Thank you to Netgalley and Drew Huff for allowing me the opportunity to read this incredible and abstract sci-fi novella ARC.

My name isn't Paul is set to be released in November this year and follows Paul- although, he isn't Paul. Not Paul is not human, but a Mirror Person; creatures that mimic, absorb and control corpses, assuming their identity.

Mirror people go through a mating cycle every 7 years, and Not Paul wants to avoid his at all costs. But the longer he puts it off, the more inhuman and dangerous he becomes.

This novella was somewhat unhinged, I loved it. The author has a talent for putting the reader into the mind of a cosmic horror. I ended up buying another novella by them called "Landlocked in Foreign Skin" after getting a chapter of it and seeing Drew's talent is across their writing.

(3.5 ⭐ --> 4 rounded off)

*My Name Isn’t Paul* is one of those stories that sneaks up on you—with equal parts warmth, heartbreak, and a voice that feels both raw and reflective. Drew Huff writes with an honesty that cuts cleanly through the noise, creating a protagonist who doesn’t just ask questions about identity and belonging—but wrestles with them in real time, with all the messiness that implies.

The prose is deceptively simple, carrying deep emotional undercurrents beneath its straightforward surface. There’s a quiet intensity in the way this story unfolds—through carefully placed moments, genuine character interactions, and a narrative that never tries too hard, yet still hits hard.

What stood out most to me was how deeply personal the experience felt—almost like reading someone’s unfiltered journal, but with just the right amount of crafted storytelling. The themes of identity, societal expectation, and personal freedom are handled with grace and complexity.

While I rarely hand out high ratings easily, this one came close to perfect. The only reason for the slight nudge down is purely personal preference—I tend to reserve 5 stars for books that leave me emotionally wrecked or transformed. This one left me contemplative and moved, in the best possible way.

Highly recommended for readers who love character-driven coming-of-age stories, especially those that explore queerness, self-perception, and the tender ache of trying to find your place in a world that rarely fits.

so this was really weird, and i'm not sure if it was weird in a good way or just weird in a weird way. i actually quite liked the themes of identity and humanity it touched upon and i wish we would've gotten more of that. instead the focus was mostly on bug people being horny, which got a bit old at some point. i was also super confused about many things, especially regarding the lore around these alien beings. that being said, this was definitely a unique (and mostly intriguing) reading experience, and i would certainly check out more work from this author!

Great idea, terrible execution
- I never really understood what the 'mirror people' looked like in their true form. They were described as bug-like with wings but also like steel wool brillo pads???? No idea
- the writing was disorganized, lacked depth, and had a bizarre sentence structure that made it hard to follow
- at no point did I feel like the author knew where we were going
- all the climactic scenes lacked the necessary tension that would make them compelling. similar for the more brutal, gore scenes. those were just breezed over in a neglectful way

This is one of the few times I'd say a book would be better as a movie

*3.75 Stars*

This is just some bugs fuckin’ and being fuckin’ weird as Paul (He isn’t paul) would say.

This was strange
Like incredibly
And gross
And disgusting
And yeah
There’s a lot of vivid descriptions of eating humans and raw meat (which isn’t technically canabilism in this story but still feels like it) and it made my stomach quench. Does that mean I didn’t enjoy it?
No.
The first half of this story I was not on board with. It felt dull and really boring for a story about a literal human eating bug monster from another dimension but the second half picked up so much that it made it worth it. This is a very stream of conscious story as the wall between our narrator and his body, Paul begin to crumble.
It’s hard to describe this book without spoilers, as it’s only ~120 pages long, but the gist is that this bug creature took Paul Cattaneo’s body and basically has been living as human for 7 years. This is not an anomaly however, as there is a species of bug creatures like him living in the world. These creatures however go into breeding every seven years and create new eggs/larvae/bug kids?? Our narrator refuses this, as he is Paul, he will not succumb to these urges.
Then he has a mental breakdown
And the story goes on from there.
Overall, this was a really intense read. It was horrific, gory and overall entertaining which I appreciate. The writing style felt a little jarring in the first half but was smoother as the novella went on. Overall I reccomend this book to those who normally enjoy this genre and I think it’s overall well written.

Remember kids,
Its just fuckin’ bugs

This was my first ever #Netgalley ARC, and it was a quick and easy read-- and frankly, hard to put down once you got started on it.

A bunch of bugs who call themselves 'Mirror People' who puppet human bodies meet at the anniversary of the death of the host of their larvae. So many years ago, they devoured a dead man from the inside out, and then flew off into the world, found dead bodies to take over the lives of, and went off to live their lives trying to refrain from feeding on living humanity. However, one of them has a big announcement: he went into heat, and he's got his babies coming out of their pupa state now, not too far away.

One of the bugs has a problem, though. He's got some problems with self-hatred. With anger. With sex. Sex is both procreational and recreational for these creatures -- however, when they go into season, they care only for one thing: fucking. They lose their empathic mirroring and become tiny little sociopaths that want to fuck eat and repeat. They stop caring about whether or not humans suffer and die, and our protagonist, whose name is not Paul, absolutely doesn't want to go into his cycle because he's terrified. His 'sibling' warns him, however, that he'll be due to enter soon -- it's going to be within the next three years...

So of course, that 'heat' arrives very fast and hard. Everything goes wrong very, very quickly. It's empathic mirroring bugs that puppet dead people who go into a feral state to breed. OF course things go wrong very quickly. There is murder, and fear, and something at the heart of it al that isn't Paul, but... something else. It's up to his 'siblings' to try and help him, terrified of what he might set off.

As it stands this was a wild ride through aliens among us-- and aliens that are not human in the slightest unless they're wearing the bodies of our dead. The description of them of flying, waspy brillo pads just one step out of our dimension keeps you very rooted in the fact that these things are not and were never human, and only only empathically mirroring them.

My only major complaints are twofold. The term 'fuckin' bug', which gets used nearly. every. page. I know this is because of the self-hatred some of these little wasps carry, but... it got stale, fast. There needed to be something else. ANYTHING else, that they could slip it. But they didn't. Also, if you pay attention one of the twists is a bit telegraphed, but when I saw it pop back up I was like, "Oh, yeah, [name] and [thing of name], i thought so."

Anyway, My Name Is Not Paul is still solid and very enjoyable read that totally owned my lunch hour, but has some kinks that take it down from 'wow' to 'good and enjoyable.'

The tagline of the book pulled me in immediately so I decided to give this novella a shot. It was SO weird in such a GOOD way.
I really enjoyed the gory scenes and Paul as an MC. His identity crisis was super weird and entertaining. The other POV didn’t work as well for me and I somehow feel this could’ve been made shorter to keep the pace up a bit more.

This was like the written version of a Tubi original movie. Even the writer seemed bored halfway through. It either needed to be a short story or a longer book so I could get attached to the characters. At the end I just felt "meh" about everything.

I wanted to enjoy this one more than I did. It’s billed as a story about feeling stuck but is too short to explore that feeling in any meaningful way. If you’re really into Sci-Fi that might be enough to carry you through this one, but it wasn’t for me.

Thank you to NetGalley for an aARC of this book, I am writing this review of my own choice.

This was way out of my comfort zone when it comes to reading but I could not put it down. I was confused for the majority but the writing pulls you in and refuses to let you leave. I wanted to know what was going to happen next and how it affected every individual character. I really don't know how to review this type of story without giving things away but just read it and enjoy the ride.

I wasn't familiar with the author, but the cover design and title caught my attention. The plot sounded promising enough to convince me to give this book a try. Ever since finishing, I am torn between finding it interesting or weird. I'd probably says it's both.

If you are into gore and bugs, this book definitely is for you!
Personally, I don't regret reading it but it just wasn't my cup of tea. I didn't particularly care about any of the characters, I just wasn't emotionally invested. At the bottom of this bizarre story readers can find metaphors for everyday life and after some contemplation I feel like I read Pauls journey of self-discovery. Weirdly interesting but in some parts a little tedious.
I did enjoy the writing style! It felt different and fresh, a very pleasant experience.

Super weird in a super good way! I like when a book can surprise me, and this totally did! Also, the cover art is gorgeous!

Such a novel reading experience for me, funny yet disturbing, horror with heart - characters that were human and very much not at the same time

So, I won't lie. I was originally drawn to this book by the cover alone. I liked the font that was used on it, and the art itself was very eye-catching it.

I read the summary afterward and thought, oh, this sounds like it could be good. And, oh my god?? Genuinely, I don't know what I expected going into this book but what I got definitely surpassed whatever those expectations were. This book was equal parts tragic, beautiful, and haunting. (And also a little gross some of the time, but that was to be expected, I think, from a cosimic horror novella about body-snatching alien bugs.)

The way Drew Huff writes is also incredible! She has a very good grasp on on the English language and knows how to bed and manipulate it perfectly to convey exactly what she wants.

I would like to thank Drew Huff for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.
3.5 Stars

"He pretended to be human for seven years. Until he couldn't.

Paul is a Mirror Person--a hyper empathetic eldritch abomination capable of mimicking any human. Except Paul hates what he is. He doesn't want to be a mirror-person, he doesn't want to be a bug, in fact he's been ignoring what he is so long he's delusional about it.

But breeding season for Mirror People comes around every seven years, inducing an involuntary sociopathic state...and it's time for Paul to go into heat. Now unable to avoid the reality of what he truly is, Paul has a mental breakdown, goes on a cross-country road trip...and runs afoul of something far, far more inhuman and dangerous than himself."

Fun! Weird! Murder! Monsters!
This was a really fun novella by Drew Huff..
A little light on the horror and heavy on the weird, I still enjoyed my time and figuring out how Paul was going to get himself out of this one.
The lore and worldbuilding in this was unique and visceral. Loved a lot of the ideas going on here.

Not sure I loved the fact that Paul never thanked Axa properly for all the shit she did for him. Literal MVP material.

Thank you to Netgalley for the Arc in exchange for an honest review!

The description of this book sounded SUPER fascinating and I was excited to jump into it.

The style of writing was interesting. It didn't follow conventional narration, which added to the weird/otherwordly feel for me.

This novella is short and I still found myself a little bored at points. I probably wouldn't have finished it if it had been a full length novel, but if it had been a more fleshed out novel maybe it would've held my attention better it's hard to say.

This book wasn't BAD. It just wasn't what I thought it would be. Weird ABSOLUTELY and I loved that it was weird, but I didn't love it as much as I thought I would.

I do think there's something to be said about the way this novella has me continuing to think about it. I don't know if it was intentional or not, but there was a message in this weird narrative... at least there was for me. All of the self-hatred... the suicidal ideations.. it was all driven by the fact that these creatures were FORCED to live in a system that wasn't set up for them. Their very existence was something they loathed because the structure that they were forced to live under made it bad--- made them bad. It went against the norms of the world they were in. Their native land was gone and in order to survive they found another place. They learned to survive. And they hated themselves for it. This alone has me rating the book 3 stars instead of something lower.

This was actually crazy but I didn't hate it. Actually liked it a lot. Read it in a literal day because it's short and easy to read. Devoured it like they devoured everyone

I can genuinely say that I’ve never read anything quite like this, and I had unrestricted access to fan fiction as a child. So I think that’s a huge compliment.

I picked this up for a quick, wild read with an innovative premise. And I definitely got that. Once the story hooked me, I absolutely wanted to know how it would end, because I never quite knew where it was going (or even what was happening sometimes). The creatures themselves are a wild combination of lore, and I really liked the side characters.

However, the overall story just didn’t quite land for me. The main character spends most of the book in a frenzy, which should have been interesting to read. But it fell a bit flat. The premise is super ambitious and unique, and yet… I didn’t feel engaged with the actual story. Paul (…not Paul) floated through in his haze, and so did I.

I’d still potentially recommend this for fans of wild, irreverent, or feverish sci-fi, but i don’t think the writing style was quite the right fit for me.

Freaky little sci-fi novella about an alien bug in a human skin suit having an existential crisis?? Very up my alley. This was a fast-paced and entertaining read, but I didn't find the ending particularly satisfying. Thank you Netgalley for the ARC!

I really enjoyed The Divine Flesh by Drew Huff so I had to pick this up given it's set in the same world. I love author's creating world's and sharing multiple stories from it, even if they aren't directly connected.

I enjoyed Paul/Uxon as a character and the focus on his inner turmoil in the first section before he shifted with the biological impact of going into heat. I also found it interesting and well-written how he clung to shreds of his issues and thus, even when in an altered state, had enough negative thoughts about being a Mirror Person in the world that he kept avoiding the full formation of his children lest they suffer like him.

I think the shift to Axa's POV in the middle made sense but also I wonder if the story would've felt better paced and more satisfying had we stuck with Paul throughout. As it was, she went returned to his POV and hit the ending some things just felt a little off-kilter and rushed. There was so much build-up but then such quick resolution that, perhaps, lacked some of the earlier introspection of the narrative. Like, I definitely wasn't expecting Uxon/Paul to kill Melanie and then end up going off with Axa- their relationship didn't feel that close really but then again they aren't people so maybe it wasn't meant to.

A fun enough run, and the body horror aspects were good (which is what I'd expected after The Divine Flesh). Just perhaps a little difficult to tell if some of the characters characterisation was rushed or internationally odd due to them not being human (some bits were clear like the sharp change when Paul went into heat, others tickled more of a rushed part of my brain).