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.)
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)
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.
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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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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✨ 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:
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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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)
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.
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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Hello, hello and welcome back to another episode of WWW Wednesday, a weekly meme hosted by Sam @ Taking On A World of Words, which means I’ll be answering these questions:
We’re back with another Top Ten Tuesday, a weekly meme hosted by Jana @ That Artsy Reader Girl.
This week’s topic is: Bookish Discoveries I Made in 2025 (New-to-you authors you discovered, new genres you learned you like, new bookish resources you found, friends you made, local bookshops you found, a book club you joined, etc.)
The Stardust Thief (The Sandsea Trilogy #1)
Publisher: Orbit
Pub Date: 17 May 2022
Genre: Young Adult Fantasy
Panda Rating:
(4.5 pandas)
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.
Blood, gore, death of a parent, genocide, torture, kidnapping
TL;DR: I adored The Stardust Thief immensely! I was reeled in almost immediately as this world that felt like a grand oasis in the midst of an endless desert unfolded before us. This story was refreshing, fast-paced, and action-packed as our characters make their way across the desert. I loved getting stories within a story, the jinn magic, and the characters too! I’ve always been interested in the tales from the 1001 Arabian Nights, which I found brutal, captivating, and magical, and I think Abdullah captures that feeling and authenticity in these pages as well. This was a lush debut with delightful twists and turns, and I can’t wait to continue the series cos I’m dying to know what happens next.
Read More » 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’ll be spending the rest of my Sunday in bed reading A Man for Mrs. Claus. Now, I know this cover’s illustration is… A little raunchy, which might lead people to think that this is all smut erotica and not a contemporary romance. I’m pleasantly surprised to find that, so far (36%), it’s not smutty at all. There’s plenty of flirting and innuendo, but the “The Bachelorette with Mrs. Claus” vibe is well-written, sexy, and a lot of fun. I’m totally here for it!
What book are you spending your Sunday in bed with?
Read More » ✨ 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:
Suggested by: Leyre @ Read You Leyre
Prompts: What makes a book “underrated”? Did you read any books in 2025 that you think are underrated? Did you read any books with underrated tropes (or micro tropes) or genres? What are some of your favourite “underrated” reads from 2025 and of all time?
dinipandareads 