nicesideburns's reviews
20 reviews

The Cotton Candy Massacre by Christopher Robertson

dark emotional funny 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? Yes

4.25

Wonderful book! Had a blast reading this. It was textbook 80s B movie horror with all the right cheesy and horrific nature. The first gore was jarring since it happens so fast but the lead up to it was a good foreshadowing. 

It was a fun ride hearing it on audiobook and man....they were right there was a shit ton of clowns

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Cursing, Death, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Gore, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Cannibalism, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Bunny by Mona Awad

dark medium-paced

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

3.0

Psychic Teenage Bloodbath by Carl John Lee

dark emotional sad 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? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Death, Gore, Homophobia, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Medical content, Murder, Lesbophobia, Outing, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Excrement

Seed by Ania Ahlborn

dark tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• 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

Talia by Daniel J. Volpe

dark medium-paced

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

0.25

This is so bad like edgy bad. Like this is just shock and trying to hit every mark out there. I really felt nothing for the characters and this really reads of man writing sex in the modt man way possible. A real snoozefest. I wanted it to be done asap.

Tried so hard to be cool and edgy. The revenge part feels so lazy and rushed. Obviously wanting to draw out the worst sexual parts down to women being abused. Not a fan

Don't get me started with how this is very straight guy attempts writing a womam that sleeps with woman that ticks all the checkboxes of some guys wet dream of girls liking each other only for it to be doomed. 

I've found better extreme horror than this. I'm disappointed to say the least.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, and Murder

Gone to See the River Man by Kristopher Triana

adventurous dark tense fast-paced

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

4.5

Wow. Just wow.

A serial killer fangirl assigned with a task to obtain a memorabilia and hand over to the river man. She brings her handicapped sister along and what happens unfolds to a series of nightmares.

Over time your opinion of Lori changes and you truly see why she and Edmund connected so well. The way things unfolded still lingers in my mind especially near the end.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Death, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Incest, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Self harm, Toxic relationship, Violence, Murder, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Rape

Edmund's crimes are extremely racially motivated towards Asian woman from depolarable language to the acts itself that is later touched on.

The Haar by David Sodergren

dark emotional sad fast-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? It's complicated

4.5

Cried.

Perfect mix of body horror, horror, gore and romance. Muriel is so likeable I feel bad for every moment she faced. Adored the romance it was a breather from the horrors. Very bittersweet

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Gore, Self harm, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Grief, Suicide attempt, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Maggie's Grave by David Sodergren

dark mysterious tense fast-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

3.75

This was a quick read about a witch wanting revenge for being falsely accused of being a witch. The violence at the beginning of the story caught me by surprise but gives an idea of what to expect.

The build up is very slow for a few chapters but once Maggie enters, shit hits the fan! A literal blood bath and everything goes from bad to worse to even more worse! You'll be wishing some characters survive only to be caught offguard by them in the end! 

In the end you have no idea who to root for or if anyone woukd even survive.

The gore and deaths were a fun addition to all of this and the description of Maggie was chilling.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Cursing, Death, Gore, Sexual content, Torture, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Alcohol

The Prettiest Girl in the Grave by Kristopher Triana

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

This was an interesting read! The build up begins slow before it takes a notch with the plotpoints! 

I loved the POV swap between characters so you can get a feel of everhones perspective of the situation at hand. Especially with their three answers that caters into each of these character's development.

I was pleasantly surprised by the twists after twists after twists the more I read. It caught me off guard and got me changing my views on certain characters. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Sexual content, Murder, and Fire/Fire injury

I Found Puppets Living In My Apartment Walls by Ben Farthing

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

3.5

A good horror book to begin with if you're looking for a slow build up to the horrors. There's a sense of claustrophobia with the tight spaces that's navigated in the setting. It left me tense especially with not seeing the puppets firsthand. Just the buildup felt anxiety inducing uncertain if the protagonists would run into the puppets.

A very quick read to get a feel of the horror genre. I expected more from the puppets but the build up and tension did not disappoint!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief

Minor: Child death