Tag: 2026 Reads

Book Review: Wild Dark Shore by Charlotte McConaghy

Dini @ dinipandareads4 Comments

Wild Dark Shore
Publisher: Flatiron Books
Pub Date: 4 March 2025
Genre: Contemporary Fiction/Mystery/Climate Fiction

Panda Rating:

(4.75 pandas)

📖 SYNOPSIS

A family on a remote island. A mysterious woman washed ashore. A storm gathering force.

Dominic Salt and his three children are caretakers of Shearwater, a tiny weather-lashed island that is home to the world’s largest seed bank. As Shearwater risks being lost to rising sea levels, the island’s researchers have fled, and only the Salts remain.

Until, during the worst storm in living memory, a stranger washes ashore. The family nurse the woman, Rowan, back to strength, but it seems she isn’t telling the whole truth about why she’s there. And when Rowan stumbles upon sabotaged radios and a recently dug grave, she realises that she’s not the only one on the island with a secret.

A novel of breathtaking twists, dizzying beauty and ferocious love, Wild Dark Shore is about the impossible choices we make to protect the people we love.

⚠️ CONTENT WARNINGS

Blood, detailed description of wounds, adult/minor relationship, infidelity, deaths of loved ones (spouse, partner, sibling), suicide (on page, recounted), suicide ideation, grief, drowning (of a child, recounted), severe climate anxiety, wildfire (recounted), attempted murder, imprisonment, physical abuse, grooming

TL;DR: This book took me completely by surprise. Although it has a relatively ‘violent’ beginning, it is a slow burn. There are so many secrets and somewhat poor communication (or just choosing not to communicate really), but let me say the payoff was worth the journey. I found this to be such a beautiful character driven story that is about so many things—parenthood, motherhood, coming-of-age, love, climate change, a bone deep appreciation of mother nature, biodiversity, and the planet we inhabit. There are definitely parts where you have to suspend your disbelief, but I was fully into it and found that those parts didn’t bother me at all. If you’re willing to be patient and allow yourself to sink into the bones of this story, I really wouldn’t hesitate to recommend it.

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#WWWWednesday: 8 July 2026

Dini @ dinipandareads8 Comments

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?
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Monthly Wrap-Up: June 2026

Dini @ dinipandareads18 Comments

Well, June wasn’t any different to what I expected. It was the last month of full-time work for everyone at my office and wow, it was hectic, stressful, frustrating and emotional in so many different ways. It hasn’t been an easy process and if I’m being honest, there were so many instances the team felt deep betrayal and disbelief due to decisions being made by the higher-ups in New York, but would be the most impactful to the local team on the ground here. By the time the 30th rolled around, the energy was almost manic because everyone was beyond exhausted but at the same time, relieved to not have to deal with the heavy burden of this change full-time anymore.

Personally, I was feeling pretty numb to it all and even now, I don’t think it’s fully set in? There were a few panicky moments towards the end of June when I started thinking too long and hard about what I’m going to do next, whether I’m ever going to be able to get a job again, how I’m going to survive in this economy, etc. I know it’s a serious situation but I also know my brain was making things more dramatic and worse in those moments. As of right now, I’m feeling quite a bit of guilt because I’m not working, and I’m also struggling to not feel like I have to constantly be online and available for work because I’m no longer being paid to work full-time. It’s a weird transitory feeling and I’m sure it’ll take a while for me to get used to it, but I know I will adjust. 🙂

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#WWWWednesday: 1 July 2026

Dini @ dinipandareads6 Comments

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?
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The 2026 Mid-Year Check-In Tag

Dini @ dinipandareads23 Comments

When Caro tagged me in her mid-year post the other day, I at first couldn’t believe that it’s already time for the Mid-Year Check-In! The last few months have been ✨ stressful ✨ over here, and I’m still going through the trenches until the end of the month—which is only a few days away, so I’m hanging in there. But I digress. Despite kind of prioritizing gaming as my favourite form of unwinding in recent months, I am still reading, albeit very slowly. So I’ll be curious to see what answers I can come up with for this year’s check-in! We’re halfway through 2026, folks and what a time it’s been… 😶‍🌫️

Check out my previous check-ins:
2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025

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#WWWWednesday: 24 June 2026

Dini @ dinipandareads16 Comments

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?
Read More »

#WWWWednesday: 17 June 2026

Dini @ dinipandareads7 Comments

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?
Read More »

#WWWWednesday: 10 June 2026

Dini @ dinipandareads7 Comments

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?
Read More »

Blog Tour Review: The Ocean Would Paint Me Blue by Zoulfa Katouh

Dini @ dinipandareads4 Comments

Hi friends, I’m excited to be back with a blog tour review today! I’m here to share my thoughts (and a few favourite quotes) as part of the blog tour hosted by Toppling Stacks Tours for The Ocean Would Paint Me Blue by Zoulfa Katouh.

Thanks to Little, Brown Books for Young Readers 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!

The Ocean Would Paint Me Blue
Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Publication Date: 2 June 2026
Genre: YA Contemporary

Rating:

(4.75 pandas rounded up)

📖 SYNOPSIS

From the celebrated author of As Long as the Lemon Trees Grow comes a poignant novel about a Syrian American girl who uses a magical sketchbook to turn her grief into art, painting miraculous murals of her mother’s life in Syria.

Seventeen-year-old Jihad Dabbagh has always seen life with a heightened sense for colors, one of many magical blessings the women in her family possess. But Jihad’s gift changes depending on her mood. When depression sets in, the world is a colorless oasis, and in the wake of her mother’s sudden death, the world has become a permanent shade of grey.

Broken by tragedy, Jihad’s family doesn’t believe her color loss. Her father sends her to the elite Braxton Academy to finish her senior year. There, Jihad’s name and hijab put a target on her back. Her haven comes in the form of an old sketchbook carved from a tree in her hometown in Syria—a country she only knew through her mother’s stories. Jihad hasn’t picked up a brush in over a year, but finds herself channeling the colors of her hurt, pain, and grief as she paints the story of her mother’s journey in Syria.

When graffiti of that same mural starts magically popping up all over New York, her art goes viral and the world takes notice, the threat of legal consequences is imminent. To reclaim her voice, Jihad will have to paint a new future for herself and Braxton, guided by the resilience of her mother’s story.

📚 BUY A COPY
⚠️ CONTENT/TRIGGER WARNINGS

Bullying, Panic attacks/disorders, Racial slurs, Racism, Violence, Xenophobia, Islamophobia, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Toxic friendship, Sexual harassment, Classism, Murder (mentioned briefly in recounting)

OK, honestly, I do think this is a solid 5-star read, but I haven’t been able to stop thinking about how I wanted certain parts of that ending to be a little bit different—and it has been nagging at me since I finished this—so I’m giving it a 4.75. 🤭 That doesn’t really make it any less of a 5-star quality read, though, and it is also one of my favourite YA contemporaries in a long time!

TL;DR: The Ocean Would Paint Me Blue enraged me. It filled me with sorrow and sadness, and maybe even a lottle bit of hatred, but it also infused me with hope. I lost track of the number of times I cried while reading this—tears of anger and frustration at injustices, tears of grief and sorrow, and also tears of joy for true and simple kindnesses that were healing. Jihad and Jamie were complex and wonderfully crafted characters and I loved the friendship that grew between them. By the end of this review, you’ll definitely be able to tell that this book made me feel MANY things. 😂 This was another stunning novel by Katouh and it has solidified her in my YA auto-buy authors list, because even if her stories always gut me, she always manages to soothe my heart by the time we reach the last page. What a gift!

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#WWWWednesday: 3 June 2026

Dini @ dinipandareads8 Comments

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?
Read More »