Tell Me Something Tuesday: What Are Things That Annoy You Right Now in the Book Market?

Tell Me Something Tuesday is a weekly discussion post on Rainy Day Ramblings, where the blog's owner Heidi discusses a wide range of topics from books to blogging. Weigh in and join the conversation by adding your thoughts in the comments. If you want to do your own post, grab the question and answer it on your blog.

Here is what is on deck this week:

WHAT ARE THINGS THAT ANNOY YOU RIGHT NOW IN THE BOOK MARKET?

🤔 Every one of them? 😂

LOL, OK, maybe that was a little extreme. But what can I say - I'm a rebel at heart (I named my blog Offbeat YA for a reason...), plus, frankly, there are a bunch of book-selling strategies that I don't get AT ALL. They probably still work, because otherwise, the trends will show signs of deterioration and ultimately vanish into thin air - but for how much longer? Also, the book market is becoming more and more lazy in ways that are not let's-go-the-same-route-that-has-been-working-for-ages related. Here goes my rant...

Taste the Books: Review Morsels #7 Seanan McGuire, Karen Healey, Barbara Stewart

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. 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! So, here goes...

Tell Me Something Tuesday: Do You Still Accept Review Requests? Why or Why Not?

Tell Me Something Tuesday is a weekly discussion post on Rainy Day Ramblings, where the blog's owner Heidi discusses a wide range of topics from books to blogging. Weigh in and join the conversation by adding your thoughts in the comments. If you want to do your own post, grab the question and answer it on your blog.

Here is what is on deck this week:

DO YOU STILL ACCEPT REVIEW REQUESTS? WHY OR WHY NOT?

Short answer: I do, but with caution.
As of now, I've been blogging for five years and a half. Back when I started, the only thing I wanted was to give an outlet to books that I deemed worthy, but weren't as popular as they deserved IMO. They were all bought books, of course. I didn't even have a review policy at the time - as a newbie blogger, it didn't cross my mind that someone would go out of their way in order to offer me free (e)books. But, go figure - someone actually did.

Tell Me Something Tuesday: Do You Prefer Series or Standalone?

Tell Me Something Tuesday is a weekly discussion post on Rainy Day Ramblings, where the blog's owner Heidi discusses a wide range of topics from books to blogging. Weigh in and join the conversation by adding your thoughts in the comments. If you want to do your own post, grab the question and answer it on your blog.

Here is what is on deck this week:

DO YOU PREFER SERIES OR STANDALONE?

The short answer is, I honestly don't have a preference. As long as the story needs a certain space to unfold, I'm on board with either of them. Of course, there are authors (sometimes at their publisher's gunpoint, so to speak) who capitalise on writing a number of books where the story could probably have been cut shorter. Then again, I sometimes read reviews for standalone books where the reader complains about them being 100 pages too long or something, so I suppose it can go either way 😉.

Whichever gif I'm looking for, I always seem to end up with a Who one. BUT no Tennant this time! Such restraint on my part 😅.

Joshua Winning: "Vicious Rumer" (ARC Review - Blog Tour Review)

Blog tour calendar - follow the Twitter handles!
(BTW, I love how vibrant the cover is, even if it clashes with my equally vibrant blog colours 😅).

Title: Vicious Rumer [on Amazon | on Goodreads]
Series: None
Author: Joshua Winning [Site | Goodreads]
Genres: Thriller/Mystery
Year: 2018
Age: 15+, or at least mature 14+ (this is NA - the protagonist is 19)
Stars: 3/5
Pros: Never a dull moment. A damaged lead you can root for.
Cons: The short-sentence style probably fits the book, but may not work for everyone. The main villain is a bit over-the-top.
WARNING! Violence and gore.
Will appeal to: Readers who like action and unhinged but resourceful heroines.

Blurb: Scraping by working for a dingy London detective agency, Rumer lives in the shadow of her mother, a violent criminal dubbed the ‘Witch Assassin’. Raised by foster families who never understood her and terrified she could one day turn into her mother, Rumer has become detached and self-reliant. But when she’s targeted by a vicious mobster who believes she’s hiding an occult relic, she’s drawn into the very world she’s been fighting to avoid. Hunted by assassins and haunted by her mother’s dark legacy, Rumer must also confront a terrible truth: that she’s cursed, because no matter what she does, everybody she’s ever grown close to has died screaming. (Goodreads excerpt)

Review: First off...DISCLAIMER: I was offered a review copy by the author. This didn't influence my review.

ON THE EDGE

I don't read a lot of modern thrillers - old-time mysteries are more my thing (think Agatha Christie and her tribe). But this story appealed to me because 1) it promised a damaged but kickass heroine, and 2) there might, or might there? be a supernatural angle to it. Now, I believe that my rating reflects more my personal genre tastes than the actual quality of this work, plus some things went definitely in a different direction than I expected (I can't be more specific here because SPOILERS). Then again, I don't regret reading this one, and to be honest, I found myself on the edge of my seat a few times following Rumer's (mis)adventures, though of course she had to make it somehow - at least till the end of the book 😉. But then again, at what cost? The story doesn't spare her danger and pain, and we get to see how resourceful she is in spite of that, but we have no idea how much more damaged, or alone, she may become in the end... [...]