Lesbian. Olive, ivory, pink, and ambiguous skin tones.
 
📚 Format: Library Digital
 
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Earthlings by Sayaka Murata

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challenging dark emotional funny mysterious medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

Well…that was certainly different. It’s hard to describe without spoilers but be prepared for all the Icks. And check the content warnings – none of them are drawn out but things pop up in sudden gut punch moments. 
 
Energy: Disturbing. Ambiguous. Mechanical.
 
🐕 Howls: The exploration of taboos and normalcy sometimes felt predictable in a test-the-limits-trying-to-gross-you-out style. The story felt a bit dated at times with huge pressure from family to marry and have kids, but that may be cultural or reflect pressures some still experience, so it wasn’t entirely lost on me. 
 
🐩 Tail Wags: Disturbing in a wtf-is-happening-one-more-page way. Rationalizing ‘alien’ thoughts in unexpected and discomforting ways. Weird, thought-provoking commentary on societal norms. How the core plot is left open to reader interpretation. The cringey, culty, strange, unsettling energy and ending. 
 
Scene: 🇯🇵 Set in the mountains of Akishina, near Nagano, Japan. 
Perspectives: Our 11-year-old main character is on family vacation at their grandparents when an incident occurs with their cousin. We then see their experience of summer school and how they come to discover their identity. Then we skip to them in their 30s, married and returning to the house where their cousin now lives.
Timeline: Unspecified (guessing 1990s and 2010s). ☀️❄️Summer and winter. 
🔥 Fuel: Moral quandaries. Intrigue and strangeness. Provoking thoughts and feels. Unpredictability. What is wrong with our main character? What will they do next? How will they reconcile their childhood views in their adult life? 
📖 Cred: Bizarro
 
Mood Reading Match-Up:
Warm breeze. Incense. Baby Factory. Brainwashing. Animal smell. Sour dock. Popinpobopia.  
  • Horrific moments through the eyes of a child
  • Cousin love
  • Cover/sham marriage
  • Social commentary on societal norms and hive mindedness
  • Questionable reliability main character
  • Humanity through alien eyes
  • Revisiting childhood
  • Deranged, traumatized, or reality?
  • Taboos weird fiction
  • The dark side of not outgrowing childhood beliefs
  • Moments of bizarro grotesquery with an almost clinical writing style
 
Content Heads-Up: Emotional and physical child abuse (parental rejection and frustration). Child sexual abuse, pedophilia (on page,
teacher-student
). Dismissal/disbelief of reported abuse. Victim blaming. Suicidal ideation, planning (on page; brief). Familial pressure (to reproduce, to marry). Incest (preteens; on page). Loss of parent (as adult). Murder, violence, blood, physical attack. Home invasion. Edible horror, gore (
consuming flesh, self-mutilation
).
 
Rep: Japanese. Cis. Hetero. White and ambiguous skin tones.
 
📚 Format: Kobo Plus
 
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A Girl Like Us by Anna Sophia McLoughlin

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Did not finish book. Stopped at 42%.
This was dragging on and on, so I skimmed ahead to the ending, and this sounds so mean, but it was written as if it was such an original plot that the reader would need a lot of hand-holding and explaining to understand it….except it's based on common, predictable tropes. Which is fine if a story is intriguing enough to carry it, but for me, it wasn’t. 
 
  • The writing is okay, but the book is too long with too much filler. 
  • The pacing is incredibly slow. Entire chapters seemed dedicated to rehashing information we already know without offering new details or moving the story forward. It felt like I was reading the same internal musings over and over. 
  • This is a story type I’ve read (and watched) countless times and I like these tropes. But nothing felt intriguing. At 10% in I could predict where this story was going and that’s where it went. It relies so heavily on being twisty that it becomes boring if you already know where it’s headed. 
  • I like melodrama in rich people behaving badly/secret past stories, but this felt more like a drawn-out soap opera with dramatic ‘dun dun dun’ moments that didn’t land for me. 
  • All the characters lacked depth. We’re frequently reminded one of the characters is ‘not like the other girls’ in a forced, one-dimensional way. 
 
📚 Format: Advance Reader’s Copy from Sourcebooks Landmark and NetGalley
 
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Lies on the Serpent's Tongue by Kate Pearsall

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adventurous funny lighthearted mysterious sad 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

2.5

This one just wasn’t for me. It sounded so atmospheric and intriguing but ended up feeling too muddled with too much going on and I lost interest. 
 
Energy: Agitated. Adamant. Capable. 
 
🐕 Howls Had the potential to be atmospheric (set in the fall), but I didn’t feel it. Descriptions didn’t deliver the spooky and cozy vibes I was hoping for. A bit boring (but maybe it’s for at a younger YA audience?). Story was very “tell, not show” with things explained in a quick unengaging way. So many little side plots going on with spirits, dimensions, creatures, family drama, romantic chemistry, book of secrets, spells, ingredients, supernatural abilities etc. but always stopped just short of me getting invested. 
 
🐩 Tail Wags The setting. The idea of supernatural sensory abilities. 
 
Scene: 🇺🇸 Set in Caball Hollow, Appalachia in the US. 
Perspective: Our main character is a teen living in a close-knit family of sisters with a connection to the land and magical wisdoms passed through the generations. They can smell lies and recent events cause them to believe something is happening in the magical realms. 
Timeline: Current (2010s or 2020s). 🍂 September, October.
🔥 Fuel: Sense of adventure. Quests and journeys. Romantic tension. Race against time. Good vs evil. Why are people losing memories? What is happening to the bone tree? What are the intentions of others? Is our main character in danger? 
📖 Cred: Magical realism
 
Mood Reading Match-Up:
Papery smoke. Burnt meat. Burning leaves. Bone tree. Magpie. Ginseng. 
  • Close-knit family dynamics
  • Inherited supernatural abilities, connection to the land
  • Forest service volunteering
  • Haunted hillside
  • Book of spells, magical tomes
  • Local legends creature feature
  • Good vs evil fantastical
  • Otherworld politics and power plays spilling into this world
  • Enemies to lovers and sacrificed love romance
  • First person narratives, character telling us a story
 
Content Heads-Up: Physical violence. Blood, injury. Death. Vandalism. Prejudice.
 
Rep: American. Cis. Hetero. Fair and deep brown skin tones.
 
📚 Format: Advance Reader’s Copy from Penguin Young Readers Group | G.P. Putnam’s Sons Books for Young Readers, and NetGalley. 
 
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Rotten Tommy: A Horror Novel by David Sodergren

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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

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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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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