shysheepys's reviews
70 reviews

The Death of Jane Lawrence by Caitlin Starling

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Medical content, and Medical trauma

Chainsaw Man, Vol. 1: Dog and Chainsaw by Tatsuki Fujimoto

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

The Final Girl Support Group by Grady Hendrix

adventurous 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? Yes

4.5

Honestly, I loved the twists and turns in this. I wish it had been longer and explored the realms of the final girls a little bit more. But the choice of protagonist, villain, etc, where all fascinating and not what I expected at all. Super glad I picked this one up!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexism, Violence, and Murder

Moderate: Addiction, Cancer, Child death, Drug use, Gun violence, Mental illness, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Police brutality, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

The Yellow Wall-Paper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman

challenging dark emotional medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I just want her to be happy.

Haunted by Chuck Palahniuk

dark emotional funny mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

3.5

This sure was something?? I don't know where to even begin. An absolute adventure that is gross and gross and gross. But at the same time, I really wanted to know what was going to happen to the group as a whole, so I kept going until the end. Trigger warnings for uh, everything?

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Body shaming, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Gore, Incest, Mental illness, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Kidnapping, Grief, Cannibalism, Murder, Dysphoria, and Injury/Injury detail

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon

adventurous emotional reflective 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? Yes

4.0

Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke by Eric LaRocca
Did not finish book.

dark sad fast-paced

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

0.25

Not gonna lie, the only reason this did not end up in my DNF pile is because it was so short. Felt like a gross use of queerness to get people to read and to gawk at. This is something that would be written on a Reddit thread and would get upvotes just for being graphic.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Domestic abuse, Toxic relationship, Vomit, and Gaslighting

Nothing But Blackened Teeth by Cassandra Khaw

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.0

Super fast-paced, felt more like a short story than a whole book. Very to the point, but I loved it. I love the descriptions of the yokai and I need more books like this in my library. Sometimes its nice to take a step back and just read a scary story about a yokai that I didn't know about before.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Body horror, Gore, Blood, and Grief

The Wasp Factory by Iain Banks

challenging dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

2.25

Read for a challenge, found on Book-tok. Don't think I'd ever pick this one up ever again, nor do I want to think on it ever again. I do think the overall theme was intersting, and it reads from an interesting, unreliable narrator, which is one of my favorite book types. Spoiler ahead:

A lof of people seem to hate that Frank turned out to be trans. I don't think that is the problem with this book. the gross over use of animal abuse is really the biggest turn-off for me. Overall, realizing that Frank was done wrong by the only person he ever trusted or seemed to love in his life was the hardest part of all. I think the part with Frank assuming that his dad was trans was a really intersting thought to consider, and the reveal of Frank being AFAB as an "expieriment" is equally frustrating but horrifying, and isn't that part of being a horror novel?

Definately made me sad, but I wouldn't reccomend this to anyone nor share that I had read it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Body shaming, Child abuse, Death, Gore, Mental illness, Sexism, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Transphobia, Blood, and Dysphoria

Minor: Suicide and War

This Thing Between Us by Gus Moreno

dark emotional reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

3.5