paperbackbish

paperbackbish 🖤 | sgj’s favorite bish
✨ | horror • translated • litfic • speculative • fantasy
🏆 | 365+ books a year
❄️ | denver, co

🖤✨HORROR FOR NEWBIES✨🖤I had originally called this “horror for sissies” but Anna screamed at me because some of these sc...
07/21/2026

🖤✨HORROR FOR NEWBIES✨🖤

I had originally called this “horror for sissies” but Anna screamed at me because some of these scared her 😆

Just a reminder that fear is subjective, but I personally think these aren’t too “much” and would make great starting points for anyone new to the genre!! I am thinking of a doing a “gateway to horror” post with some darker litfic/fantasy/romance options that wouldn’t actually be “scary”—anyone want that?

Welcome to horror, we’re stoked to have you 💀✌️🖤🔪🩸✨

QOTD: what do you think, my fellow aficionados? Any of these too scary for a newbie?

Thank you Union Square & Co. for my free copy of White Rabbit by Abigail Rose-Marie — out now!» READ IF YOU «🌊 love a cr...
07/20/2026

Thank you Union Square & Co. for my free copy of White Rabbit by Abigail Rose-Marie — out now!

» READ IF YOU «
🌊 love a crumbling seaside house setting
🐰 are into literary, unique child narrators
🎭 can’t get enough of a good grief metaphor

» SYNOPSIS «
11-year-old Penelope is struggling to adapt to her new reality—her father has moved to Minnesota without explanation, and her mother drifts further into her own grief every day. Left mostly alone in their crumbling old Massachusetts house (which once belonged to Sylvia Plath), Penelope clings to routines and rituals to hold herself together. But when Auntie Apple shows up to chauffeur her to Minnesota, Penelope may get more than she bargained for.

» REVIEW «
Firstly, I wanted more of Sylvia Plath’s ghost. The synopsis sells her as a major character, and while she’s there, I wanted her woven in a little tighter—just more page time, I think. BUT THAT BEING SAID, I think this is squarely a marketing problem. I think this book suffers from several marketing problems, actually, which I will not hold against the story or the author. It’s a very literary story, not horror, and though I was expecting something different from the synopsis I was given, I very much enjoyed the story I got.

Now. I will say, the ending got me goooood. It’s devastating in a way that makes you re-contextualize a lot of what came before, and it’s the strongest part of the book by far. The atmosphere is great, the characters are quirky and endearing, and I liked the whole book overall, even with my personal bias against child narrators (are they precocious or just annoying? impossible to tell). Pick this one up if you’re looking for a darker literary read.

» RATING «
🐇 I’m Tumbling 🐇
Swipe through for read-a-likes ➡️

07/19/2026

If you’ve ever gotten a weird look for reading something f*cked up in public? Welcome home. This is a no-judgment zone for horror girlies, dark fiction readers, and anyone who wants their books to leave a mark. We’re talking unhinged protagonists, morally gray everything, and the kind of gothic horror that makes you sleep with the lights on. Drop your most disturbing read in the comments—I want recs.

Hey Poisoned Pen Press are you guys okay? Do you have any books LEFT over there, or are you sending them all to me?! 🤣🤣 ...
07/17/2026

Hey Poisoned Pen Press are you guys okay? Do you have any books LEFT over there, or are you sending them all to me?! 🤣🤣

Literally though, LOOOOOK at this incredible summerween box they sent me!!!! Ya girl does love a little death and destruction to go with the heat, nomsayin? This heat wave surely makes me want to go on a slashing spree 🔪

I’ve read and LOVED Breathe In, Bleed Out by Brian McAuley, but I’m soooo looking forward to the rest of these stories! Thank you Poisoned Pen 🫶 best box I can remember getting.

💀 THE BURN LINE by Jonathan Sims
🌊 AND THE SEA GAVE UP THE DEAD by William Friend
✨ A FATE WORSE THAN DROWNING by Sarah L. Hawthorn
🩸 BREATHE IN, BLEED OUT by Brian McAuley
🖤 50 TRUE STORIES THAT WILL SCARE YOU TO DEATH by Sebastian Krahl

QOTD: which one are you bringing to read by the campfire? 50 true stories for me…

07/16/2026

Jobs are stupid, let’s all quit and just hang out forever 🫶😭

Thank you William Morrow for my free ARC of The Children by Melissa Albert — out now!» READ IF YOU «🌲 love a feral child...
07/15/2026

Thank you William Morrow for my free ARC of The Children by Melissa Albert — out now!

» READ IF YOU «
🌲 love a feral childhood in the woods
📚 ever had a favorite fantasy book series as a kid
🔥 are here for a slow-burn gothic mystery

» SYNOPSIS «
Guinevere Sharpe has two childhoods—the real one, growing up near-feral in the Vermont woods while her mother became a famous author, and the fictional one, immortalized in Edith’s wildly popular Ninth City series. Twenty years after the fire that ended everything, the magic in the books might not have been entirely made up.

» REVIEW «
Melissa Albert writes gothic vibes the way they should be written—not as a gimmick, but as an atmosphere that really sinks into your psyche. The old creepy farmhouse, the rotting woods, the odd happenings to every family member. I also loved the switch between past and present day timelines; I’m always a fan of that strategy when it’s done for a purpose.

Guin is a great FMC, complicated and guarded, because she’s carrying decades of carefully managed grief that has started to crack. The ending lands exactly the way it should, in my opinion. Without it, the story doesn’t really have any sort of closure or explanation.

I think I’m in the minority here, in that I don’t have super strong feelings one way or the other on this story—everyone seems to either love or hate it. I’m somewhere around the middle? I had a good time, but it’s not going on my favorites list.

» RATING «
🔥 I’m Smoldering 🔥
Swipe through for read-a-likes ➡️

QOTD: how perfect is this cover on a scale of 1 to 10 because I think it’s a 12

⚡️NATIVE HORROR RECS⚡️First, thanks to my friend Shane Hawk for talking me off a stupid ledge. I sometimes struggle with...
07/14/2026

⚡️NATIVE HORROR RECS⚡️

First, thanks to my friend Shane Hawk for talking me off a stupid ledge. I sometimes struggle with, “should I really be posting these?” kinds of intrusive thoughts, because I don’t ever want to present my cishet-white-girl self as being any kind of authority on Native stories or voices. But on the other side of that coin, I recognize my own privilege, and I choose to use it to amplify storytellers that I respect and books that I love.

Plus, unlike many MANY other creators, I have actually read the majority of the books on my lists. I don’t do performative s**t, bishes. Authenticity is always the name of my game! Though I will say that I chose mostly new-to-me authors for the indie slide at the end—which is exciting for my TBR.

I was also a little loose with my definition of “horror”—but I DARE you to read The Round House or Indian Horse and not be horrified.

See any of your faves? Any anticipated releases?

Thank you Putnam Books for my free copy of Muñeca by Cynthia Gómez — out now! » READ IF YOU «🧿 love a working-class bruj...
07/13/2026

Thank you Putnam Books for my free copy of Muñeca by Cynthia Gómez — out now!

» READ IF YOU «
🧿 love a working-class bruja with good intentions
🎶 are a sucker for music being included in your stories
🪆 have a complicated relationship with creepy dolls (eek)

» SYNOPSIS «
It’s 1968 in Oakland, and Nati knows dark magic when she hears about it. Beautiful young heiress Violeta has been paralyzed and bedridden for six years. She’s been bewitched, Nati is certain. She works her way into the house as Violeta’s caretaker to break the spell and collect her reward, but doesn’t plan on the other things that happen...

» REVIEW «
Such a lovely little novella! It’s so precise and atmospheric in under 200 pages, which kind of feels like black magic in itself. The setting is richly rendered, including class tensions and revolution stirrings, and made even more realistic by the inclusion of specific songs from the time period. I could hear them as I read!

Nati and Violeta are great together, they’re tender and electric, and though I will say that the romance was a little bit insta-lovey for me, I didn’t really mind it. The Ouija/Scrabble tiles, what a ride. And the DOLL! Lord, I hate a haunted doll. I won’t say more, just that the ending is exactly as satisfying as it should be. Working-class witches really do get s**t done.

» RATING «
🕯️ I’m Levitating 🕯️
Swipe through for read-a-likes ➡️

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