Taste the Books: Review Morsels #35 Lamar Giles, Andrew J. Brandt, Scotto Moore

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 (though for anthologies, shorter books or books that I didn't enjoy/I don't have enough to say about, I decided to stick to minis). 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!

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

Unplanned Hiatus (But With Scheduled Posts)

Hi sweeties,

just a quick announcement...I'm having a home emergency at the moment, so I won't be able to post and interact with you for a while (barred the occasional tweet). My husband is fighting a nasty foot ulcer, and since he's an amputee in his other leg (as some of you may remember), he's not only home from work, but forced to stay in bed or sit until it heals. So, I'm not only acting as a caregiver more than usual, but also going on errands - though with some assistance from my dad, who, unlike me, (still) drives - and my days are extenuating. If I hadn't been laid off, I'd have had to ask for a leave of absence by now.

As for the blog, you'll still see my posts, since I have the whole month covered already. I'll do my best to reply to your comments, but I won't be able to return the favour for a few weeks, because there aren't enough hours in a day for that. Also, I have a digital ARC (my last one for now) to read and review by next month, and I'm still trying to find time for that Excel online course, and I'm unbelievably tired (plus it's still HOT, and you know how it drains me). I'll most definitely update you at the beginning of October, via my Offbeat Offline post. Please be patient with me for now, and may September treat you better than it's doing me 😭 🧡.

Gemma Amor: "Full Immersion" (ARC Review)

Title: Full Immersion [on Amazon | on Goodreads]
Series: None
Author: Gemma Amor [Site | Goodreads]
Genres: Sci-Fi
Year: 2022
Age: 18+
Stars: 4/5
Pros: Unusual, imaginative blend of real-life issues and sci-fi/horror. The visuals jump off the page.
Cons: The dialogue feels a bit contrived at times. A couple of alleged reveals are easy to figure out in advance (though maybe not early on).

WARNING! (TW list provided by the author): Suicidal idealisation. Post-natal depression. Implied acts of violence towards a child. Birth scene. (More): Graphic gore. Bodily fluids.

Will appeal to: Readers who like speculative fiction rooted in real-life scenarios. Mothers who have struggled with post-natal depression and intrusive thoughts. Family members who have witnessed such situations.

Blurb: When Magpie discovers her own dead body one misty morning in Bristol, it prompts her to uncover the truth of her untimely demise. Her investigations take her on a terrifying journey through multiple realities, experimental treatments, technological innovations and half-memories in a race against time and sanity. Accompanied by a new friend who is both familiar and strange, and constantly on the run from the terrifying, relentless presence of the mysterious predator known only as Silhouette, Magpie must piece together the parts of her life previously hidden. In doing so, she will discover the truth about her past, her potential, and her future. (Goodreads)

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

VIRTUAL FEAST

Full Immersion is one of the most unique novels I've ever read. It takes an unflinching look at the still taboo issue of post-partum depression, and it does so through the lens of an imaginative (if far-out) virtual-reality setting where horror and beauty go hand in hand, and whose effects on the real world are...deliciously disturbing (what can I say, I like my stuff dark 😂). After a few suicide attempts, the main character Magpie enrolls in an experimental VR program that should be able to get to the root of her suppressed trauma and - hopefully - force her to confront and overcome it. But the carefully curated scenario (which starts with the protagonist's discovery of her own dead body) soon gets a makeover, while Magpie and the mysterious friend she met at her death site take unaccounted-for routes (some of them in order to escape the ominous Silhouette) and the program begins to infiltrate reality...quite literally. [...]

Offbeat Offline: August 2022

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 Seanan McGuire full immersion, a perm touch-up and...more heat. Also, I had to trash my TMST post for August 30th (Which Books Are You Looking Forward to Reading This Fall?) because in my customising frenzy I messed up with the code (or maybe more like, Blogger finally lost it on me 😂), and I didn't feel like starting the post anew. Then again, later I noticed that some of my previous, similarly long (and heavily coded) posts have the same problem that the TMST one had - if I look at them in the HTML editor window, from halfway through all the text is in black, instead of showing the different part of the codes involved in different colours with only the actual post content in black (I don't know if I'm making sense...). I mean, the codes WORK - but I wonder if they're going to stand the test in case Blogger makes more changes in the future like the one where I almost lost all my reviews a few years ago 😱. I save everything, but I could never go back and replace ALL my posts if the worst happened...Anyhow, it's clear that Blogger can't handle long posts without freaking out LOL. Maybe it's trying to tell me something...Anyhow, onto my August recap!

Taste the Books: Review Morsels #34 Seanan McGuire: "Velveteen vs." 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 NOT taking a break from writing long reviews - no such luck LOL (though for anthologies, shorter books or books that I didn't enjoy/I don't have enough to say about, I decided to stick to minis). 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!

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

Please note: these short stories (mind you, NOT graphic short stories) were first published on Seanan McGuire's LiveJournal from 2008 to 2017. The three volumes came out in 2012, 2013 and 2016 - so, apparently, the author had been sharing the ones collected in Velveteen vs. The Seasons after the very book came out...Then again, the hardcover was a limited edition, and the whole series something akin to a collector's item, so I suppose it makes sense. If you're interested in these stories but can't find the books on sale anywhere, you can read them on Seanan's site (the ones from the first installment only) and/or on her LiveJournal (all of them - starting from the last post on the page I linked and scrolling up from there, then clicking on "Next 50" at the top of the page, which will redirect you to a second page with the last batch of stories). Also, keep in mind that the last LiveJournal story, Velveteen vs. Recovery, wasn't included in the third and (for now?) last book - I assume that it should have been the opening story in a new collection, but there weren't enough readers/publishers interested in the project to keep it going, which is a shame...because Velveteen is great (even if you aren't a fan of superheroes), and because this way we'll never get the answers we need about a lot of things...

P.S.: for the sake of completeness - McGuire allowed author Marion G. Harmon to use Velveteen and her universe for an installment in her Wearing the Cape series called Team-Ups and Crossovers.