2015 Wrap-Up, Holidays Mini-Hiatus and a Look at My Blogging Future...

Hello my sweet Christmas angels! (Erm...too much? LOL).

Welcome to my last post of the year, which will resemble my last post of 2014, in what it will be divided in three sections. Here's where I recapitulate my 2015 in blogging (slower than 2014...), list my upcoming goals (so that I can un-meet them again), and inform you of my little leave of absence (because I need an excuse for slacking, and what better than Christmas holidays?). Oh, and of course, there will be the usual season-greetings-filled space in the end :). So, here goes...

Pt. 1: This Year in Blogging

As of today, I've been blogging for 3 years and a couple of months. Feels great!

This is what happened on Offbeat YA during the year, broken down by number of posts, events I took part in, books I reviewed, authors I interacted with and discussion posts I wrote...

My Open Letter to Santa: Things I Hope I WON'T Get in 2016 (Bookish Edition)

Dear Santa,

I've been a good (old) girl this year. I totally behaved. You know that.

So you probably think I'm going to ask for an adequate amount of presents as a reward for being so nice. Well, it's funny, but I'm not. I suppose it's a first for you.

On the other hand, I would hold that sigh of relief if I were you. Because what I'm asking for might prove to be a much more daunting task.

You see, I really hope you can grant my wish of NOT getting a number of things in 2016 - when it comes to books, that is. Here's my list of most annoying bookish things, and I trust that you will do anything in your power in order to get the written world rid of them. Thanks in advance.

Jessica Warman: "Between"

Title: Between [on Amazon | on Goodreads]
Series: None - but you can read a short spin-off story (that takes place a few years after the events recounted in this book) here. Honestly, it falls a bit flat...
Author: Jessica Warman [Site | Goodreads]
Genres: Afterlife, Contemporary, Thriller/Mystery
Year: 2011
Age: 14+
Stars: 3.5/5
Pros: Rich story where the characters are peeled off layer by layer. Ghosts revisiting their past is a format that never gets old.
Cons: Even if some of them actually learn a few lessons along the way (dead ones included) and/or had it rough, characters are difficult to empathise with.
WARNING! Doing/selling drugs and the sexual exploitation of a minor are referenced, albeit not actually described. Eating disorder and the tragic death of a parent are portrayed in detail. The story also features drunk driving (and its fatal outcome).
Will appeal to: Those who like problem books and don't shun disturbing themes. Those who don't mind deeply flawed characters.

Blurb: Elizabeth Valchar - pretty, popular, perfect - wakes up after spending her eighteenth birthday party on her family's yacht to investigate a thumping noise. What she finds will change everything she thought she knew about her life, her friends, and everything in between. As Liz begins to unravel the circumstances surrounding her birthday night, she will find that no one around her, least of all Liz herself, was perfect - or innocent. (Amazon)

Review: This is one of those difficult books to review. On one hand, I did like the story (especially the trips to the past, that may not be regarded as time travel instances technically, but retain the feel of them) and I do think it's important that certain themes aren't glossed over in YA fiction. On the other, nearly everyone in this story is flawed or damaged, our heroine included, which makes for a bumpy trip. And I can't entirely buy the excuse for some of those flaws, because to me, not even a tragedy of the lack of love in your life can totally account for your becoming a bad or shallow person. Of course, this is just my opinion, and I don't have anything to back it with - but it explains my issues with this story.
Liz is your average rich and bratty teen, who, after celebrating her 18th birthday party with a selected group of friends, wakes up dead, with no clue of how it happened. While still processing the harsh reality of her new state, Liz finds that she has company in death: Alex, one of the unpopular kids at school, who died a year before in a driving accident. Given their opposite social statuses, the two of them have never been friends, and Liz - who, on top of everything, can't seem to remember vital pieces of her past - is not thrilled about spending the aftermath of her own death in such company. Not to mention, Alex's demeanor toward her is considerably bitter. Nevertheless, there must be a reason why death paired them together, and it's up to them to solve the mystery, along with the one regarding Liz's death...
Now, like I said, I did like this story, especially the parts where Liz and Alex get to revisit moments of their past. They have a nice time-travel feel, and with Liz (who narrates the story) we also experiment a juxtaposition of her past and present self, getting a double perspective while she realises the wrongs in what she did - or others did to her. But as a ghost, Liz is also given the chance to uncover several unexpected (and painful) secrets about her fake-perfect family and friends, and herself too, which may ultimately hold the key to her untimely death - not to mention, to the reason why she's still stuck on Earth with an unlikely companion... [...]

A Shocking Revelation + Christopher Pike on Wattpad!

Ha! I got your attention with that title, didn't I?

What am I about to reveal on this fine day?

.....[SUSPENSE].....

Just that I'm going senile. Because on Oct. 14th, while I was writing this post, Offbeat YA was turning 3 and I didn't even notice O_O.

It's funny, because I did celebrate my first blogoversary, and no one was around to throw confetti or, well, post a comment. And I also celebrated my second (which went a little better, because by that time, I had a few friends or acquaintances in the blogging world), going as far as to do a survey of my first two years...Then, this year, I drew a blank. Maybe a psychoanalyst might explain it to me...

It's even more funny if you think that, in the meantime, I was already compiling my end-of-the-year survey!

Anyway. I have a piece of news for you. Less than three weeks ago, Christopher Pike joined Wattpad. Now, you all know I don't like Facebook, so I was happy to find out that one of my favourite authors had an online presence on a site where I could actually talk to him. So, a few days ago - when I discovered that he was on there - I posted a long comment on Mr. Pike's profile...this one:

Hello Mr. Pike,
I'm really excited to meet you here...since you are on Facebook and I'm not, I thought I'd never had the chance to tell you how much I love your books (though I have to be honest – a small number of them I'm not crazy about, but those that I do like, that is the vast majority, I love with a fierce passion). I am a 49 y.o. Italian woman, and I'm not ashamed to say I blog about YA books, because let's face it - YA has something in it for everyone, even old girls like me :). To be precise, your book Remember Me is to blame for my foray into YA fiction, and consequently, the YA blogging world...I read it in Italian around 20 years ago, because the blurb drew me like a magnet. And I fell in love. More recently, I've begun to purchase all your available books in English (RM included), though there are not as many around as I would like. I hope Simon & Schuster is going to repackage all you catalogue and publish them again, because I do want to read everything you've written.
Like I said, I set up a blog (in English) where I review YA novels old and new, but whose aim is mainly to spotlight the most original and less talked about YA gems out there – hence the name Offbeat YA. Of course, I couldn’t help devoting a whole section of my blog to your catalogue :). And of course, the very first book that I reviewed was Remember Me :). The Thirst series and The Season of Passage are other huge favourites of mine, but Remember Me will be in my heart forever. You were a pioneer, fleshing out your Sita and Shari back when no one was writing about vampires, and especially about dead girls :). I also love the insights into your books that you provide on Facebook (thanks to the admins for having made the page public), and I hope you'll go on posting them. Thank you and Simon & Schuster for giving us the chance to connect!
Best of luck with you new book!
Roberta (Italy)

Author Interview: GL Tomas ("The Sterling Wayfairer Series")

Hello my lovelies!
Today I'm sitting (so to speak) with two long-time blogger friends who have recently made a break into the writing world. Meet Guinevere and Libertad Tomas - or, more concisely, GL Tomas - proud owners of the Twinja Book Reviews and Rebellious Cupid Book Reviews blogs, and even more proud champions of all kinds of diversity in books (which imbues both their blogs anyway!).
GL Tomas have just self-published their first novel The Mark of Noba, which is also book 1 in The Sterling Wayfairer Series. With them, I'll get to talk about not only the aforementioned saga, but also the whole writing process, the path to self-publishing, and diversity of course!

Before we get to know GL Tomas a little better, here's a spotlight on their ongoing debut series...

Title: The Sterling Wayfairer Series (4 books)
Authors: GL Tomas
Genres: Portal Fantasy (though fans refer to it as Sci-Fi too), Time Travel
Year: 2015+
Age: 14+
Available on: Paperback and Kindle
The Mark of Noba (book 1 in The Sterling Wayfairer Series) on Amazon | on Goodreads
The City of Fallen Stars (book 2 in The Sterling Wayfairer Series) on Goodreads [out in Spring 2016]

Blurb for The Mark of Noba: Sterling Wayfairer has one goal for his senior year: make his mark. He’s been slipping into the background his whole high school career - distracted by his mother’s mental health, unsettled by the vivid dreams that haunt him at night, and overshadowed by the athletic accomplishments of his popular best friends. But this year is going to be different. He’s going to break a few rules, have some fun, and maybe even work up the nerve to ask his crush out on a date.
But things don’t go exactly as planned. Students are disappearing, Sterling starts losing time, and it all seems to center around Tetra, a girl no one else seems to notice but him. When he finally tracks her down for answers, they aren’t what he expects: he and Tetra hail from a world called Noba, and they’re being hunted by a Naga, a malevolent shapeshifter that’s marked them for destruction.
Tetra and Sterling have distinct abilities that can help them fight back, but their power depends heavily on the strength of their bond, a connection that transcends friendship, transcends romance. Years apart have left their bond weak. Jumpstarting it will require Sterling to open his heart and his mind and put his full trust in the mysterious Tetra.
If he doesn’t, neither of them will survive. (Amazon excerpt)

Interview: The Sterling Wayfairer Series is your first foray into fiction - but is The Mark of Noba the very first book you conceived? How long did it take to write? And what made you decide to split the saga in a total of four books?

It’s funny! The Mark of Noba is quite a new idea compared to other projects. We always had it in our head, that the first book or work we’d publish was a Adult High Fantasy (that we’re actually still working on! lol) but years of going through things have changed a bunch of the plot around.

The Mark of Noba only came a few years ago, in comparison to most our WIPs which we’ve had since teenagers. It did take a 2.5 years to write, but only because we greatly disagreed how the plot should go, how much back story we should include, which characters to focus on most, and many other dirty factors readers have no idea about!

A lot of your upbringing teaches you to think a certain way, and when we’d finished a 1st draft of The Mark of Noba, many of the characters were a little sexist. We couldn’t believe reading it back to ourselves, considering how much we try to combat sexism in our writing! So it was great that we sat on it for as long as we did.

The decision to split it into four books is based on how Tetra and Sterling’s story arc weakens or strengthens. What we have in store for them will make them see the world in new ways, and while we considered making it a trilogy, we would’ve crammed one of the most important parts about their past in Book 3, and it would feel very info-dump, lol.