Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan-Tor/Forge as well as the author for this ARC.
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Title: Tell Me I’m Worthless
Author: Alison Rumfitt
Format: eBook
Publisher: Macmillan-Tor/Forge
Publication Date: January 17, 2023
Themes: Occult, paranormal, friendship, relationships, fascism, trauma, LGBTQ+ experience
Trigger Warnings: LGBTQ+, transgender experience, bleak content, graphic gore, sexual abuse

This wasn’t an easy read. This is the story of Alice. Three years ago, Alice and two of her friends spent the night in an abandoned and purportedly haunted house. Ever since, Alice has been struggling. She’s drinking too much, selling her image, partying. Despite being plagued by the house, when her friend wants to return, she agrees. What follows is a harrowing flip on the haunted house genre as Alice and her friend try to save their friend.

The writing style is a little bit hard to get used to. While the author clearly has writing skills, this particular book and its non linear plot as well as its chaotic style left me breathless at times. I’m not sure that this wasn’t entirely by design as the author clearly intended the reader to be uncomfortable throughout. This is a novel about the trans experience as much as it is about a haunted house. Talk about social commentary!

The author uses graphic gore and explicit sex to cement this story as a horror novel. This isn’t for the faint of heart. Even the most seasoned horror reader beware. While it’s an effective plot device, I did occasionally feel like some of the scenes were unnecessary. There’s plenty of sex and blood so some of the extra scenes didn’t feel like they contributed to the story for me.

All in all, this author really knows what she’s doing. This is a novel full of uncomfortable imagery and scenes that will make the reader squirm. I wouldn't say I enjoyed ir, but I’m glad I read it. I’ll be looking for more of Alison Rumfitt’s work.

This book lingered in my mind for a while. No joke. You know those books that you finish and yet you keep randomly reflecting on? Those books that evvery once in a while smack you in the face so hard you're reeling for days afterward. Tell Me I’m Worthless by Alison Rumfitt is exactly THAT kind of book—brutally confrontational, vividly disturbing, and powerfully original. Basically, she's that girl

Imagine walking into a haunted house expecting creaky floorboards and floating apparitions, only to discover the real ghosts are manifestations of violent ideologies seeping into society like rot in old wood. Alison Rumfitt flips the haunted house trope on its head, crafting "Albion," a dark metaphor for the creeping fascism, bigotry, and hatred festering in Britain. This is not just a haunted house—it's a living, breathing, festering wound inflicted by centuries of systemic oppression.

Alice, a trans woman haunted by self-doubt and literal phantoms, and Ila, a conflicted ex-lover turned vocal anti-trans activist, both emerge shattered after a traumatic night inside Albion. They each carry contradictory, disturbing memories—accusations of violence, torment, and betrayal. And the reader is dragged, kicking and screaming, into their trauma, unable to look away. Every step deeper into Albion feels like descending into the feverish bowels of the modern world’s ugliest online forums.

Rumfitt’s prose slashes with razor-sharp intensity, evoking visceral disgust alongside intellectual clarity. Some readers might balk at the relentless explicitness, but the rawness has purpose: it's a searing indictment of societal hatred and a howl of righteous anger against a culture that too often refuses to protect marginalized communities.

Heavy themes? Absolutely. Subtle? No. Necessary? Unquestionably. The literary allusions, from Shirley Jackson’s haunted halls to Angela Carter’s gothic fairy tales, aren't mere pastiches—they’re torch-passing moments, a reclaiming of the horror genre for queer and marginalized voices. Rumfitt’s narrative pulses with righteous fury and a punk-infused refusal to apologize for its unvarnished portrayal of trauma, fascism, and identity.

Tell Me I’m Worthless is not just a horror novel—it's a primal scream against oppression, a chilling mirror held up to society, forcing us to confront the monsters we refuse to see within ourselves. Be warned: reading this will haunt you, disturb you, and linger in your mind long after you've turned the final page. And frankly, it should.

AMAZING. I cannot shout this from the rooftop loud enough! This is a book for the girls who love the dark and gory just a little too much. Honestly the less you know going in, the better. Pick up this book and read it.

I DNF'd about halfway, it just wasn't for me. I found the writing well done and the story idea was very intriguing but at the halfway mark I still had not gotten any information really on the "haunted house" part of the story and this just wasn't what I wanted it to be.

First, strong trigger warner: this book is really hard to read. It's graphic, cruel, and unrelenting. I'm quite tough, with a high tolerance for unpleasantness, but honestly, I struggled through a lot of it. I would struggle to recommend it for this reason, although I certainly was intrigued by the idea of a house haunted by hate.

Queer horror is one of my favorite genres! I loved the writing style, lyrical and haunting. The plot was fantastic, but the ending fell a LITTLE flat for me.

I have never read anything quite like this book! It is a stand out horror read, it certainly has intelligent and insightful things to say about society, culture, and the trans experience. There were times when the writing style created a bit of confusion, but I think that style actually fit the story that was being told, so it won me over in the end!

This unfortunately was not as good as I had thought it would be...

The writing style was not gripping or in my opinion well-written, mostly this caused it to be rather uninteresting for my liking. I was caught more so skimming through the read than focusing on it.

Very disheartening considering I had really high hopes for this one, the synopsis was really calling to me but sadly did not pull through.

I wanted to read this because I want to actively support trans women and their stories, even the ones that make me uncomfortable. This one, though, went beyond uncomfortable for me and I couldn't stand to keep reading. I hope it finds its audience and the right people who need this book find it, but that is absolutely not me.

I wasn't expecting anything specific from this book, but there were some things I was hoping for based on what I'd heard: anger, cruelty, weird sex, and to be pretty uncomfortable. All of my hopes were met. On its surface, Tell Me I'm Worthless is about one haunted house and two haunted friends. In fact, almost everything in this book was on the surface, which was one of its successes and one of its failures. The fascist creep is real, and it is terrifying, and in this book, it takes the form of a house (or plot of land), except does it really? It's never quite clear the relationship between the house and fascism, except that they are sometimes one and the same. And while this book is very steeped in the current climate of "the gender wars" in England, it's just as relevant for the United States. More trans horror please!

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for this review copy in exchange for an honest opinion. Review has been posted on Amazon.

As an avid horror reader, never once have I come across a book that I had to put down because it freaked me out so much that I could not continue reading.
Until this book.
On that principle alone, this book gets 5 stars from me. The representation in this book was also absolutely wonderful, and necessary, and it is one of my favourite "haunting" stories to date.

Wow this book was incredible! This story isn't for the faint of heart and I would suggest reading any trigger warnings before this because it deals with some heavy topics. This story was beautifully written and Allison did such an amazing job telling Alice and Ila's stories.

I’ve had to sit so long with this one. My first reaction upon finishing this was to get as far away as I possibly could from it. But it didn’t really matter how hard I tried because it was inside me now.

Alison Rumfitt is an incredible writer and never before have I read anything so unflinchingly in your face. You’ll want to look away but you just can’t. Or at least I couldn’t. The characters are in turns tragic and misunderstood and terrible and all too human.

Was this incredibly hard to read? Yes. Will I ever read it again? Undecided. But I’m glad I stuck it out because ultimately it was a hauntingly incredible story. And I’ll probably never be able to listen to The Smiths the same way again.

A dark twisted story that keeps you at the edge of seat until the very end. An engrossing horror tale that keeps your mind racing. The story is creepy, unsettling and intense. As a fan of horror story I enjoyed every minute of this journey. The author takes you on an amazing ride and shows us how trauma affects a person’s psyche. The author did a great job writing this horror story and I am definitely a new fan.

Disclaimer: Thank you NetGalley and Tor Nightfire for this review copy and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

I was not able to get to this book before it was no longer available. I am so sorry for this. I am rating it three stars since I do have to provide a rating, but providing a neutral rating seems like the best option for the book and author.

This was too scary for me to finish it, but I loved what I could stomach! Haunted house horror meets the real horrors of fascism.

I appreciate receiving this book from Netgalley to Review however upon starting the book and getting about 20 % in I realized this book just wasn't for me.. I did not complete reviews on my other site because I did not think it would be fair to the Author the writing wasn't bad it just wasn't the content for my liking..

Book Review:
Title: Tell Me I'm Worthless
Author: Alison Rumfitt
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️/3 stars

This book was marked as "supernatural" at my local library, which grabbed my attention immediately. I'm a sucker for a good ole haunting. I also received this as an arc earlier this year but hadn't yet had the opportunity to read. Let's just say it was definitely a trip. It had its share of truly terrifying parts. I've never quite read anything like it before. Definitely keep an open mind!

Alice and Ila gather up the courage to return to a haunted house that they spent the night in three years ago. Their lives forever changed that night, and they both have many questions that they feel they need answered from the things they saw and experienced. This book was a trip! Some of the extremely eerie moments will stick with me for a while!

Thank you, @netgalley and @tornightfire, for this ARC in exchange for my honest review!

Published: January 17th, 2023

While this story started as, what I had assumed, to be just a story revolving around a haunted house involving the disappearance of one of three friends that ventured into into it, it evolved into so much more. Tell Me I'm Worthless was a violent horror story on the surface, but holds so much more under that. Tackling tough issues like fascism and being trans, this book will intentionally make you uncomfortable and upset while terrifying you at the same time.

Make sure you check through warnings or go in when you are in a good mental headspace if you are part of the queer community as the treatment, threats, and verbiage that is thrown at one of the characters could be triggering. This is not a light read, and definitely not a "fun" seasonal read. The social commentary is thick, but well done.

This was an incredibly quick read that left me not just unsettled, but also leaving the lights on afterwards.