Offbeat Offline: October 2025

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 lot of same-old and a blogoversary (that, as usual, I forgot to celebrate 😂). My life is still a mess and I can't seem to be able to take the reins. I'm overwhelmed by the ginormous amount of tasks-in-waiting that have gotten so out of hand I don't even know where to start anymore. But I don't want to talk about sad and depressing things - not today at least. Let's see which books I got/read/reviewed instead, and what unremarkable shenanigans I was up to in October...

Tell Me Something Tuesday Round-Up (October 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!

October 2025 Round-Up

+ Question of the Day:

WHAT WAS YOUR FAVOURITE HALLOWEEN (OR COSPLAY) COSTUME? *BONUS FOR PHOTOS!

• October 7th: What's a movie or TV show that you'd recommend to everyone?

You all know I'm a huge series fan, and I have a number of favourites that I love to bits, but most of them I couldn't, in good conscience, recommend to "everyone". I mean, there's probably no such thing as a series that would qualify. Then again, I think Fame might appeal to most people...and even if I didn't love the latest seasons, I strongly believe that Doctor Who might do the same, even if you aren't a sci-fi fan, because at its core, it's about an age-old, ever-changing alien who, in whatever of their incarnations, retains a genuine curiosity and a deep love for the human race, and does their best to save it, and has a penchant for making its members feel special...It's a show that feels like a warm embrace, and makes you forget your woes for an hour, so what more can you ask for?

Seanan McGuire: "Adrift in Currents Clean and Clear"

Title: Adrift in Currents Clean and Clear [on Amazon | on Goodreads]
Series: Wayward Children (10th of ?? books)
Author: Seanan McGuire [Site | Goodreads]
Genres: Supernatural (technically it would be Portal Fantasy, but since I don't have a Fantasy Room in my blog, I decided to shelf this one as Supernatural - that's the closest I could get)
Year: 2025
Age: 14+
Stars: 3.5/5
Pros: An imaginative look-in-reverse at one of the most common fantasy tropes. Features an engaging protagonist and a very endearing turtle. Raises questions about disability and bodily autonomy.
Cons: Even as a child, the main character talks like a semi-adult sometimes. Her story breaks what were understood to be two cardinal rules of travelling through the doors.
WARNING! Near-drowning.
Will appeal to: Readers who like a twist on a classic lost-in-Wonderland premise. Everyone who's ever felt out of place, but doesn't necessary dream of a happier world than the one they live in...

Blurb: Nadya never considered herself less than whole, not until her adoptive parents fitted her with a prosthetic arm against her will, seeking to replace the one she'd been missing from birth. Frustrated and unable to express why, Nadya began to wander, until the day she fell through a door into Belyrreka - and found herself in a world of water, filled with child-eating amphibians, majestic giant turtles, and impossible ships that sailed as happily beneath the surface as on top. In Belyyreka, she found herself understood for who she was: a Drowned Girl, who had made her way to her real home, accepted by the river and its people. But even in Belyyreka, there are dangers, and trials, and Nadya would soon find herself fighting to keep hold of everything she had come to treasure. (Amazon excerpt)

Review: A while ago, I decided I wouldn't write full reviews anymore for certain types of books, including novellas. But since I've been reviewing this series in full from the start, I'm making an exception here, and I intend to go on doing so for all its future installments. So, I'll keep writing a mini review after my first read, and a full one after my second.

MAGIC FORMULA

This book came out seven years after Nadya's first appearance in the series (in Beneath the Sugar Sky), and when it was announced, I couldn't help thinking that writing an origin story for a side character whom most readers were likely to barely remember (unless they had reread the series in the meantime) was an odd choice. I mean, she had so little screen time back then, even if the book's epilogue had her front and center, and seven years is a very long time. Then again, in my case, this proved to be beneficial in a way, because I had completely forgotten a crucial point in Nadya's biography, and the ending of AICCAC came as a twist to me for that reason, though of course the author didn't intend for it to work that way. But I'm getting ahead of myself here...the aforementioned ending needs to be discussed in full (though I'll do my best in order to avoid spoilers), but in the meantime, allow me to start from the beginning.
Let's get it out of the way: this installment reminded me a bit of Across the Green Grass Fields (which is my least favourite Wayward Children book to date) with its classic-fable-like atmosphere and premise (talking, intelligent animals). In tone, it also reminded me of the author's The Up-and-Under series under the A. Deborah Baker pen-name (which, again, left me lukewarm). But I found the water world to be inventive, the sweet and caring, yet brave and independent protagonist easy to like and root for, and the human-bonded, sentient turtles infinitely more appealing (and endearing) than the mythical equine species in ATGGF. Also, it was nice to see some disabled representation in this one, though the waters are a bit muddled in that respect (no pun intended)...Nadya was born with only half a right arm, but she never thinks of herself as broken and resents her adoptive parents for fitting her with a prosthesis against her will, yet she doesn't complain when the river's magic does something similar with her in the portal world. Last but not least, for a book where the main character isn't asked to be a hero and the real action is crammed in the last 25 pages, AICCAC never gets boring, and proceeds nicely towards its climax (though, well, "nicely" may be a charitable word here, given what awaits our protagonist). [...]

Nova Ren Suma: "Wake the Wild Creatures"

Title: Wake the Wild Creatures [on Amazon | on Goodreads]
Series: None
Author: Nova Ren Suma [Site | Goodreads]
Genres: Contemporary with a Twist
Year: 2025
Age: 14+
Stars: 4.5/5
Pros: Unique twist on the all-female-commune trope. Relatable, compelling protagonist. Atmospheric, gorgeous writing. 
Cons: The now-and-then structure may confuse some readers. Some details aren't addressed or explained.
WARNING! Sexual assault (mostly off-page; one instance on page, but not overly graphic). Death of a minor and an adult (off-page/not graphic). Arson. A prison scene.
Will appeal to: Those who like a poetical yet fierce, dreamlike yet visceral approach to feminism.

Blurb: Three years ago, Talia lived happily in the ruins of the Neves, a once-grand hotel in the wilds of the Catskill Mountains, with her mother Pola and their community of like-minded women. Some came to the Neves to escape cruel men, others to hide from the law, but all found safety and connection in their haven high above civilization, cloaked by a mysterious mist that kept intruders away. But as their numbers grew, complications followed, and everything came crashing down the night electric lights pierced the forest. Uniformed men arrested Pola, calling her a murderer and a fugitive, and Talia was taken away. Now sixteen, Talia has been forced to live with family she barely knows and fit into a world scarred by misogyny, capitalism, disconnection from nature...everything the women of the Neves stood against. She has one goal: to return to the Neves. But as Talia awaits a signal from her mother, questions arise. Who betrayed her community, and what is she avoiding about her own role in its collapse? Is it truly magic that keeps the hotel so hidden? And what does it mean to embrace being her mother’s daughter? With the help of an unexpected ally, Talia must find her way to answers, face a mother who’s often kept her at arm’s length, and try to reach the refuge she lost - if the mist hasn’t swallowed her path home. (Amazon)

Review: Nova Ren Suma is back! Her previous book came out in 2018, go figure - seven years is an eternity in book industry. Suma shared her writing and publishing journey for Wake the Wild Creatures in a series of interviews and newsletters, and for a number of reasons, that journey was a hard, yet ultimately exhilarating experience for her. One thing I can testify, though: she hasn't lost her touch. 

IMMERSIVE EXPERIENCE

Nova Ren Suma could never produce a bad book - or even an average one. And regardless of the content (I'll get to that in a minute), I mean it on a sentence and atmosphere level. All her stories are a masterclass in writing, though they remain accessible and avoid purple spikes (also, she knows how to write a first chapter that makes you want to read what comes next...WTWC and The Walls Around Us are a hard testament to that). All her stories drip with ambiance to the point that you can not only see, but almost taste and smell the places she describes - which is all the more true with a narrative where nature is front and center, and almost a character in itself, like this one. And she never fails to use her writing gift to create vibrant protagonists - all young women - and give them a voice that feels natural and a perspective that feels both believable and something you can get behind (or at least understand), even when you and those characters don't exactly see eye to eye. So, what I mean is, on the writing front this book is impeccable, and a thing to be savoured and revered in equal measure, and main character Talia's voice - as a kid, at 13, at 16 - is spot-on, conveying the innocence of someone who's grown up in an isolated, all-women enclave while at the same time (and for that very reason) allowing her to make insightful remarks about "civilization"'s flaws and all the ways it can fail (or more like vilify) the female gender. [...]