Offbeat Offline: March 2025 (Plus Announcing Yet Another Hiatus)

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? Nothing bad, but nothing good either, at least on the real-life front (though I have exciting news on the bookish one - see below). March was a humdrum month (thank you Sam for putting a new-to-me word on my radar...I told you I'd use it! 😁), and while I'm grateful for a respite from new drama, I wish something took a turn for the better with the extant problems for once...😭

Taste the Books: Review Morsels #59 Arkady Martine, Josh Winning, Alex Brown et al.

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.

Tell Me Something Tuesday Round-Up (March 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! 

March 2025 Round-Up

+ Question of the Day:

ARE YOU SATISFIED WITH YOUR BLOG?

• March 4th: What are three things you'll never get tired of doing? (a question I submitted)

Reading. Blogging. Perming/dying my hair (though, as my older readers know too well by now, the perm is nothing like it used to be 😭).

Sorry, nothing to see here LOL. It's not like I do other things with my time than reading and blogging, given the situation. And I don't plan on changing my appearance EVER.

• March 11th: Have you ever ventured out of your comfort zone and ended up having a nice experience? (a question I submitted)

I need my confort zone SO BADLY. I'd get too anxious if I left it behind. I need to be in control. I'm so afraid of things that can take an unpredictable turn that I've never wanted to learn to drive (not even a scooter! I did learn to drive a bicycle as a kid, but I've never actually used one to move around). I think the only "brave" thing I ever did was try for radio, for all the good it did me. And I only talked myself into it because 1) I was in love with the radio world and wanted to be part of it, and 2) I knew the station was looking for new voices...so I actually stood a chance not to be rejected on sight. Also, being a radio host came with the perk of being invisible to my audience...

• March 18th: Have you met any bookish/blogging friends in person? (a question I submitted - reworded for the better 🙂)

Of course not, since all you lovely people live miles and miles from here...The nearest bookish friend I've ever had hails from Hungary, so you understand my plight 😉. Anyhow, I would be a bit terrified to get the chance to meet you and talk in person (see: confort zone answer above). I think I'd immediately forget my English...😓 😂

Taste the Books: Review Morsels #58 The Seanan McGuire Edition (Part 2)

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.