#TopTenTuesday: First Lines, Favourite Reads!

So, we’re back with another Top Ten Tuesday, a weekly meme hosted by Jana @ That Artsy Reader Girl. This week’s prompt is: Freebie (Come up with your own topic or do a past TTT topic that you missed or would like to do again)!

I always struggle when it comes to freebie topics but I decided to keep things as simple as possible and share the first few lines from ten of my favourite reads this year! I surprisingly don’t have very many five-star reads this year but looking through my read list, I had a hard time choosing just ten from the ones that had me feeling all the feels! I would definitely recommend checking out these reads though so maybe these first lines will entice you to pick them up?! 😉

Read More »

#WWWWednesday: 22 September 2021

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’ve managed to finish six books! The majority were still romances and I binged a dark romance trilogy early on in the week, but I’ve also enjoyed a great collection of middle grade short stories!

White Monarch Series (#1-3) by Jessica Hawkins ★★★★☆
I haven’t read a cartel romance before but it was definitely dark and whole lot of sizzling build up of physical chemistry to a steamy combustion in the last book! Hawkins doesn’t shy away from the darker and dirtier side of cartel business from drugs, arms, and human trafficking and the book was surprisingly as heavy on cartel politics and revenge as it was on the romance. I loved Cristiano and Natalia and thought they were such a great couple and theirs was an entertaining story! Full series RTC.

The Duke of Diamonds (A Lady to Suit #1) by Emily Windsor ★★★½
I really liked Windsor’s writing style. The language fit the period, it’s full of wit and warmth and I found myself laughing-out-loud a lot as I read! Although their initial meeting was based on lies, I loved how Casper and Eveline came alive around each other especially over whilst discussing the art which they are so passionate about. It was a slow-burn but well worth the wait! RTC.

Read More »

#TopTenTuesday: 2021 Fall Possibilities…

So, we’re back with another Top Ten Tuesday, a weekly meme hosted by Jana @ That Artsy Reader Girl. This week’s prompt is: Books on my Fall 2021 To-Read List.

As a mood reader, I’m not much of a TBR kinda person although some of these I do have to read before a certain date as they’re ARCs and for blog tours! The majority make up my possibility pile for the ‘fall’ season and while I’m not sure that I’ll get around to them this fall (again, it all depends on my mood), I’m still hoping to get them read at least before the year ends—and since they’ve made it onto a possibility pile, there’s a higher chance that I’ll get to them! 😊

Read More »

#WWWWednesday: 15 September 2021

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’ve managed to finish nine books? This is in part thanks to the paranormal romance binge that I did in a little over a day! What can I say? I’m definitely in a romance binging mood!

The Dark Bite (Vampire Hunter Society #1) by Leia Stone ★★★½
Set in the same Magic City world of The Wolf Girl series (below), this spin-off focuses on vampire royalty, Luka and Aspen, the Vampire Hunter he mistakenly bonds with. This had lots of action and our hunter is definitely a kick-ass baddie with a stake, but I wish we got more character development and we got to see our H/H interact just a little more than they did. It’s a promising set up for the series though! RTC.

The Wolf Girl Series (1-4) by Leia Stone ★★★☆☆
This paranormal romance series was so easy to binge. This is a sub-genre that I don’t normally read but this had high entertainment value and it was so easy for me to just turn off my brain and get sucked into the supernatural creature world and of course, major drama! If you’re not into drama, this might not be for you. But if you’re looking for an action-packed series that doesn’t shy away from blood, violence or a slightly angsty but steamy werewolf romance, you might want to check this out! RTC.

Read More »

#TopTenTuesday: Easy as 1, 2, 3!

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

Well, this is a pretty straightforward prompt and I’ve decided to keep it simple this week. I’ll be listing books with numbers from one to ten, and I’ve read all except two* that are still on my TBR. I rated most of these 4-5 stars with one or two 3/3.5 stars, so they’re all titles that I’ve enjoyed a lot! Here we go 😉

Read More »

#WWWWednesday: 08 September 2021

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’ve managed to finish five books, though sadly only one was an ARC!

Dark and Shallow Lies by Ginny Myers Sain ★★★☆☆
This was another entertaining and fast addition to the Xivery Mates series. Lemora might be my favourite alien planet so far because the city was a giant melting pot of alien races and cultures, and it felt so vibrant and alive! Everyone was extremely friendly, helpful and accepting of others and it just served pleasant and happy vibes that I was totally here for. Raingar and Essmira were great but I especially loved Essmira because Stephens does a great job writing smart and headstrong heroines! Read my full review.

A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder (A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder #1) by Holly Jackson ★★★★☆
I’m gonna be honest, I read this for the smut and it definitely delivered! This is an age-gap romance, which is not something that I normally ever read but I wasn’t bothered by it in this story. There’s not much in the way of character development or a strong plot, and their relationship to each other is already an established thing, but I liked both the Duke and Victoria. I thought they were both interesting characters and that the author handled the emotional and moral struggle (especially on his part) well! Obviously, I liked the steamy bits and it did get quite steamy pretty quickly. The Duke ticked that dirty-talking hero box and so if that (and historical romance) is your thing, I would recommend checking this out (especially if you have KU)! RTC.

Read More »

#TopTenTuesday: Books Guaranteed to Make You Smile!

So, we’re back with another Top Ten Tuesday, a weekly meme hosted by Jana @ That Artsy Reader Girl. This week’s prompt is: Books Guaranteed to Put a Smile On Your Face

As an emotional reader it doesn’t take much for a book to make me smile/laugh/cry so there were quite a lot of books to choose from for this prompt! I’m not much of a re-reader but even thinking about my reading experience with these books puts a smile on my face and manages to fill me up with warmth and it’s safe to say that I really enjoyed them! 🥰

Read More »

#TopTenTuesday: New Fictional Favourites

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

I thought I’d broaden today’s topic a little to go beyond fictional crushes and take a look at some of my latest fictional favourites. I’m quite a softie and so it honestly doesn’t take *that* much for a character to worm their way into my heart. I have empathised and rooted for all of these characters and while maybe not all of them are entirely ‘unique’ in their arcs, they made my reading experience amazing and made me enjoy the books even more! So on that note… Let’s take a look at some of my newest favourites:

Read More »

Let’s Talk Bookish: A Blogger Identity Crisis

Let’s Talk Bookish is a weekly meme, hosted by Rukky @Eternity Books  & Dani @ Literary Lion, where we get to discuss certain topics, share our opinions, and spread the love by visiting each other’s posts! You can check out these pages for more information on August 2021 prompts & a list of all prompts!

Now without further ado… The topic asks:

HAVING A BLOGGER IDENTITY CRISIS

(SUGGESTED BY RUKKY @ ETERNITY BOOKS)
Prompts: Have you ever had a blogger identity crisis? What triggered it? How did you get over it? Has an identity crisis ever led you to significantly change the direction for your blog? Do you think having an identity crisis every once in a while can help you become a better blogger, or is it just a sign of insecurity?

Have you ever had a blogger identity crisis? What triggered it? How did you get over it?

It’s hard to believe that it’s been almost three years since I made my first post on this blog! Over the years I’ve taken a couple of breaks and I think most of them were a result of feeling overwhelmed by everything, rather than because I had a blogger identity crisis. That said, there have been plenty of moments where I’ve been swamped by feelings of ‘imposter syndrome’ and I gotta be honest, it can be pretty debilitating! These feelings are always triggered when I look at other bloggers who create fantastic content, whether it’s amazing reviews, thought-provoking posts, and even new original tags—whatever it is, it usually leads me to think to myself: what are you even doing here when there’s no way you’ll ever compare to that?! Yikes, I cringed typing that sentence because I really hate the comparison game but… Here we are? 🙈

I don’t know if I can say I’m “over” the imposter feelings as they tend to come and go, which also depends on my head space in general, but I’ve dealt with it by acknowledging that as long as I enjoy what I do, does anything else really even matter? Obviously, accepting this attitude/mindset is often easier said than done, but even if I don’t grow a big following or don’t make any kind of lasting impression on readers, at the end of the day, I’m sharing my passion for books because I want to. If others decide that they enjoy what I have to share then that’s absolutely brilliant and I thank you all so much for following along on this mad journey! At the end of the day though, if it makes me happy to do what I do that should be enough, and on most days I’m really okay with that 😊

Has an identity crisis ever led you to significantly change the direction of your blog?

I can’t say that having an identity crisis has led me to changing the direction of my blog. As this is a book blog my content is always going to be about books and I don’t foresee that changing in the near future. Maybe I’ll have a sprinkling of ‘real life’ content in some posts as I get more comfortable being part of this community but it won’t go beyond sprinklings, I think. Admittedly, these moments always make me want to push myself to create more fun and engaging content and although it doesn’t always work (or at least not for long) I do feel better whenever I manage to do something new when I make a ‘comeback’.

Do you think having an identity crisis every once in a while can help you become a better blogger or is it just insecurity?

Personally, I know that a lot of my crisis moments stem from my massive self-doubt and insecurity but I do think that having these ‘shake ups’ every once in a while can be helpful. It’s especially good if you’re able to take a step back and handle the situation constructively without letting it overwhelm you and stop you from moving forward.

Have you ever had a blogger identity crisis? How do or did you deal with it? Do you think it can be helpful to experience a crisis now and then?

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

#WWWWednesday: 25 August 2021

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’ve managed to finish five books and I’m happy to say that all of them were ARCs—yay! 😍

Taken to Lemora (Xiveri Mates #6) by Elizabeth Stephens ★★★☆☆
This was another entertaining and fast addition to the Xivery Mates series. Lemora might be my favourite alien planet so far because the city was a giant melting pot of alien races and cultures, and it felt so vibrant and alive! Everyone was extremely friendly, helpful and accepting of others and it just served pleasant and happy vibes that I was totally here for. Raingar and Essmira were great but I especially loved Essmira because Stephens does a great job writing smart and headstrong heroines! Check out my full review.

My Dirty Duke: A Victorian Novella by Joanna Shupe ★★★☆☆
I’m gonna be honest, I read this for the smut and it definitely delivered! This is an age-gap romance, which is not something that I normally ever read but I wasn’t bothered by it in this story. There’s not much in the way of character development or a strong plot, and their relationship to each other is already an established thing, but I liked both the Duke and Victoria. I thought they were both interesting characters and that the author handled the emotional and moral struggle (especially on his part) well! Obviously, I liked the steamy bits and it did get quite steamy pretty quickly. The Duke ticked that dirty-talking hero box and so if that (and historical romance) is your thing, I would recommend checking this out (especially if you have KU)!

Read More »