January 2026 Community Posts!

Dini @ dinipandareads3 Comments

Hello, book pandas. Even though I’ve only missed one month with these community posts, it feels like it’s been a hot minute since then (seriously, so much has happened in such a short amount of time and I’m baffled that it’s still February). But I digress.

I had a few posts that were flagged for my December wrap-up, and I didn’t do as much blog hopping as I wanted to in January, so today’s post is going to be a combo for December & January. Hopefully, February will see me getting back to things as scheduled!

On that note, let’s take a look at these community posts! I hope you’ll take the time to visit some of these creators and show them the appreciation they deserve. ✨📖 Happy Reading 📖✨

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Sundays in Bed With… #MyWeeklyWrapUp [315]

Dini @ dinipandareads5 Comments

We’re back with another Sundays in Bed With… meme! This meme dares to ask you what book has been in your bed this morning and is hosted by Midnight Book Girl. Come share what book you’ve spent your time reading in bed or wish you had time to read today.

I finished my last read earlier this evening and now I’m trying to decide what I want to read next. I want to pick up something by a Black author for Black History Month, and I’m tossing it up between the five below. I’ve read The Nickel Boys when it first came out, but I’ve been meaning to re-read it. The Write Escape and What It Means will fulfill reading challenge prompts for this month. I’m unsure what I’m in the mood for, tbh!

Yellow Wife by Sadeqa Johnson, The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead, What It Means When a Man Falls from the Sky by Lesley Nneka Arimah, The Write Escape by Charish Reid, Always and Forever by Beverly Jenkins

Have you read any of these (and if so, would you recommend it)? What book are you spending your Sunday in bed with?

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Let’s Talk Bookish: Reading with Friends

Dini @ dinipandareads4 Comments

✨ Welcome back to another week of LTB! ✨

Let’s Talk Bookish is a weekly meme created by Rukky @Eternity Books and co-hosted by Aria @Book Nook Bits and myself! In this discussion meme, participants get to talk about certain topics, share opinions, and spread the love by visiting each other’s posts! Learn more about LTB, past topics and future topics HERE.

This week’s topic is:

Reading with Friends

Prompts: Do you enjoy buddy reading or participating in group reads? If you do, what do you like most about them? Do you prefer reading 1-1 or in a big group? For those who might not have access to in-person group reads, do you have a recommendation about where to join online reading groups?

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Monthly Wrap-Up: January 2026

Dini @ dinipandareads11 Comments

She blinked and somehow January was already over. I spent the first (almost) 2 weeks of the month in Sri Lanka attending a friend’s wedding, ringing in the new year, and going on a mini-beach vacation. It was jarring to fly back to reality because my brain had basically been checked out since Christmas 2025, and I had to remind myself what days and dates were a little too quickly for my liking, lol. 😂 Coming back to work after close to 3-weeks away wasn’t fun—especially since I was thrown straight into the deep end—but we survived. Despite passing so quickly I can’t believe it’s over, January also felt like a decade long. There was so much chaos and heartbreak in the news. I’m sending so much strength and support to my friends on the other side of the world! I hope everyone is taking care and doing as okay as can be. 🫂

Here’s a small January photo dump:

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#TopTenTuesday: “N”-ticing Titles

Dini @ dinipandareads38 Comments

We’re back with another Top Ten Tuesday, a weekly meme hosted by Jana @ That Artsy Reader Girl.

This week’s topic is a: Book Covers Featuring Cool/Pretty/Unique/etc. Typography (Typography is the art of arranging letters so they look visually appealing and more interesting than, for example, the body text of this blog post you’re reading now. I did a similar post to this a few years ago, so if you need inspiration on what I’m talking about click here to have a look.)

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Book Review: The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi by Shannon Chakraborty

Dini @ dinipandareads15 Comments

The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi (Amina al-Sirafi #1)
Publisher: Orbit
Pub Date: 17 May 2022
Genre: Young Adult Fantasy

Panda Rating:

(5 pandas)

📖 SYNOPSIS

Loulie al-Nazari is the Midnight Merchant: a criminal who, with the help of her jinn bodyguard, hunts and sells illegal magic. When she saves the life of a cowardly prince, she draws the attention of his powerful father, the sultan, who blackmails her into finding an ancient lamp that has the power to revive the barren land—at the cost of sacrificing all jinn.

With no choice but to obey or be executed, Loulie journeys with the sultan’s oldest son to find the artifact. Aided by her bodyguard, who has secrets of his own, they must survive ghoul attacks, outwit a vengeful jinn queen, and confront a malicious killer from Loulie’s past. And, in a world where story is reality and illusion is truth, Loulie will discover that everything—her enemy, her magic, even her own past—is not what it seems, and she must decide who she will become in this new reality.

Inspired by stories from One Thousand and One Nights, The Stardust Thief weaves the gripping tale of a legendary smuggler, a cowardly prince, and a dangerous quest across the desert to find a legendary, magical lamp.

⚠️ CONTENT/TRIGGER WARNINGS

Blood, gore, death of a parent, genocide, torture, kidnapping

And with that, we have our first 5-star read of 2026! 🎉 Excuse this rambly review — I wrote it fresh off finishing the book so my main thoughts were: LOVED IT SO MUCH. EVERYONE NEEDS TO READ THIS. I WANT MORE ASAP. 😂

TL;DR: All the hype you’ve heard about The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi were spot on. This was a swashbuckling good time and I’m so sad that it had to end (seriously, can’t wait until book two is out)! With an incredibly vast, historically and culturally rich medieval setting, a world full of magic and the supernatural, and a crew of fantastic characters—with Amina at its heart—this is a story that will keep you up reading all night and racing to the end. If you love banter-filled adventure and all of the above, then you need check this out immediately!

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Sundays in Bed With… #MyWeeklyWrapUp [315]

Dini @ dinipandareads15 Comments

We’re back with another Sundays in Bed With… meme! This meme dares to ask you what book has been in your bed this morning and is hosted by Midnight Book Girl. Come share what book you’ve spent your time reading in bed or wish you had time to read today.

I haven’t had the chance to read at all today (more details on that below) but I plan to try to at least read a few pages of Some Desperate Glory by Emily Tesh. This is one of the books on my Illumicrate unread stack I’ll be buddy reading it with Chris. Since I had pretty great success with buddy reading backlist Owlcrate books last year, I thought this’d be a fun way for us to get motivated and move some of these books off the TBR pile!

What book are you spending your Sunday in bed with?

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Let’s Talk Bookish: January Freebie!

Dini @ dinipandareads15 Comments

✨ Welcome back to another week of LTB! ✨

Let’s Talk Bookish is a weekly meme created by Rukky @Eternity Books and co-hosted by Aria @Book Nook Bits and myself! In this discussion meme, participants get to talk about certain topics, share opinions, and spread the love by visiting each other’s posts! Learn more about LTB, past topics and future topics HERE.

This week’s topic is:

Freebie!

Prompts: For the fifth Friday of the month, pick your own topic. You can check out our blogs for inspiration (Aria and Dini) or write about something else you’re interested in! 

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ARC Review: Better the Devil by Erik J. Brown

Dini @ dinipandareads3 Comments

Special thanks to Sparkpoint Studio and Storytide for providing a digital ARC via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review!

Better the Devil
Publisher: Storytide
Publication Date: 20 January 2026
Genre: Young Adult Psychological Thriller

Panda Rating:

(3 pandas)

📖 SYNOPSIS

A harrowing, edge-of-your-seat psychological thriller about a queer homeless teen who, in a bid for safety, assumes the identity of a boy who went missing ten years ago…only to find that his new home is anything but a safe haven—from All That’s Left in the World author Erik J. Brown! Perfect for fans of Karen McManus, Holly Jackson, and Ryan La Sala.

When a runaway teen is arrested for shoplifting, he’s desperate not to be sent back to the hyper-religious parents he knows will never accept him. While at the police station, he notices a resemblance to the aged-up photos of Nate Beaumont, a child who went missing ten years ago—and, in a moment of desperation, he takes Nate’s identity in hopes that it will help him make a quick getaway.

Before he can run again, Nate’s family arrives and welcomes him home to a life he never had. As “Nate” watches and waits for his chance to run, he finds that the Beaumonts are nurturing and loving, very different from his own parents.

But soon unsettling things start to happen—vandalism, alarms going off in the middle of the night—and it becomes clear that someone knows “Nate” isn’t who he says he is…and that the real Nate wasn’t kidnapped, but murdered.

As he starts to unravel the mystery, he gets ever closer to the devil he may know—and learns he might be their next victim.

⚠️ CONTENT/TRIGGER WARNINGS

Murder, blood, mild gore, killing of animals (recounted), physical abuse, conversion therapy (mentioned), homomisia, torture

TL;DR: Better the Devil wasn’t exactly what I thought it would be. The title, cover, and synopsis led me to expect a slightly more “horror” take on a psychological thriller. While maybe that was my misinterpretation, I do think this wound up being much less thrilling than I wanted. This was a very slow-paced mystery thriller, and while there were interesting parts, I didn’t find that enough happened to make those 400 pages feel worth it.

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