Another 5 star read for me! My Name isn’t Paul is a cosmic horror novella centred around an insectoid eldrich species who can wear the skin of humans and live amongst them. The only difference is, every 7-10 years these creatures go into heat and become violent and desctructive.

The story follows the main character “Paul” as he struggles with the truth of what he is and approaches his first heat.

This is a fantastic story, it’s short and fast paced but packs a punch. Huff doesn’t pull her punches when it comes to the horror, gore and destruction but she also creates a main character that the reader can empathise with as we follow him into mania. Even though it’s a short book the world building is thorough and complex, I would happily read a much longer book set in this world!

Perfect for horror fans that are ready for something a little bit off-the-wall and different that doesn’t take long to get going, My Name Isn’t Paul is out 17th of September 2025.

Thank you netgalley for the ARC!

This was my first read by the author and it was both what I expected and nothing like what I expected!!

Not-Paul is an insect type creature that has taken on the lifeless body of Paul living about its day, pretending to be a human. The Not-Paul is desperate to deny its true nature, it doesn’t want to experience the inevitable “heat” that usually has devastating consequences for itself and nearby humans. We follow Not-Paul’s journey in trying to evade the inevitable, meeting their “siblings” and learning about their journey along the way.

This novella was a quick read, I knew from the synopsis it would be a little gory, unusual and thought provoking. Being alongside Not-Paul on his attempt to outrun the predetermined had some good pacing, the storytelling was full of excellent imagery and I really enjoyed the storyline.

If you like horror, or sci-fi you this short novella would be worth a try! The expected publishing date is November 2025. Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC and opportunity to review 🪳

I’m scoring it 3 stars, I enjoyed the story but it’s not really my “thing”.

Thanks to NetGalley and Drew Huff for an ARC of My Name Isn't Paul in exchange for an honest review.

Rating: 5/5

This is an amusing and weird book in all the best ways. I will be recommending it to everyone (though definitely check the trigger warnings). My only critique is that I wish it were longer; I would have read more about these characters. This was fresh, gross and fun. I loved it.

My Name Isn’t Paul is a short horror novel about parasitic creatures who take over human bodies and eventually implant their eggs in someone who gets eaten from the inside out until it kills them, obviously inspired by Parasitoid wasp (who we love because they kill the hornworm caterpillar who eat my tomato plants, but hate because they’re so scary looking)

I expected more body horror but there really wasn’t any of that, while there was some blood and guts the story was more about an internal struggle of identity and fighting instincts.

A fun, quick read but it felt a bit slow in the first part and rushed for the rest of it.

My Name Isn’t Paul was my first time reading anything by Drew Huff, and unfortunately it didn’t leave the best impression. Despite being only around 120 pages, the story felt rather repetitive (which is kind of impressive in it’s own way, definitely a first for me)

I was rather disheartened by the end of the novella as the premise was genuinely promising. The idea behind the story immediately caught my attention, and I was originally really into the story for around the first 30-40 pages. After the initial hook, things start to drag, and the plot doesn’t really evolve in a satisfying way? It moves into this weird mating obsession phase which went on for far too long in my opinion.

There were moments when it felt like it could hit something deeper (like it was right on the edge of saying something important) but it never quite got there. The writing felt uneven, and by the halfway point, I was literally falling asleep.

On the brighter side, the characters were quite interesting - I did enjoy the character development but I wish there was a bit more delving into their backstory. The building around the Mirror-People was fantastic, and felt really fleshed out. I did enjoy the goriness of their growing and the differing opinions in each character regarding that.

Overall, I wasn’t too impressed unfortunately. I think Drew Huff has interesting ideas, and maybe her other work explores them more effectively, but this one didn’t leave me desparate to pick up another book from her anytime soon. I would like to revisit her work again in the future but her writing style was a bit off-putting for me.

Thank you to NetGalley & the author for providing a digital copy in exchange for my honest review ❤️

Thank you Netgalley and Drew Huff herself for the ARC! #MyNameIsntPaul #NetGalley

Personal rating: 3.5/5 stars

This book got me out of my reading slumps. It was a quick and entertaining read. Basically, this book is about 'what if, there are certain type of humans that have the traits of bugs? These humans live their lives the same way as a bug's life cycle. They talk like one, they act like one, and they 'breed' like one'

The writing style of this book wasn't my favorite. It's the style when the author cut out a sentence and make it into several sentences (Something like this: 'But I'm not. A bug. Never. Not a chance.') But, giving the book's main character is not a 'human' himself, I understand why it was written that way. Thus, I thought this book was a book written by a man. Not that it's a bad thing, but the way it 'feels', felt like one.

In term of characterizations, it didn't hit me, in my opinion. All this book was about is 'Paul' doesn't want to live 'his' life as his original being. He resists it, but the plot doesn't delve deeper into his characterization that much. I could say this book is more about 'plot driven' not 'character driven.' For me, the plot also was kind of all over the place. It didn't have much of the structures. However, somehow, that way, the vibes of this book was so rich in its gothic, horror vibes. Messy in good way, if I put it into words. And the novella format helped this 'vibe' maintained so well.

This book's description sounded VERY interesting and it most absolutely delivered. And that's coming from someone who doesn't normally read horror.
The writing style was a bit peculiar, but I think that's part of why I liked it. Some parts were very serious and I could sometimes relate to Paul/Uxon regarding his thoughts on existence, but there were also lots of silly parts: he was literally about to kill himself wit a spray can of wasp killer, 'Sweet, but sweet in the way antifreeze is.', he got hard watching a documentary about wasps mating, etc. (For people reading this and being confused, Paul is a bug-like creature who's been inhabiting Paul's body ever since he found him dead in the woods, and is now living as Paul)

All in all, I really liked it and I'm sad this was only a novella, and not a longer book, because I'd love to explore the world of Mirror people some more.

Thank you Drew Huff and NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for the honest review.

YES GAWDDD if there’s one thing drew huff can do, it’s write. this was excellent— a delicious mix of body and cosmic horror, genderfuckery, and interesting protagonists that toe the line between human and not.

3.75 stars! This was a really interesting take on alien body horror and existentialism! I had no idea what to expect and found myself (surprisingly) pleasantly swept along. I found it to be well paced and imagining a lot of aspects trippy but also somewhat cinematic. It was just a shame it wasn't longer because I wanted to know a lot more about the Mirror People lore and frankly even Paul's background before the story starts and his adjustment to his new form and really get into the depth of how he came to hate himself/his species so much.

⭐ ARC REVIEW
Title: My Name Isn't Paul
Author: Drew Huff
Release Date: November 18th, 2025
Publisher: Self-Published
Rating: ★★★★
Genre: Cosmic Horror

Thank you NetGalley and Drew Huff for an advanced read copy of this book!

Summary: “Not Paul” has been Paul for 7 years now. After finding a corpse in the woods to mimic, he sets off in a world of humans to mirror. His true form is more like an eldritch bug, wearing the skin of a human to avoid suspicion, known as Mirror People. Like many species, the reason for existence is to procreate, but unfortunately, Mirror People have a short life cycle. After their "heat" and procreation, their cycle ends, and Paul is happy and comfortable in his life. He is in a race against the clock to still enjoy his life as Paul "Not Paul".

✅ What I Loved:
-The descriptions of these alien like bugs mimicking humans was so fun and fascinating. It made my imagination run wild and it was really a fun time!
-The communication system between Mirror People and how they could force feelings and emotions onto others was intriguing, but sometimes, I was getting lost in the sauce. It could be a little bit hard to follow, but nonetheless a cool concept.
-The originality of this read was amazing. I have read nothing like this before and makes me think I should explore more of the cosmic horror subgenre!

I truly said "wtf" so many times, but in the best way. It was gory, bloody, spine tingling and exciting. To imagine Mirror People walking among us and for us to not know, was super creepy and well played! A fun quick novella for those who love a little creepy in their reading!

This book was SO weird — and not in the way I usually love. Think Black Mirror meets a body horror film… but with bugs. Yes, bugs. It’s that peculiar.

We follow Paul, a "mirror person bug" (whatever that means), who’s desperate to ignore his bug instincts but he’s about to hit his reproduction phase. The concept was definitely unique, but I spent most of the time confused. The bug names all sounded too similar, which made it hard to keep track of who was who, and the writing style took me a long time to adjust to — if I ever really did.

Usually I thrive on unhinged, experimental books. But this one lost me somewhere in the swarm. I'm sure this will be the perfect kind of strange for someone, but I just couldn’t connect with it.

Hmmmmm. This was interesting and unique, for sure. Very gory and overwritten in some parts, and under explained in others. I enjoyed the idea of it, if that makes sense. It was a bold plot and story, I wish the execution was better.

“I have a living thing inside me that aches to be born.”

(I’d like to thank Netgalley and the publishers for accepting my request to read this arc in exchange for an honest review ♡)

So, this was insane… When I saw this book’s interesting, quirky summary on Netgalley, I was instantly intrigued and itching to have the chance to read it. However, when it says that it’s “like nothing you’ve ever read before”, it really, truly means it.

This is the kind of novella that makes you sit down and wonder just what in the world inspired its creation because even though I read through to the end, I still have no idea where one would even begin to write this kind of fever-dream experience. It’s unbelievably trippy and, yeah, a little gross at times, but it’s also refreshing and completely unique in its originality and style.

Despite my love for its weirdness and the uncomfortable horror that repeatedly makes an appearance, the spiralling of Paul was definitely what caught my attention throughout. Seeing him struggle and completely fall to his instincts, just to regain his mask of humanity, all just to lose it again, was very, very interesting to read. Huff’s writing style also added to this unnerving struggle of instinct vs sense by adding an element of depth and texture to Paul’s growing, impending insanity and his growing submission to his baser instincts. All of this, consequently, really added to the overall horror that Paul was facing and just added enough to really capture my attention.

Personally, I’ve always found the premise of “human mimics/mimicry” a really fascinating concept to explore, so to see it be utilised for this kind of wacky, dark idea was extremely interesting to read and think about. Ultimately, it was a fun read that had me pausing consistently throughout, mostly just so I could take in the absolute craziness of this novel and the direction it was heading towards.

I do have to say, though, that there were a few times when I felt a little lost and confused. I think that the execution, specifically towards the latter half of the novella, fell a little short of what the concept/idea needed, leading it to not make much of an ultimate impact on me. So while not perfect, it’s definitely a fun, short, little read that’s ideal for people who are interested in bizarre existential dread mixed with eldritch horror, and bug-human parenting dilemmas!

This book had such an interesting premise but wasn't greatly executed. If this had been a full length novel with everything fleshed out, this would've been an amazing book. As is, it was so chaotic that I couldn't follow along or keep interest.

“My name isn’t Paul” is a horror sci-fi novella who tackles subjects as such as self-acceptance and philosophical views on love and what embracing oneself means.
I really liked the characters and where the story was going. I would have liked to read more about the concept of love, “Paul” is approaching some philosophical point that i thought very interesting and on-point with the novella’s subject. the beginning was a bit confusing but still addictive, i wanted to know what would happen to “Paul” and the others. I loved the ending of the novella and I wouldn’t be opposed to read more about them or this world!

this was fun and visceral and silly, but struggled with some pacing issues. sometimes i wasn't sure how much time had passed, and i ended up feeling a little displaced in the story. but i did really love the kill scenes in this and the gory details of the mirror people's appearances!

It wasn't my cup of tea, the writing style felt chaotic. Producing more angst than anything else. It is a unique and interesting story.

i’ve never heard of this author before but i thought i’d give this book a try since it sounded fascinating. unfortunately, it wasn’t for me.

the characters were a bit obnoxious to me and it was hard for me to personally care about them. the way they communicated with each other just didn’t work for me.
the various names that were so similar to each other also confused me a lot.

the writing style wasn’t the best in my opinion. the more i read the more it was becoming disengaging. it didn’t serve me anything, didn’t make me feel any type of way if that makes sense. it didn’t make me care for the story.

this book did start out weird and fascinating at first before it got monotonic and the way it all worked reminded me of a book called someone you can build a nest in by john wiswell. i don’t think i’ve ever read a book about mimicking people though.
it also reminded me of tokyo ghoul anime in the way that the character couldn’t eat human food without it being disgusting.
however, this book was basically all about mating lmao. it was getting boring and i wasn’t really enjoying this “fucking” as they put it and making babies.

unfortunately i can’t recommend this one. the cover is really pretty though!

Thank you to Netgalley, the publisher and the author for providing me an eArc in exchange for my honest thoughts. My name isn't paul follows Paul or not Paul, a mirror person trying to ingrain himself in his human identity and the charade he keeps up while denying his true being. This novella reads like a bloody/filamenty? fever dream, but i was here for it. I can't say that I knew what was going on some of the time but it was a good time none the less. At the heart of it, it was kind of a sad story trying to fight what you are and avoid generational trauma.

2.5 ⭐️ I was kindly provided a copy of this eARC by Netgalley.

My Name Isn't Paul follows (not) Paul as he navigates his existence as a mirror-person in the human world. He's been successfully living among humans, mimicking their behaviour, for the past seven years. That is, until his instincts started taking over..

Unfortunately, this is a case of a wonderful cover but a slightly disappointing content. I wanted to love this so bad, the premise is so unique and interesting, but I just found myself confused and wishing to get to the end. On one hand, I'm glad it was quite a short story, but on the other, I think it would benefit from expanding into a novel and exploring the concepts more. The idea has so much potential! It felt a little rushed, however, and I would love to read and learn a bit more about some of the author's ideas. I wanted to learn so much more about the mirror-people! I didn't really enjoy the writing style, but that's on me. I did, however, enjoy the description of Paul's mental deterioration. His inner fight between wanting to be human and his instincts was portrayed quite well.

In conclusion, I love the idea, it has so much potential to be great, but there is a lot of room for improvement with the execution.