minimicropup's reviews
506 reviews

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.5

Oof and Ew. This was an unsettling, visceral dive into the rawness of motherhood. There were so many wtf moments and I almost noped out a few times, but I’m glad I stuck with it.

Energy: Distraught. Psychedelic. Evil.

🐕 Howls

The graphic depictions of post-birth, breastfeeding, and newborn care…maybe coulda toned that down a little? Sometimes it felt gratuitous, but also, it’s mostly Facts so I should probably take that up with nature, not here.

🐩 Tail Wags

The slow-building sense of dread and unpredictability. How it made me so jumpy. The Twists. The unromanticising of parenthood. The honesty - as someone who doesn’t want children, I gained more empathy for those who do and the complex feelings involved. Showing the destructive impact children have on the ones that brought them into existence.

Scene: 🇺🇸 Set in a family home in Bennington, Vermont

Perspective: A former genetic counsellor’s is alone at home caring for their newborn baby, while their spouse is deployed overseas. In a moment of desperation, they reach out to the mother they went no-contact with. We also get flashbacks into the family dynamics a few generations back.

Timeline: Current (2010s or 2020s).

🔥 Fuel: Emotional Stakes. Big Twists and Reveals reframing the story. Unpredictability. Should our main character reach out to her estranged mother for help? What is real and what is only in her mind? How can she protect her baby from herself? Or others? Why is this happening to her?

📖 Cred: Hyper-realistic surrealism

Mood Reading Match-Up:

Breast milk. Diapers. Grapefruit and coconut. Swear, sulfur, and old cheese. Pelting rain. Rancid body odour. Power outage. Crunching snow. Pus.

Complex, conflicted motherhood experience
Relatable or cathartic moments for mothers/parents
Sleep-deprived, overwhelmed, unreliable narrator
Childhood imaginary friend returns
Curled up on a rainy/snowy day reads (but not while eating, never while eating 🤢)
Symbolic commentary exploring narcissistic abuse, the curse of generational trauma, the sacrifices around motherhood
Where does reality end and the dream/nightmare begin surrealism
Shadow self, post-partum, or possession manifesting as body horror
Something-is-wrong-with-this-child and Doppelganger paranoia fuel
Third person narratives where the reader is flitting from fly on the wall, to time-traveller, to deep in the character’s mind
Sensory, eerie, chaotic world building

Content Heads-Up: Breastfeeding (descriptive; infection, pain, sensations, pumping). Birth, post-pregnancy (descriptive). Hallucinations, delusions, paranoia. Sleep deprivation. Loneliness. Bug stuff (beetles). Infection, pus (descriptive; wound). Blood, body fluids. Sleep paralysis. Toxic parent. Voyeurism (online; very brief). Institutionalization, psychosis (brief recall; anxiety about). Animal cruelty (very brief on page recall; child to dog). Fire (burns; brief but descriptive). Post-partum mental illness/‘baby blues’. Family annihilation (intrusive thoughts, depictions, descriptive recall).

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

📚 Format: Library Digital

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Nightmare of a Trip by Maureen Kilmer

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adventurous emotional funny mysterious sad medium-paced

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

2.5

My disappointment with this one hurts. I was so excited for it until the repetitive over-musing inner monologues. There was no need for filler, the story and writing had so much potential! Sadness.

Energy: Chatty. Enthusiastic. Incredulous.

🐺 Growls:

Too much of the main character not communicating with their spouse, while complaining about not communicating with their spouse. Repetitive inner monologue hyper-focused on a personal scare (I swear, something intriguing would be happening in the background and the main character would be standing in the way like “Do I tell him now? Now? How about now? Now? You know what, do I even want to tell him?”).

🐕 Howls: Super predictable, spotlighting and over-hinting of plot direction. Rushed ending (felt like the author just wanted this all to be over).

🐩 Tail Wags:

The nostalgic-yet-modern road trip energy. Captured the tension and disappointment of travelling with dependents. Relatable family dynamics—some bickering, some wandering off, nothing too picture-perfect, but moments of joy. Horror-tinged with well-balanced “such is life” humour.

Scene: 🇺🇸 Set on the road in Wisconsin, Indiana, Kentucky, Tennessee, Georgia, and Florida

Perspective: A divorce lawyer traveling to a famous Florida amusement park in a minivan with their spouse and three kids aged 16, 11, and 7.

Timeline: Current (2020s).

🔥 Fuel: Observing happenings, along for the ride. General unease. Strange things happening in the background. Will expectations meet reality? What challenges will they face on the road trip? Are the happenings coincidence or supernatural?

📖 Cred: Paranormal realism

Mood Reading Match-Up:

Overstuffed minivan. Cornfields. Cicadas. Hot pavement. Litter. Wooded back roads. Barbeque. Honeysuckle Dreams. Humidity. $24 hot dogs.

Books to read on road trips
Humorous family dysfunction (reminded me of Erma Bombeck)
Cozy horror-lite Americana
Creepy things kids say, see, do
Weird and abandoned things
Cursed object energy
Motherhood and parenting drama
Time warp / other dimensions ghosty bits
Quirky pit stops, attractions, and staying with fam
Paranormal visions

Content Heads-Up: Nausea, vomiting (descriptive, frequent; on page). Pregnancy. Sensory overload, panic attacks. Cancer (childhood, in remission; very brief recall). Divorce (cases described; brief). Fire/fire injury (building; deaths). Death of child (historic/past event; descriptive recall).

Rep: American. Cis. Hetero. Pink and freckled skin tones.

📚 Format: Library Digital

Random thought: One small change could’ve saved this book for me

Imagine if readers were left guessing if the mom was sick from stress, food, or something supernatural. That final chapter stays as is, but is now a surprising twist - we find out she was pregnant all along (which goes along with her surprisingly naïve understanding of how pregnancies happen/math lol). And the baby eerily resembles that ghostly kid. Yes? No?

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The Babysitter Lives by Stephen Graham Jones

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Did not finish book. Stopped at 65%.

Enjoying this but I need text. Audio only is way too confusing. I can't listen to this while doing ANYTHING else because the minute I'm distracted for even a second, I'm lost, especially as we get deeper into it. And taking breaks then coming back to it I have to keep rewinding way back because I forget which multiverse we're in or who is who.
I just need text for this, or to wait until I have a solid day of nothing to do and I'll listen to it in one go. It's an investment read for me.

Haunt Sweet Home by Sarah Pinsker

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emotional lighthearted mysterious 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

5.0

Wait, do I like cozy horror? I was surprisingly hooked despite not much actually happening for a good chunk of the book. But if you find Mara boring, or are here for dark spooks and haunts, I imagine this could feel like a very long novella!

Energy: Go-with-the-flow. Gentle. Sympathetic.

🐕 Howls:

This book is more cute than creepy; it took a second for me to reframe my expectations once I realized that. Predictable but still fun to read.

🐩 Tail Wags:

Slow burn plot (most of this is just Mara navigating the new gig). Fun fake-outs – eerie little things happen and sometimes lead nowhere. Slow start then rapid-fire conclusion but didn’t feel rushed…or maybe I’ve read too many long books recently 🤷‍♀️. Our MC isn’t easily scared, but is not so ‘meh’ that it ruins the tension. Writing style gave middle grade vibes sometimes but it worked for me – concise but moved the story along nicely.

Scene: 🇺🇸 Set in Western Massachusetts and Pennsylvania.

Perspective: An aspiring climate scientist who struggles to stay focused in their classes, so they’re taking another ‘gap year’. They land a cool (but exhausting) job on a home improvement reality show through a cousin’s connections.

There are also transcripts between chapters from one episode of the show.

Timeline: Current (2020s). Summer.

🔥 Fuel: Uncertainty. How will Mara’s new job go? Why is her cousin ghosting her? Is something supernatural going on? Will she find a friend in the new employee?

📖 Cred: Paranormal realism

Mood Reading Match-Up:

Backyard fire pit. Motel restaurant. Burnt food. Wood carving. Family bonfire. Fiddler jams. Apple orchard. Home libraries. Night shift.

Snapshot-of-a-life stories about self-acceptance
Undercurrent of paranormal realism
Snippets of episode transcripts
Conclusions that are more smiles than spooks
Character driven slow burn
Concise, to-the-point storytelling
Feeling like the outsider in a big, loud fam
Finding their way, on their last dollars MC
Horror-lite scaring people for a living and ghosties
Behind the scenes paranormal investigators meets campy home improvement reality show

Content Heads-Up: Fire (smoke, no injuries/damage). Divorce (very brief mention). Animal death (cows; historical; very brief mention). Death (brief off page recall; heart condition; old age). Arthritis.

Rep: American. Black American, Indian American, and non-binary peripherals. Dark, pale, and ambiguous skin tones.

📚 Format: Library Hardcover

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We Love the Nightlife by Rachel Koller Croft

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dark emotional funny mysterious tense 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

4.5

Really enjoyed this, especially the ending. It was worth the wait to find out the truths about everyone and how things turn out for them. Have your music apps nearby for extra vibes 🎶

Energy: Deceptive. Glamorous. Vivacious.

🐕 Howls

Some minor plot holes but it was easy to just go with it (like all the missing people no one seems to miss lol). Around 50% Amber’s chapters started to feel repetitive as she continues the plot to escape.

🐩 Tail Wags

The frenetic nostalgia (I wasn’t even alive for most of this, but I could feel that energy!). Alternating the perspectives every chapter. Slow-building lore that didn’t feel convoluted. The action never felt overdone, cheesy, or drawn out.

Scene: 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Set in the nightclubs of London, England

Perspectives (2): A vampire who turned in the 1980s and now wants to be independent of the one who turned them. The vampire who turned them who has a history going back to the 1840s.

Timelines: 1840s. 1979/1980. 2006. Late 2020s.

🔥 Fuel: Character journeys. Growth and transformation. Revealing backstories. Lower-stakes race against time. Why did Amber choose to become a vampire? Will her plan for independence work? Where did it all go wrong with her master?

📖 Cred: Magical realism

Mood Reading Match-Up:

Nightclub lighting. Velvet rope. Thudding bass. Leather. Tuberose. Rust and metal. Snapping photos. Disco. Synth. Dancing. New Year’s Eve.

Peeping, following, spying on characters
Break-up plots
Sprinkling of gritty, noir-style sarcastic humour
How far would you go for immortality?
Glam vampire saga
Moments of magical historical realism
Predators’ perspective, on the hunt
Plotting to escaping a toxic relationship
Nightclub ownership
Vampiric origin stories
Good-for-them revenge
Characters kind of talking to the reader, narrating their scenes
Vibey, immersive, detailed world (and lore) building

Content Heads-Up: Murder. Controlling friendship. Blood (not as graphic as you’d think). Drug use (brief scenes; cocaine, quaaludes). Misandry. Misogyny. COVID lockdowns (briefly implied). Intimate partner violence. Toxic friendship. Family/parental abandonment. Fear of abandonment. Confinement (building).

Rep: American-British. British. Cis. Hetero. Bi. Lesbian. Pale and ambiguous skin tones.

📚 Format: Library Digital

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William by Mason Coile

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dark emotional mysterious sad fast-paced

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

5.0

I’m not afraid of what Ai can do, I’m afraid of what humans can do. I think that’s why I loved this 😅. I liked the parallels around parenthood for what happens when something is starved of the guidance and care it needs.

Energy: Dependent. Deranged. Devoted.

🐕 Howls

Some predictable moments (moreso if you recently read the classic this was inspired by), but it didn’t take away from the story for me. Some of the symbolism was either lost on me or I missed the answers to some of the weird things that happened that I still want answers to!

🐩 Tail Wags

Eerie, claustrophobic atmosphere. Sense of watching everything unfold from a distance (almost how it feels viewing security cam footage). Unusual (but effective) metaphors. Exploration of the themes, motifs, commentary. The modern re-telling and end twist.

Scene: 🌎 Set in an unspecified Upstate College Town.

Perspective: Mainly a married couple. One is a severely agoraphobic robotics genius tinkering with their experiments in a home lab. The other is a brilliant computer scientist expecting a child but no longer invested in the relationship.

Timeline: Not too distant future, on the day before Halloween.

🔥 Fuel: Sense of confusion. Puzzle pieces coming together. Twists, why is this happening? Trapped in a fight for survival. Why did Henry create his Ai robot? Why keep him around half finished? Will Henry win back his wife? What or who has possessed the home? Will they get out?

📖 Cred: Not too distant future sci-fi realism

Mood Reading Match-Up:

Mineral scent of autumn. Black out curtains. Halloween decorations. Charred animal rot. Lights off. Steam. Basement.

Marriage in peril
Dinner party gone wrong
Gone Horribly Right techno sci-fi
Ghost in the machine, it’s in the house
Consequences of abandonment
Gruesome deaths
Ironic bizarro
Tragic monsters, anti-villains
Grey on grey morality
Flip the script endings (could re-read with new perspective)
Exploring the creator-creation connection, AI, human responsibility, and the future of technology
Detached perspective third-person narration

Content Heads-Up: Agoraphobia, anxiety. Pregnancy. Infidelity, betrayal, abandonment, loneliness. Violence. Confinement (house). Unrequited love. Blood, death, murder, dismemberment. Corpse discovery. Pregnancy.

Rep: Human. Ai. Hetero. Ambiguous skin tones.

📚 Format: Library Hardcover

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Hampton Heights by Dan Kois

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adventurous dark funny hopeful lighthearted mysterious 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? It's complicated

3.5

So creepy and suspenseful to start. As the characters go door-to-door canvassing it took a turn into casual fairy tale/fantasy territory that I didn’t love. I liked the dark, almost over-the-top (in the best way) Intro and Kevin chapters, it just clashed with the lighter fairy tale style stories for the kids’ chapters for me (readers who prefer the fantastical/magical stories may feel the opposite!).

Energy: Wary. Heartwarming. Venturesome.

🐕 Howls:

The horror-lite kids’ perspective chapters when they encountered their horrors. The commentary within the story sometimes felt heavy-handed yet a bit dumped into the story.

🐩 Tail Wags:

Charming, nostalgic writing style. Atmospheric tone. The eerie kids’ perspective chapters just before they encountered their horrors. The foreshadowing and omniscient third person narrator. Feeling of unease. Effectively using “show-not-tell”. Felt like connected series of short stories. The characters and their development. The realistic teen friendships.

Scene: 🇺🇸 Set in small town near Milwaukee, Wisconsin

Perspectives: Jumping from different perspectives as needed. There’s the route manager/driver overseeing the door-to-door canvassing for six kids 12-14 years old. They are from various backgrounds, each with a different motivation for doing the paper route and a different approach to the assignment and making new friends.

Timeline: 1987. December, just before the Holidays.

🔥 Fuel: Unease. Intriguing hints relating to future events.

📖 Cred: Magical Realism

Mood Reading Match-Up:

Rusty van. Predawn gloom. Burger King. Neon beer signs. The Paperboy video game! Gingerbread. Playboy magazine. Lucky rabbit’s foot.

Coming-of-age boyhood friendships
Preteen job struggles quest
Gradually getting to know the characters (with depth)
Hook-up gone wrong
Werewolves, magicians, trolls, witches fairy tales
‘something’s off’ neighbourhood
Tales exploring racism, cultural appropriation, sapphic romance, classism, greed, and materialism.
Parallel plots connecting
Get-comfy-and-listen-in third person narration style
Reader tagging along with the characters, fly-on-the-wall
Vivid, wintery, atmospheric Midwestern Americana

Content Heads-Up: Nicotine (cigarettes). Sexual content (consenting; descriptive). Body fluids (descriptive). Loss of parent (very brief recall; as baby). Racism (double standards, bias, prejudice). Cultural appropriation (kids). Homophobic slur (historical; kids). Bullying (preteens; historical; racist and homophobic slurs; name-calling).

Rep: Black, White, Hispanic, and Indian American. Second gen American. Diverse body shapes and sizes. Cis. Hetero. Bi. Lesbian. Dark, freckled, brown, olive, and pale skin tones.

📚 Format: Library Digital

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Our Shadows Have Claws: 15 Latin American Monster Stories by Amparo Ortiz, Yamile Saied Méndez

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Did not finish book. Stopped at 37%.

Not bad, but not for me.
Grief and loss of loved ones (physically and mentally) factored heavily into all the stories. Horrific things happen due to real life horrors and histories, so this is heavy on sadness, bittersweet endings, and tragedy. Every story so far was built on grief centred on senseless death and loss of loved ones. (My brain constantly reminds me how my loved ones could die and how out of my control that is so I generally avoid books centered on the emotional experience of loss and grief!).

I think it could be a hit for someone looking for that though. Especially for meaningful symbolism, fairy tale energy, and exploring folklore and culture, but for me it’s too sad and leaving me heavy-hearted. Also the writing styles for most stories are on the younger side of YA, almost middle grade.

Content Heads-Up (so far): Gun violence (hunting). Death (heart attack; off page recall). Loss of parent or primary caregiver (Descriptive; on page, as teen, as child). Vomit. Cancer (terminal, brief mention). Car accident (fatal; brief recall). Grief (descriptive; on page). Decapitation.

Rep (so far): Cuban. El Savadorian-American. North Mexican-American. Argentinian. Haitian-American. Puerto Rican. Cis. Hetero. Lesbian. Tan, brown, and dark skin tones.

Content Warnings

The Business Trip by Jessie Garcia

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dark mysterious tense fast-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

Started off strong—fast-paced, intriguing, and gripping until Parts 3 and 4. Overall a great concept for a twisty, hard-to-predict plot, but the execution fell short for me.

Energy: Aggrieved. Unsuspecting. Impromptu.

🐺 Growls

Part 3 was tedious and disrupted the fast pace. We’re in the mind of a terrible person, but the way his thoughts were written felt corny and too upfront. It came off as a cartoonish parody of an insufferable character's inner monologue. Part 4 had too much spoon-feeding of the twists.

🐕 Howls

Writing was too simplistic and often juvenile, and it started to grate on me as the story progressed. Character dialogue felt overly formal, yet cheesy. Everyone seemed to have the same inner voice style. The character thoughts, dialogue, and reactions felt stiff and unnatural.

🐩 Tail Wags

The quick perspective shifts. Part 1 set up the story well. Part 2 was intriguing as we saw characters reacting to the mystery. The overall plot. Most of the over-the-top moments.

Scene: 🇺🇸 Set near Madison, Wisconsin and Atlanta, Georgia

Perspectives (10): A bartender in an abusive relationship. The bartender’s co-worker. The bartender’s abusive partner. A news director sent to the conference. The news director’s neighbour/cat-sitter. The assistant news director. The general manager of the news station. The digital manager of the news station. The news director at another news station. The general manager of another news station.

Timeline: Current (2020s).

🔥 Fuel: Twists and turns. Fake-outs. Tangled web of mystery.

📖 Cred: Over-the-top with a touch of thriller-style camp

Mood Reading Match-Up:

Airports. News station. Patchouli perfume. Ambien. Texts. Meetings. Work conference. Networking.

Uncharacteristic texts, missing person mysteries
Rapid multi-POV switching to progress the plot
Short chapters
Fast-paced clues and reveals
Sleuthing and investigating alongside the characters
Secret pasts, not all is as it seems
Mix of caricature-style characters
Sprinkling of shocking true crime energy snowballing into roller coaster of surprises
Getting all the thoughts and all the tea from the characters, knowing more than the characters
Simplistic writing + twisty plot-driven stories

Content Heads-Up: Abusive relationship. Rape (forced, rough sex within relationship). Abortion (brief recall). Parental rejection, emotional abuse. Covid (brief mention). Missing persons. Misogynist, sexist, transphobic, homophobic, racist character. Masturbation (on page). Murder. Jealousy. Theft.

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

📚 Format: Advance Reader’s Copy from St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley

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Missing In Flight by Audrey J. Cole

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adventurous challenging emotional hopeful mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.5

Had me hooked from the start – fast-paced and fascinating (grab the popcorn).

Energy: Gripping. Bold. Calamitous.

🐕 Howls:

The reasoning behind the plot was ridiculous in an action-adventure movie type of way…the entire scheme relied too much on everything lining up perfectly and was unnecessarily dangerous and complicated, but I had so much fun reading it I didn't rly mind.

🐩 Tail Wags:

Action scenes that read like an action movie because they unfolded quickly as I imagined them happening. Direct, snappy, cinematic writing style that's easy to visualize. Rapidly shifting POVs giving us hints, reveals, and insights. Well-paced, never dragged, everything is relevant to the story. Short chapters and skipping between the three main scenes. Whenever I had a question, one of the characters would ask it too. Near the end there were moments of suspended disbelief, but I didn’t have to turn off my brain entirely.

Scene: 🇺🇸 ✈️ Set on a flight from Anchorage to LaGuardia, and on the ground the NYC area.

Perspectives (4): The mother of a newborn with a family history. The father of a newborn who works at an investment firm. A co-pilot reconsidering their marriage. An FBI intelligence agent assigned to the case.

Timeline: Current (2010s/before Face ID).

🔥 Fuel: Cliffhangers. Interlocking reveals. Escalating stakes race against time. Did someone take the baby? If so, who and why? How did they manage to undetected? Where is it?

📖 Cred: Suspended disbelief realism

Mood Reading Match-Up:

Seatbelt sign. Airplane ambient noise. Turbulence. Laptop. Lightning. Helicopter blades. Warning alarms.

Psychological action-adventure popcorn thriller
Locked room mysteries
Short chapters
Punchy, cinematic writing
“Go big or go home” Big Bads
What-happened whodunnits
Law & Order style FBI investigation digging up the tea
Potential unreliable narrator
Fly-on-the-wall, reader gets to know more than the characters
Fast-paced action and plot driven stories
Who-took-my-baby parenting horrors

Content Heads-Up: Infertility. Early menopause. Stalking, home invasion (celeb; brief recall off page). Memory loss, confusion (Alzheimers; transient global amnesia). Loss of parent (as child). Abduction. Death. Fraud. Parental abandonment (as child; very brief recall). Migraines. Sexual harassment (workplace; of male). False accusations. Depression, mental illness (brief recall). Plane stuff

severe turbulence, malfunctioning control, loss of cabin pressure, low fuel, death)

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

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

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minimicropup's reviews 506 reviews

minimicropup's reviews
506 reviews