Offbeat Offline: May 2025 (Plus Announcing a Three-Month Break Before Life Breaks Me)

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 last month to yours truly? Perm woes (how original) on one hand, tiredness and distress on the other. Part of me would be happy to articulate my feelings, but the result would be too damn depressing to read. Suffice to say, I'm pretty down...but since I can't magically undo my existence or hitchhike for the TARDIS and scare my younger self out of her bad choices, I have to keep going. Which is the main reason why I decided to take a LONG hiatus this time - one that will encompass the whole summer...it will still take discipline for me to use it wisely, because I'm a hardcore procrastinator and time-waster, but I have to try. (More about the upcoming break in the Living & Screaming section).

📚 THE FALL CLUB. Even before I decided to take a summer hiatus, I was already reading and scheduling reviews for September-October books (which only confirms that I badly need a hiatus during which I can read whatever, regardless of pub dates). Waiting for the last minute in order to read ARCs is risky, considering how much time I can spend on a review...so, with those out of the way (so to speak - I've been having a great time with them so far), I'll finally be able to read without a schedule! Anyhow, here's a rundown of my bookish activity for the month...

Approvals (1):

• When We Talk to the Dead by Ian Chorão (NA, thriller)

A remote deserted island off the coast of Maine holds dark memories and disturbing secrets for the family who once lived on its rocky shores. Though nineteen-year-old Sally de Gama remembers nothing about the accident that took place on Captain’s Island and destroyed her family when she was a little girl, she suffers from intense anxiety, pervasive bouts of dissociation, and gruesome nightmares. 

All Sally knows is that her mother hasn’t spoken since the accident that took the life of Sally’s twin sister. Following the tragedy, her family fled and never looked back.

When her mother suddenly dies, Sally and three college friends travel to the island – for her friends it’s an adventure to a strange, abandoned place. For Sally, it’s a desperate bid to recover some of her memories and understand what really happened to her family. But when memories begin to return, Sally is overcome by grief and rage that threaten to plunge her into madness – a madness that is fed by a malevolent presence stalking them on the island.

Reads (3):

• The Yomigaeri Tunnel by Kelly Murashige (YA, supernatural/contemporary)

Two 18 y.o. girls - one mourning the tragic death of a classmate, the other of her mother - enter a tunnel rumoured to be able to bring back the deceased, and find themselves literally facing (sometimes even sharing) their past traumas and a shocking discovery. A creative, heartfelt and honest look at loss, grief, guilt, emotional abuse, generational trauma, mental health and growing pains, but also a celebration of love, family, friendship and empathy. There were some aspects I couldn't buy into, but I'm glad I read it, and I think most teens touched by grief and trauma will get a lot out of it.

• Blue Ridge Calling by Olivia Neal (YA, afterlife/contemporary)

A swimmer with ADHD and her best friend/elective sister, along with a ragtag team, set to track down the former's older brother, gone missing while trying to find evidence of local ghost stories and maybe solve the mystery of his mum's death. Yet another heartfelt story that combines magic, ghosts, found families, hurting and healing, and a coming-of-age arc.

• The Garden of Before (The Between #2) by Ryan Leslie (Adult, portal fantasy/multiverse/sci-fi/mystery)

The explosive conclusion to The Between duology. Welcome back to the "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" (from Book 1's synopsis), where the characters, now prisoners of their roles (but to an extent...), have no choice but to play the game until the end. Imaginative, engaging and visually stunning, rich in worldbuilding and character development/dynamics, and with a satisfying ending! What more can you ask from a sequel?

Reviews (3):

• The Yomigaeri Tunnel by Kelly Murashige (see above)

Mini review posted last month.

• Blue Ridge Calling by Olivia Neal (see above)

Review to come closer to pub date.

• The Garden of Before (The Between #2) by Ryan Leslie (see above)

Review to come closer to pub date.

Normally at this point I would list the reviews I plan on posting and the TMST prompts I plan on answering in June, but as I said above, I'm going on a three-month hiatus. In the meantime, here's the TMST prompt list for the month of June, in case you want to join in (please note: the meme itself will go on hiatus in July and August, so look for the September prompts in the late summer!):

• June 3th: Paper, electronic, audio...How do you read? Has it changed in recent years?
• June 10th: New-to-me authors: who have you discovered in the past 12 months?
• June 17th: How do you choose what to read next?
• June 24th: Do you have any travel or staycation plans for the summer?

😫 PERMANENT ISSUES. New perm, same old story...my hairdresser tried her utmost, but I left her salon with a super-curly top (except for a few slightly looser strands), barely wavy hair in the middle section and on the sides, and a series of half-baked bends on the low rear 😱. To think that I even had her cut my hair short in order to get rid of the old perm and start as fresh as possible...I went back to the salon after letting the perm breath for a couple agonising weeks, and we tried again, but while the rear got better, the sides are more barely wavy than ever 😭 (plus now I have really short hair for nothing). Which is when I realised I would have to look for yet another hairdresser..though I'm afraid it will be next to impossible to find one who uses the right curlers and the right curling method (which this one does) PLUS applies a stronger perming fluid, if they still exist (which this one doesn't - also, apparently they exist, but I don't think their chemicals are on a par with the old ones...). I know I come across as whiny, but I'd sell my soul for naturally curly hair, and the perms I've had for more than 30 years were a pretty good (and gorgeous) compromise, while since I had to part with my old hairdresser, I'm always a mess. I can't not perm my hair...it's not just a hairstyle for me, it's an extension of my personality...I can't give up on my curls. Besides, am I allowed to have at least one good thing in my life? 

😴 REST ROOM. So, I decided to take a three-month hiatus this time, because for a number of reasons it felt like the best course of action. (No worries though - I will most definitely resurface at the beginning of September. I could never revert to not having a blog, with everything it entails). I'm hoping it will do me more good than my usual month-long breaks, since they've proved too short for me to actually let go of my blogging "duties". Hear me out...

• For the first time in...forever, I'm practically caught up with ARCs (I only have two left), so I'm going to take advantage of it. I'll still read of course, and I'll schedule a few reviews for the last quarter of the year, but at a much slower pace. Lately it's felt like I had to read too fast to compensate for my reviews taking so long to get written, and I wasn't savoring my books anymore. I can tear through a novel in two days, but what's the use? That way, they all start to blur together after a while. During the last couple of years I've developed reading anxiety, reviewing anxiety, even commenting anxiety, for goodness' sake. I don't want to burn out completely. I also hope to be able to sneak a few rereads in, because heck, I miss them.
• The house is crumbling. My health (both physical and mental) is crumbling. There's so much to be done to repair both to the best of my ability. I'm well-aware that the summer isn't a great time to take long hiatuses with housekeeping in mind, because the heat brings me to my knees and I can only take refuge next to a fan and in front of a computer screen, but I don't want my reading and blogging to become my last resort - and there are still things I can do even when the heat is brutal, maybe small things like organising a drawer, but at least I'll feel less impotent in front of the *gestures* house crumbling thing. I'm hoping that, without the need to produce blog content for three months, I can do just that.
• Also, blogging has felt like shouting into the void lately...many of my usual readers seem to be pulling their own disappearing acts, so I'm damning myself to produce the aforementioned content for...whom, exactly? I'm visiting...which blogs? There are a handful of you who still post consistently (or even a lot), and a whole wasteland where the others used to be. I hope we can all rest a bit, sort our matters out, and go back to being a (strong) community...

PUBLISHING NEWS/TIPS

None this month.

THINK-PIECES, DISCUSSIONS, ORIGINAL FICTION

• Sam discusses blog changes.

REVIEWS/RECOMMENDATIONS

• Tammy reviews Overgrowth by Mira Grant.
• Ethan reviews Three Days in June by Anne Tyler.
• ElunedHermitCrab reviews Titan of the Stars by E.K. Johnson.

OTHER

• Mary showcases a tradition that runs in her family.
• We Are Stronger Than Censorship: anti–book banning initiative gets industry support.
• The National Coalition Against Censorship and the Brooklyn Public Library launch teen advocacy initiative.

That's it for now. My next post will be up on September 1st, and it will be a new Offbeat Offline installment (covering three months for the occasion - I'll try not to make it too long LOL). In the meantime, I'm going dormant for a while! but you can still find me on the usual SM, if sporadically (I usually check in once a day), and I plan on visiting your blogs again in a few weeks, when I (hopefully) am a bit more rested. At any rate, have a great summer!

So, what were your highs/lows in the past month?