2020 End of Year Book Survey: Part I

Dini @ dinipandareads22 Comments

HAPPY NEW YEAR, FRIENDS! 🥳

Sorry I’ve been a bit MIA over the last week. My desire to do the absolute bare minimum took over and I’ve done nothing but read (and game) since my last day of full-time work on Wednesday! It’s been grand but okay, it’s time to hop back on the horse! In my typical disorganised fashion, I’ve saved up all the “ending 2020″/wrap up posts for the first week of January, so if you’re sick of looking at wrap up posts now is the time to quit reading 😅

The End of Year Book Survey was originally created by Jamie @ The Perpetual Page Turner. It’s a bit of a long one and when I did this for the first time in 2019, I split it into three parts, though I think for 2020 I’ll split it into two (combining two and three as they’re shorter)! On that note, let’s dive straight in:

Number of Books Read: 160
Number of Re-reads: 2 (Scythe, Thunderhead)
Genre(s) You Read THE Most From: Young Adult Fantasy, Romance

Best Book You Read in 2020?

I’ve been thinking this over a fair bit since making my top ten favourites but after some thought, I think the best book I read was The House in the Cerulean Sea.

Book You Were Excited About &
Thought You Were Going To Love More But Didn’t?

Oh, it pains me to say it but… Kingdom of the Wicked. I did enjoy parts of it and gave it ★★★ but I thought I’d for sure love it, and then ended up feeling on the fence about it. I’m pretty sure this is more “it’s me and not the book” though because I also ended up feeling “so-so” about SJTR.

Most surprising (in a good way or bad way) book you read? 

One of my December reads was the non-fiction Bad Blood and even knowing how praised it is, I was surprised by how I sped through it. I’ve got a mixed relationship with NF as most of the time I find them a bit of a slog to get through but I devoured this book in a span of 8ish hours? It was intense. It was amazing. I would definitely recommend it (especially the audiobook)!

Book You “Pushed” The Most People To Read (And They Did)?

I think it’s a tie between two books and they’ll come as no surprise either. Plus, I don’t know if I’d say I “pushed” people to read them and also, I doubt it was me who convinced them to read them in the end? 😂 But I didn’t stop raving about both The House in the Cerulean Sea and Nevermoor: The Trials of Morrigan Crow and often highly recommended them!

Best series you started in 2020? Best Sequel? Best Series Ender of 2020?

Oof… The best series started is so freaking hard to pick because there were so many that I started and absolutely loved this year… How am I supposed to choose?! 😩 I think I’m just gonna have to go with the first one two three (cough) that popped into my head and that’s The Poppy War, The Kinder Poison and Amari and the Night Brothers. (I’m sorry it’s so hard to choose okay!!!)

For best sequel I’m going with Wundersmith: The Calling of Morrigan Crow, which is book two in the Nevermoor series! For the series ender, I’m choosing Unravel the Dusk because it was a really satisfying conclusion to a beautiful duology.

Favourite new author you discovered in 2020?

I don’t think I can just choose one for this because I read so many books by new-to-me-authors that it’d be really impossible for me to pick one. I refuse. So here are some of my new faves: T.J. Klune, Jessica Townsend, Talia Hibbert, Chloe Liese, Kate Stewart, Teagan Hunter, Devri Walls, R.F. Kuang, Zoraida Cordova, June Hur. Basically, these authors are or are close to being auto-buys for me! 😂

Best book from a genre you don’t typically read/was out of your comfort zone?

Hmm… I think I’m going to also pick two books for this one. The first is Bad Blood, as I already mentioned this was a fantastic non-fiction and I’d highly recommend it, especially if you like true crime. The second is Children. Although this is fantasy, it was pretty dark and different to what I usually read. It was definitely out of my comfort zone but Larssen’s writing and characterisation were exquisite!

Most action-packed/thrilling/unputdownable book of the year?

I think this one goes to Amari and the Night Brothers. This was packed with action from the go and it was an absolutely thrilling adventure from start to finish. It was so much fun and 100% unputdownable (for me), and I can’t wait for the world to experience its awesomeness when it’s out this month (Jan 2021)!

Book You Read In 2020 That You Would Be MOST Likely To Re-Read Next Year?

While I can pick more than one, I don’t tend to re-read very often so it’s gonna be With the Fire On High. Acevedo’s writing is so evocative and Emoni’s story was so beautiful and touching. Not to mention the recipes and all the talk about food made me crazy hungry. I definitely want to re-read it!

Favourite cover of a book you read in 2020?

I’m not even going to pretend that I can pick just one favourite cover because there were so many that were gorgeous and I refuse to choose ONE. 🤣 So, feast your eyes on some gorgeous covers:

Most memorable character of 2020?

Art by: EXY Fanart

Surprise surprise, I think I’m gonna go with… The cast of my favourite book this year! I loved Linus, Arthur and all the kids in this book. They won my heart big time ❤️

Most beautifully written book read in 2020?

Ooh, this one was a really tough pick but in the end I think Words in Deep Blue takes this one. This book was so deeply touching. It was beautifully written and made me feel ALL THE FEELS. It’s a gorgeous book!

Most Thought-Provoking/ Life-Changing Book of 2020?

These books really made me think a lot about history and the society we live in, especially with the murder of George Floyd. The Nickel Boys and The Black Kids are really important, impactful and timely reads that are so worth your time!

Book you can’t believe you waited UNTIL 2020 to finally read? 

I have a tendency to put off hyped books (or, well, many books but mostly hyped ones) because the hype is intimidating a lot of the time, but I was so annoyed with myself for putting off reading Well Met until earlier this year. It’s SUCH a great romance! The banter, the character development, the faire! I loved it so much and can’t wait to read the next book set in this town!

FavoUrite Passage/Quote From A Book You Read In 2020?

“Words matter, in fact. They’re not pointless, as you’ve suggested. If they were pointless, then they couldn’t start revolutions and they wouldn’t change history. If they were just words, we wouldn’t write songs or listen to them. We wouldn’t beg to be read to as kids. If they were just words, then stories wouldn’t have been around since before we could write. We wouldn’t have learned to write. If they were just words, people wouldn’t fall in love because of them, feel bad because of them, ache because of them, and stop aching because of them.”

Cath Crowley, Words in Deep Blue

Shortest & Longest Book You Read In 2020?

Shortest: 56 pages (The Straw King)
Longest: 631 pages (The Toll)

Book That Shocked You The Most

It’s not just the brutality of certain scenes that shocked me in The Poppy War but I was also shocked by how much I loved it! This was definitely one heckuva dark read, especially as the story goes on, as Kuang does not shy away from the gruesome details of war. But it’s brilliant writing!

OTP OF THE YEAR (you will go down with this ship!)

Omg, why is this so hard? Lol I mean, there were so many wonderful couples that I would do this for like Ren & Frankie, Citra & Rowan, Meg & Reid, Yadriel & Julian, and Chloe & Red because I love all their loves… But I think Maia & Edan take the OTP cake this year! So swoon. *sigh*

FavoUrite Non-Romantic Relationship Of The Year

I’m a sucker for the found-family trope and strong friendships, and there were some really great ones in the books I read this year but I have to say that my favourites were from Nevermoor. The relationship between Juniper and Morrigan and also the friendship between Morrigan and Hawthorne filled my heart with such joy and warmth. These relationships made me fall even more in love with this book/series!

FavoUrite Book You Read in 2020 From An Author You’ve Read Previously

Vengeful. I love Schwab and I honestly wasn’t expecting to love Vengeful more than I loved Vicious because that book was *chefs kiss*. It was so great to come back to the devious characters I loved in the first book and I can’t wait to see what else Schwab has in store for these ‘Villains’.

Best Book You Read In 2020 That You Read Based SOLELY On A Recommendation From Somebody Else/Peer Pressure/Bookstagram, Etc.

Get A Life, Chloe Brown/The Brown Sisters series has been hyped everywhere (blogosphere, bookstagram, book twitter, booktube) and y’know what? Even though I’ve only read Chloe’s story, I know the praise is so well deserved. The banter, the romance, the diversity, the disability rep, THE STEAMINESS *fans self*. Ooh, I can’t wait to continue the series!

Newest fictional crush from a book you read in 2020?

Ryder from Only When It’s Us. Um, yes, hello. THIS GUY. Ryder had me from the beginning even at peak broody mountain-man mode. That gruff exterior but soft interior is such a weakness for me. But I loved the disability rep in this book (and the series overall). Also, there’s this scene that involves Ryder + Pride & Prejudice and oh my heart, how I melted and swooned! 😂

Best 2020 debut you read?

It’s honestly hard to believe that The Silence of Bones is June Hur’s debut because it is so beautifully done. I’ve never read a book set in 1800s Joseon Dynasty Korea but the writing made it so easy to picture the historical setting perfectly. The inclusion of the sociopolitical climate of the time was intriguing and the mystery kept me on my toes! Plus, this cover? I LOVE! 😍

Best World building/Most Vivid Setting You Read This Year?

There are three books in the Venators series (so far) and Walls amps up the world building with each book we read and it’s done amazingly. I love that we get to explore so many different areas of this world in such great detail. It’s so easy to picture it all coming to life before my eyes and it doesn’t hurt that the characters and plot are fantastic as well!

Book That Put A Smile On Your Face/Was The Most FUN To Read?

The Good for Nothings was such a treat to read and I’m so glad it got put on my radar! It had me laughing out loud so often because the characters, their banter and their many shenanigans were so entertaining. This was a fast-paced, action-packed space drama that I absolutely loved!

Book That Made You Cry Or Nearly Cry in 2020?

I’m just a *bit* of an emotional reader (read: a big one) so it actually isn’t that hard to make me cry 🤣 Haha what can I say, I’m weak with the emotions! The book that probably made me cry hardest was The House in the Cerulean Sea because FEELS, but also The Invincible Summer of Juniper Jones, The Mountains Sing and The Poppy War made me pretty freaking weepy, too! 😅

Hidden Gem Of The Year?

I’m shouting four books that I really enjoyed reading this year (I gave all of them 4-5 stars) but haven’t seen a lot of on the blogosphere. I haven’t spent *that much* time on bookstagram or booktube so I don’t know if they were mentioned there, but I think all of these deserve much more attention: Tristan Strong Punches A Hole in the Sky, The Silence of Bones, The Puppetmaster’s Apprentice, and The Kinder Poison.

Book That Crushed Your Soul?

I really think it’s gonna be The Poppy War. I mean, this book just forking devastated me emotionally especially towards the end. It was… Wow. A lot. It was definitely worth it though! LOL

Most Unique Book You Read In 2020?

Oh, easily the biggest standout for this is Big Girl, Small Town. This was easily the most unique book I read in 2020 especially because it combines so many elements that tend to frustrate me in books, but instead I ended up loving this and the MC, Majella. I learned a lot about The Troubles and the simple, every day life in Northern Ireland. It also made me ridiculously hungry!

Book That Made You The Most Mad
(doesn’t necessarily mean you didn’t like it)?

There were actually a few books that made me quite mad this year and I loved all of them! I got mad at the blatant discrimination and bullying in these books, especially when it’s directed towards a child by the “adults” in the book. I wonder that I can still be surprised at the cruelty of humans when terrible and infuriating situations happen so often (even IRL)!

And that’s a wrap, folks!

Oof, despite all the crazy that happened this year, there’s no doubt that some really amazing books were read and many new favourites were discovered. I’m really hoping that 2021 will continue to be an amazing year for books and blogging! Stay tuned for part 2 & 3 of the End of Year survey which I’ll hopefully post tomorrow! 😉 Hope you’re doing well, taking care and staying safe, friends! ❤️

How was your year of reading? Did you do the End of Year Book Survey too? Have you read any of these books? Any favourites?

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

#WWWWednesday: 30 December

Dini @ dinipandareads10 Comments

WHOA, IT’S THE LAST WWWWEDNESDAY FOR 2020! Shooketh.

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:

  1. What did you read last?
  2. What are you currently reading?
  3. What will you read next?

Since last week I managed to finish four books but I also decided to DNF one. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again now, I’m quite proud that I’m actually DNFing books this year. It’s been so hard for me to do but baby steps… We’re getting there! But also… I still have to write reviews for all of these. *le super sigh* Yay for reading lots but the struggle to review is so real! 🙃

Subversive (Clandestine Magic #1) by Colleen Crowley ★★★★☆
I was immediately intrigued by this dystopian society where males reign supreme in every aspect especially to do with magic. There were many layers to the plot(s) and it covers so many issues but the author does a fantastic job of bringing it all together: we’re advocating for women’s rights, subverting the male dominated magical system, hiding government secrets and all while getting a deliciously slow-burning enemies-to-lovers romance! Plus the characters were so easy to root for! I can’t wait to read on. Will likely do a series review for this? RTC.

Spellmaker (Spellbreaker Duology #2) by Charlie N. Holmberg ★★★★☆
This was an action-packed and ultimately satisfying conclusion to Holmberg’s latest historical fantasy duology. It was so rejoin Elsie and Bacchus as they try to beat the villain at their own game. There was more magic, murder, and mystery, and I was 100% here for it. This book is out in March 2021 so my review will be posted closer to pub day! RTC.

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#TopTenTuesday: Favourite 2020 Reads!

Dini @ dinipandareads33 Comments

So, we’re back with another Top Ten Tuesday, a weekly meme hosted by Jana @ That Artsy Reader Girl. This week’s prompt is: Favourite Books of 2020.

I can’t believe that it’s already time to make this list because wow, what a year 2020 has been, eh? I mean, we all know what kind of year it was and although not all of us had the worst one, I think the general mood of 2020 has been pretty despondent. I’m definitely not expecting things to magically turn around in 2021 but I am hoping that it’ll at least be marginally better than this one (I’m keeping my expectations low though so that I might be pleasantly surprised)! 😂

That said, it was a pretty great year for books/reading and I’m sure many of you will agree! Although it actually wasn’t my best year, I did get to some pretty fantastic titles that I’m sure will stick with me for a while to come. Unsurprisingly, I’m notoriously bad at picking ‘favourites’ so this list was a bit of a struggle 😂 It took me way too long to narrow it down and definitely don’t be surprised by the few honorary mentions at the end! I’m really keen to see what 2021 brings in terms of reading and I’m hoping that I’ll get to even more of my backlist because let’s face it, it gets bigger with each year that passes! Now without further ado, here are my favourites for the year…

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#5OnMyTBR: Planned to Read in 2020

Dini @ dinipandareads18 Comments

Hello Mondays, welcome back to #5OnMyTBR, a meme created by the wonderful E @ The Local Bee Hunter’s Nook. This bookish meme gets us to dig even further into our TBRs by simply posting about five books on our TBR! You can learn more about it here or in the post announcing it. You can find the full list of prompts (past and future) at the end of this post!

This week’s prompt is: Planned to read in 2020.

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Goodreads Monday – The Fortunate Ones by Ed Tarkington

Dini @ dinipandareads3 Comments

Welcome back to Goodreads Monday! It’s been a very hot minute since I did one but I figured I might as well get back into it! This weekly meme was started by @Lauren’s Page Turners and it invites you to pick a book from your TBR and explain why you want to read it. Easy enough, right? Feel free to join in if you want to! I’ll be using a random number generator to pick my books from my insanely long GR Want-to-read list.*

*Sorry if a book has been featured twice. I need to make better note of which ones I’ve done already!

This week’s featured book is The Fortunate Ones by Ed Tarkington. This is a literary fiction that is set to be published in January 2021 and currently has a 4.0 rating on Goodreads with 32 reviews. So very early days!

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Sundays in Bed With… #MyWeeklyWrapUp

Dini @ dinipandareads8 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 time curled up reading in bed with, or which book you wish you had time to read today!

This Sunday has seen me spend most of the day reading The Existence of Amy. I was very lucky to have the author send me a copy of the book earlier this year and I’m embarrassed to admit that I only got around to it now. I had a feeling I’d have to prepare myself to read this and I was not wrong–this was pretty emotional and I ended up tearing up a time or two (oh, who am I kidding? As an emotional reader this made the waterworks flow!). I sat down with it at 1pm and finished around 8:30pm because I didn’t want to put it down! This was a raw and intimate portrayal of what it’s like to live with mental illness and while it was an emotional read for me, I wouldn’t exactly say it was super heavy. It’s very accessible and eye-opening, plus Amy was very realistic and relatable. Would definitely recommend it! My review will come soon 😊

Amy has a normal life. That is, if you were to go by a definition of ‘no immediate obvious indicators of peculiarity’, and you didn’t know her very well. She has good friends, a good job, a nice enough home. This normality, however, is precariously plastered on top of a different life. A life that is Amy’s real life. The only one her brain will let her lead.

What are you currently reading?

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Top 5 Saturday: 2021 Releases

Dini @ dinipandareads26 Comments

Welcome back to another Top 5 Saturday! Just in case you don’t know Top 5 Saturday is a weekly meme created by Mandy @ Devouring Books and it’s where we list the top five books (they can be books on your TBR, favourite books, books you loved/hated) based on the week’s topic. You can see the upcoming schedule at the end of my post 🙂 This week’s topic is actually: 2021 Releases.

Unlike last year when I spent a good amount of time populating my 2020 releases list on Goodreads, I haven’t really done much of that this year so I know that what’s on my radar is fairly limited to mostly romance and some YA fantasy. These are the two genres I read most of anyway but I know I’m still missing out on *a lot* of what’s coming out next year, so I can’t wait to get caught up with that in the coming week as work slows down and I have more “free” time 😉 But I digress… Here are some books that made it onto my radar and that I’m stupid excited for!

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First Lines Friday – 25 December

Dini @ dinipandareads8 Comments

🎄 Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all friends who celebrate! 🎄

Happy Friday book lovers! We’re back with another First Lines Friday, 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? 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:

“I’ve never understood why the heart always reacts. A shot of adrenaline is all it takes, triggered by a thought. A word. A memory. And every time the reaction is singular, a fingerprint of a moment.”

Do you recognize the book these first lines come from?

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Book Review: Bad Blood by John Carreyrou

Dini @ dinipandareads8 Comments

Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup
Genre: Non Fiction, True Crime
Panda Rating:


In 2014, Theranos founder and CEO Elizabeth Holmes was widely seen as the female Steve Jobs: a brilliant Stanford dropout whose startup “unicorn” promised to revolutionize the medical industry with a machine that would make blood tests significantly faster and easier. Backed by investors such as Larry Ellison and Tim Draper, Theranos sold shares in a fundraising round that valued the company at $9 billion, putting Holmes’s worth at an estimated $4.7 billion. There was just one problem: The technology didn’t work.

For years, Holmes had been misleading investors, FDA officials, and her own employees. When Carreyrou, working at The Wall Street Journal, got a tip from a former Theranos employee and started asking questions, both Carreyrou and the Journal were threatened with lawsuits. Undaunted, the newspaper ran the first of dozens of Theranos articles in late 2015. By early 2017, the company’s value was zero and Holmes faced potential legal action from the government and her investors. Here is the riveting story of the biggest corporate fraud since Enron, a disturbing cautionary tale set amid the bold promises and gold-rush frenzy of Silicon Valley.

This review was written on 19 December right after I finished reading it!

First of all, wow. WowwowwowwowWOW.
Second, I’ve only ever read one non-fiction that I devoured so quickly and I think I read this one even faster!
Third, JUST. WOW!

I really don’t know how to write this review right now because (clearly) I’m still a little shook. My brain keeps asking: did I just read a science fiction thriller or did this actually happen? I honestly can’t remember the last time I swore so much and so loudly while reading–there was a lot of “WTF, GTFO, and are you forking serious” going on during this read but I just couldn’t help myself! 😂 I had no intention of finishing the book today when I picked it up and decided to purchase the audiobook, but this was 100% unputdownable. I do think the audiobook is what helped me get through this so quickly though and I would definitely recommend it (I listened on 2x speed)!

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The End of Year Book Tag – 2020 Edition

Dini @ dinipandareads17 Comments

I did my first End of Year Book Tag for 2019* and in what I’m guessing will become a yearly tradition now, I’ve come back to it again in 2020 as we’ve got one week left to go until this hot mess of a year comes to an end! I pretty much said the same thing last year (and basically in my posts for the last few weeks) but I can’t believe this year is coming to an end already! It felt like it took forever but also no time at all. Now without further ado, let’s get into this tag!

*I’m still not quite sure who made this tag but I did find it on Jenn @ Jenniely’s page.

Are there any books you started this year that you need to finish?

I won’t be counting my actual ‘current reads’ list but even not counting those, I do have a fair few that I started but wasn’t in the right mood for at the time, so I put them aside–it’s not at all because I wasn’t enjoying them though (honestly)! I’m still keen to get back to these ASAP.

Do you have an autumnal book to transition into the end of the year?

Confused man’s face with mouth hanging open (that is literally me rn)

Still not really sure that I get this question. I mean, it’s not autumn anymore but also, no I don’t have any particular book that I read to transition into the ‘end of the year mode’!

is there a new release that you’re still waiting for?

I was going to say no but then I remembered Love at the Icicle Café, which I added to my TBR just last week and it’s only out on 29 December, so I guess there is one I’m still waiting for in 2020 😂 The rest have all come out and what a year it has been!

what are three books you want to read before the year ends?

Hmm… I’m going to pick one from the list of books that I need to finish: Clap When You Land, but the other two are The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue and The Dragon Republic (before diving immediately into TBG)!

is there a book that you think could still shock you and become your favourite of the year?

Ngl, if I do manage to read The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue before the year ends, I think that there’s a very high possibility it could end up being my favourite. Based on what others have said about it I have a feeling I’m going to really really love it and omg, I can’t wait to read it!

have you already started to make reading plans for 2021?

I was going to say no but then I do already have a few blog tours lined up for January so I guess I do 😂 These are just some of the titles I’m on a tour for and I’m excited to give them a go!

Aaand that’s a wrap, folks! Well, that ended up being a lot shorter than I thought it’d be 🤣 Why did I think this tag was miles long when I did it last year? LOL. Anyway, I’m not going to tag anyone specifically but if you wanna do it, feel free to link back to me so I can check out your answers!