Thank you to NetGalley and Blood Bound Books for the e-copy. This review is my honest opinion.

Well this was a ride. An enjoyable one but I can see this is not for everybody.
One thing that I'm going to say immediately is that this is stockfull of pop culture references, especially in the first half. So many actor names referenced with other pop culture icons such as Sauron. There are also snippets of songs present - not surprising considering the earworm theme.
Now this is a dark comedy with its crass moments and the protagonist is not the most... sensitive in his choice of words. In fact, the first few chapters I was getting disappointed and not enjoying it that much but it got better. Though the descriptions... look I'm just going to quote one or two that I think exemplified exactly what we are dealing with:
«She stared at me and her fat, wrinkled face contorted like an elephant's prolapsed anus and I saw something that will haunt me until the day I die.
My mother-in-law smiled.
The mighty eye of Sauron would have wept.»
And another:
«Clearly, he was still very, very dead, but somehow he's had the decency to put on pants." The whole book is written like this, full of unexpected humorous sentences to contrast with what's truly happening. And stereotypes if you can't tell by the MIL section.
Don't expect character development out of anyone but the main character (mostly because it's forced) as the rest of the characters are essentially shallow pieces there for the plot. Nothing wrong with it, this is not the type of book where the characters are supposed to be fully developed - though it would help in certain scenes a bit more as the author wants us the reader to go "aww they care" but gave us barely anything but a few words said between them.
Also remember when I said dark? Yes, despite the comedic there are scenes that have body horror. Also the whole parasite that controls humans situation is central to the plot - I do wish there had been more space to explore the concept though, more fleshed out.

All in all though I liked it, worth a read and, if you are like me and didn't appreciate the first couple of chapters, it's worth to prevail for a few more but if you read those sections and dislike them, this book is not for you.

This book has a particular audience. It is gross and nostalgic, a horror comedy with pop culture references and hilarious honesty around familial difficulties. If all of those bits sound good to you, check it. i quite enjoyed it and will be getting it for a friend I know will love it.

The only thing I like better than horror is comedy horror. This book was hilarious, gross, and scary at times. I liked the protagonist a lot, and I loved his relationship with his daughter. Thanks to NetGalley for letting me read this

This story was a hilarious and wild ride. It's laugh-out-loud funny and ohhhhh so gross.
10/10 no notes

It was solid, I guess. Not a book I'll remember for years to come but pretty entertaining in places. Not everywhere and not always, mind; some descriptions felt not fully adequate for modern sensibilities. Perhaps on purpose, perhaps not. I'm not sure. Anyway, a solid piece of fiction.

I LOVED THIS BOOK!!

I went into this one not knowing much, so I wasn't entirely sure what to expect, but BOY did this one deliver!! The whole story felt like you were listening to someone telling you a story of all these crazy things that happened to them. So well written!!

The story itself was super fun! It felt like a mix of sci-fi vibes, a little humor, a little gore... all blended together seamlessly! The writing was great, I loved the MC and his 'passenger', I loved the ending! There is nothing about this book that I didn't enjoy! Highly recommend to anyone who loves the slightly weird stuff like I do!

It's definitely my favorite read of the month!!

Thank you NetGalley for this ARC, in exchange for an honest review!

This book was very weird, but in a good way. It reminded me a lot of ‘Liarmouth’ by John Waters; if you liked that one chances are high that you’ll like this one! It kept my interest throughout and I was very entertained. The one downside was that some parts seemed rushed. I would’ve liked a bit more detail or story at these parts. The ending also seemed abrupt, but overall I’m happy that I gave it a short! It was a short, fun read.

“To a hammer, everything looks like a nail.”

I’m not exactly sure wtf happened here. For a while it was a pleasant experience and then I really didn’t know what the hell was going on and then I sort of did and then it came back around a bit. Several laugh out loud moments and some amusing goings on but still felt a wee scattered in parts.

Dr. Phil and Freud puffing on penis cigars, sexy sweet and sour chicken farts, brain raping alien spider-roaches, watertight dolphin butthole, massive deuce drops, raw oyster polish sausage death and running backward through a field full of dicks.

This one had a bit of everything and I dug that about it. I’d give a better synopsis, but I would either screw it up or get too spoilery. Or both. So…

“Pineapple!”

Thank you to Netgalley and Blood Bound Books for providing me a digital review copy.

Weird fiction can be a hard pill to swallow. The strangeness has to be balanced out with some very human emotions or else the oddity of the story can overtake the reader.

Earworm does not have this problem. It's a kinda gross, kinda odd, but very endearing book about a man who's down on his luck and the alien brain worm who bonds with him. Truly a tale as old as time. This is a quick read, but the humor is expertly balanced with the cosmic horror elements and Ripley's voice was a constant joy throughout.

I can get a little weary of "is this real vs is it all in their head" stories," but Milstead expertly balanced that question as we bowl through a fun, madcap adventure I truly enjoyed.

I… have mixed feeling about this book.

On one hand, the plot was entertaining at times and the characters were all flawed in a “love to hate them” sort of way. Sort of like watching a collision: you know what's going to happen and you know you can't stop it, but you're shocked and disappointed when it does happen all the same. 

On the other, it read like a novel written two decades ago that did not age well. Like, I could not get over the over-use of the word “rape” in a colloquial context. What is this, an elementary schoolyard in 2003? 

Overall, I didn't hate it and I didn't love it, and I don't think I'd recommend it to others.

Unfortunately, this one wasn't for me. I loved the concept and felt that there was a lot of potential here, but the execution felt very lackluster. I didn't enjoy spending time with the narrator. It's certainly possible to create an unlikable protagonist people still want to read about, but this wasn't an example of it. It felt like the author was trying to satire the type of person the protagonist was, but the whole thing just felt needlessly sexist and uncomfortable. I also felt that there was room for improvement in the writing; there were fairly significant errors throughout the text with things like tense changing in the middle of sentences.

This actually exceeded expectations! I was curious based on the cover and brief description, but I found it to be surprisingly heartwarming and funny. Though, be warned, it's also pretty gross at times.

Thanks to #NetGalley for the ARC!

I love unique stories, and this one had me very intrigued from the beginning. A man is dying from a degenerative brain disease and becomes infested with an ancient parasite. Cool!

I enjoyed the humor and crass of the narrator, but this book is not for everyone due to some potentially offensive content. The protagonist isn't really a likeable character, but he evolves a bit along the way. Overall, this was a very entertaining novel, and I would recommend it to fans of Chuck Palahniuk and Grady Hendrix or similar authors.

Thanks to NetGalley for a copy of the ARC!

* I received an ARC via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Thanks for the free book.*

I do not think that it is a spoiler to say that "Earworm" in the novel refers to tiny aliens nesting in your brain and taking over. But that was the only interesting thing about this book. The rest is sexism, misogyny, tasteless jokes, violence and a perpetuation of various stereotypes. The terminally ill protagonist with the estranged wife was not a funny focalizer, jokes about r*ping dolphins (???) make no sense whatsoever, and the way every single woman was described was horribly sexist. Not a single female character is complex or well written, of course the mother in law is evil, and of course psychologists are evil too.

I did not enjoy reading this book at all. The book tried to be film noir-ish but it was predictable, embarrassing and full of sexism. 1 star

I went into this book blind, and was very surprised at what it’s about! Definitely recommend going in blind so I’ll just say this is a crazy/horrific/heartwarming ride from start to finish! Would definitely read more from this author!

Thank you for the ARC!

Unfortunately this was a miss for me. I have a very distinct picture of what type of person our narrator is in my head and it’s not someone I care to spend time with.

I DNFed for now but may try again in the future.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for my advance reader copy of this book!

This was an interesting read. A different take on the horror genre than most recent offerings, Earworm deals with eldritch horrors but gives them a comedic tilt. The political ins and outs of said eldritch horrors sound really interesting, but aren't explored quite as thoroughly as they could be.

The book is absolutely a fun ride, and has highlights - Bogart in particular is a great character and I found him highly entertaining. With that said, I do feel like this book was missing something in terms of fleshing out the story and the connection between the two main characters.

There was a lot to be found here in terms of jokes and humour that is a little bit crass too - and it is definitely a fun ride. It definitely falls more as comedy than horror, but is definitely well worth a look, particularly for fans of Grady Hendrix and the like.

Next time you think you hear a voice in your head, maybe it's a parasite.
This was dark, but fun and weird. Very entertaining.
It literally gets stuck in your head.

I really enjoyed this book. It’s not without its problems but that’s pretty normal. The body horror was written well and the plot seemed nicely thought out. The ending was satisfying.

Haunting and thought provoking. Makes one wonder whether humans truly have any free will at all. Didn’t go in expecting anything and was very suprised at how much I enjoyed this book.