Top 4 Underrated Series Roberta @ Offbeat YA Will Never Stop Shoving at People

This post is part of A Winter's Tale, an event running through December for which we invited eight of our favorite bloggers to talk about their favorite books, authors etc. or share an interesting discussion. They have gone all out and gave us even better, more professional content than we expected, which is to say something. If you're here, don't forget to enter our month-long international giveaway here.

Today, we are happy to welcome: 

Roberta from Offbeat YA!

We've been huge fans of Roberta and her blog for a long, long time now, so it was a no-brainer that we wanted her to be a part of this event- especially since this isn't Christmas-themed because - for those of you who don't know this already-  she isn't the biggest fan of Christmas ;) Anyhoo, we're happy to have Roberta here with us today and we love what she's come up with for us- hope you do too! 

                                                            

Hi Regal Readers! Roberta from Offbeat YA here. Vera was so kind as to ask me to participate in TRC's December event, and I jumped at the chance of spamming... I mean... creating content for this awesome blog. Since I'm passionate about indie/small pub/all along underappreciated gems in the YA field (hence my blog's name), I decided to talk about some of my favourite underrated series today. 

Please bear in mind that the only reason why a couple of them only have a handful of reviews on Goodreads is that small publishers don't have the resources to market their books - therefore, the authors ultimately decided to take matters into their own hands and give the series the ending they deserve, no matter what. (Plus, not everybody leaves reviews on Goodreads. Shocking, I know). So, when I say "in progress", it does mean the story will get wrapped up eventually! Soon or soon-ish. OK, end of rant. Here goes...

My Attempt to Embrace Winter {Sam from We Live and Breath Books}

This post is part of A Winter's Tale, an event running through December for which we invited eight of our favorite bloggers to talk about their favorite books, authors etc. or share an interesting discussion. They have gone all out and gave us even better, more professional content than we expected, which is to say something. If you're here, don't forget to enter our month-long international giveaway here.

Today, we are happy to welcome: 

Sam from We Live and Breath Books! 

I've been following WLaBB for quite a while, so Sam was pretty much a given when Clare and I first brainstormed for bloggers to invite. What I admire about her and her blog - besides the adorable sloth-theme which is 1000% precious - is the way she is able to engage her readers; no matter if she's reviewing books or discussing an interesting topic, it feels natural to join in on the conversation in the comments. - Vera 💙

Now, without further ado, here's Sam's post!

                                                                        

It’s that time of year. There’s a chill in the air, and the threat of snow is imminent — WINTER! 

A Winter's Tale - Opening Post + International Giveaway

Happy December, y'all! It's me, Ruzaika, making an entrance here quite a bit earlier than anticipated because the situation called for it- sounds glamorous, but not really, because it's the end of the year (like, where did the year even go, right?) and we're all suddenly busy trying to meet deadlines and survive what's left of the year and trying hard not to freak out and...well. I'm going off the course here. Let me rephrase.

What I meant to say is, Vera and Clare worked hard to bring together some of our favourite bloggers for a blogging event this month- quite alike what we did with A Christmas Story the past couple of years- but it's obviously Winter-themed here in order to make the grinches feel welcome (yes, Roberta, we're looking at you! xD), and to be inclusive of those who don't celebrate Christmas. We love ALL of you and know that centering an event around a holiday not everyone is celebrating is unfair. 

I'm here today to officially kickstart the event with a list of all the wonderful blogger-friends who will be guest-posting here throughout the course of the month.  Excited already? No? Well, you will be once you see the amazing people we have lined up for the month!

Without further ado, let me present- 

December Releases I'm Finding It Hard to Resist

December is the worst month of the year for someone with basically no self-control (obviously me). I'm broke from all the Christmas shopping but I so want to treat myself. Parks and Rec has not been a wholly positive influence it seems. Unfortunately for me (and my bank account) there are some pretty exciting books coming out in December and I am trying oh so very hard not to hit that buy button! 

A Gothic Suspense That Doesn't Quite Hit the Mark: A Dangerous Duet by Karen Odden

Nineteen-year-old Nell Hallam lives in a modest corner of Mayfair with her brother Matthew, an inspector at Scotland Yard. An exceptionally talented pianist, she aspires to attend the Royal Academy; but with tuition beyond their means, Nell sets out to earn the money herself—by playing piano in a popular Soho music hall. And the fact that she will have to disguise herself as a man and slip out at night to do it doesn’t deter her.

Spending evenings at the Octavian is like entering an alternate world, one of lively energy, fascinating performers, raucous patrons—and dark secrets. And when Nell stumbles upon the operations of an infamous crime ring working in the shadows of the music hall, she is drawn into a conspiracy that stretches the length of London. To further complicate matters, she has begun to fall for the hall owner's charismatic son, Jack, who has secrets of his own.

The more Nell becomes a part of the Octavian’s world, the more she risks the relationships with the people she loves. And when another performer is left for dead in an alley as a warning, she realizes her future could be in jeopardy in more ways than one.

My Interests Outside of Reading, Part 1: Youtube

One of my favorite things to read on other blogs are non-book related posts. No matter if they are about personal thoughts, hobbies or work/study related stuff, there's something super-cool about seeing different sides of my favorite bloggers. 

I figured you - even those who are here for the first time, in which case hello! - might want to see the same thing from me? I mean, I'm hella interesting and GREAT, so why on earth wouldn't you!? 

As part 1 of this enlightening series, I brought to you some of my favorite youtube channels; including booktube, unsolved murders, humorous and even some beauty channels. Basically, everything your heart could desire. YOU ARE WELCOME. 

My Goodreads Recommendations

I've been struggling to decide what to read lately so decided to dip into my goodreads recommendations and see what they think I want to read (and how accurate they are). I'll be looking at all the categories and seeing if any work for me! I've not really paid any attention to Goodreads recommendations before so this should be interesting.

Embracing my Negativity: The Books That Disappointed me in 2018

I had a fairly good reading year in 2018. I read a lot less than I'm used to reading but I don't think there was a single book that I hated? So I'll take that as a win! There were, however, quite a few books that fell just short of my expectations and left me feeling very disappointed. These are all books I was SUPER excited for that just... were fine.

Anything but Books Tag

Personal posts are one of my favorite things to read on the blogs I follow - there's something fun in seeing behind 'the reader' part of bloggers. 

I've been trying to make my posts - including reviews, lists, recaps etc. - more personal, and I have some non-book related posts lined up for you, as well as (book related) discussions and other fun things that will show my personality more than reviews do.

To start off these, I've decided to share a totally non-book related post today, and what is more perfect than the 'Anything But Books Tag'!?

Beating the Backlist: Titles We Loved in 2018 & Titles We Still Want To Read

As bloggers who pay attention to book-twitter, goodreads and who read quiet a few blogs, Clare and I are quite conscious of new releases. That, of course, means that our tbrs are not only ridiculously long, but we also are filled with new releases that are a lot harder to ignore than backlist titles. To work on tackling more backlist titles, Clare and I both signed up for Beat the Backlist in 2018, and I'm pleased to say that it definitely motivated me to read more of my older titles.

To showcase that we'll both be sharing four backlist titles we loved and adored in 2018 and four that we still need to read.