Ryan Leslie: "The Garden of Before" (ARC Review)

Title: The Garden of Before  [on Amazon | on Goodreads]
Series: The Between (2nd of 2 books)
Author: Ryan Leslie [Site | Goodreads]
Genres: Supernatural (technically it would be Portal Fantasy, but since I don't have a Fantasy Room on the blog, I decided to shelf this one as Supernatural - that's the closer I could get), Multiverse, Sci-Fi, Thriller/Mystery
Year: 2025
Age: 18+ (but it can be read by mature teens)
Stars: 5/5
Pros: Imaginative, engaging and visually stunning. Rich in worldbuilding and character development/dynamics.
Cons: The main characters' unusual inner strength requires a little suspension of disbelief.
WARNING! Horror and gore, fires, death of a sibling, dismemberment/decapitation, run-over, violence, depression, miscarriage (off-page).
Will appeal to: Everyone who loves game-like structures and larger-than-life scenarios/adventures in their books.

Blurb: For Paul Prentice things have gotten much worse. His house was destroyed in the battle with the Koŝmaro. He's on thin ice at his job, where instead of working he loses himself in the Between's computer game, trying in vain to find explanations. His best friend Jay has transformed into a shadowy killer. Corinne and Supriya have vanished. And it appears his wife, Julie, has finally had enough and left him. Alone and near ruin, Paul receives a familiar visitor with a dire message: they are all back in the Between. Hunted, captured, doomed. For Paul, still wearing the serĉilo's artifact on his wrist, escape was never an option. The game must be played until the end. (Amazon excerpt)

Review: First off...DISCLAIMER: I received a complimentary eARC from the author, since I had already enjoyed and reviewed Book 1 in the series, The Between, in 2021, and his second novel, Colossus, in 2024. That didn't affect my opinion and rating in any way.

Also, to help you get your bearings, a small recap of Book 1, for those of you who haven't picked it up yet, but might be tempted to after reading my review for the sequel...

While landscaping his backyard, Paul discovers an iron door buried in the soil. His childhood friend Jay pushes them to explore what's beneath. When the door slams shut above them, Paul and Jay are trapped in a between-worlds place of Escher-like rooms and horror story monsters, all with a mysterious connection to a command-line, dungeon explorer computer game from the early '80s called The Between. Paul and Jay, along with new and old acquaintances, find themselves filling mind-warping roles in a story that seems to play out over and over again...

CHARACTERS SHAKEUP

Now this is how you write a sequel/end of series.

If The Between was an exciting, rich and well-written foray into a terrifying multiverse nexus that you can never really escape even if you manage to get out - not if one of the roles it entails gets a hold of you - The Garden of Before ups the stakes, not only because the main characters are trying to save themselves and/or their loved ones (and in some cases, even to dismantle the place), but also because all their strengths and weaknesses, lights and shadows, come into sharp focus, raising questions about loyalty, revenge, love, sacrifice, and ultimately, what it means to be human. On one hand, Leslie introduces new characters (or, in some cases, not really...I'm not going to spoil the surprise 😉), and even manages to bring back old ones with a clever, poignant stratagem; on the other, he expands the roles of a few protagonists and secondary characters from Book 1, and creates fresh, powerful dynamics. Julie, Supriya and Corinne (along with two "new" female characters, if to a smaller extent because of their limited screen time) steal the scene in this one, which is a welcome change after the abundance of "dude talk" in Book 1 (I have to admit that I wish Jay would have been toned down a bit back then); and all the protagonists, despite being damaged in different ways - or precisely because of that - elicit empathy and/or a fierce attachment on the reader's part. [...]

Olivia Neal: "Blue Ridge Calling" (ARC Review)

Title: Blue Ridge Calling [on Amazon | on Goodreads]
Series: None
Author: Olivia Neal [Site | Goodreads]
Genres: Contemporary, Supernatural, Afterlife
Age: 14+
Stars: 4/5
Pros: Entrancing, quietly magical. Features relatable characters with authentic teen voice.
Cons: A bit of a slow burn. Leaves some questions unanswered. The open ending may not sit well with some readers.
WARNING! Death in the family, grief, depression, depiction of a broken body. Drinking and smoking (on page).
Will appeal to: Those who like heartfelt stories that combine magic, ghosts, found families, hurting and healing, and a coming-of-age arc.

Blurb: Two years ago, a car accident on a perilous mountain road sent a family into freefall, and none of them have been the same since. Sage used to have everything under control: perfect grades, record times on the swim team, and carefully medicated ADHD. But ever since her mom died, she’s just been going through the motions. Kora has known Sage’s family her whole life, so losing Sage’s mom was like losing her own. At the end of the summer, she’s supposed to abandon her beloved Blue Ridge mountains for a prestigious art school in New York, but leaving now feels wrong. And an unexpected romance with a new girl in town might complicate things. Then there’s Sam, Sage’s older brother. He’s spent the last two years traipsing through the mountains, trying to find evidence of local ghost stories. He said he would be back by now, but no one has heard from him. To find him, Kora and Sage will have to dig deeper into the myths and legends of the mountains they call home - before it’s too late. (Amazon excerpt)

Review: First off...DISCLAIMER: I requested this title on Edelweiss. Thanks to Running Wild Publishing/RIZE Press for providing a temporary ecopy. This didn't influence my review in any way.

CURVE BALL

Reading this book was a strange experience. I requested it thinking it would be heavy on female friendship and ghost lore, and while it did, indeed, put the former on the forefront right from the start, at first it seemed more interested in introducing instant romance and what appeared to be a budding love triangle - involving a bisexual girl, her (male) ex and her new (female) flame - than in delivering on the ghost promise (as a matter of fact, ghosts didn't even make an appearance until past the halfway mark). Except what I feared would be a typical (if atmospheric and charmingly written) YA book ultimately evolved into something much more meaningful and emotive than I could imagine - among other things, a celebration of siblinghood and found family, identity and connection, and the strength it takes to leave the familiar path and steer into the unknown. The conflict I was bracing for fizzled out, the romance was fast but surprisingly healthy, and the apparently mismatched group at the center of the narrative - lifelong friends (and narrators) Sage and Kora, new girl Hunter, Kora's ex Connor, and Sam's secret friend Noah - ended up both striking a bond and winning my heart. By the time the ghosts were properly introduced (and what an introduction it was) and the supernatural aspect as a whole started threading into the story, I was hooked. [...]

Tell Me Something Tuesday (on a Saturday): Which Books Are You Looking Forward to Reading This Fall? (September-November)

Tell Me Something Tuesday is a weekly meme created by Heidi at Rainy Day Ramblings in order to discuss a wide range of topics from books to blogging (and some slightly more personal matters throw in for good measure). After Heidi stopped blogging (apparently for good), five of us took over as hosts while providing new questions. The current team is composed of Berls at Because Reading Is Better Than Real Life, Jen at That's What I'm Talking About, Karen at For What It's Worth, Linda at Book Girl of Mur-y-Castell and Roberta at Offbeat YA. This week's question is...

WHICH BOOKS ARE YOU LOOKING FORWARD TO READING THIS FALL? (SEPTEMBER-NOVEMBER)

(First off - the date for this post should have been September 2nd, but I had my first Offbeat Offline installment in three months scheduled for the day before, so I decided to move this one forward...).

I don't know if I'll ever get around to buying all these books or when, since 1) early reviews and excerpts might cause me to change my mind in the future, and 2) given my current situation (see: unemployment status), book money is scarce...(I got most of these in eARC form though! See below). Anyhow, I wanted to give a bit of exposure to all the fall books that caught my eye, so here's my list (complete with pub dates)...

Offbeat Offline: June-July-August 2025 (She's Back in Town)

Welcome to Offbeat Offline, where I bring you up-to-date with what went on in my life during the month just gone, give you a sneak peek of my next shenanigans, and share my favourite posts of late!

What happened during this three-month-long hiatus to yours truly? Lots of stuff (none of it earth-shattering, none of it particularly good). And just like that, I find myself at the end of a hiatus (the longest one in my blogging life) with nothing to show for it. The heat was more than tolerable, except for a few scattered weeks (as opposed to the neverending heatwave that we endured last summer), so I can't even blame it for my lack of meaningful domestic activity...but I was sidetracked by a number of things, and tired (physically and mentally) because of them, and in my downtime I ended up doing what I always do...reading and reviewing, though at a much more leisured pace. So yeah, it's official - I fail at hiatuses 😂 😭. Anyhow, brace yourselves for a rundown of my away time (I apologise in advance for the LOOOONG post, but it's been three months, and as I mentioned above, a lot happened...).