Bookish Thoughts: Book Reviewers

May 13, 2019August 27, 2024 Dini @ dinipandareads9 Comments

Earlier today, I read a post about reviewers written by Ally @Ally Writes Things and it had me reflecting on my own thoughts about the subject. I really enjoyed Ally’s discussion post from last week about different types of reviewers. In it, she identified seven types of reviewers, and I think I’m a mix between two: ‘The Friendly Reviewer’ and ‘Easy to Please’. It’s funny how accurate these descriptions are for the different reviewer types. Check out her post to see if you can identify what type of reviewer you are!

Friendly + Easy to please Reviewer:

Is easily distracted by good writing
Only notices major issues when they’re pointed out by other reviews
“I thought the plot was boring and the characters were just okay, but I loved the writing. Four and a half stars.”
Will drag your favourite book if they didn’t like it, but will do it nicely
Honestly, even when they hate a book, it will be worded in the nicest way possible
Will still probably rate that book 2 stars
If they love a book, it’s just 600 words of them gushing non-stop about everything

This post actually brought back to mind something that I’ve questioned myself about over the last few weeks, and maybe it speaks to my insecurities as a somewhat new reviewer and blogger with little to no literary background other than my passion and love for reading. But sometimes I question whether I can call myself a “book reviewer” because I feel like about 80% of the time I’m only reflecting on how the book made me feel and what it made me think. Of course I do talk about the writing style, structure, pacing etc., but I don’t know much about the literary terms that are used to ‘critique’ books, so I tend to focus on what I do know.

The reason I thought of this is because I read someone comment that they also do the same thing (talk about how a book made them think/feel), but because of that they don’t consider themselves a book reviewer. That really got me thinking: does this make me any less of a book reviewer? I’ve only “recently” (read: one year) started to write reviews and one of the reasons I got this blog was to work on how I read and reflect on books. Maybe I’m biased (lol) but I don’t think it does because when you’re writing a review for a book you just finished, some of the elements you consider are how you felt connected to the storyline and the characters, whether that be emotionally, mentally or otherwise. Right?

What are your thoughts on this? Am I just letting my insecure thoughts consume me or have you ever wondered the same? Also, what type of reviewer are you? Let me know your thoughts in the comments!

Blog signature that reads: Let's Chat! xoxo, Dini

Sundays in Bed With… #MyWeeklyWrapUp [05]

May 12, 2019December 4, 2022 Dini @ dinipandareads4 Comments

It’s the end of another weekend and I’m kind of boggled at how it’s already almost the middle of the month? How does this keep happening? 😂 We’re back with another Sundays In Bed With… meme, which dares to ask you what book has been in your bed this morning! This meme is hosted by Midnight Book Girl. Come share what book you’ve been you’ve spent time curled up reading in bed with, or which book you wish you had time to read today!

This Sunday morning I woke up and immediately started reading my new book: Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng. I’ve had this book on my shelf for quite a while and for reasons unknown I just haven’t picked it up until now. I think maybe all the hype around it is what put me off reading it right away, which is normally the case for me with overhyped books. I get FOMO but then question whether I’ll love it as much as everyone else. Definite first world bookworm problems! 😂 This will also be my first book for the #AsianReadathon, which I’m excited to participate in because as an Asian, I’m very embarrassed to admit that I don’t read very many Asian authors… Not on purpose though, I just don’t consciously diversify my reads, but I’m working on changing this from this month onward! Although I just started this book after midnight, I’m already about 30% through. I can feel the tension building up between the characters and I can just imagine how it’ll all explode. I have a feeling I’ll be wanting to read this well into the night tonight, and I can already see why everyone raves about this book. I have a feeling I’ll love it too!

What are you currently reading?

For the first time in a long time I’m not actually mad that the weekend is practically over because my bestie is coming up from Brisbane on Wednesday next week and we’re going to spend six days in a gorgeous villa to work on our tans by the pool/beach, to read all the books, to eat/drink all the food and cocktails, and to celebrate my birthday 🥳 I’M SO FREAKING EXCITED!! That said, there’s a good chance I might go MIA on the blogosphere next week because I’m not sure how much energy I will have after lying in the sun all day? Jokes! Sort of… I’m hoping to schedule some posts for the week tomorrow evening, but I’m pretty bad at that, so we’ll see how it goes. For now, just in case you missed it, here are the posts I’ve made this week:

Review: Little Darlings by Melanie Golding
Friday Favorites: Books That Were Recommended to You
Birthday Month Book Haul #1
#WWWWednesday: 08 May
Top Ten Tuesday: Characters That Remind Me of Myself
Review: All Your Perfects by Colleen Hoover

How are your May reads coming along? Are you participating in the#AsianReadathon too? Hope you’re all having a great weekend 🙂

ARC Review: Little Darlings by Melanie Golding

May 12, 2019May 1, 2021 Dini @ dinipandareads7 Comments

Goodreads: Little Darlings
Publisher: Crooked Lane Books
Publish date: 30 April 2019
Genre: Mystery/Thriller, Supernatural Thriller
Rating: ★★★½

“Mother knows best” takes on a sinister new meaning in this unsettling thriller perfect for fans of Neil Gaiman, Grimms’ Fairy Tales, and Aimee Molloy’s The Perfect Mother.

Everyone says Lauren Tranter is exhausted, that she needs rest. And they’re right; with newborn twins, Morgan and Riley, she’s never been more tired in her life. But she knows what she saw: that night, in her hospital room, a woman tried to take her babies and replace them with her own…creatures. Yet when the police arrived, they saw no one. Everyone, from her doctor to her husband, thinks she’s imagining things. A month passes. And one bright summer morning, the babies disappear from Lauren’s side in a park. But when they’re found, something is different about them. The infants look like Morgan and Riley—to everyone else. But to Lauren, something is off. As everyone around her celebrates their return, Lauren begins to scream, These are not my babies. Determined to bring her true infant sons home, Lauren will risk the unthinkable. But if she’s wrong about what she saw…she’ll be making the biggest mistake of her life.

Oh wow, this one really took me ages to read! I think I kind of psyched myself out of reading it because it’s a supernatural thriller and the supernatural isn’t really my jam. I had no clue when I read the blurb that it would have these elements, I honestly thought it would be about a woman who was suffering from postpartum depression or something along those lines. I don’t really see this as a thriller but perhaps more of folk tale inspired slow burn mystery. That said, I don’t think my apprehension to read this affected how I felt about the story. I didn’t dislike it, but it did fill me with a lot of anxiety, though I enjoyed the uncertainty of not knowing what was real and what wasn’t.

The story is told in alternating perspectives between Lauren and Detective Sergeant Joanna Harper. Harper’s POV was pretty much standard police procedure and detective work, although there was a lot of personal conflict with her character. She felt pity for Lauren but also understood her situation as a mother, which led her to taking the leap and believing something that should’ve been completely ridiculous. Ultimately though it was for the wrong reasons and only added to make the situation worse.

Lauren’s anguish, depression and loneliness was palpable throughout the book. It left me feeling anxious about what would happen next, and sad for her character and what she was going through. My least favorite character in this novel was her husband, Patrick, who was honestly such a weak and spineless man; I wanted to push him off a cliff with how patronizing and selfish he was! To be honest though, since we only saw his character through Lauren’s eyes, I wasn’t sure whether he was really like that or if it what we saw was clouded by Lauren’s depression and mania.

Perhaps the reason why I didn’t absolutely love this story was because I don’t have children, and at this point in my life, I’m leaning towards not having any of my own. This story is fully about a mother’s love for her children and her willingness to do just about anything to get them back, and I couldn’t really connect with that anguish and desperation. While I’m not saying that it’s necessary to have children to understand the intensity of this novel and Lauren’s character, I think it definitely helps to connect with it.

I thought this was a fairly well-paced mystery, although certain parts in the middle really slowed it down for me and got boring. I liked how every chapter began with excerpts from various folk tales–it definitely added to the creepy supernatural vibe of the story. I will also admit that this was a lot less creepy than I thought, although many things to do with babies and the supernatural kind of freak me out in general 🙂 There ended up being quite a lot of elements in this story and at first I was wondering how Golding would tie it all together, especially when a new one was introduced so late in the book; but while the climax was slightly unrealistic, this was inspired by a folk tale so it fit with the overall story arc. One thing I will say is that this novel kept me guessing throughout and although I knew none of it could be real, I still couldn’t help but wondering “what if“. Overall, I’m impressed with how Melanie Golding packaged everything for a satisfying, if not slightly sad, conclusion.

Thanks to Netgalley and Crooked Lane Books for the free copy in exchange for a free copy. This book was published on 30 April 2019.

Friday Favourites: Books That Were Recommended to You

May 10, 2019May 1, 2021 Dini @ dinipandareads4 Comments

TGI-freaking-F, book lovers! It has been a week and I’m so so glad that it’s finally Friday because I can now read through the night without worrying about how I’m going to function as a hooman at work all day. That said, I recently discovered another meme that sounded fun and that I want to participate in weekly. Friday Favourites is hosted by Something of the Book and it’s where you get to share a list of all your favourites based on the list of prompts on her page. Sounds fun, right? This week’s prompt is: books that were recommended to you and became favourites.

A sad fact of my life is that there aren’t many people in it that read avidly or actually, read at all. Most of the time I’m the one that’s recommending books to people and while that gives me great pleasure, I often wish I had more people that can recommend reads to me too. Thank goodness for the book blogging/bookstagram community though, amiright? Admittedly, ever since becoming part of this community I’ve added a lot more recommended reads to my list, but I haven’t gotten around to reading them yet. I’m trash. But here is a short list of the ones I’ve read and loved!

Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon

When I first moved to Indonesia and did an internship at the UN, the book loving friends I made were from everywhere. They read books in English, French, German, and Spanish—it was intimidating and impressive! She was rereading The Shadow of the Wind in Spanish at the time, and demanded I pick it up ASAP when I said I had no clue who Zafon was. So I did, and the only regret I had was that I didn’t learn of him sooner! This book swept me away and took me on a beautiful gothic adventure involving a secret library, a mysterious author, murder, and romance. Zafon won me over big time!

Scar Tissue by Anthony Kiedis, Larry Sloman (Collaborator)

When I was at uni in Australia, one of my besties gushed about how amazing this book was and since I was a big fan of RHCP and Anthony Kiedis, I was more than willing to read it. I think this was the first non-fiction that I willingly picked up (and wasn’t required reading at school) and even more than 10 years on, I can still vividly remember certain details he shared about the music he wrote and life on the road as a rock star. I was definitely impressed!

Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell

One of my closest friends on the island recommended this to me after she finished reading it. I borrowed her copy and almost didn’t want to return it! To my delight, one of my besties in India had a rather beaten but well-loved copy and decided to mail it to me as a surprise because she knew how much I loved it after I finished. I have great friends 🙂 This was my introduction to Rainbow Rowell’s books and I haven’t looked back since.

A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara

My best friend recommended this to me while she was also reading it. She did mention how emotionally heavy and depressing it was, but she said it seemed like a book I would enjoy. Then I saw that heart-wrenching cover and I knew I had to pick it up. There are no words to describe what this book did to me. It was an insanely depressing read but these four friends, and Jude especially, took me on a journey through their friendship and lives that I will never forget. No question, this is one of my favorite books of all bookish time!

Normal People by Sally Rooney

Last year I read Conversations with Friends and disliked it so much that I didn’t think I’d ever pick up another book by Sally Rooney. When I finished CwF I went into a hardcore reading slump for several months—it wasn’t a fun time. However, this year a lot of book friends raved about how amazing it was and when a friend told me she really enjoyed it, despite feeling the same way about Rooney’s debut, I decided to give it a go. I’m so glad that I did because it became one of my favorite reads this year. I know both Marianne and Connell will stay with me for a long time!

What are some of your favourite books that were recommended to you? If you’d like to leave me book recommendations of your favourites, I’m always happy to add to more to my never ending TBR 😃

Birthday Month Book Haul #1

May 9, 2019May 9, 2019 Dini @ dinipandareads4 Comments

Not only are there are a large number of exciting new releases that are coming out this month, it’s also my birthday month, which means that I’m allowing myself to go a little wild on the book haul front. My bank account might not be loving this idea because compared to other (Western) countries where you can buy a lot of pre-loved and new books or for cheap, buying English books in Indonesia can get pretty expensive! As a book lover, this is one of the things that makes me pretty sad but I’m super lucky that I have a job that allows me to indulge in my passion for books!

To kick off my birthday month, I hit the bookstore last week without really having any intentions to buy a book (*cough*), let alone a small stack, but I was delighted to walk in and find that there was a 30% sale going on for a few books I’ve been excited to get my hands on for a while! Isn’t that just the best kind of surprise? 😃 I’m quite pleased with this first haul, especially since I got three well-loved non-fictions and a new book for the Asian Readathon. Have you read any of these?

Time’s Convert by Deborah Harkness
A passionate love story and a fascinating exploration of the power of tradition and the possibilities not just for change but for revolution, Time’s Convert channels the supernatural world-building and slow-burning romance that made the All Souls Trilogy instant bestsellers to illuminate a new and vital moment in history, and a love affair that will bridge centuries.

Educated by Tara Westover
Educated is an account of the struggle for self-invention. It is a tale of fierce family loyalty, and of the grief that comes from severing one’s closest ties. With the acute insight that distinguishes all great writers, Westover has crafted a universal coming-of-age story that gets to the heart of what an education is and what it offers: the perspective to see one’s life through new eyes, and the will to change it.

Dread Nation by Justina Ireland
Jane McKeene was born two days before the dead began to walk the battlefields of Gettysburg and Chancellorsville—derailing the War Between the States and changing America forever. In this new nation, safety for all depends on the work of a few, and laws like the Native and Negro Reeducation Act require certain children attend combat schools to learn to put down the dead. But there are also opportunities—and Jane is studying to become an Attendant, trained in both weaponry and etiquette to protect the well-to-do. It’s a chance for a better life for Negro girls like Jane. After all, not even being the daughter of a wealthy white Southern woman could save her from society’s expectations.

Free Food for Millionaires by Min Jin Lee
A young woman is torn between her Korean heritage and American upbringing. The elder daughter of working-class Korean immigrants, Casey inhabits a New York a world away from that of her parents. As Casey navigates an uneven course of small triumphs and spectacular failures, a clash of values, ideals and ambitions plays out against the colourful backdrop of New York society, its many layers, shades and divides… ‘Take Zadie Smith’s White Teeth, add the glamour of The Devil Wears Prada, and throw in a social commentary on modern identity crises’ Eve.

The Tattooist of Auschwitz by Heather Morris
The Tattooist of Auschwitz is based on the true story of Lale and Gita Sokolov, two Slovakian Jews who survived Auschwitz. Like many survivors, Lale and Gita told few people their story after the war. They eventually made their way to Australia, where they raised a son and had a successful life. But when Gita died, Lale felt he could no longer carry the burden of their past alone. He chose to tell his story.

Notes on a Nervous Planet by Matt Haig
The world is messing with our minds. After experiencing years of anxiety and panic attacks, these questions became urgent matters of life and death for Matt Haig. And he began to look for the link between what he felt and the world around him. Notes on a Nervous Planet is a personal and vital look at how to feel happy, human and whole in the 21st century.

Reasons to Stay Alive by Matt Haig
Reasons to Stay Alive is about making the most of your time on earth. In the western world the suicide rate is highest amongst men under the age of 35. Matt Haig could have added to that statistic when, aged 24, he found himself staring at a cliff-edge about to jump off. This is the story of why he didn’t, how he recovered and learned to live with anxiety and depression. It’s also an upbeat, joyous and very funny exploration of how live better, love better, read better and feel more.

Have you already gone book shopping this month? Have you read any of these books? Let me know in the comments below and let’s chat 🙂

#WWWWednesday: 08 May 2019

May 9, 2019May 1, 2021 Dini @ dinipandareads1 Comment

Is it really only Wednesday? Because today had me feeling like it was Friday and I’m just so ready to shut off and have it be the weekend already! Work has been taking over my life the last week and today was finally the last day of our biannual regional meetings. While it’s been a blast having my colleagues from all over Southeast Asia visiting, 10 days straight of meetings can be such a drainer. One good thing is that I’m forced to really come out of my book cave and be sociable; but that also means I’ve had so little time to read and I feel like I’m an addict going through withdrawal. Girl needs to get back to her reading, now! 🙈

On that note, it’s time for another WWW Wednesday, a weekly meme hosted by Sam @ Taking On A World of Words, which means I’ll be talking about:

What did you read last?
What are you currently reading?
What will you read next?

What did you read last?

This past weekend I finished All Your Perfects by Colleen Hoover. I hadn’t read a CoHo book for years until I picked up Verity earlier this year and I enjoyed that mix of thriller-romance so much that I decided I’d start reading CoHo again. I joined a buddy read for All Your Perfects and while we were meant to be reading this in two parts, we all basically finished the book in one sitting! CoHo’s books just suck you in and this one also reminded me how easily she can sucker punch me in the feels every. single. time! If you’re looking for a heart-wrenching, beautiful romance about the struggles of imperfect people in an imperfect relationship (although to me they were perfect), then I’d suggest this one. Check out my review.

What are you currently reading?

I’m still reading Good Omens by Terry Pratchett & Neil Gaiman. This book is actually going a lot slower than I anticipated but because I’ve been so busy and haven’t had much time to read (and blog and post on IG), I haven’t really had the chance to let it sink in. I’m liking it so far though, especially the humor, so I think once I get the chance to devote good reading time to this, I will enjoy it more! I’m also ashamed to admit that I’m still reading Little Darlings by Melanie Golding because the pub date was 30 April; but I’m still adamant that I won’t read it at night, which really only leaves weekend mornings. It’s not a bad book though and I’ve enjoyed what I’ve read of it so far (50%), even though I want to throw the husband off a cliff and what Laura experiences gives me insane anxiety 😂 Hopefully this weekend will bring me some uninterrupted reading time to finish the latter and get through a big chunk of the former!

What will you read next?

I plan to join the Asian Readathon this month to celebrate Asian characters and authors, so in honor of the challenge I’m thinking of reading The Vegetarian by Han Kang next. It seems like a short read, but very twisted and full of magical realism. This aspect has me feeling wary of reading it (I’m not really a fan of magical realism), but I’m keen to at least give it a try. Read the synopsis on Goodreads. Looking through my shelves, I realized that I really don’t have a lot of Asian authors on there, but I hope to remedy that from this month onward!

What are you currently reading? Have you written a WWW Wednesday post too? Leave your link in the comments below! 🙂

#TopTenTuesday: Characters That Remind Me of Myself

May 7, 2019May 1, 2021 Dini @ dinipandareads19 Comments

Welcome back to another Top Ten Tuesday! This meme was created by The Broke and the Bookish and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in 2018. Today’s prompt is: characters that remind me of myself. This week’s prompt is actually quite tough for me to answer and I wasn’t sure I could come up with a list. It’s not uncommon for me to stumble upon bookish characters I relate to but I am now struggling to remember exactly which books and characters I felt that way about! I’ve decided to loosely interpret this prompt, so here’s what I’ve come up with…

Roxane Gay, Hunger: A Memoir of My Body by Roxane Gay. Do real people count in this list? Because I’m counting Roxane Gay. I didn’t have the same harrowing experience as her as a child, but it’s like she plucked the thoughts and emotions right out of me in regards to how she sees, thinks and feels about her body and more importantly, how society sees and thinks we should feel about our bodies.

Hannah Martin, Maybe In Another Life by Taylor Jenkins Reid. I recognized and connected to Hannah’s character from the moment she’s introduced. We’re roughly the same age and her confusion about what she wants to do in life and trying to find the place to call home really resonated with me as someone who has moved around a lot in my life.

Unnamed Narrator, Chemistry by Wieke Wang. As an Asian girl, I related so much to how the unnamed narrator navigated her way through parental expectations, and letting herself choose her own path, rather the one expected of her. This experience is something I went through as well.

Nina Zenik, The Shadow & Bone Trilogy by Leigh Bardugo. Basically, her love for food and how unabashed she was about it. I love food so much and I don’t care who knows it!

Belle, In Bed With the Beast (The Naughty Princess Club #2) by Tara Sivec. I saw myself in the quiet, nerdy book girl who has a close relationship with her family and who is so eager to please them, while also trying to find a way to step out and discover herself. I also related to how she transforms from this quiet girl to someone who takes no crap from anyone, especially when standing up for the ones she loves most.

Ariel Waters, Kiss the Girl (The Naughty Princess Club #3) by Tara Sivec. She uses her brash and bold persona to cover up her insecurities that actually really run deep, which really reminds me a lot of how I can act sometimes (okay, a lot of the times).

Daniel Gold, The Immortalists by Chloe Benjamin. Daniel has a deep love for his family but he is also unable to appropriately express himself and his feelings, which is something I struggle with too sometimes. I saw myself in his quiet, serious character whose family sees as very put together.

Griffin, History Is All You Left Me by Adam Silvera. I saw myself in Griffin’s sentimental character, and his experience of heartbreak and loss, as well as his fear of change and letting go of the past to move forward.

Quinn, All Your Perfects by Colleen Hoover. I can’t relate to what Quinn experienced in her marriage, but I did relate very much to her internal processing of her experience. It’s so easy to fake being happy and to dance the “everything-is-okay” dance, rather than to be open about your thoughts and emotions. It’s not the most positive trait but how she kept everything she was going through inside of her really reminded me of how I used to deal with my mental health.

Lois Clary, Sourdough by Robin Sloan. I could really relate to her thoughts in terms of wondering at being a part of something more; something significant and important. I think that’s what we all go through in our 20s, 30s (and well, some even longer), especially as we finish university and start looking for a job and try to find more meaning in our lives.

Wow, this was a tough one to answer! What characters remind you of yourself? If you’ve done a TTT post for today’s prompt drop your link in the comments!

Book Review: All Your Perfects by Colleen Hoover

May 6, 2019May 1, 2021 Dini @ dinipandareads9 Comments

Goodreads: All Your Perfects
Genre: Romance, Contemporary Fiction, New Adult
Rating: ★★★★½

Quinn and Graham’s perfect love is threatened by their imperfect marriage. The memories, mistakes, and secrets that they have built up over the years are now tearing them apart. The one thing that could save them might also be the very thing that pushes their marriage beyond the point of repair.All Your Perfects is a profound novel about a damaged couple whose potential future hinges on promises made in the past. This is a heartbreaking page-turner that asks: Can a resounding love with a perfect beginning survive a lifetime between two imperfect people?

The minute I started this book I knew that there was no way that I was putting it down until I read the final word. Turns out, I was very right. I started reading late Friday evening and finished the book around 4:00AM Saturday. I wasn’t prepared for the onslaught of feelings I experienced reading this, but I shouldn’t have been surprised because Colleen Hoover has a knack for eliciting those strong emotions and reactions with her stories.

“If you only shine light on your flaws, all your perfects will dim.”

All Your Perfects is a romance story of a marriage that’s full of love, miscommunication, and heartbreak. CoHo depicts a very real relationship struggle that perhaps many married couples who long to be parents can relate to. The story opens up to an uncomfortable and painfully heartbreaking situation involving Quinn and Graham. Do you believe in fate or soul mates? I’m pretty sure I’ve mentioned this a few times now but being a hopeless romantic, as much as I think I don’t want to believe it, I do. I love the idea that someone(s) out there is made for you. The story alternates between then, when they first meet, how they get together and their really beautiful friendship and love. (I know I sounded really corny just then but their relationship was great, okay?) We also get the now and while the love is still there, these chapters are full of unbearable anguish, heartbreak and loneliness, as Quinn and Graham are reaching the breaking point in their marriage because they are unable to get pregnant.

This novel sheds light on an issue that isn’t normally openly discussed: infertility. Being single and falling on the side of not wanting children, I wasn’t sure that I’d be able to relate to the story or the characters. Of course that was true to a certain extent because I can’t even begin to imagine what it would feel like to continuously try and not succeed in having a baby. How people can be so insensitive to such things. How the pressure you put on yourself to make it happen can make you question your worth and your purpose. However, CoHo writes her characters, their emotions and experiences in such a way that is so palpable, it doesn’t matter what your status is or whether you want a child or not, you can feel Quinn’s anguish, fear and feelings of inadequacy, as well as Graham’s constant love, pain and longing. I actually learned a lot from reading this.

This isn’t a perfect love story between two flawless characters. While I admittedly fell in love with Graham’s character from the start, there was a point where I wanted to hurl my Kindle across the room because of something his character did, and frankly, at that point, I was sure I hated him. Quinn’s character was also so mired in her depression at not being able to conceive that it was often so painful to continue reading. But their relationship was what made them even more real. While the story ultimately ends predictably, it didn’t take away from my enjoyment of it; in fact, how they endure the struggles and the very dark points, and managed to find a way back to themselves made me love this story even more. I thought CoHo did a great job tying in the missing pieces between now and then to deliver a beautiful conclusion. Let me tell you, the last 20% of the book really had my water works flowing on overtime!

This was such a touching story and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Also, can I please, please, please have a Graham in my life? K, thanks.

Have you read All Your Perfects or is it on your TBR?
Are you a CoHo fan? What’s your favourite CoHo book?

Sundays in Bed With… #MyWeeklyWrapUp [04]

May 5, 2019December 4, 2022 Dini @ dinipandareadsLeave a comment

The Sundays In Bed With… meme dares to ask you what book has been in your bed this morning! This meme is hosted by Midnight Book Girl. Come share what book you’ve been you’ve spent time curled up reading in bed with, or which book you wish you had time to read today!

I can’t wait to get back into bed with Good Omens by Terry Pratchett & Neil Gaiman. This week, including my weekend, has been so busy I haven’t had much time to read, so I’m looking forward to tucking in with this book. Neil Gaiman is one of my favorite authors and this will be the first book I’ve read by Terry Pratchett. I wonder if I’ll be able to identify the differences in the writing with these epic fantasy authors. So far I’m really enjoying the pace and the dry humor in this story! It makes me even more excited for the series to come out at the end of the month.

What are you currently reading?

This week has passed in (almost) the blink of an eye. The work week has been filled with endless meetings but also good times catching up with my colleagues from all over Southeast Asia. While these periods are some of the busiest times of the year for me, the enjoyment of seeing everyone helps to make the meetings less draining and the time pass quickly! With my busy days and evenings and how drained I’ve felt at the end of every day, I’m honestly surprised and quite pleased that I was able to post as much as I did! Here are the posts I’ve made this week:

First Lines & First Impression Friday with All Your Perfects
Review: Pride by Ibi Zoboi
My April Monthly Wrap Up!
WWW Wednesday: 01 May
Top Ten Tuesday: Inspiring & Thought Provoking Quotes from Books
My Most Anticipated May Releases!

How has everyone’s first week of May been so far? Hope you’re all having a great weekend 🙂 Here’s to another productive, book filled week!

First Lines & First Impression Friday w/ All Your Perfects

May 3, 2019May 5, 2019 Dini @ dinipandareads1 Comment

First Lines Fridays is a weekly feature for book lovers hosted by Wandering Words. What if instead of judging a book by its cover, its author or its prestige, we judged it by its opening lines? The rules: pick a book of your shelf (it could be your current read or one from your TBR), copy the first few lines (BUT don’t give anything else about the book away yet–you need to hook the reader first), and finally… reveal the book!

The doorman didn’t smile at me.
That thought plagues me during the entire ride up the elevator to ___’s floor. Vincent has been my favorite doorman since ___ moved into this apartment building.

What book do you think this quote is from?

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If you guessed All Your Perfects by Colleen Hoover then you got it right! I’m currently reading this with a group of fun people over on Instagram and ever since picking up Verity earlier this year I’ve been so excited to get back into CoHo’s books, of which there are plenty!

First Impression Friday is a weekly meme hosted by JW Martin! Here’s how to play:

First Impression Friday will be a meme where you talk about a book that you JUST STARTED! Maybe you’re only a chapter or two in, maybe a little farther.Based on this sampling of your current read, give a few impressions and predict what you’ll think by the end. Did you think you’d love and ended up hating it? Or did you think you’d hate it and wound up loving it? Or were you exactly right?

I’m about 5% into All Your Perfects and I already know that this book is going to make me feel uncomfortable with all the emotions, but in the best way. I can be a pretty anxious reader sometimes (okay, a lot of the time) and I’m quite sensitive to the emotions and moods while reading, so just knowing what this book is about and the journey I’m about to embark on with the MCs, I have a feeling I’ll be crying ugly tears throughout. Good thing I’m planning to binge read the majority of this tonight/tomorrow in the privacy of home. This is definitely not one I’ll be reading in public–I’m not about to embarrass myself like that! I predict this will be a ★★★★☆ star read.