Taste the Books: Review Morsels #73 Courtney Gould, Seanan McGuire, Melissa Albert

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 STILL writing long reviews too - but for anthologies, shorter books or books that I didn't enjoy/don't have enough to say about, I decided to stick to minis, and I took to writing them also for novels that I can do justice to in a less wordy fashion, in order to ease my reviewing burden. In addition to that, I sometimes write minis for books I don't want/don't have the time to review in full at the moment, but plan on rereading and writing "proper" reviews for later. Lastly, just be warned - this feature is VERY random!

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

Taste the Books: Review Morsels #72 Tatiana Schlote-Bonne, Neil Kleid, Christina Henry

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 STILL writing long reviews too - but for anthologies, shorter books or books that I didn't enjoy/don't have enough to say about, I decided to stick to minis, and I took to writing them also for novels that I can do justice to in a less wordy fashion, in order to ease my reviewing burden. In addition to that, I sometimes write minis for books I don't want/don't have the time to review in full at the moment, but plan on rereading and writing "proper" reviews for later. Lastly, just be warned - this feature is VERY random!

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

B.C. Johnson: "Riven" (Reissue)

Title: Riven (formerly The Bad Rescue of Devon Streeter) [on Amazon | on Goodreads]
Series: Riven (1st of 2 books)
Author: B.C. Johnson [Site | Goodreads]
Genres: Urban Fantasy, Post-Apocalyptic, Supernatural
Year: 2015 [reissued 2026]
Age: 14+
Stars: 5/5
Pros: Engulfing, epic story, full of action and feelings. Main characters you get to really care about. Great mythology.
Cons: There's a lot going on, so you need to pay attention. Also, the mix of genres (see labels) might not appeal to some readers.
WARNING! Blood and gore, violence, death, body horror, bullying, epilepsy attacks. Underage sex (without protection, too...but heck, it's the end of the world) with an adult (well, new adult) is alluded to, though not described (we only get the prelude).
Will appeal to: Those who love quirky stories with a strong vocabulary. Those who'd rather read about M\F friendship than romance. Those who want to meet new kinds of monsters.

Blurb: Devon's a teenage medic. Bloom's a wannabe gunslinger. Just two best friends hanging at the end of the world. When Earth and another world smashed together, everything went sideways. Some people survived, some inhumans too, and they all made for bad neighbors. Fighting for scraps on the face of a changed world, Devon and Bloom have to face alien magic, inhuman monsters, and the inescapable fact that the Merge is going to change them. Deviate them into...something else. But when circumstance flings Devon and Bloom apart, can they find each other across the wild wastelands? Will they recognize each other when they do? (Amazon)

Review: First off...DISCLAIMER: I received this novel from the author in exchange for an honest review back in 2015, and decided to brush up my post and rehash it to celebrate the book's recent reissue. The fact is, I realised that the original review would sound both weird and outdated to anyone reading it 11 years later, since it not only refers to a slightly different version of the story - with a different cover and title, even - but starts with a rant about the prejudices that surround indie books, addresses ARC issues and mentions preorders...In the end, I kept part of the rant, but I cut it much shorter at least 😅.

DANGER ZONE

OK, so...this is an indie book. One that came out in 2015 and fell through the cracks and was set aside until the author decided to do some edits and put it out again this year.
Many prejudices surround those novels that don't take the traditional publishing route. Bad editing, amateurish writing, uninteresting stories. Of course, they don't need to be true every time (not to mention, the reverse may be true sometimes). In this case? none of the above applies. The fact that Riven was self-published only tells the sad tale of book industry being often short-sighted and unwilling to give a chance to things that don't fit in a box. Seriously, I can't believe that anyone would pass up a story so imaginative, enthralling, and with likeable characters to boot. A well-written one, too (shock, right? 😉). OK, end of rant...
The premise here is that the Earth and another world smashed together, for reasons unknown, and this created a series of portals (or Breaches) through which all kinds of cool-but-deadly monsters poured in. Not only, but people who gravitated around the Breaches got infected with magic, and most of them didn't make it. Those who did have been "deviated" - that is, turned into superpowered freaks, who subsequently can change the still normal people around them.  Also, there's a fun catch: magic can block technology - the newer and more sophisticated, the better. In the post-apocalyptic, monster-ridden American wastelands, two 16 y.o. friends (a girl and a boy) who had to grew up too fast (when the story starts, it's been two years since the Merge) have acquired medical and gun skills, and get separated during one of their missions. The path to their reunion will be rife with danger, pain, loss, strange encounters, betrayals, and most of all, it will test their humanity in multiple ways - assuming they can retain some of it. [...]

Will Maclean: "Solace House" (ARC Review)

Title: Solace House [on Amazon | on Goodreads]
Series: None
Author: Will Maclean [Instagram | Goodreads]
Genres: Multiverse, Thriller/Mystery
Year: 2026
Age: 18+ (because of its themes and its complexity, it's a better fit for older readers - though it straddles the line between Adult and New Adult, and can indeed be read by mature teens. See the WARNING! section though)
Stars: 5/5
Pros: Spellbinding, mindboggling, unpredictable, so very clever, exquisitely written.
Cons: The characters aren't what you would call "likeable". While the poetry inserts are ultimately important, their language is dense and old-fashioned. The ending is both open (in a way) and open to interpretation, which might annoy readers who need a decent amount of closure.
WARNING! Murder/decapitation, body horror, self-harm, psychosis, death of a parent, drugs, claustrophobic spaces, forced hospitalisation, references to suicide and domestic violence.
Will appeal to: Those who like creepy, multilayered stories set in a creepy, multilayered reality - with a side of time warp/time loop.

Blurb: In the summer of 1993, broke student Alex Lane joins a team clearing out Solace House, a Victorian mansion bequeathed to the university by a reclusive hoarder called Flayne. The other students are a mixed bunch, but Alex quickly falls into a close friendship with the lively, redheaded Ella. When the crew begins sorting through piles of junk, they stumble upon Flayne's journals, in which he details his obsession with his missing mother, his discovery of a place called Bewise, and - most mysteriously - his belief in another realm lying parallel to ours, along with coded instructions as to how it might be reached. As the students delve deeper into the house's secrets, one of them becomes obsessed with deciphering Flayne's strange opus and its promise of another world...and they may be willing to sacrifice everything, and everyone, to get there. (Goodreads)

Review: First off...DISCLAIMER: I requested this title on NetGalley. Thanks to Grove Atlantic for providing a temporary ecopy. This didn't influence my review in any way.

BUILDING MOMENTUM

In the Acknowledgments section, the autor states that it took him five years to.complete this novel, and I wasn't at all surprised to hear that. Even not taking into account its length (500 pages) and the quatrains that open each chapter (more about them later), Solace House is one of the most ambitious and complex books I've ever read...though I don't want you to get the wrong impression - it will mess with your mind, but you won't have to struggle to crack it open like the proverbial hard nut. You don't need to be well-versed in science, or philosophy, or history, in order to enjoy it (though it might help if you like word games). If anything, you'll find it compulsively readable, at least once the plot moves to the titular house or its vicinity at least (admittedly, the first section is maybe a tad too long, but on the other hand, it's not like I was bored while reading it). When the cast finally comes together, there's a palpable wrongness in the air, or a sense of disquiet at the very least, that can't be all chalked up to the amount of recreational drugs they take 😂 - especially after they have their first experience with the house, and a certain song (inspired by a painting) enters the equation. From there, the tension, uneasiness and horror keep ramping up, all the way to a finale that's either going to have you in awe or make you mad, but looking back, it's probably the only one that fits. [...]

Tell Me Something Tuesday (on a Saturday): 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)

(First off - the date for this post should have been September 1st, but I had my Offbeat Offline installment scheduled for that day, so I decided to move this one forward...).

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...(I got more than half of these in eARC form though! See below). Anyhow, I wanted to give a bit of exposure to all the fall books that caught my eye, so here's my list (complete with pub dates)...

Offbeat Offline: August 2026

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? More stifling heat, a whole lot of boredom. But what can you do in this climate? August was another unforgiving month, with a very brief (and mild) respite a few days ago and a fresh (ha!) wave of HELL afterwards. Anyhow, let's start with the bookish stuff as usual...

Taste the Books: Review Morsels #71 Mike Chen, Jonathan Sims, Rachel Reiss

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 STILL writing long reviews too - but for anthologies, shorter books or books that I didn't enjoy/don't have enough to say about, I decided to stick to minis, and I took to writing them also for novels that I can do justice to in a less wordy fashion, in order to ease my reviewing burden. In addition to that, I sometimes write minis for books I don't want/don't have the time to review in full at the moment, but plan on rereading and writing "proper" reviews for later. Lastly, just be warned - this feature is VERY random!

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

Seanan McGuire: "Inkpot Gods"

Title: Inkpot Gods [on Amazon | on Goodreads]
Series: Alchemical Journeys (4th of 5 books)
Author: Seanan McGuire [Site | Goodreads]
Genres: Supernatural
Year: 2026
Age: 16+ (the book is geared towards adults, but can be read by mature teens)
Stars: 5/5
Pros: Fascinating concept. Rich mythology. Characters who transcend the page.
Cons: The dual timeline with a foot in the 19th century may not sit well with everyone. In the "present" timeline there's a lot of exposition/recapitulation (though it's required in order to bring a new character up to speed).
WARNING! Death in childbirth, dismemberment, body horror/flensing, self-harm, stabbing, near-drowning, animal death, misogyny/sexism, suicidal thoughts.
Will appeal to: Fans of the series who loved Book 3 more than Book 2. Readers who enjoy a creative, exciting twist on concepts made flesh, gods incarnate and the heart of creation. 

Blurb: More than a century has passed since Asphodel Baker refined the process allowing her to imbue alchemically created life with power More than a century since she built the Impossible City on the ruins of Olympus. And now, so long after her exit from the world, the descendants of her dark alchemy - who exist in a reality that inches ever closer to the hellscape of her imagination - step into a place of birth, of discovery, of horror, to make amends for the sins of the past. Can the gods of today defeat the evils of their maker, or will the legacy of the most powerful alchemist the world has ever known prove to be their undoing?(Amazon excerpt)

Review: This series is FABULOUS (except for Book 2 LOL), and I'd be happy to read it for the rest of my life, but alas...we're approaching the ending. Only one book to go! Catch up while you can (the final installment will only come out in 2028...). Thank me later 😉.

DOUBLE ANGLE

While Book 4 in the Alchemical Journeys series is a direct sequel to Book 3, and at the same time draws on the events of Book 1 (the second installment was, for all purposes, a "sidequel"), it also broadens the scope of the story in two different ways. In the past, we're treated to an insight into the life of Asphodel Baker, the first female alchemist, to whom a number of our protagonists owe their non-human existence; in the present, we're introduced to Lilianne, a trans woman and a budding alchemist herself, whose life becomes entwined with the rest of the cast's due to a...meet-cute with one of them 😁, and who's in for a shock or two (more like a dozen) and a lot of reckoning to be done.

Asphodel's villain origin story was a blast to read (and a real eye-opener). Leave it to McGuire to write a despicable character in a way that makes you almost sympathise with them, all while you never forget how monstrous they are (in this particular case, the period-accurate misogyny helps a great deal with the sympathising part). Asphodel is a complex villain, and if her transition from innocent, wronged little girl to evil schemer is a bit abrupt, it's not like this impacts the story as a whole. Lilianne counterbalances the "villainous alchemist" trope and adds her own coming-of-age arc to the mix, one in which her identity and her pursue of alchemy are cleverly connected. (Before you ask: she has a supportive - and incidentally, magical-adjacent - family, so hers is mostly a story of trans joy, though McGuire doesn't shy from mentioning the trials that come with reinventing yourself on a physical level in a very vocally hostile society. Then again, the story is set in 2018, prior to the horrendous backlash the US trans community has experienced in the last couple of years). [...]

Leslye Penelope: "The Inevitable Undoing of Zahara Douglass" (ARC Review)

Title: The Inevitable Undoing of Zahara Douglass [on Amazon | on Goodreads]
Series: None
Author: Leslye Penelope [Site | Goodreads]
Genres: Supernatural, Thriller or Mystery, Sci-Fi
Year: 2026
Age: 16+ (the book is marketed to adults, but the protagonist is in the NA age range, and parts of the novel are set in her or her sister's past. See the WARNING! section though)
Stars: 4/5
Pros: Interesting blend of magic and technology with an intriguing mystery core. Puts a strong sibling relationship front and center.
Cons: Requires some suspension of disbelief. A couple of twists aren't hard to figure out. The main character comes across as younger than her age. Too much focus on lust/potential romance.
WARNING! Blood, violence, injuries, death, illness (sickle cell disease), kidnapping, earthquake-like events, bugs, snakes. Alleged mental illness (delusions/obsession), forced hospitalisation, racism, anorexia/fatphobia (mentioned), OCD, masturbation.
Will appeal to: Those who can appreciate a magical twist on the Millennium Bug crisis. Those who enjoy sibling narratives with strong characterisation.

Blurb: In April 1995, Zahara watched her twin sister, Annica, get hustled into a stranger’s car and disappear - only to return to a world where no one has heard of Annica. Not her mother. Not the police. No one. Four years later, as the world braces for the looming Y2K crisis, Zahara finds evidence proving her sister was real and hires a private investigator to dig into her family’s shadowed past. When the investigation leads to two charismatic men who once served with her father in Vietnam, Zahara realizes she and her sister may be pawns in a dangerous power struggle with unthinkable consequences. To find Annica, Zahara must face the truth about her family, her memories, and the power lurking within her. But the sisters’ reunion comes at a price - one that could bring about the end of the world. (Amazon)

Review: First off...DISCLAIMER: I requested this title on NetGalley. Thanks to Little, Brown Book Group UK for providing a temporary ecopy. This didn't influence my review in any way.

PECULIAR PATCH-WORLD

A number of books are capitalising on the '90s nostalgia lately, but TIUOZD is one of the rare exceptions where the time setting is actually integral to the story: the plot deftly incorporates the Y2K (Millennium Bug) scare, when half the world was afraid technology would stop working (or at least mess up big time) as soon as the computer clocks hit 00:00 on January 1st 2000. While - based on the synopsis - I was anticipating your typical multiverse scenario, the story went in a direction I didn't expect, weaving Caribbean folklore/magic and technology, sisterly love (of course) and family secrets, past, present and future, in a very satisfying way. If the explanation behind Annica's disappearance and the retconned world it spawns needs some suspension of disbelief, it nevertheless creates the path for a wild, high-staked adventure that I haven't seen the like of in any other story - and if it takes some time to get there (the real, sometimes madcap action isn't introduced until the last third of the book), that doesn't mean it isn't time well spent. Along the way, we get glimpses of Zahara's experience as a Black ballet soloist, while a number of flashbacks recount Annica's battle with sickle cell disease and the rise of her hacking abilities, and their father's brush with the supernatural while he was serving in the Vietnam war - with the author making use of chats/computer entries and tape recordings as narrative devices for the latter two narrators. [...]

Offbeat Offline: July 2026 (A Big PHEEEEEW)

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? Unforgiving, relentless heat, but on the other hand, a clean bill of health. I spent the month glued to my fan, didn't read much in terms of new books but did a lot of rereading...what else? Uh, nothing. No going out (except for grocery shopping and one dye job) and no housekeeping (except for the bare minimum), because again...THE HEAT 🥵. Anyhow, let's start with the bookish stuff as usual...

Taste the Books: Review Morsels #70 Abigail Rose-Marie, E.G. Young, Chelsea Iversen

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 STILL writing long reviews too - but for anthologies, shorter books or books that I didn't enjoy/don't have enough to say about, I decided to stick to minis, and I took to writing them also for novels that I can do justice to in a less wordy fashion, in order to ease my reviewing burden. In addition to that, I sometimes write minis for books I don't want/don't have the time to review in full at the moment, but plan on rereading and writing "proper" reviews for later. Lastly, just be warned - this feature is VERY random!

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

Taste the Books: Review Morsels #69 Melissa Albert: "The Hazel Wood" Series

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 STILL writing long reviews too - but for anthologies, shorter books or books that I didn't enjoy/don't have enough to say about, I decided to stick to minis, and I took to writing them also for novels that I can do justice to in a less wordy fashion, in order to ease my reviewing burden. In addition to that, I sometimes write minis for books I don't want/don't have the time to review in full at the moment, but plan on rereading and writing "proper" reviews for later. Lastly, just be warned - this feature is VERY random!

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

The Hazel Wood by Melissa Albert

(The Hazel Wood #1)

★★★★

17 y.o. Alice has spent her whole life running from bad luck with her mother and obsessing over her estranged grandmother, the reclusive author of a dark fairy-tale collection; until her mother disappears, and she (aided by a fan of her now dead grandma's) goes in search of her in a world that isn't supposed to exist, where the stories have teeth and can eat you alive...

***

Rated 4.5 really.

This was my third Albert book, and for a while I was wondering if it would be the first that I wouldn't love. The worst thing I can say about it is that, to me, everything that came before Alice's crossing into the titular wood and the Hinterland (the portal realm where her grandma's stories are set) felt like a long prologue - compulsively readable, gorgeously written (if with some purple spikes), but in the end, lacking that element of novelty that this jaded portal-fantasy reader was craving. Yes, the Hinterland inhabitants are stalking Alice in her reality, and yes, they're creepy. Yes, she's hell-bent on finding her mother, who's supposedly held captive in the same realm. Been there, read that. Except...when Alice finally sets foot (well...not exactly 😁) into the world where her grandmother's tales come from, first the story becomes spellbinding, then everything clicks into place and OH! that was actually GENIUS! There was a reason for Alice's perpetual rage and standoffishness. The bad luck was actually...something else. The main twist - as usual with Albert - was completely earned, but impossible to fathom, and it changed EVERYTHING. Also, in retrospect, the couple of stories from the Hinterland compendium that we were told earlier in the book didn't feel like weird interpolations anymore. In the end - very much like Albert's The Children, though in a different fashion - The Hazel Wood is an ode to the power of creation (in all its beauty and cruelty), very meta yet heartbreakingly human, and if that's your jam, congrats! you've just been introduced to your new favourite author. (Bonus points for the Doctor Who references, AGAIN - see The Bad Ones).

Note: as a rule, I review every book that I rate 4 stars and above in full, unless it's a novella or an anthology. But I didn't want to go in too deep about this one to avoid spoilers, and it felt easy to summarise its contents (and my opinions) in a few sentences, so I took the mini-review route.

The Night Country by Melissa Albert

(The Hazel Wood #2)

★★★★

Two years after fleeing the Hinterland, a still haunted Alice is struggling to live a normal life, until some of her fellow escapees who took refuge in New York start being murdered and her very life seems to be in peril - while an old, dimension-hopping friend is on a collision course with her, and their meeting could either spell doom or salvation for the human world.

***

Rated 4.5 really.

(No spoilers about Book 1...which will be tricky AF - but in case you haven't read it yet, I'd rather not reveal anything major...the very mini blurb above is purposely cryptic and more than a bit skewed).

I'll be honest: if my favourite part of The Hazel Wood was the alternate-universe stuff (and THAT twist of course), the same goes for The Night Country - though in this case there's more than one world involved, if briefly (OK, only one world that really matters, but we get to visit a few and we're introduced to a bunch of super-cool Hinterland artifacts, so 😁). And by the end, the alternate-universe stuff in question will have you on the edge of your seat. So, if you're like me, you shouldn't miss this book for that reason alone. But there are plenty of others, too: a protagonist doubting herself and questioning her place in the world(s) (that's as far as I can go without giving anything away); a cast of secondary characters doing the same, but lacking her emotional anchor to the human one, which is where things get messy; a string of murders with an unfathomable explanation; an intense reunion (though to me the romance felt a bit like an afterthought, given what happened in Book 1); twists that are earned but you can't see coming; and luscious prose that - as usual with Albert - can flirt with purple here and there, but never gets in the way of the story. Plus of course THAT premise, the one I can't talk about, the one that sets this duology apart from similar stories - the one that amps up the reader's emotional investment. Bottom line: darker and more violent than The Hazel Wood, but at the same time poetical and whimsical, TNC is yet another ode to the (equally double-edged) power of storytelling, and to those characters who jump from the narrative a tad more literally than one would expect. Except, even if you've read Book 1, you're not ready for the spin it puts on it...

Note: as a rule, I review every book that I rate 4 stars and above in full, unless it's a novella or an anthology. But I didn't want to go in too deep about this one to avoid spoilers, and it felt easy to summarise its contents (and my opinions) in a few sentences, so I took the mini-review route.

Tales from the Hinterland by Melissa Albert

(The Hazel Wood #2.5)

★★★★

Twelve gruesome fairy tales set in the Hazel Wood series universe, some of them working as origin stories for its characters, yet completely enjoyable on their own...only, don't go in looking for happy endings.

***

I may be biased, because I read and loved the Hazel Wood duology...but I ended up enjoying this collection a lot more than I thought I would, considering that 1) I'm not a huge fan of fairy tales, and 2) short story is far from my favourite format. But Albert has a way with words, and the gift of making you care for her characters even in so short a page count. It doesn't hurt that these stories have the typical flavour of classic fairy tales (minus the happy ending), yet at the same time their mythology is fresh and creative. All the main characters are female, often wronged or abused in some way, always trying to regain their agency whatever the cost, sometimes becoming villains in the process - but you can't help sympathising with them all the same (more so if you've read the rest of the series and learned the even uglier truth about their world). I have but a couple of observations: apparently, these tales aren't big on diversity (which can be explained with their adhering to the classic-fairy-tales rules, but still), and they aren't so earth-shattering to potentially inspire the cult following that they generate in the Hazel Wood narrative universe. Anyway, whether you've read The Hazel Wood and The Night Country or not, whether you live on a (dark) fantasy diet or are just a dabbler, I bet you'll find a lot to love in this book.

Note: definitive review (due to time commitments, I've decided not to write full-length reviews anymore for short stories, novellas and anthologies, except in special cases or unless they're part of a series. Also, since I had already written mini reviews for the novel-sized first installments in this series, it would only make sense for me to do the same with this companion book...).

So, have you read/are you planning to read any of the above? And if you have, what do you think of them? Do you post mini reviews? Do you like to read them?

Lora Senf: "Unnamed Bones" (ARC Review)

Title: Unnamed Bones [on Amazon | on Goodreads]
Series: None
Author: Lora Senf [Site | Goodreads]
Genres: Supernatural
Year: 2026
Age: 14+
Stars: 4/5
Pros: Puts a refreshing, poignant spin on a familiar premise. Explores themes of mental health, grief, inner strength and human connection. Doesn't waste time with unnecessary romance.
Cons: The horror scenario feels a tad too formulaic at first.   
WARNING! Drowning, body horror/botanical horror, blood and gore/injuries, self-harm, suicide, fire/burning, vomiting. Depression, trauma, grief.
Will appeal to: Those who enjoy a psychological twist on the stranded-cast-facing-a-nightmare scenario.

Blurb: Reckless, depressed, impulsive and sixteen, Harrow Lane is going to an island that shouldn’t exist to look for answers about the death of her father. Things immediately go very wrong and keep getting worse. With no way to reach the outside world and no understanding of the rules of the island, Harrow and her friends are in mortal danger. Matters are only complicated by Harrow’s emotions - she’s given her biggest feelings human faces and personalities and does her best to keep them locked away in a seedy motel she built in her mind. It’s creating sort of an “Inside Out in hell” situation as they fight for survival against a creature that seems to be made entirely of terror and who very well might spell the end of the world. (Amazon excerpt)

Review: First off...DISCLAIMER: I requested this title on NetGalley. Thanks to Union Square & Co. for providing a temporary ecopy. This didn't influence my review in any way.

FRESH PERSPECTIVE

A group of teens (usually all girls, not in this case) stranded on an (often impossible) island that does its best to break their bodies and their sanity: a common enough scenario in YA horror. But Senf gives it a couple of spins that make Unnamed Bones stand out among the number of stories sharing the same premise. When this one starts, Harrow's father has been missing for a year after disappearing into a lake that shouldn't exist, at whose center, recently, an equally unexplainable island showed up. Feeling a sort of magnetic pull towards the island, Harrow decides to investigate its nature with three other teens - her former best friend Olive, the latter's sort-of boyfriend Ethan, and hiker/biker Shane - who are looking for an adventure. The author doesn't waste time unleashing horrors upon her characters (all while building a subtler sense of menace that comes from their having to figure out the rules of the place and its purpose), and though the worst ones may feel - or look - familiar at first, the ending will make you see them in a whole new light. Mind you - the journey to get there is a powerful one, marked by a string of experiences and findings on the characters' part more than by unexpected twists (though there are a handful of them, especially a shocking one that I didn't see coming). You might say the story resembles a videogame where the protagonist and her friends gather knowledge (and in a way, weapons - only not conventional ones) while progressing towards the ultimate big bad - a game that, for all its ordeals and nightmares, comes with a lot of heart, and delivers a bittersweet, yet somehow hopeful ending. [...]

Offbeat Offline: June 2026

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? The heat hit, I read a ton and...a new and improved health problem arose, because of course. As you may remember, I'm fond of saying that uneventful months are welcome in my household, because if something happens, it's always bad. And, oh, look! Surprise surprise. Anyhow, more about that later. Let's start with the bookish stuff as usual...

Offbeat Offline: May 2026 (Plus Introducing the Third 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? Same old same old but at least the perm took! Seriously, May was quite unremarkable, except for the perm thing. I finished my work on the spare room just in time for an early summer to arrive (...too bad I have to proceed to deep-clean the rest of the house now...I mean, the heat is still tolerable at this juncture, but give it a couple of weeks 😬...and anyhow, my calf muscles hurt and I'm feeling cranky ALREADY)...I made progress with my ARCs...oh, and I watched Good Omens 3 😄.

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 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 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; 2) given my current situation (see: unemployment status), book money is scarce; 3) the number of summer books that piqued my interest is staggering (SEVENTEEN!!!). On the other hand, as I'm posting this, I've had the chance to read six of these novels in ARC form, which is a respectable amount - more than one third of them. Also, there's one that I'm on the fence about already, and another one that I listed because I got the chance to do an authenticity read for it and I thought I'd give it a shoutout, but it's not really my scene. 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)...

Melissa Albert: "The Bad Ones"

Title: The Bad Ones [on Amazon | on Goodreads]
Series: None
Author: Melissa Albert [Instagram | Goodreads]
Genres: Supernatural, Thriller/Mystery, Contemporary
Year: 2024
Age: 14+
Stars: 4.5/5
Pros: Engrossing, twisty mystery. Unexpected resolution. Fleshed-out leads whose relationship is equally well-developed.
Cons: A certain player's involvement becomes clear a bit too early. The supporting characters are little more than tools to advance the plot. The romance feels unnecessary.  
WARNING! Sexual assault/abuse (off-page), self-injury, car accident, parental death (off-page), murder by suffocation, near-drowning. Homophobia, bigotry, bullying.
Will appeal to: Those who like urban legends/supernatural mysteries/witchcraft gone wrong. Those who enjoy fierce, yet messy/toxic friendships.

Blurb: In the course of a single winter’s night, four people vanish without a trace across a small town. Nora’s estranged best friend, Becca, is one of the lost. As Nora tries to untangle the truth of Becca’s disappearance, she discovers a darkness in her town’s past, as well as a string of coded messages Becca left for her to unravel. These clues lead Nora to a piece of local lore: a legendary goddess of forgotten origins who played a role in Nora and Becca’s own childhood games... (Amazon)

Review: I'm late to the Melissa Albert party, but after loving her adult debut, I've made it my mission to read everything she writes. I have some small quibbles about The Bad Ones, but regardless, I found it to be trippy, entertaining and emotional, and I loved its curveball ending.
Just a heads-up before I start...the cover doesn't match the content. There's a weeping angel statue at some point in the story, but don't expect it to mean anything...and if the cover is supposed to represent the goddess (which of course it is), BIG FAIL.

DAZED AND AMAZED

The Bad Ones blends all-consuming (you might very well say toxic) friendship with a supernatural mystery that leaves you enough breadcrumbs to figure out its direction, yet throws you for a loop multiple times before you decipher it, and hits you with a last couple of twists you couldn't have seen coming. Told in three different voices and timelines (Nora's 1st person POV in the present, Becca's 3rd person POV in the past, another character's 3rd person POV recounting even older events), it's an addictive puzzle with minimal gore or violence, but a dark core - though it ultimately ends up in a much healthier place than one might expect. The beginning is atmospheric, intriguing, creepy - unexpected, too. Albert doesn't waste time setting up the mystery, but she doesn't start, as one would anticipate, by introducing her main characters - yet the hook is impossible to resist: three people, apparently unrelated, are accosted by a mysterious female being and vanish into thin air. From there, the wheels in the reader's head keep turning and the theories about what happened to those three (and to Becca herself, later reported missing as well) multiply. I buddy-read this one with my friend Carrie, and we traded a few wild hypotheses along the way, but most of them turned out to be wrong...though at least one of the answers had stared us in the face the whole time 😅. And, considering we're both seasoned supernatural-thriller readers, that's saying something. The final twist had me in awe, especially since it took one of my core assumptions about the plot and flipped it on its head, giving the story a far more original - and tragic - angle (Carrie was a bit less enthused by that turn of events, but I'll let her review speak for itself). [...]

Melissa Albert: "The Children" (ARC Review)

Title: The Children [on Amazon | on Goodreads]
Series: None
Author: Melissa Albert [Instagram | Goodreads]
Genres: SPOILER - revealing the genre(s) would ruin your reading experience...If you want to go into the book without knowing anything vital about it, I recommend not reading the Labels at the end of my review either. No need to worry though - the review itself will be spoiler-free...
Year: 2026
Age: 18+ (but it can be read by mature teens)
Stars: 5/5
Pros: Visceral, immersive, haunting, with a denouement you won't see coming. Makes you care deeply for the characters (especially the protagonist's younger self).
Cons: The writing gets too purple at times.
WARNING! Death, murder, suicide, self-mutilation, fire, bugs. Child neglect/exploitation, pedophilia, infidelity, alcohol abuse.
Will appeal to: Those who like a familial saga with a twist. Those who muse about the relationship between life, art and fame.

Blurb: Guinevere's late mother, Edith Sharpe, needs little introduction. Bestselling author of the unendingly successful Ninth City series, her books brought so much joy and inspired the imagination of countless children the world over. Guin's childhood with her mother, brother Ennis and her actor father was a blissful, bohemian affair, filled with continuous laughter and surrounded by artistic types in their Vermont barnhouse. At least, this is the story Guin presents as she prepares for the press tour for her upcoming memoir about life in the Sharpe family. Now estranged from her brother and her parents long dead after a devastating fire, strange events threaten the veneer of serenity and familial harmony Guin is keen to project. Ennis, now a notorious artist with a troubled past, announces a new installation – his first since a disastrous last show one year prior – simply entitled Mother. And Guin can't help but worry that the truth behind their idyllic childhood is about to blow her world apart. (Goodreads)

Review: First off...DISCLAIMER: I requested this title on NetGalley. Thanks to Bloomsbury Publishing Plc (UK & ANZ) for providing a temporary ecopy. This didn't influence my review in any way.

GRIM(M) AND GORGEOUS

I have a confession to make: The Children was my first Albert book. I took a chance on it based by the synopsis alone, not really knowing what to expect (except for dark-fairy-tale vibes, according to the reviews of her backlist) - but upon parting with the last page, I immediately proceeded to add all her previous novels to my TBR list, top priority. Yes, it's THAT good. But you want to know what, precisely, is so good about it, and it's not easy to explain without entering spoiler territory. Anyhow, I'll try...

So: I won't tell you if The Children is a contemporary book with an unreliable narrator, or an exquisite (if dark) exercise in magical realism, or a straight-up supernatural tale, or all these things combined. But I will tell you this: The Children is an ode to the power of art - the power to save, or the power to damn, depending on certain circumstances. It's a dark fairy tale (yeah, indeed - in the vein of Albert's past books) unleashed in the real world. It's the story of a dysfunctional family and a predatory house. It's horrifying and spellbinding, bitter and beautiful, very meta yet unmistakably human (with all that entails). If you're like me, these things alone will probably seal your deal with this novel. But in case you need more practical details, feel free to read on... [...]

Taste the Books: Review Morsels #68 Frances White, Sean David Robinson, Rebekah Faubion

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 STILL writing long reviews too - but for anthologies, shorter books or books that I didn't enjoy/don't have enough to say about, I decided to stick to minis, and I took to writing them also for novels that I can do justice to in a less wordy fashion, in order to ease my reviewing burden. In addition to that, I sometimes write minis for books I don't want/don't have the time to review in full at the moment, but plan on rereading and writing "proper" reviews for later. Lastly, just be warned - this feature is VERY random!

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

Offbeat Offline: April 2026 (Back but Probably Hiatus-ing Again Soon)

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? I made a tiny dent in the chaos at home, went for my routine LLC-related bloodwork (the results are practically the same as the last time - too bad they were worse than the time before that to begin with) and...read. Seriously, a totally uneventful month, which I'll take any day now, because when something happens is always bad (see March recap). In other news, I'm already contemplating another hiatus in June, but this time I'm going to actually schedule my daily activities in advance or I'll accomplish nothing (or next to nothing) as usual (...I mean, June is usually too hot for me already, but a girl can hope). OK, anyhow, let's see what shenanigans I was up to last month...

Tell Me Something Tuesday Round-Up (April 2026)

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!

April 2026 Round-Up

+ Question of the Day:

WHAT'S YOUR FAVOURITE SPORTS TEAM?

• April 7th: Do you like spoilers? Do you read the last chapter first?

Uh, nope. I'm a rereader, so I can enjoy books that I already know the ending of, but the first time around? No thanks.

Offbeat Offline: March 2026 (Plus Introducing a Mini 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? A medical emergency regarding my dad and a whole lot of average suffering on my part. Needless to say, I've been even more tired and overwhelmed than usual (to be honest, my parents did their best not to weigh on me except for the most necessary errands - but hitting the supermarket and unloading grocery bags from the car twice in the same day isn't a breeze, y'all. At least my hubs can drive me, but still...). What else? I read - obviously. I even produced one full review and three minis, so yay?

Tell Me Something Tuesday Round-Up (March 2026)

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 2026 Round-Up

+ Question of the Day:

WHAT'S YOUR FAVOURITE COLOUR?

• March 3rd: Which made-up thing do you badly wish was real? (a question I submitted)

She looks a bit grey here for some reason, but whatever - when she doesn't choose to dematerialise and rematerialise, the TARDIS knows how to make an entrance 😂.*
*(In case you're wondering...to the Doctor, the TARDIS is a she! And yes, she's sentient).

• March 10th: If you could have any celebrity be your best friend, who would you pick? (a question I submitted)

I know I'm sounding like a broken record (see above), but...David Tennant isn't just my favourite Doctor and actor. He's a decent human being with his heart in the right place (you can tell by the way he interacts with his fans, the causes he supports...I've yet to hear a single bad word against him) and an infectious smile. I would be honoured and elated to be his friend, though there might be a tiny problem with that...I've got a crush on him, so maybe not a good idea 😅.

David as Peter Vincent in Fright Night, 2011 😂 - actually, his underwear wasn't so noticeable in the movie, but someone took great pains to make a slow-motion version of this scene...😅

• March 17th: Do you prefer single narrator, duet/dual narration, full cast, or "graphic audio" audiobooks?

I don't listen to audiobooks...not because I'm one of those snobs who thinks they don't count as reading. You all know spoken English isn't my strong suit, plus I like the written page too much...

• March 24th: What’s your go-to coffee/tea order?

The only coffee I drink comes from my moka pot...mixed with (lactose-free) milk for my home breakfast. Not a cappuccino - just around a glass and a half of plain milk with a nice dose of coffee to make it light brown (I think the colour that most resembles it is called, ironically, Champagne Beige).

• March 31st: What's your favourite colour? (a question I submitted)

Apart from black (which is, technically, not a colour), I love all strong colours, but red has always been my favourite. Red and black together? A trademark for me 😍. Colours you'll never see me in and that I dislike for most things, car included: grey, brown, white, blue (except for the TARDIS of course 😁).

Me as a bird 😁 (Red-breasted Blackbird - photo by Francesco Veronesi under Wikimedia Commons licence)

Well, that's it for now. Did you enjoy this post? Would you like to participate in the meme on a regular or semi-regular basis, and get emailed the prompt list? Just head over here and fill in Jen's form! (Of course, you can jump in anytime you like - you are under no obligation to actually do all the posts, or even most of them, just because you signed up, and you can remove yourself from the list at any time). And if you're interested in participating in a more casual manner, or only in commenting, here is the TMST prompt list for the month of April:

• April 7th: Do you like spoilers? Do you read the last chapter first?
• April 14th: What do you still love doing that you loved as a kid? (a question I submitted)
• April 21st: How do you like to celebrate your birthday?
• April 28th: What's your favourite sports team?

I'll only be back for the meme on April 28th for another round-up, but in the meantime, I'll read your posts and comment on them!

Now tell me something...what's the colour you like the most/wear most often?

(By the way - of course you're welcome to answer any of the other monthly questions too in the comments, or even all of them!)