Tell Me Something Tuesday: 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)

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...Anyhow, I wanted to give a bit of exposure to all the fall books that caught my eye (a really small number, especially compared to the summer ones), so here's my list (complete with pub dates)...

R.A. Sinn: "A Second Chance for Yesterday" (ARC Review)

Title: A Second Chance for Yesterday [on Amazon | on Goodreads]
Series: None
Author: R.A. Sinn [Twitter | Goodreads]
Genres: Sci-Fi
Year: 2023
Age: 18+
Stars: 4/5
Pros: Intriguing, inventive sci-fi twist on the Merlin Sickness trope. Relatable lead.
Cons: Requires some suspension of disbelief. The temporal disruption and its consequences can get confusing. The family issue resolution feels unearned. The ending doesn't give straight answers (if that's something that bothers you).
WARNING! A few scenes involve vulgar/inappropriate male nudity.
Will appeal to: Those who enjoy narratives that play with time. Those who love redemption arcs and star-crossed romances.

Blurb: Nev Bourne is a hotshot programmer for the latest and greatest tech invention out there: SavePoint, the brain implant that rewinds the seconds of all our most embarrassing moments. She’s been working non-stop on the next rollout, even blowing off her boyfriend, her best friend and her family to make SavePoint 2.0. But when she hits go on the test-run, she wakes up the next day only to discover it's yesterday. She's falling backwards in time, one day at a time. As things spiral out of control, a long-lost friend from college reappears in her life claiming they know how to save her. Airin is charming and mysterious, and somehow knows Nev intimately well. Desperate and intrigued, Nev takes a leap of faith. A friendship born of fear slowly becomes a bond of deepest trust, and possibly love. With time running out, and the whole world of SavePoint users at stake, Nev must learn what it will take to set things right, and what it will cost. (Amazon)

Review: First off...DISCLAIMER: I requested this title on NetGalley. Thanks to Rebellion Publishing for providing an ecopy. This didn't influence my review in any way.

SERIOUS FUN

Here's the thing: I love narratives that play with time because they're great fun (even the tragic ones, if you get my meaning). But I also love them because, at the same time (no pun intended), they're perfect to vehiculate philosophical concepts, or simply, to make you think. This one, while I'm not thrilled about the direction it went with regard to the family angle (more about that below - I'll try to keep the spoilers to a minimum), had a lot to say about ethics, redemption, and becoming, if not the best, at least a better version of yourself - and mind you, it managed to stay entertaining and to throw a few surprises at the reader in the process (though I should probably have seen at least one of them coming - but even if I didn't because I was engrossed with the story, and not because the twist was difficult to figure out, that's still a good thing!). [...]

Taste the Books: Review Morsels #44 A. Deborah Baker, Kate Alice Marshall, Kelsey Sutton

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.

Ann Christy: "The Never-Ending End of the World" (ARC Review)

Title: The Never-Ending End of the World [on Amazon | on Goodreads]
Series: None
Author: Ann Christy [Site | Goodreads]
Genres: Sci-Fi
Year: 2023
Age: 14+ (technically an adult book, but it can be read by mature and even younger teens)
Stars: 5/5
Pros: Original take on the apocalypse. Engrossing and soulful.
Cons: The premise is a bit far-fetched in terms of scope (but hey, it's called "sci-fi" for a reason...).
WARNING! Some violence and blood (a mother taking a swipe at her child, too), though most of it is off-page.
Will appeal to: Those who crave an apocalypse book off the beaten path. Those who like stories that play with time (though not in a time-travel sense). Those who need for their sci-fi to have a lot of heart.

Blurb: Coco Wells hasn’t seen another living person since she was a teenager. All of Manhattan is reliving the same few seconds, minutes, or hours on a loop...and they have been for years. Coco scavenges for food, reads, and - most importantly - avoids loopers. She’s learned the painful lesson that a broken loop can mean death. After eight years of solitude, learning to survive and precisely timing the loops that weave around the city, Coco wonders what lies beyond New York and what has become of the rest of the world. As she leaves home for the first time, one question haunts her above all: “Am I the only one left?” (Amazon excerpt)

Review:  First off...DISCLAIMER: this book was up for grabs on NetGalley (in the Read Now section) and Edelweiss (where it was free to download as well). Thanks to Campfire Publishing for providing a temporary ecopy. This didn't influence my review in any way.

CHANGE OF PERSPECTIVE

For once, I'm going to be that person and start my review with a "target audience" caveat: I don't usually gravitate towards post-apocalyptic stories (though I've enjoyed some in the past), because while I love a book that makes me think, I'd rather not read a book that has the potential to make me suffer. With all the doom and gloom going on in my life (and, well, the world), what I need most - and look for in a story - is the chance to escape. But the (clever) title of this book caught my eye, and its (exciting) premise called to me, so I downloaded it before my mind made the leap to "post apocalypse"...and I'm so glad that I did, because it blew my socks off. The survival aspect turned out to be inextricably intertwined with the exciting premise I mentioned above, in ways I couldn't even have started to imagine; so, for all purposes, TNEEOTW is far from your average story about struggling to survive in a world gone to pieces - which is why you needn't worry about not being a post-apocalypse kind of reader, as long as broken-time-centered speculative fiction, moral dilemmas and ragtag bands of heroes are your jam. [...]

Offbeat Offline: July 2023 (Trudging On, but With Books)

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 new eye scare, more hair woes and a never-ending heatwave that felt more like a deathwave. I'm aware that all I do in these monthly recaps is complain about whatever, but this is my life, y'all. And this blog is the only outlet I have where to get stuff off my chest, so please bear with me...Every time I try to make it short (if not sweet), but HAHA NOPE WHAT DOES "SHORT" MEAN 😭.