minimicropup's reviews
516 reviews

adventurous dark emotional hopeful sad tense medium-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

3.0

I cared for the characters but I guess I was expecting this to be cozier?

Energy: Optimistic. Foreboding. Resigned.

🐺 Growls: The pacing goes from low-stakes to sudden, high-stakes finale with frenetic action..

🐕 Howls: Wish the spell craft, potions, and food magic was more sensory and immersive. The storytelling was sometimes more tell than show. It wasn’t as atmospheric as I hoped. I liked reading it in the moment, but when I put it down I wasn’t eager to pick it back up.

🐩 Tail Wags: Solid writing, strong themes, and heartfelt character development. Supportive male characters who aren’t stuck in a ‘men vs women’ dynamic. Charming enough to keep me interested.

Scene: 🍃 Bardshire and the magical island of Innisfree.

Perspective: The main character, in their 20s, is not interested in courtship and the traditional roles for their gender. They feel drawn to nature and feel they have a purpose other than spouse and parent.

Timeline: Spring and Summer. 1831. Linear.

🔥 Fuel: What will life be like if Marigold chooses to follow their grandmother’s legacy? Will she be able to keep the island safe? Why is she so drawn to a new friend? Will true love prevail? Can she save her grandmother’s legacy?

📖 Cred: Fantastical supernatural realism

Mood Reading Match-Up:

Honeybees. Ginger, cinnamon, cardamom. Honey cake. Grimoire. Tattoos. Salt and smoke. Misty air.

Invisible in the room (third person)
Cozy fantasy with high stakes moments
Wholesome grumpy-sunshine sapphic romance
Cursed family line
Witchy slice-of-life
Loss, protection, duty, and legacy
Childhood friends reunited
Alternate universe history feels
Lyrical, sensory, whimsical writing style
Mix of cynical, adorable, likeable, grouchy, and morally good characters
Slow burn day-in-the-life turned good vs evil high stakes action
Witchy friendship adventures and found family
How far would you go for true love?

Content Heads-Up: Blood. Burn scars. Fire (fatal; brief recall). Grief, loneliness. Pregnancy (complications, miscarriage). Sexual content (mostly behind closed doors; consenting; feelings, desire, love). Vomit.

Rep: Cis. Hetero. Lesbian. Bi. Pan. Queer. Pale white, warm brown, sunburned, and freckled skin tones. Scars.

📚 Format: Kobo

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Content Warnings

We Love to Entertain by Sarah Strohmeyer

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mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.5

The synopsis is not technically wrong, but hints this is something it isn’t while giving too much away. This was more of a small-town mother-daughter dramedy with the reality show being very much in the background, ending in silly popcorn thriller escapades.

Energy: Sketchy. Self-centered. Hokey.

🐕 Howls: The over-the-top ending with contrived high-stakes that felt tacked on.

🐩 Tail Wags: The light, almost satirical tone. The behind-the scenes chaos and local gossip. How the mom and daughter often have slightly different versions of events so it has a slightly unhinged who-to-believe feeling.

Scene: 🇺🇸 Snowden, Vermont, USA

Perspectives (2): An assistant to a landowner building an energy-efficient house as part of a HGTV style reality show. The assistant’s parent who works as a town clerk. Blog posts from the reality show contestants building the energy-efficient house. Subreddit style discussions of the reality show.

Timeline: Autumn (October). 2020s. Linear.

🔥 Fuel: What was dumped in the assistant’s trash and why? Why did the contestants leave during a key moment in the show? Whose version of events is most accurate – the town clerk, or her daughter who is a personal assistant for the missing contestants? Why are so many townsfolk upset with the assistant?

📖 Cred: Suspended disbelief, over-the-top

Mood Reading Match-Up:

Autumn foliage. Tinge of woodsmoke. Telsa car. Red Kia. Custom maple dining table. Town hall. Walk-in closet.

Deep in the character’s mind, overhearing thoughts, observing from afar (mix of first and third person)
Knowing more than the main characters (mostly)
Crushing on the boss
Quirky Fargo-esque small town conspiracies
Mother-daughter dynamics and misunderstandings
Unsettling, cheesy, breezy writing style
Bumbling, chaotic, questionable, and villainous characters
Accusations, competitions, scandal, and gossip
Behind the scenes of a reality home reno production
Municipal property drama
Popcorn mystery

Content Heads-Up: Blackmail. Cannabis use (vaping). Class/wealth divides. Climate change, disasters (discussion, mention). Confinement. Financial insecurity. Guns (hunting, threats). Kidnapping, gun violence. Loss of spouse, grief (brief mentions). Missing adult child. Pandemic (brief recalls). Property confiscation. Threats (unknown sender). Traumatic brain injury. Unemployment (fired).

Rep: American. Cis. Hetero. Tan, pink, and light brown skin tones.

📚 Format: Paperback

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Content Warnings

Cross My Heart by Megan Collins

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dark funny hopeful mysterious 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

5.0

Loved this! It had fun unexpected twists, engaging characters, and the perfect touch of dramatic flair. Overall a fast-paced, entertaining read for fans of romance, mystery, and lightly suspenseful storytelling.

Energy: Convivial. Vulnerable. Hopeful.

🐕 Howls: The villain and how that all played out was a little cartoony.

🐩 Tail Wags: The lighthearted but mysterious romance bits. Mixing in emails, texts, and social media posts creatively. I felt like I was eavesdropping on the characters’ lives. The different viewpoints and little clues we get. The twist that totally changed things up. Insta-love that was actually justified. The hints of an emotionally charged unreliable narrator.

Scene: 🇺🇸 Boston suburbs, Massachusetts, USA

Perspectives (2): A 30-year-old recipient of a heart transplant working at their parents bridal shop and living at home after being dumped by their romantic partner. A bestselling thriller author whose spouse died and home and whose organs were donated.

Timeline: May 2025. Linear

🔥 Fuel: Why does everyone think Rosie is “too much”? Could her heart donors grieving husband be her dream meet-cute? How did her heart donor die? What was their relationship like before her death? Can we trust the main characters’ interpretation of events?

📖 Cred: Plausible

Mood Reading Match-Up:

Danish. Bridal gown. Dog walks. Zillow. Delayed adrenaline. Muggy air. Taylor Swift. Friends episodes. Headlamp.

Deep in a character’s mind, co-conspiring, armchair sleuthing (first person)
Read between the lines, breezy, casual, intimate, reflective writing style
Mix of compromised, likeable, morally ambiguous, resilient, sympathetic, and unhinged characters
Reading emails, diary entries, filmed podcast interviews, voicemails, and poems
Blinded by love psychological romantic suspense
Low key (and relatable) armchair sleuthing online
Musing, pondering over things with the main character
Instalovey, new crush optimisms, and unrequited love
Flip the script/re-read bonus
The Things women do for love
Mysterious happenings
Whodunit, whydunit
Nuanced fake-outs and red herrings

Content Heads-Up: Animal death (roadkill; very brief memory; fox). Appropriation (of experiences and traumas). Blood, injury. Cardiomyopathy (congenital, transplant; brief recalls, medical side-effects). Domestic abuse (implied; verbal, throwing things). Gun violence. Jealousy. Loneliness. Murder. Potential false accusations. Physical attack. Relationship break-up (unexpected).

Rep: American. Cis. Hetero. Bi. Recipient of heart transplant. Congenital heart defect. Pale skin tones.

📚 Format: Library Digital

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Content Warnings

Strange Pictures by Uketsu

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dark emotional mysterious sad fast-paced

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

2.5

I love visuals in books, so a visually driven mystery? Heck, yes! But I was hoping for an interactive experience, and ended up getting lost with the time-jumps and puzzles we can’t actually solve. Plus, the ending explained way too much.

Energy: Ominous. Mysterious. Different.

🐺 Growls: Convoluted logic for why some of the mountain drawings exist and what they were meant to convey. The ending just dumped a bunch of info and quickly wrapped up by rehashing everything that happened.

🐕 Howls: This felt like watching someone else solve a puzzle you can’t participate in. It’s super easy to get lost with who’s who and what timeline you’re in. Some pictures seemed pointless (like just showing what was already described). The dialogue felt kinda stiff (maybe it’s the translation). It was a bit too much with all the sad traumas for every character feeling thrown in.

🐩 Tail Wags: The images, drawings, and hidden clues (sometimes). The theory. The time jumps and shifting perspectives connecting (sometimes).

Scene: 🇯🇵 Various locations in Japan

Perspective(s): Multiple. A graduating university student in a paranormal club. A single parent and their 6-year-old child. A soon-to-be father. A daycare teacher. An aspiring reporter. An art club teacher and avid hiker.

Timeline: Reverse chronology. 2018 to 1992.

🔥 Fuel: What does the cryptic message at the end of the blog mean? Is someone stalking a woman and child? What happened to the art club teacher and why?

📖 Cred: Suspended disbelief

Mood Reading Match-Up:

Paranormal club. Blogs. Chorus of cicadas. Smudged drawing. Sleeping bags. Howling wind.

Thrown into the story, observing from afar, pondering
Detached, minimalist writing style
Being in-the-dark for most of the story
Found images and puzzles
Murder mystery
Imperfect characters
Convoluted mysteries
Journalistic sleuthing
Domestic dysfunction, tragedy, and heartstring hits
Perpetrator origin stories
Plotting and scheming
Maternal instincts gone wrong

Content Heads-Up: Animal cruelty (pet bird). Cancer (brief mentions). Child abuse (recall). Loss of parent (as child). Loss of spouse. Missing child. Murder. Parental rejection (unloved). Physical violence, torture. Potential false accusation. Stalking. Suicide.

Rep: Japanese. Cis. Hetero. Pale skin tones.

📚 Format: Library Digital

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Content Warnings

You Are Fatally Invited by Ande Pliego

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Did not finish book. Stopped at 3%.

Oof i cannot do this audiobook. Stilted narrator and cringe accents. You know when you hear an adult reading a book to kids and they do the voices but are trying a little too hard? This was that for me.

The Butcher's Daughter: The Hitherto Untold Story of Mrs. Lovett by Corinne Leigh Clark, David Demchuk

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challenging dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

5.0

I loved this! In that reading-slower-so-it-doesn’t-end way. Loved the letter format, it felt like I was going through a bunch of documents, figuring out what happened. It was super atmospheric, sometimes tragic, and so darkly fascinating. This is 100% epistolary with the memoir parts reading like a novel.

Energy: Mysterious. Sinister. Visceral.

🐕 Howls: That final reveal may disappoint

I grew attached to the main character so I didn’t wanna find out what I did. But upon reflection, it was perfect. Like, what was I thinking? She’s gonna process people into pie-filling and just move on?

🐩 Tail Wags: The historical fiction and macabre mystery combo. Immersive, cinematic experience. The slice-of-life autobiographical layers. The curious tidbits and period-accurate references (I learned so much looking things up…anatomical venus 🫢). Atmospheric transitions from cozy to darkly grotesque. The narrator’s unsettling evolution. Mix of horror, intrigue, and hint of grim humour.

Scene: 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 London, England

Perspective: Reading documents sent to a journalist, including: letters from a member of the local Priory who is writing their biography/memoir, letters in response to the journalist following up on leads, fact-checking, and requesting information.

Timeline: April to July. 1887. 1820s. Then & Now.

🔥 Fuel: What happened in Evans’ life? Who is standing outside the gates of the Priory? Who is trying to stop Evans from sharing her story and why? Is the journalist at risk for investigating further? Can someone commit atrocious acts and go on to lead a moral, normal life?

📖 Cred: Historical fiction speculative

Mood Reading Match-Up:

Peppery gravy and onions. Paris green paper. Meat pies. Pearls. Columns of black smoke. Beef tea. Oil of camphor.

Sifting through autobiographical letters, news articles, book excerpts, and journalist communications.
Epistolary character study
Mix of morally ambiguous, morally grey, and villainous characters
1800s medical house of horrors
Victorian slice of life
Hints of good-for-her justice
‘Meat is meat’ food horror
Grotesque tales of flesh, blood, and bone
Gothic, atmospheric slow burn
Books to read by candlelight
Desperate measures, desperate times, dark historical fiction
Sweeny Todd adjacent serial killings
Perpetrator-or-victim psychological suspense

Content Heads-Up: Abortion (complications). Adoption (forced). Animal death (livestock, meat). Blood. Cannibalism. Child abuse (physical, violence; very brief recall). Class and wealth divisions. Death. Dismemberment. Domestic abuse, violence. Drugging (narcotics). Elder abuse. Gun violence. Infertility (brief mention). Loss of child (at birth). Loss of friend. Loss of parent (as teen). Loss of romantic partner. Matriarchy. Medical (infection, wounds, surgery). Misogyny. Murder, body gore. Patriarchy. Pregnancy (forced). Sexual assault, rape (brief; on page). Sexual content (sex work). Suicide (suspected). Trafficking (bodies, parts).

Rep: British. Cis. Hetero. Gay. Pale, freckled, and dark skin tones. Deaf.

📚 Format: Advance Reader’s Copy from Soho Press and NetGalley

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🤩 Potential Fav of 2025

Content Warnings

Witchcraft for Wayward Girls by Grady Hendrix

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challenging dark emotional hopeful sad tense slow-paced

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

4.0

It’s scary how relevant this story is in 2025 😭. As someone who doesn’t have or want kids, I did not expect this book to be so compelling. I didn’t enjoy it because of how brutally honest it was, but that’s also why it felt so thoughtful, and I won’t forget it anytime soon. This isn’t horror though; or it is, but only real-life horror like stigmas against women, regulating female choices and bodies, and the harsh reality of pregnancy and childbirth. I’d recommend it for readers wanting historical fiction with symbolic magical realism, detailed character arcs, and literary explorations of tough truths.

Energy: Cheeky. Empathetic. Painful.

🐕 Howls: I loved these characters, but couldn’t get too attached, it would break me. This was so emotionally taxing with (what I assume are) realistically graphic pregnancy and birth things, plus so many injustices. It was giving me helpless doom scroll/depressing headlines feels in the second half (I think that’s the point though).

🐩 Tail Wags: The writing style was almost childlike in tone, which captured how most of the characters are kids that were taken advantage of, and how they need guidance to make the decisions they’re faced with but have no one. How it didn’t dumb things down. How it emphasized there’s no one-solution-fits-all and held empathy for what different women want and need. Captured the 1970s vibe (I wasn’t even alive then but somehow it felt familiar).

Scene: 🇺🇸 Near St. Augustine, Florida, USA

Perspective: Mostly our main character, who is 15 years old and pregnant; they were sent by their disappointed parents to a home where they are to hide until they give birth, then must put the baby up for adoption. We also get excerpts from a book about witchcraft that the characters are reading.

Timeline: Spring and Summer. Early 1970s. Linear.

🔥 Fuel: What will the home for unwed mothers be like? How will the women and girls navigate their stay? What if they change their minds about their babies and adoption? Will the witchcraft work? How far will they go to try? Will it ultimately help or harm them?

📖 Cred: Hyper-realistic magical realism

Mood Reading Match-Up:

Florida pines. Lava lamp. Bookmobile. Pink. Hot, humid air. Blood. Storm clouds. Rocks. Pine-sol.

Invisible in the room, tagging along with the characters (third person)
Sensory, punchy writing style
Adorable, likeable, complicated characters
Morally complex witchcraft
Historical coming-of-age-while-pregnant fiction
Found family friendships and trauma bonds
Symbolic, emotional magical realism
Exploration and depictions of your-body-my-choice, eye-for-an-eye injustice, women’s rights, teen rights, and personal autonomy.
Humans are the real monsters
Nature is scary

Content Heads-Up: Abandonment (by parents, by romantic partners). Abortion (unsuccessful, attempted). Adoption (forced). Ageism (against younger gens). Birth (traumatic, descriptive; on page). Blood. Body fluids. Child abuse. Forced gender roles. Medical trauma (painful examinations; dismissal; rushing/forcing patients to undergo exams). Nicotine (cigarettes, cravings; smoking while pregnant). Patriarchy (dismissal of women, body control, societal). Parental rejection (as teen). Pedophilia. Pregnancy (teen; experience, sensations, pain). Pregnancy complications. Religious abuse (shunning, judgement, emotional). Sexual shaming. Toxic femininity. Toxic masculinity. Vomit.

Rep: American. Cis. Hetero. Dark, midnight, white, black, tan, pale, and freckled skin tones. Non-vocal.

📚 Format: Library Hardcover

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Content Warnings

She Was the Quiet One by Michele Campbell

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dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.5

This was a suspenseful, character-driven thriller set in a boarding school world of shifting allegiances. Great pacing, multiple POVs, and a realistic psychological buildup kept me hooked. There’s some serious bullying and manipulation that plays out on page in a believable way, so maybe check content warnings before reading.

Energy: Unraveling. Intriguing. Percolating.

🐕 Howls: Didn’t love the contrived decisions that led to the ending, but it wasn’t bad.

🐩 Tail Wags: The disquieting bullying and “mean girl” antics. The suspense. How it reminded me a little of Lisa Jewell’s style of character dev. Showing instead of telling. The different viewpoints and pacing for switching between them.

Scene: 🇺🇸 Odell Academy High School, New Hampshire, USA

Perspectives (3): A parent and spouse hesitant to be in charge of the girls dorms but wanting to support their spouses dreams of overseeing a boarding school. A twin who doesn’t want to go to this boarding school and tends to act out and fall for anyone who accepts them. The other twin, excited to go to this boarding school and who feels responsible for ensuring their twin doesn’t get into trouble.

Timeline: 2010s.

🔥 Fuel: Is Rose & Bel's relationship too fractured to heal? What will happen when Bel starts crushing on her advisor? Which twin died and why? Who is taking the photos and sending threats? How far will the perpetrator go?

📖 Cred: Plausible

Mood Reading Match-Up:

Towering elm trees. Dew covered lawns. Bunk beds. Disciplinary committee. Lightly falling snow. Ice-blue skies. Anonymous emails. Laundry room. Infirmary.

Third person invisible in the room being told a story, overhearing character thoughts and opinions
Getting to know the characters and predicting what will happen and how they’ll react
Direct, sensory writing style
Chaotic, flawed, spiralling, unlikeable, and villainous characters
Dark academia coming of age psychological drama
Betrayal, life unraveling, manipulation, rebellion, secrets, scandal, and lies
Falling for teacher
High stakes escapes
Series of bad decisions unraveling
Sibling rivalry
High school hierarchies and cliques
Toxic relationships and power dynamics
Reverse whodunnit (who is it that died?)
Knowing more than the characters

Content Heads-Up: Adult minor relationship (flirting; kissing; rough sex, first time). Blackmail. Bullying (physical, emotional, rumours, peer pressure, pranks, embarrassing, fatphobic comments). Cancer (very brief recall). Disbelieving authorities (healthcare). Domestic abuse (confinement, gaslighting, threats). Drug abuse (prescription; painkillers). Family rejection (as teen). Grief. Gun violence. Infidelity. Loss of parent (as teen). Murder. Non-consenting photos/recordings of a minor (assault, hazing). Peer rejection. Suicide (brief, on page). Vomit, sickness.

Rep: American. Second generation Korean (peripheral character). Cis. Hetero. White and pale skin tones.

📚 Format: Paperback

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Content Warnings

Wake Up and Open Your Eyes by Clay McLeod Chapman

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adventurous challenging dark tense medium-paced

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

3.5

This was horrible (in the best way). There were bizarre symbolic horrors (that mirror a little too closely what life next door looks like right now 🥺) and social commentary with lots of disturbing and thought-provoking moments. I just didn’t like the very end, it felt too overstuffed and chaotic.

Energy: Disturbed. Jaunty. Controversial.

🐺 Growls: The end piled on so many horror themes on top of the social message. All those layers of trauma, commentary, and surreal events got too chaotic for me. The ending felt kinda preachy or soapboxy, but I also didn’t fully get it either so maybe I’m missing the point. The audiobook made the eerie scenes accidentally funny, which didn’t happen in the text (I wish they had real background sounds in audio instead of making the narrator mimic them).

🐕 Howls: The random tangents like nursery rhymes, grotesque comparisons, and unhinged sex stuff sometimes felt a bit too silly or satirical. Some scene transitions were unclear, so I got lost on where everyone was and who was there. The action scenes had those moments where everything's happening fast but then there's a long pause for reflection or thinking it through (I pictured everyone just frozen mid-action).

🐩 Tail Wags: The surreal, intensely symbolic horror. The disturbing action scenes. The mix of grotesque imagery, apocalyptic chaos, haunted media tropes, and references to other horror works (including recent ones!). The fever-dream quality. The pointed commentary.

Scene: 🇺🇸 Mostly in Virginia, USA

Perspectives (5): A Brooklynite returning to their childhood home to check on their parents after they stop responding. Their brother who gets hooked on news channels they don't usually watch. Their spouse who finds an online wellness group while in their spiritual purpose seeking era. Their teenage kid, pushed out by their peer group, making friends and feeling validated online. Their 7-year-old who senses something's off at home. Plus, snippets of videos, social media, and reactions from different people online.

Timeline: November 15 – December 20. The 2010s or 2020s. Linear and Then & Now moments.

🔥 Fuel: What happened to the main characters’ parents? How did they get that way? Why are others starting to behave similarly? How does this happen? Will our main characters survive? How much will politics play into who succumbs and who thrives?

📖 Cred: Speculative surrealism

Mood Reading Match-Up:

Cable news. Drool. Yoga Mama. Doom scrolling. Oiliness. DMs. Baby ghost. Anderson Cooper.

Being told a story, invisible in the room watching things unfold. Almost like the narrator jumps out of the story and speaks to the reader sometimes (third person).
Watching different generations of a family unravel
Fragmented, lyrical, ironic, nonsensical writing style
Chaotic, compromised, spiralling, and unhinged characters
White people gone wrong
Close calls, contagion, and conspiracy
Descent into madness, distorted reality fever dream
Grimdark and grotesque
Humans are the real horror
Fake news, toxic news cycle, possessed media
Psychological apocalyptic social mystery
Real world with a twist, ripped from the headlines quality
Unknown, undead menace, viral survival drama

Content Heads-Up: Acne (insecurity). Animal cruelty, death (dog). Body horror, gore, fluids. Cannibalism. Child death. Food horror. Homophobia (character opinions). Incest (attempted). Political commentary. Self-harm (psychosis/trance). Sexual content (lewd, orgy, with objects, mindless). Societal collapse. Transphobia (character comments, opinions). Violence, massacre, mass shootings. Vomit.

Rep: American. Haitian American (peripheral). Cis. Hetero. Bronze, pale, spray tanned, and tan skin tones.

📚 Format: Library Digital

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Content Warnings

The Second Life of Ava Rivers by Faith Gardner

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dark emotional funny hopeful sad fast-paced

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

3.5

This was good. It had some contrived moments, and sometimes felt a little forced in a quippy sitcom way, but overall it was an intriguing family drama.

Energy: Jaunty. Chill. Struggling.

🐕 Howls: The story was interrupted by repetitive summaries. Too contrived when characters avoided sharing key details with the police or having simple conversations that would resolve issues. Descriptions were often delayed until late in a scene.

🐩 Tail Wags: Each chapter was a little glimpse into character’s lives and it felt fast-paced. The main plot was gripping. The slice-of-life moments set against the return of a long-missing sister. I saw the reveal coming, but it was still interesting to see how it all played out.

Scene: 🇺🇸 Berkeley, California, USA

Perspective: A high school grad about to head off to college. Since their twin sister disappeared when they were 6 yo, they’re eager to get away from the sad memories and dysfunction of their parents relationship when the unexpected happens.

Timeline: 2010s. Linear.

🔥 Fuel: What happened to Ava when they were 6? Where has she been all this time? How will the family change? Will our main character act on her crush or keep avoiding the issue?

📖 Cred: Realistic

Mood Reading Match-Up:

Pugs. Mood rings. Snow White. Glittery Converse. Takeout. Vacant stare. Photo album. Ukulele.

Characters speaking to us, overhearing thoughts and plans (first person)
Short chapters
Naïve, questionable, and sympathetic characters
Casual, fragmented, simplistic writing style
Slice-of-life and stream-of-consciousness moments
Missing family member returns
Psychological YA drama with a mystery aura
Separated at birth twins, complicated sibling bonds
Ripped from the headlines feel
Childhood friends + romantic sparks
Hints of Stockholm Syndrome
Doubts, betrayal, secrets

Content Heads-Up: Agoraphobia (implied). Alcohol, intoxication (self-medicating). Betrayal. Child abuse (recall, past experiences). Depression. Grief. Kidnapping, confinement. Loss of child. Loss of sibling. Missing family member. Nicotine (cigarettes). Psychosomatic illness (parent). Self-harm (brief mentions). Sexual assault (examination). Trafficking (human).

Rep: American. Half Iranian, half Mexican. Cis. Hetero. Bi. Freckled, pale, white, brown, and olive skin tones.

📚 Format: Kindle Unlimited

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minimicropup's reviews 516 reviews

minimicropup's reviews
516 reviews