I'm Dini (she/her) and I'm a thirty-something book lover based in Indonesia. I mostly read romance and SFF though I love to dabble in other genres but tend to stay away from horror and ghosty things because I'm The Ultimate Chicken™️. I'm always happy to meet other book lovers so feel free to chat with me!
Happy Friday book lovers! We’re back with another First Lines Friday, a weekly featurefor 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?Here are the rules:
Pick a book off your shelf (it could be your current read or on your TBR) and open to the first page
Copy the first few lines, but don’t give anything else about the book away just yet – you need to hook the reader first
Finally… reveal the book!
First lines:
“Casper Bell pressed himself against the foyer wall and wished he could disappear. He watched in a fog as his father walked past him, tossing his navy blue duffel bag out the open front door.”
Hi friends, as part of the blog tour hosted by TBR & Beyond Tours I’m excited to share my thoughts on the conclusion to the Betrayal Prophecies fantasy duology: The Second Son by Adrienne Tooley.
Click the banner above or here to check out the other incredible bloggers on the blog tour!
The Second Son (Betrayal Prophecies #2) Publisher: Christy Ottaviano Books Publication Date: 16 July 2024 Genre: Young Adult Fantasy Rep: Lesbian, Gay, Bi, Queer
Rating: (3.5 pandas)
📖SYNOPSIS
An epic clash of deities explores the two facets of pain—rage versus sadness—in this rousing followup to The Third Daughter, a dark crown fantasy duology with a sweeping sapphic romance.
The centuries-old prophecy has been fulfilled at last: the New Maiden has returned to Velle. Unfortunately, so has a malicious demi-god, whose elusive prophet is intent on converting the New Maiden’s followers. The Second Son is a vengeful, angry deity, whose psalm resonates with the disenfranchised.
With Elodie on the throne and Sabine in her own unique position of power, it should be easy enough to track down the culprit. Yet even as they’re falling in love, both girls are keeping dangerous secrets from each other. While the cult of the Second Son threatens to overthrow not only the Church of the New Maiden but also Velle’s monarchy, Elodie and Sabine must navigate impossible odds to dismantle the root of his power, all while their lives hang in the balance.
A must-read for fans of the BookTok sensations Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard, Night of the Witch by Sara Raasch and Beth Revis, and These Violent Delights by Chloe Gong.
⚠️CONTENT/TRIGGER WARNINGS
Descriptions of anxiety and depression, depictions of self-harm, parental death (off-page), parental neglect, physical abuse at the hand of a parent, religious trauma
✨Note: As this is the review for part two of a duology, there may be spoilers for book one.✨
TL;DR:Objectively, I think this was a well written story. It has an engaging plot, complex characters, and compelling relationships. While I wouldn’t say anything surprised me as I saw the twists and reveals coming from a mile away, I appreciate how Tooley formed her story around the chosen themes. The way she weaves emotion into faith was unique and I think the way it was written allows readers flexibility in how they interpret the story. Ultimately, I think The Second Son is a great conclusion to a dark-tinged fantasy duology.
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:
This week’s topic is Ten Things I Loved About [Insert Book Title Here] (Pick any book and tell us ten things you loved about it!) (submitted by Cathy @ WhatCathyReadNext)
Opposites attract in this romantic comedy about a free-spirited lawyer who is determined to find the perfect match for the grumpy bachelor at her friend’s wedding.
After a devastating break-up, celebrity-obsessed lawyer Zara Patel is determined never to open her heart again. She puts her energy into building her career and helping her friends find romance through the wedding season. She’s never faced a guest at the singles table she couldn’t match, until she crosses paths with the sinfully sexy Jay Donovan.
Former military security specialist Jay has no time for love. His life is about working hard, staying focused, and winning at all costs. When charismatic Zara crashes into his life, he’s thrown into close contact with exactly the kind of chaos he wants to avoid. Worse, they’re stuck together for the entire wedding season.
So they make a deal. She’ll find his special someone if he introduces her to his celebrity clients. But when their arrangement brings them together in ways they never expected, they realize that the perfect match might just be their own.
⚠️CONTENT/TRIGGER WARNINGS
PTSD, panic attack, car accident (happens to secondary characters off-page), war-time flashbacks
TL;DR: I ended up loving The Singles Table! From the moment Zara’s beautiful vibrant personality is introduced and they get their meet cute (she shoots him in the ass with a paintball gun as he’s being an insufferable prick!), I was fully sold on their romance. We get more meddling aunties, badass mums with sweet biker boyfriends, an eccentric artist father who… paints intimate portraits and so much great banter. This is by far my favourite in this series and I would recommend it if you love the grumpy/sunshine trope because Zara and Jay were the perfect pairing.
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 with The Second Son. I’m very behind. I should’ve started this last week but it just didn’t happen! I admit that I remember very little about the first book but I enjoyed it enough to want to continue the series and see what happens. I hope it’ll be a quick (and painless!) read.
The Iskat Empire rules its vassal planets through a system of treaties – so when Prince Taam, key figure in a political alliance, is killed, a replacement must be found. His widower, Jainan, is rushed into an arranged marriage with the disreputable aristocrat Kiem, in a bid to keep rising hostilities between two worlds under control.
But Prince Taam’s death may not have been an accident, and when Jainan himself is a suspect, he and Kiem must navigate the perils of the Iskat court, solve a murder, and prevent an interplanetary war…
TL;DR: Did I ever think that I’d be reading about murder pies? Nope. But the moment I heard a fellow book blogger mention this series on her blog the other week, it sounded like something I’d love to read and for the most part, it was just what I wanted! A lot happens in this and while the elements of the romantic variety occasionally distracted me from the murder pie-filled plot, the author did a fine job of weaving the storylines together and having it contribute to growth in the MC’s arc.
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:
The Iskat Empire rules its vassal planets through a system of treaties – so when Prince Taam, key figure in a political alliance, is killed, a replacement must be found. His widower, Jainan, is rushed into an arranged marriage with the disreputable aristocrat Kiem, in a bid to keep rising hostilities between two worlds under control.
But Prince Taam’s death may not have been an accident, and when Jainan himself is a suspect, he and Kiem must navigate the perils of the Iskat court, solve a murder, and prevent an interplanetary war…
TL;DR: What an absolute delight this turned out to be! 😍 Although it took some time for me to warm up to the story and characters, I became very immersed in the plot and I grew to love so many of the characters by the end. I adored Kiem and Jainan and every time I think about them I want to kick my feet up and giggle because they are… Just. So. Good together! The mystery plot kept me intrigued and though I managed to surprisingly figure out half of it by the reveal, I enjoyed how the author laid everything out. Overall, I’m so glad I finally read this and I can’t wait to read more stories set in this space world.
dinipandareads 