Category: Book Reviews

Book Review: The One Hundred Years of Lenni and Margot by Marianne Cronin

Dini @ dinipandareads10 Comments

The One Hundred Years of Lenni and Margot
Publisher: Random House UK
Pub Date: 1 June 2021
Genre: Contemporary Fiction

Panda Rating:

(4.5 pandas)

📖 SYNOPSIS

Life is short.

No-one knows that better than seventeen-year-old Lenni. But as she is about to learn, it’s not only what you make of life that matters, but who you share it with.

Dodging doctor’s orders, she joins an art class where she bumps into fellow patient Margot, a rebel-hearted eight-three-year-old from the next ward. Their bond is instant as they realize that together they have lived an astonishing one hundred years.

To celebrate their shared century, they decide to paint their life stories: of growing old and staying young, of giving joy, of receiving kindness, of losing love, of finding the person who is everything.

As their friendship deepens, it becomes vividly clear that life is not done with Lenni and Margot yet.

An extraordinary friendship. A lifetime of stories. Their last one begins here.

⚠️ CONTENT/TRIGGER WARNINGS

Cancer, child death (recounted), war, PTSD, Alzheimer’s, death of loved ones

TL;DR: For some reason, I feel like this is an underrated book… It’s one of those reads that’ll pull on your heartstrings. It’s simple but beautifully written and packs quite an emotional punch. It’ll make you appreciate life and wonder at death, it’ll make you cry but it’ll also make you laugh and feel joy. It’s heartbreaking at the end—after all, it is set in a hospital and tells the story of two terminally ill people who form an unlikely friendship that spans their combined lifetime of 100 years. While the ending may be predictable and the story didn’t wow me with wild plot twists and turns, it did leave me with a sense of peace and gratitude.

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Book Review: Indigo by Beverly Jenkins

Dini @ dinipandareads6 Comments

Indigo
Publisher: NYLA
Pub Date: 1 November 1996
Genre: Historical Romance

Panda Rating:

(4.5 pandas)

📖 SYNOPSIS

As a child Hester Wyatt escaped slavery, but now the dark skinned beauty is a dedicated member of Michigan’s Underground railroad, offering other runaways a chance at the freedom she has learned to love. When one of her fellow conductors brings her an injured man to hide, Hester doesn’t hesitate even after she is told about the price on his head. The man in question is the great conductor known as the “Black Daniel” a vital member of the North’s Underground railroad network, but Hester finds him so rude and arrogant, she begins to question her vow to hide him.

When the injured and beaten Galen Vachon, aka, the Black Daniel awakens in Hester’s cellar, he is unprepared for the feisty young conductor providing his care. As a member of one of the wealthiest free Black families in New Orleans, Galen has turned his back on the lavish living he is accustomed to in order to provide freedom to those enslaved in the south. However, as he heals he cannot turn his back on Hester Wyatt. Her innocence fills him like a breath of fresh air and he is determined to make her his, but traitors have to be found, slave catchers have to be routed and Hester’s refusal to trust her own heart have to be overcome before she and Galen can find the freedom only love can bring.

⚠️ CONTENT/TRIGGER WARNINGS

Slavery, racism, racist slurs, gun violence, kidnapping

Before I get into my review I just want to say: can we get the clinch cover back for this romance, please!? It’s stunning and I want and need it in my life, please and thank you. 🥹

TL;DR: I’ve found another new favourite Jenkins romance! Even set against the tension-filled backdrop of a time of slavery, fugitive slaves and the dangers of being a conductor in the Underground Railroad, Jenkins manages to write a heartfelt and sensual romance full of yearning and I loved it. I was pulled in from their caustic first meeting to the tender blooming of their feelings to their intense chemistry and hot-as-hell sexual tension. I loved Hester and Galen so much!

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ARC Review: Kindling by Traci Chee

Dini @ dinipandareads8 Comments

Special thanks to HarperCollins and Riley at SparkPointStudio for providing a digital ARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Kindling
Publisher: HarperCollins
Publication Date: 27 February 2023
Genre: Young Adult Fantasy

Panda Rating:

(4.5 pandas)

📖 SYNOPSIS

From bestselling and award-winning author Traci Chee comes a standalone fantasy set against a war-ravaged world where kindling warfare—the use of elite, magic-wielding teenage soldiers—has been outlawed. In this rich and evocative novel, seven kindlings search for purpose and identity as they prepare for one final battle. For fans of the classic films Seven Samurai and The Magnificent Seven.

Once, the war was fought with kindlings—elite, magic-wielding warriors whose devastating power comes at the cost of their own young lives.

Now the war is over, and kindlings have been cast adrift—their magic outlawed, their skills outdated, their formidable balar weapons prized only as relics and souvenirs.

Violence still plagues the countryside, and memories haunt those who remain. When a village comes under threat of siege, it offers an opportunity for seven kindlings to fight one last time. But war changed these warriors. And to reclaim who they once were, they will have to battle their pasts, their trauma, and their grim fates to come together again—or none of them will make it out alive.

From bestselling and award-winning author Traci Chee comes a gut-wrenching, introspective fantasy about seven lost soldiers searching for the peace they once fought for and the future in which they’re finally daring to believe.

⚠️ CONTENT/TRIGGER WARNINGS

War, violence, blood, multiple deaths

TL;DR: This book took me on quite an emotional and mental journey! I went from being unsure whether I could get into this due to the narrative being told in the second person to desperately trying not to cry in public when I got to the last 30% to sobbing at home while reading the last 10% of it. This story is tragic and heartbreaking but beautifully written and somehow also hopeful. I loved going on this journey with these seven brave, powerful yet haunted teenage warriors and I have a feeling I’ll think of them and their experiences for a while to come.

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Book Review: Act Your Age, Eve Brown by Talia Hibbert

Dini @ dinipandareads12 Comments

Act Your Age, Eve Brown (Brown Sisters #3)
Publisher: Avon
Pub Date: 9 March 2021
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Panda Rating:

(5 pandas)

📖 SYNOPSIS

Eve Brown is a certified hot mess. No matter how hard she strives to do right, her life always goes horribly wrong—so she’s given up trying. But when her personal brand of chaos ruins an expensive wedding (someone had to liberate those poor doves), her parents draw the line. It’s time for Eve to grow up and prove herself—even though she’s not entirely sure how…

Jacob Wayne is in control. Always. The bed and breakfast owner’s on a mission to dominate the hospitality industry—and he expects nothing less than perfection. So when a purple-haired tornado of a woman turns up out of the blue to interview for his open chef position, he tells her the brutal truth: not a chance in hell. Then she hits him with her car—supposedly by accident. Yeah, right.

Now his arm is broken, his B&B is understaffed, and the dangerously unpredictable Eve is fluttering around, trying to help. Before long, she’s infiltrated his work, his kitchen—and his spare bedroom. Jacob hates everything about it. Or rather, he should. Sunny, chaotic Eve is his natural-born nemesis, but the longer these two enemies spend in close quarters, the more their animosity turns into something else. Like Eve, the heat between them is impossible to ignore—and it’s melting Jacob’s frosty exterior.

⚠️ CONTENT/TRIGGER WARNINGS

Ableism, childhood abandoment recounted, car accident

TL;DR: It took me forever to finally read this book and finish The Brown Sisters series but this solidifies it as one of my all-time favourite romance series and I highly recommend it! Eve and Jacob were so easy to root for and I loved their character arcs. I delighted in their connection and despite a rocky start to their relationship, they had fantastic chemistry and an emotional romance that’s written with so much heart! These two deserved all the happiness and I loved seeing them find it together. 🥰 My heart is so full!

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Book Review: Emily Wilde’s Encyclopaedia of Faeries by Heather Fawcett

Dini @ dinipandareads13 Comments

Emily Wilde’s Encyclopaedia of Faeries (Emily Wilde #1)
Publisher: Orbit
Pub Date: 19 January 2023
Genre: Adult Fantasy
Panda Rating:

(5 pandas)

📖 SYNOPSIS

A curmudgeonly professor journeys to a small town in the far north to study faerie folklore and discovers dark fae magic, friendship, and love in the start of a heartwarming and enchanting new fantasy series.

Cambridge professor Emily Wilde is good at many things: She is the foremost expert on the study of faeries. She is a genius scholar and a meticulous researcher who is writing the world’s first encyclopaedia of faerie lore. But Emily Wilde is not good at people. She could never make small talk at a party–or even get invited to one. And she prefers the company of her books, her dog, Shadow, and the Fair Folk to other people.

So when she arrives in the hardscrabble village of Hrafnsvik, Emily has no intention of befriending the gruff townsfolk. Nor does she care to spend time with another new arrival: her dashing and insufferably handsome academic rival Wendell Bambleby, who manages to charm the townsfolk, get in the middle of Emily’s research, and utterly confound and frustrate her.

But as Emily gets closer and closer to uncovering the secrets of the Hidden Ones–the most elusive of all faeries–lurking in the shadowy forest outside the town, she also finds herself on the trail of another mystery: Who is Wendell Bambleby, and what does he really want? To find the answer, she’ll have to unlock the greatest mystery of all–her own heart.

⚠️ CONTENT/TRIGGER WARNINGS

Ableism mentioned, death during childbirth mentioned, blood & injury depiction, emesis, self-amputation of finger, decapitation, death of a sibling recounted, murder, violence, kidnapping, animal abuse recounted

TL;DR: If you are a fan of cosy fantasies with a heaping of slow adventure and a soft romance, then you’ll probably enjoy Emily Wilde! This was just as heartwarming and cosy and wonderful as everyone said it would be and I loved it even more on re-read. 💜 Emily and Wendell are both such amazing characters and I absolutely loved the way this story was told! I surprisingly haven’t read *that* many books about the fae/faeries but this is undoubtedly a new favourite story about them.

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ARC Review: The Time of Your Life by Sandra Kitt

Dini @ dinipandareads5 Comments

Special thanks to Sourcebooks Casablanca for providing a digital ARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

The Time of Your Life (The Millionaires Club #2)
Publisher: Sourcebook Casablanca
Publication Date: 11 April 2023
Genre: Contemporary Romance

Panda Rating:

(3 pandas)

📖 SYNOPSIS

Second chances always lead to a new beginning! When Everett Nicholls died, he left his millions to the two people he cared about most―the young law student he was mentoring, and his beloved stepson. Eden Marsh and Beck Dennison are instantly suspicious of each other. Suddenly, with all this money at their fingertips, family problems they’ve each been ignoring can no longer be swept under the rug. Beck and his mother have had a strained relationship since tragedy befell the family when he was a young teen, and Eden knows it’s long past time to forge a new relationship with her demanding younger sister. As they begin to confide in each other―and to have fun together―their friendship is an anchor in a stormy new life…

⚠️ CONTENT/TRIGGER WARNINGS

Death of loved one, death of child (recounted), grief, misogyny

TL;DR: My feelings on this vacillated greatly throughout my reading journey. There were moments when I enjoyed our characters and their burgeoning romance but the slow pace, lack of plot, and the total “what the heck is going on” moment of their final conflict almost made the not-so-enjoyable moments outweigh the good. As it is, I’d say this is a solid 3-star read—not bad but not great though I enjoyed it enough to want to possibly read other books by this author in the future.

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Book Review: Open Water by Caleb Azumah Nelson

Dini @ dinipandareads18 Comments

Open Water
Publisher: Penguin
Pub Date: 3 February 2022
Genre: Literary Fiction

Panda Rating:

(5 pandas)

📖 SYNOPSIS

Two young people meet at a pub in South East London. Both are Black British, both won scholarships to private schools where they struggled to belong, both are now artists — he a photographer, she a dancer — trying to make their mark in a city that by turns celebrates and rejects them. Tentatively, tenderly, they fall in love. But two people who seem destined to be together can still be torn apart by fear and violence.

At once an achingly beautiful love story and a potent insight into race and masculinity, Open Water asks what it means to be a person in a world that sees you only as a Black body, to be vulnerable when you are only respected for strength, to find safety in love, only to lose it. With gorgeous, soulful intensity, Caleb Azumah Nelson has written the most essential British debut of recent years.

⚠️ CONTENT/TRIGGER WARNINGS

Racism, gang violence, gun violence, death by drive by shooting

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Series Review: Destiny by Beverly Jenkins

Dini @ dinipandareads12 Comments

I’m in my Beverly Jenkins era in 2024 and I’m not mad about it at all. Bev Jenkins is a staple in the historical romance genre and I’m beyond glad that I finally picked up her books this year! Lucky for me (though unlucky for my bank, lol) she has a huge backlist to work through so I have no fear of running out of books to read but this was a cracking start!

TL;DR: The Destiny series is a great historical romance series featuring strong and feisty heroines, delightfully simp-tastic heroes, and a host of amazing and loveable side characters. Jenkins’ combination of sensual romance, strong family ties, and history continue to have me falling in love with her stories and characters as well as learning so much that I had never heard of before; especially about the experience and treatment of BIPOC people throughout American history. There was so much I didn’t know and so much knowledge I walked away with each time. I can’t recommend Jenkins enough! 😍

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ARC Review: Delicates by Brenna Thummler

Dini @ dinipandareads5 Comments

Special thanks to Oni Press for providing a digital ARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Delicates (Sheets #2)
Publisher: Oni Press
Publication Date: 23 March 2021
Genre: Middle-Grade Graphic Novel

Panda Rating:

(5 pandas)

📖 SYNOPSIS

Following the events of the bestselling graphic novel Sheets, Delicates brings Brenna Thummler’s beloved characters, artwork, and charm back to life.

Marjorie Glatt’s life hasn’t been the same ever since she discovered a group of ghosts hiding in her family’s laundromat. Wendell, who died young and now must wander Earth as a ghost with nothing more than a sheet for a body, soon became one of Marjorie’s only friends. But when Marjorie finally gets accepted by the popular kids at school, she begins to worry that if anyone learns about her secret ghost friends, she’ll be labeled as a freak who sees dead people. With Marjorie’s insistence on keeping Wendell’s ghost identity a secret from her new friends, Wendell begins to feel even more invisible than he already is.

Eliza Duncan feels invisible too. She’s an avid photographer, and her zealous interest in finding and photographing ghosts gets her labeled as “different” by all the other kids in school. Constantly feeling on the outside, Eliza begins to feel like a ghost herself. Marjorie must soon come to terms with the price she pays to be accepted by the popular kids. Is it worth losing Wendell? Is she partially to blame for the bullying Eliza endures?

Delicates tells a powerful story about what it means to fit in, and those left on the outside. It shows what it’s like to feel invisible, and the importance of feeling seen. Above all, it is a story of asking for help when all seems dark, and bringing help and light to those who need it most.

⚠️ CONTENT/TRIGGER WARNINGS

Bullying, grief, bullying, suicidal thoughts

THIS HIT. Wow, Thummler has this wonderful ability to take sad, heavy, heartbreaking moments in life and turn them into powerful stories of overcoming and hope. It’s absolutely no surprise that I was in tears by the end of this story. As wonderful as SHEETS is, I think Delicates outshines it in story, art, and so much heart.

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ARC Review: The Reason I Married Him by Meghan Quinn

Dini @ dinipandareads9 Comments

Special thanks to Meghan Quinn for providing a digital ARC in exchange for an honest review!

From USA Today and Amazon Charts bestselling author Meghan Quinn comes a new marriage of convenience romantic comedy. This steamy, laugh-out-loud, enemies-to-lovers small-town standalone delivers the perfect happily ever after. One-click your copy of THE REASON I MARRIED HIM today!

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