June 01, 2025

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).

May 27, 2025

Tell Me Something Tuesday: Which Books Are You Looking Forward to Reading This Summer? (June-August)


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 LifeJen at That's What I'm Talking AboutKaren at For What It's WorthLinda 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 SUMMER? (JUNE-AUGUST)

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...(also, please note: as I'm posting this, I only have two of these novels in ARC form). Anyhow, I wanted to give a bit of exposure to all the summer books that caught my eye, so here's my list (complete with pub dates)...

May 22, 2025

Taste the Books: Review Morsels #61 Peyton June, Kelly Murashige, Anna-Marie McLemore


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 ðŸ˜‰. Just be warned - this feature will be VERY random!

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

May 17, 2025

Taste the Books: Review Morsels #60 Dete Meserve, Samantha Mabry, Kate Alice Marshall


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 ðŸ˜‰. Just be warned - this feature will be VERY random!

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