Taste the Books: Review Morsels #62 Kat Ellis, Joelle Wellington, Elizabeth Anne Martins

Intro

Hello beauties!

Welcome again to my own brand of mini reviews! I never thought I'd do minis, until I recapped a few of my long reviews in some digest post in 2014, and then guest-posted some shorties for a blogging event in 2015. And Karen from For What It's Worth started praising my short recs/recaps 😊. Just to be clear,  I'm NOT taking a break from writing long reviews - no such luck LOL (though for anthologies, shorter books or books that I didn't enjoy/I don't have enough to say about, I decided to stick to minis). But while I'm making up my mind about a new book I've read, I might as well give you the short version 😉. Just be warned - this feature will be VERY random!

Note: all the mini blurbs (in italics) are of my own creation.

Offbeat Offline: October 2025

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? A lot of same-old and a blogoversary (that, as usual, I forgot to celebrate 😂). My life is still a mess and I can't seem to be able to take the reins. I'm overwhelmed by the ginormous amount of tasks-in-waiting that have gotten so out of hand I don't even know where to start anymore. But I don't want to talk about sad and depressing things - not today at least. Let's see which books I got/read/reviewed instead, and what unremarkable shenanigans I was up to in October...

Tell Me Something Tuesday Round-Up (October 2025)

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... This time I'm doing a round-up of the last month's worth of questions, because I hate how I've been M.I.A. when it comes to the meme!

October 2025 Round-Up

+ Question of the Day:

WHAT WAS YOUR FAVOURITE HALLOWEEN (OR COSPLAY) COSTUME? *BONUS FOR PHOTOS!

• October 7th: What's a movie or TV show that you'd recommend to everyone?

You all know I'm a huge series fan, and I have a number of favourites that I love to bits, but most of them I couldn't, in good conscience, recommend to "everyone". I mean, there's probably no such thing as a series that would qualify. Then again, I think Fame might appeal to most people...and even if I didn't love the latest seasons, I strongly believe that Doctor Who might do the same, even if you aren't a sci-fi fan, because at its core, it's about an age-old, ever-changing alien who, in whatever of their incarnations, retains a genuine curiosity and a deep love for the human race, and does their best to save it, and has a penchant for making its members feel special...It's a show that feels like a warm embrace, and makes you forget your woes for an hour, so what more can you ask for?

Seanan McGuire: "Adrift in Currents Clean and Clear"

Title: Adrift in Currents Clean and Clear [on Amazon | on Goodreads]
Series: Wayward Children (10th of ?? books)
Author: Seanan McGuire [Site | Goodreads]
Genres: Supernatural (technically it would be Portal Fantasy, but since I don't have a Fantasy Room in my blog, I decided to shelf this one as Supernatural - that's the closest I could get)
Year: 2025
Age: 14+
Stars: 3.5/5
Pros: An imaginative look-in-reverse at one of the most common fantasy tropes. Features an engaging protagonist and a very endearing turtle. Raises questions about disability and bodily autonomy.
Cons: Even as a child, the main character talks like a semi-adult sometimes. Her story breaks what were understood to be two cardinal rules of travelling through the doors.
WARNING! Near-drowning.
Will appeal to: Readers who like a twist on a classic lost-in-Wonderland premise. Everyone who's ever felt out of place, but doesn't necessary dream of a happier world than the one they live in...

Blurb: Nadya never considered herself less than whole, not until her adoptive parents fitted her with a prosthetic arm against her will, seeking to replace the one she'd been missing from birth. Frustrated and unable to express why, Nadya began to wander, until the day she fell through a door into Belyrreka - and found herself in a world of water, filled with child-eating amphibians, majestic giant turtles, and impossible ships that sailed as happily beneath the surface as on top. In Belyyreka, she found herself understood for who she was: a Drowned Girl, who had made her way to her real home, accepted by the river and its people. But even in Belyyreka, there are dangers, and trials, and Nadya would soon find herself fighting to keep hold of everything she had come to treasure. (Amazon excerpt)

Review: A while ago, I decided I wouldn't write full reviews anymore for certain types of books, including novellas. But since I've been reviewing this series in full from the start, I'm making an exception here, and I intend to go on doing so for all its future installments. So, I'll keep writing a mini review after my first read, and a full one after my second.

MAGIC FORMULA

This book came out seven years after Nadya's first appearance in the series (in Beneath the Sugar Sky), and when it was announced, I couldn't help thinking that writing an origin story for a side character whom most readers were likely to barely remember (unless they had reread the series in the meantime) was an odd choice. I mean, she had so little screen time back then, even if the book's epilogue had her front and center, and seven years is a very long time. Then again, in my case, this proved to be beneficial in a way, because I had completely forgotten a crucial point in Nadya's biography, and the ending of AICCAC came as a twist to me for that reason, though of course the author didn't intend for it to work that way. But I'm getting ahead of myself here...the aforementioned ending needs to be discussed in full (though I'll do my best in order to avoid spoilers), but in the meantime, allow me to start from the beginning.
Let's get it out of the way: this installment reminded me a bit of Across the Green Grass Fields (which is my least favourite Wayward Children book to date) with its classic-fable-like atmosphere and premise (talking, intelligent animals). In tone, it also reminded me of the author's The Up-and-Under series under the A. Deborah Baker pen-name (which, again, left me lukewarm). But I found the water world to be inventive, the sweet and caring, yet brave and independent protagonist easy to like and root for, and the human-bonded, sentient turtles infinitely more appealing (and endearing) than the mythical equine species in ATGGF. Also, it was nice to see some disabled representation in this one, though the waters are a bit muddled in that respect (no pun intended)...Nadya was born with only half a right arm, but she never thinks of herself as broken and resents her adoptive parents for fitting her with a prosthesis against her will, yet she doesn't complain when the river's magic does something similar with her in the portal world. Last but not least, for a book where the main character isn't asked to be a hero and the real action is crammed in the last 25 pages, AICCAC never gets boring, and proceeds nicely towards its climax (though, well, "nicely" may be a charitable word here, given what awaits our protagonist). [...]