Offbeat Offline: January 2025 (Plus Announcing the First Hiatus of the Year)

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 new...again. Not that things are going great, of course...they just haven't gotten worse. I'm still not feeling well, so I have new examinations/visits in my near future. My husband isn't making further progress on the walking front yet. At least my reading and reviewing remained steady (again, thanks to mini reviews 😁). That's pretty much it...

📚 PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE. I read a mix of backlist, freshly published books and ARCs this month. And I had my first DNF of the year, ouch (double ouch for its being an ARC...triple ouch for my having been approved for it both on NG and EW 😬). Here's the rundown of my bookish month...

Approvals (0 😯):

OK, that's two months in a row...unprecedented. I noticed a trend lately...more and more books can only be "wished for" on NG (at least if you're an international user), and when the same ones are put on EW, either I'm not approved or my requests stay in limbo until the books come out and the review opportunity expires. Until a few months ago, I had a pretty decent percentage of approvals, even from bigger imprints. I think the publishers' policy in that regard changed for the worse, if my experience is anything to go by...or maybe regular bloggers are being shunned in favour of other types of reviewers, I don't know.

While we're speaking about ARCs...did you notice that NG implemented a new file format? and of course you need a new reader (not Adobe) in order to read them on your computer (which I like to do)? Just...why?

Reads (6+1 DNF):

• Feedback (Newsflesh #4) by Mira Grant (Adult, sci-fi/thriller)

While the Masons siblings and their friend Buffy are following a Republican senator's presidential campaign and unveiling a deadly conspiracy in the process, a diverse team of bloggers (and found family) covering the Democrat side of the race is doing the same...until they're forced to run for their lives, and even that may not be enough. Feedback is, for all purposes, a companion novel that covers the same timespan as Feed, with different characters. Parts of the plot mirrors the ones in Feed too closely, and it took me a bit to warm up to the new team - they don't exactly steal the scene like Georgia did in the original run - but at least none of them are sleeping with their adoptive siblings, so there's that 😅. 

• Rise: A Newsflesh Collection by Mira Grant (Adult, sci-fi/thriller)

Tales from the Newsflesh zombie plague and beyond: from its makers to some of its casualties, from the early days to the aftermath, from US to AUS, from side characters' origin stories to protagonists' curtain calls. As it's often the case with anthologies (even single-author ones), some of the stories work better than others, and as a whole, they don't add that much to the Newsflesh universe...

• Aunt Tigress by Emily Yu-Xuan Qi (Adult, urban fantasy)

In Canada, the daughter of a Chinese immigrant family, half human and half supernatural tiger, who renounced her tiger roots but can still perceive the supernatural world, starts investigating the death of her old mentor Aunt Tigress, while coming to term with the harm she caused in her company. I'm so bummed, but this was my first DNF of the year. Mostly, the story and the writing didn't manage to grab me, and I couldn't seem to forge a strong connection with the protagonist either.

• The Thorns by Dawn Kurtagich (Adult, contemporary/thriller)

A disabled bestseller author reckons with her painful experiences as a thirteen y.o. in boarding school when her abusive friend from back then reenters her life, causing her to risk everything she's built. Told in a double-timeline narrative, The Thorns is a well-written, brutally honest, disturbing book. There's bullying, sexual violence (not of the graphic kind), gaslighting, self-harm, and the list goes on. I found the message praiseworthy and the ending left me speechless, but the abuse and toxicity were hard to swallow.

• The Staircase in the Woods by Chuck Wendig (Adult, supernatural)

Five high school friends bonded by an oath to protect one another no matter what find a mysterious staircase to nowhere. One friend walks up and disappears. Then the staircase vanishes as well. More than two decades later, the staircase reappears, and the group reunites to look for the truth. Basically, this book is the love child of a popular urban legend (the titular staircase) and an even more popular horror trope (estranged friends reunion). Mind-blowing story and setting, flawed/damaged characters, supernatural/psychological horror with plenty of strong (often disturbing) images.

• Adrift in Currents Clean and Clear (Wayward Children #10) by Seanan McGuire (YA, portal fantasy - novella)

A disabled Russian orphan, adopted by an American couple who fits her with a prosthetic arm against her will, falls into a water world, finds a new family and bonds with a giant turtle - but playing the hero even if it's not required of her can have dire consequences...An engaging protagonist, a thought-provoking discourse about disability and bodily autonomy, and one very endearing turtle: what can go wrong? Well, lack of consistency with the rest of the series, for one...

• Where Echoes Die by Courtney Gould (YA, sci-fi/contemporary)

A teen, with her younger sister in tow, travels to the tiny town that had her late journalist mother obsessed for years, hoping to crack the mystery behind her fixation - but while she painfully unburies the town's shocking secret and falls in love, she risks becoming similarly entangled with the place. A quiet (yet disquieting), atmospheric, gorgeously written story about grief, family/sisterhood, and having to make a choice between living in the past or accepting the present/opening up to the future.

Reviews (7):

• Feedback (Newsflesh #4) by Mira Grant (see above)

Mini review on GR for now.

• Rise: A Newsflesh Collection by Mira Grant (see above)

Mini review on GR for now.

• Aunt Tigress by Emily Yu-Xuan Qi (see above)

DNF mini review coming closer to pub date.

• The Thorns by Dawn Kurtagich (see above)

Mini review coming closer to pub date.

• The Staircase in the Woods by Chuck Wendig (see above)

Review coming closer to pub date.

• Adrift in Currents Clean and Clear (Wayward Children #10) by Seanan McGuire (see above)

Mini review on GR for now (full review to come later).

• Where Echoes Die by Courtney Gould (see above)

Mini review on GR for now (full review to come one day LOL).

Normally at this point I would list the reviews I plan on posting and the TMST prompts I plan on answering in February, but I'm taking the month off in order to focus on my ARCs/backlist books and on housekeeping. Anyhow, this will be a short hiatus, since I'll resurface on Tue. 25th for the last TMST of the month (question: Which books are you looking forward to reading this spring? (March-May)). In the meantime, here's the TMST prompt list for the month of February, in case you want to join in:

• February 4th: What is your least favourite thing about winter? (a question I submitted)
• February 11th: Share your romance (HEA/HFN) recommendations
• February 18st: Do you like to cook or bake? What is your favourite thing to make? (a question I submitted - reworded for the better 😉)
• February 25th: Which books are you looking forward to reading this spring? (Mar-May)

😴 NOTHING TO SEE HERE. Another uneventful month (which doesn't mean I haven't been frantically running around...only that there haven't been any new occurrences). I'm still unwell (see: last month's colonoscopy, plus some other exams whose results didn't give any answer), so I booked a gastroscopy, and I'm going to see a gastroenterologist next. My husband is still taking only a few steps at home, while his ulcer is on the mends at least. The weather has been unusually warm - almost springlike - which is probably why I haven't gotten sick with my usual laryngitis/pharyngitis yet...but there's still time...😬

PUBLISHING NEWS/TIPS

• Author Nova Ren Suma reveals the cover for her new YA novel (her first book in 7 years!) Wake the Wild Creatures.
• The Nerd Daily lists 72 of the most anticipated YA books of 2025.

THINK-PIECES, DISCUSSIONS, ORIGINAL FICTION

• Briana muses about possible trends in book blogging in 2025.
• Shannon has a really dumb bookish complaint.
• Sam lists reading challenges for 2025.
• Lissa shares her story Stoned thieves, traffic jams and other catastrophes. 

REVIEWS/RECOMMENDATIONS

• Reactor Magazine links to six SFF stories about the power of words.
• Jen showcases the mysteries and thrillers published in January.
• Karen and Greg finally reprise blogging/produce reviews after being sporadic for a long while (Karen: The Life Impossible | Greg: More Days at the Morisaki Bookshop). Go go go! You both still have it 😄👍.

Also, I'm linking to the latest installments in the B.C. Johnson's Author Chat series, where he interviews a number of fellow indie writers. I suppose these can double as recommendations...

• Meet novelist and nonfiction author (of books about writing) Liz Hurst (A Light Shines in Darkness).
• Meet fantasy author H.D. Scott (Glik's Fables).

OTHER

• B.C. Johnson's Deadgirl was picked by The Indie Author Project and made available in California libraries.
• Author Josh Winning and friend Chelley started a monthly Charmed chat on Instagram.

That's it for now. My next post will be up on February 25th, and it will be the TMST installment I mentioned above. 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).

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