2023 End of Year Survey – Parts II & III

Dini @ dinipandareads14 Comments

We’re on to the next part of the annual End of Year Survey. If you haven’t yet, you can check out Part I here—it’s a lengthy survey and it did make me lose my mind a little but I felt so accomplished when I finished answering all the prompts! 😂 As always, this part is more about my blogging journey in 2023 and looking ahead to 2024.

This survey was originally created by Jamie @The Perpetual Page Turner.

Check out my previous survey wrap-ups:
2019 – Part I / Part II / Part III | 2020 – Part I / Part II & III
2021 – Part I / Part II & III | 2022: Part I / Part II & III

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ARC Review: Sheets by Brenna Thummler

Dini @ dinipandareads12 Comments

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

Sheets (Sheets #1)
Publisher: Oni Press
Publication Date: 28 August 2018
Genre: Middle-Grade Graphic Novel

Panda Rating:

(4 pandas)

📖 SYNOPSIS

Marjorie Glatt feels like a ghost. A practical thirteen year old in charge of the family laundry business, her daily routine features unforgiving customers, unbearable P.E. classes, and the fastidious Mr. Saubertuck who is committed to destroying everything she’s worked for.

Wendell is a ghost. A boy who lost his life much too young, his daily routine features ineffective death therapy, a sheet-dependent identity, and a dangerous need to seek purpose in the forbidden human world.

When their worlds collide, Marjorie is confronted by unexplainable disasters as Wendell transforms Glatt’s Laundry into his midnight playground, appearing as a mere sheet during the day. While Wendell attempts to create a new afterlife for himself, he unknowingly sabotages the life that Marjorie is struggling to maintain.

⚠️ CONTENT/TRIGGER WARNINGS

Death of parent, Child death, Bullying, Grief, Depression

If you’re like me and you pick this up solely because of the cover, and you don’t look at the synopsis, you might go into this thinking it’ll be a cute story about… Sheets? Turns out, while there are many sheets involved, it’s not at all the light-hearted cutesy story that I thought it would be. This deals with heavy themes of death, grief, belonging, and loneliness.

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2023 End of Year Book Survey – Part I

Dini @ dinipandareads26 Comments

As has become an annual tradition on this blog, it’s time to share Part I of the End of Year Book Survey! I always enjoy doing this survey to dive a little deeper into my reading and blogging in the year that has just passed. I’ve mentioned it once and I’m gonna mention it again: 2023 was A YEAR so I’m glad that it’s over and I can only hope that 2024 is a much kinder, more peaceful and joyful year. On that note, I’m going to get straight to it. If you’d like to check my previous years’ End of Book Surveys, I’ve linked them all below! 😍

This survey was originally created by Jamie @The Perpetual Page Turner.

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Blog Tour Review: Dark Star Burning, Ash Falls White by Amélie Wen Zhao

Dini @ dinipandareads10 Comments

Hello, friends. ✨ Today I’m excited to kick off the blog tour for the concluding book of an exciting Chinese mythology-inspired duology: Dark Star Burning, Ash Falls White by Amélie Wen Zhao! Special thanks to the TBR & Beyond Tours team for organising the tour and including me in it.

Thanks to Delacorte Press for providing a digital ARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Click here or on the banner above to check out the rest of the fantastic bloggers on tour!

Dark Star Burning, Ash Falls White (Song of the Last Kingdom #2)
Publisher: Delacorte Press
Publication Date: 2 January 2024
Genre: Young Adult Fantasy
Rep: Chinese

Panda Rating:

(4 pandas)

📖 SYNOPSIS

The epic sequel to the book Song of Silver, Flame Like Night, is a fast-paced, riveting YA fantasy inspired by the mythology and folklore of ancient China.

Years ago, the Elantian colonizers invaded Lan’s homeland and killed her mother in their search to uncover the Last Kingdom’s greatest the location of its legendary four Demon Gods. Lan’s mother devoted her life to destroying the Demon Gods, and Lan is determined to finish her mission. Yet, there are others searching for the gods, too.

Zen knew his soul was forfeit the moment he made a deal with the Demon God known as the Black Tortoise, but he’s willing to lose himself if it means saving the Kingdom–and the girl–he loves. But to crush the colonizers who have invaded his land he needs more power than even a single Demon God can provide. He needs an army. And he knows exactly where he can find it–in the undead army his great grandfather lead decades ago.

The Elantians may have stolen their throne, but the battle for the Last Kingdom has only begun.

⚠️ CONTENT/TRIGGER WARNINGS

Violence, blood, death of loved one, colonial themes. Also, see romance spoiler below for younger readers.

📚 BUY A COPY!

TL;DR: Dark Star Burning, Ash Falls White was a satisfying conclusion to this duology. Honestly, I wasn’t sure what to think at the start because it took a direction that I wasn’t expecting. I thought there would be more action but this is a slower-paced fantasy that includes more intricate world-building and in-depth exploration of historical and thematic concepts. That said, the culminating battles and the way the threads tie together in the end are bittersweet but no less rewarding. Lan and Zen were great leading characters who were easy to root for and made me love the story of the Last Kingdom.

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Let’s Talk Bookish: 2023 Reading & Blogging Reflections

Dini @ dinipandareads15 Comments

Not only is this going up on a Monday instead of Friday, but it’s also going to be my first post of 2024! 😂 I hope this means that I’ll be better at doing discussion posts this year because 2023 was a total flop in this regard.

Let’s Talk Bookish is a weekly meme created by Rukky @Eternity Books and hosted by Aria @Book Nook Bits, and it’s where we get to discuss certain topics, share our opinions, and spread the love by visiting each other’s posts! If you want to join in the bookish discussion fun, check out Aria’s page for more prompts.

Now without further ado… The topic asks us about:

2023 Reading & Blogging Reflections

Prompts: How many books did you read in 2023? Did you meet your reading goals? What were some of your favourites? What were your least favourite books you read this year? How did you feel about your blogging in 2023? What are your favourite posts you wrote in 2023? What are some of your favourite posts from the community that you read this year?

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Monthly Wrap-Up: December 2023 ft. the last Sunday Wrap-Up [216]

Dini @ dinipandareads25 Comments

Since this year, the last Sunday falls on the last day of the year, I thought I’d combine my usual Sundays in Bed With… My Weekly Wrap-Up post with my monthly wrap-up. Can you believe it’s already the end of 2023?

I honestly don’t know where this month went. It passed by in a blink of long days, endless nights, extremely emotional moments, but thankfully, also some fun reads and down time. The quieter office of the past two weeks were also much-needed and I’m low-key dreading going back to “business as usual” come January, lol. 😂 But we’ll be fine.

I hope everyone is doing okay and taking care of themselves during this time of the year. It’ll be a new year on this side of the world before it will be for most of you reading this (probably) so here’s a message incoming from the future:

Happy New Year! 🥳 I hope 2024 will be a year filled with joy, success, stability and peace. Sending all the hugs and much love your way! 💜

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2023 Spotify Wrapped Book Tag

Dini @ dinipandareads3 Comments

Hey friends, I hope the week is treating you right. We’re two sleeps away from a new year (at least on this side of the world anyway) and I was reminded by Jennifer @ My Book Joy about this fun book tag! ✨ I totally forgot that the Spotify Wrapped Book Tag existed but I think I did a pretty decent job at matching songs to books in 2022, so I thought I’d give it another go for 2023. I think my 2023 songs were a bit more challenging but I still had fun matching and think I did an okay job, lol. On that note, let’s get to it!

This tag was originally created by Rosina @Lace and Dagger Books!

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#FirstLinesFriday: 29 December 2023

Dini @ dinipandareadsLeave a comment

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:

“The outward door’s locks tumbled for the first time in a year. I stood from my perch on the tower’s window seat and schooled my features into an expression of contentment, even as my heart thudded against my ribs. There could only be one reason the guards were unlocking that door instead of the inner one the maidservants used. The emperor had called for me.
It’s about bloody time.”

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