Blog Tour Review: A Cruel Thirst by Angela Montoya

Dini @ dinipandareads9 Comments

Hi friends, as part of the blog tour hosted by TBR & Beyond Tours I’m excited to share my thoughts on A Cruel Thirst by Angela Montoya. Thanks to the TBR team for having me on tour and to Joy Revolution for providing a digital ARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Click the banner above or here to check out the other incredible bloggers on the blog tour!

A Cruel Thirst
Publisher: Joy Revolution
Publication Date: 17 December 2024
Genre: Young Adult Historical Paranormal Romance

Rating:

(4 pandas)

📖 SYNOPSIS

A fledgling vampire and a headstrong vampire huntress must work together–against their better judgment–to rid the world of monsters in this irresistible romantic fantasy.

Carolina Fuentes wants to join her family in hunting the bloodthirsty vampiros that plague her pueblo. Her father, however, wishes to marry her off to a husband of his choosing, someone who’ll take her away from danger.

Determined to prove she’d make a better slayer than wife, Carolina vows to take down a monster herself. But when she runs intoun vampiro that is somehow extremely attractive and kind, herplan crumbles.

Lalo Villalobos was content leading a perfectly dull life until un vampiro turned him. Now forced to flee his city, he heads to the pueblo where he believes the first vampiro was made. Surely its residents must know how to reverse this dreadful curse. Instead of finding salvation, Lalo collides with a beautiful young woman who’d gladly drive a dagger through his heart.

Fortunately, Lalo and Carolina share a common enemy. They can wipe out this evil. Together. If his fangs and her fists can stay focused, they might just triumph and discover what it feels like to take a bite out of love.

⚠️ CONTENT/TRIGGER WARNINGS

Blood, death of loved ones (recounted, on page), murder, gun violence, knife violence, death of animals (off page), misogyny

📚 BUY A COPY

TL;DR: A Cruel Thirst was a great romp of a read! This YA historical paranormal romance had engaging characters who were easy to root for and an entertaining action-packed plot that kept me turning the pages. I loved Carolina and Lalo and enjoyed their enemies-to-reluctant partners-to-lovers dynamic so much. Despite recognising certain flaws in the story that would’ve normally irritated me, the humorous writing and witty banter made this such an enjoyable laugh-out-loud read, that the flaws didn’t seem to matter! I would recommend it to those looking for a relatively light-hearted but action-packed story featuring an interesting vampire x vampire hunter dynamic that’s heavy on fun, romance, and banter!

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#TopTenTuesday: Cosy or Atmospheric?

Dini @ dinipandareads56 Comments

We’re back with another Top Ten Tuesday, a weekly meme hosted by Jana @ That Artsy Reader Girl.

This week’s topic is Books to Read During a Storm (these can be cozy/comfy reads, books with storms in them, atmospheric reads for dark and stormy nights, light reads to combat the heavy weather, etc.) (Submitted by Astilbe.)

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Mini Book Review: Rookie Mistake by Maren Moore

Dini @ dinipandareads5 Comments

Rookie Mistake (Orleans University #3.5)
Pub Date: 24 September 2024
Genre: Contemporary Romance

Panda Rating:

(3.5 pandas)

📖 SYNOPSIS

I won my brother’s rival in a Date the Player auction… and had the best night of my life.

Davis Guidry is Orleans University’s starting rookie pitcher.
He’s handsome, charming, and an all-around flirt.

After spending a hot, spontaneous night together, we can’t seem to keep our hands off each other.
But our no-strings fun comes crashing down when my overbearing brother, who happens to be Davis’s biggest rival, catches us in action.
Even that seems to only make the fire burn hotter when we’re together.
And suddenly, our secret fling starts to feel like something more than either of us bid on.

Are these casual hookups between us just a fun way to pass my freshman year… Or have we made the ultimate rookie mistake and caught feelings?

Rookie Mistake is approximately a 36k word novella in the Orleans University world. It is a complete standalone. This is high spice, low plot and lots of fun!

Moore describes this as “high spice, low plot, and lots of fun”, which is spot on for this college romance novella. At less than 200 pages, things move unsurprisingly quickly for Zara and Davis but thankfully, even with their instant connection, there are no instant declarations of love. From the go, their chemistry was palpable and I loved seeing them grow closer as friends and romantic partners. Their personalities were complementary and it resulted in some fun and wild times!

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Sundays in Bed With… #MyWeeklyWrapUp [260]

Dini @ dinipandareads14 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 your time reading in bed or wish you had time to read today.

I’ve spent my Sunday in bed reading Howl’s Moving Castle. This is my buddy read with Becky and it’s been an interesting experience so far! I keep comparing it to the movie because it’s one of my faves (in Ghilbi and general)! There are major differences but I’m not mad about it. It’s a whimsical

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#FirstLinesFriday: 6 December 2024

Dini @ dinipandareads5 Comments

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:

“Lalo Villalobos hated many things. Long walks, crowded streets, unkempt suits, people. But one thing he hated above all else was his word not being taken seriously. Tonight, he would prove to everyone he was no fool.”

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November 2024 Community Posts!

Dini @ dinipandareads7 Comments

✨ Happy Thursday, friends! ✨ It’s time to share some of my favourite posts of the month from across the book community. I’m in disbelief that the next time I make another one of these it’ll already be the new year, which means that this is the last monthly Community Posts wrap-up for 2024! As such, this might be longer than some of my previous roundups but I do hope you take the time to visit some of these blogs and share some love.

✨📖 Happy reading! 📖✨

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Monthly Wrap-Up: November 2024

Dini @ dinipandareads14 Comments

Do I even remember what I did in November? Not really, LOL! Honestly, this month just flew by and I have no idea at all where the time went.

Most of the month’s highlights had to do with material things. I bought a bunch of stuff online and my parents were able to bring it back from Japan including keycaps for my keyboard and vinyls. Plus, they surprised me with two bags from my favourite brand! I must admit I am a material girl and I love the goods, so these things made me very happy (especially the vinyls)! 🤭

I also went to see Wicked and I’m not ashamed to admit that I cried buckets. I think what surprised me most was the scene that made me the most emotional because while it made me sad when I saw it on Broadway, the movie scene hit so much harder! I won’t share when exactly but it has to do with a certain ballroom (iykyk) and wow, how the tears flowed! 😂 I was trying hard to not be a sobbing idiot in the theatre, haha (I think I succeeded).

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