Blog Tour Review + Giveaway: The Puppetmaster’s Apprentice by Lisa DeSelm

October 15, 2020 Dini @ dinipandareads14 Comments

Hello, friends! I’m so excited to take part in my first blog tour with Caffeine Book Tours today! 😍 It’s my stop on the tour for The Puppetmaster’s Apprentice by Lisa DeSelm and I couldn’t be happier to share my thoughts on this delightfully dark fantasy retelling. Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for providing the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Be sure to click on the banner above to check out the rest of the amazing bloggers on tour!

Goodreads: The Puppetmaster’s Apprentice
Publisher: Page Street Publishing
Publication Date: 13 October 2020
Genre: Young Adult Fantasy
Panda Rating:

“Listen well. Soon, the blue moon, the rarest of all moons will be on the rise. At its waxing offer up one of your creations and by moonlight they will be given breath. Choose wisely who to awaken.”

With her puppet-maker father imprisoned and the land of Tavia on the brink of war, Pirouette does not have a choice other than to follow the ruler’s whims. But when he discovers her secret – that she was once a puppet brought to life by the magic of the blue moon—he demands that Pirouette create an assassin out of wood and then make it come alive.

Fighting against forbidden magic and racing against the rise of the next blue moon, Pirouette cannot help but wonder, if she is making a masterpiece…or a monster. And if she is making a monster, what does that make her?

BUY NOW: Amazon (US) |Barnes & Noble | Book Depository | IndieBound

Blog Tour Review: Winter, White and Wicked by Shannon Dittemore

October 14, 2020 Dini @ dinipandareads8 Comments

Hello, friends! Today is my stop on the TBR & Beyond Tours for Winter, White and Wicked by Shannon Dittemore. Thanks to the TBR & Beyond team for having me on tour and to NetGalley and the publishers for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Be sure to click on the banner above to check out the rest of the amazing bloggers on tour!

Goodreads: Winter, White and Wicked
Publisher: ABRAMS Kids
Publication Date: 13 October 2020
Genre: Young Adult Fantasy
Panda Rating:

Mad Max: Fury Road meets Frozen in this striking YA fantasy about a rig driver’s journey to save her friend

Twice-orphaned Sylvi has chipped out a niche for herself on Layce, an island cursed by eternal winter. Alone in her truck, she takes comfort in two things: the solitude of the roads and the favor of Winter, an icy spirit who has protected her since she was a child.

Sylvi likes the road, where no one asks who her parents were or what she thinks of the rebels in the north. But when her best friend, Lenore, runs off with the rebels, Sylvi must make a haul too late in the season for a smuggler she wouldn’t normally work with, the infamous Mars Dresden. Alongside his team—Hyla, a giant warrior woman and Kyn, a boy with skin like stone—Sylvi will do whatever it takes to save her friend.

But when the time comes, she’ll have to choose: safety, anonymity, and the favor of Winter—or the future of the island that she calls home.

Buy: Amazon (US) |Barnes & Noble | Book Depository | Indigo

Blog Tour Review: Sisters of the Moon by Alexandrea Weis

October 13, 2020October 12, 2020 Dini @ dinipandareads7 Comments

I’m back with another blog tour today with Xpresso Tours for Sisters of the Moon by Alexandrea Weis. Thanks to Xpresso Tours for organising this blog tour and to the author for providing the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Be sure to click on the banner below to check out the other bloggers on tour!

Goodreads: Sisters of the Moon
Publisher: Vesuvian Books
Release Date: 22 September 2020
Genre: Horror, Paranormal Fantasy
Panda Rating:

A monstrous fate will turn a girl into a legend.

On an island in Lake Obersee, where The Sisters of St. Gertrude abide, a destitute Moor named Durra arrives. Sold for taxes, she and her two companions tend to the nuns and their collection of cats. At night, she combs the library for details on the order, the remote island, and the beasts howling outside her window.

But when a prank reveals the sisters’ gruesome secret, Durra is forced to accept a new fate. Bestowed an unearthly power, she must choose between life as a nun or living among the monsters beyond the convent walls.

Her path is about to change the tide in the ultimate war. The war between good and evil.

BUY NOW: Amazon (US)

Blog Tour Review: Children by Bjørn Larssen

October 9, 2020October 8, 2020 Dini @ dinipandareads16 Comments

I’m back with another blog tour with The Storytellers on Tour for Children by Bjørn Larssen. Thanks to SoT for organising this tour and thanks to the author for the ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Be sure to click on the banner below to check out the rest of the bloggers on tour!

Goodreads: Children (The Ten Worlds #1)
Publication Date: 03 October 2020
Genre: Fantasy Retelling, Mythology
Panda Rating:

Magni never wanted to be like his father, a murderous, absent, cheating alcoholic: Thor – the feared and beloved God of thunder. When Thor destroys everything and everyone his son knows and loves, Magni vows to stop the violence. His dream is to bring peace and prosperity to the Nine Worlds, then settle down with the man he loves. But is it possible to remain good in a place this bad? How do you escape cruelty in a universe built on it, or the shadow of your father when everyone calls you by his name?

Maya knows she’s a failure and a disappointment to her foster-parents. How could a child raised by Freya and Freyr – Goddess of love and God of sex – have no interest in the greatest of pleasures? Obviously, it couldn’t be the torture they subjected her to, or treating her as a tool that might someday be useful. Maya, her rage at their games more powerful than she knows, wants freedom to pursue her own destiny. But how do you forge your own life away from your God-parents when you’re nothing more than human?

A retelling of the Norse myths unlike any other, Children will answer all the questions you never knew you had about the heathen Nine Worlds… before leading you into the Tenth

BUY NOW: Amazon (UK)

Blog Tour Review: A Royal Christmas Quandry by Samantha Hastings

October 8, 2020October 7, 2020 Dini @ dinipandareads8 Comments

I’m back with another blog tour today with Xpresso Tours for A Royal Christmas Quandry by Samantha Hastings. Thanks to Xpresso Tours for organising this blog tour and to Netgalley and the publisher for providing the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Be sure to click on the banner below to check out the other bloggers on tour!

Goodreads: A Royal Christmas Quandry
Publisher: Swoon Reads
Release Date: 06 October 2020
Genre: Young Adult Historical Fiction
Panda Rating:

When you spend Christmas in a castle, anything is possible.

1860. Lady Alexandrina Gailey is looking forward to a cozy holiday at Windsor Castle with her best friend, Princess Alice, and her long-time crush, Lord George Worthington. But Drina’s plans are all but dashed when Alice’s parents, Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, declare that Alice must choose one of two royal princes to become engaged to before Christmas.

There’s just one problem: George, a junior member of the Foreign Office, has accidentally misplaced one of the princes.

Together, Drina and George scour the town of Windsor for the missing prince, desperately hoping to deliver him to the royal dinner party with the queen none the wiser. They might just need a royal Christmas miracle to pull it off.

BUY NOW: Amazon (US) | Barnes & Noble | iBooks | Kobo

Blog Tour Review: A Bachelor’s Pledge by Penny Hampson

October 7, 2020October 7, 2020 Dini @ dinipandareads7 Comments

I’m back with another blog tour today with Rachel’s Random Resources for A Bachelor’s Pledge by Penny Hampson. Thanks to Rachel for organising this tour, and to the author for providing the book in exchange for an honest review.

Be sure to click on the banner above to check out the other bloggers on tour!

🎉 Happy Pub Day!!! 🎉

Goodreads: A Bachelor’s Pledge
Release Date: 07 October 2020
Genre: Historical Romance, Mystery
Panda Rating:

The woman who haunts his dreams
Secret agent Phil Cullen is upset when he discovers that the young woman he rescued from Mrs Newbody’s establishment has absconded from his housekeeper’s care without a word. Thinking he has been deceived, he resolves to forget about her… something easier said than done.

The man she wants to forget
Sophia Turner is horrified when she is duped into entering a notorious house of ill-repute. Then a handsome stranger comes to her aid. Desperate that no one learns of this scandalous episode, Sophia flees to the one friend she knows she can trust. With luck, she will never see her mysterious rescuer again.

But fate has other plans…
Months later, Phil is on the trail of an elusive French agent and Sophia is a respectable lady’s companion when fate again intervenes, taking their lives on a collision course.

Traitors, spies, and shameful family secrets – will these bring Sophia and Phil together… or drive them apart?

BUY NOW: Amazon (US) | Amazon (UK)

Book Spotlight + Excerpt: Relentless Habit by Karen Renee

September 30, 2020September 30, 2020 Dini @ dinipandareads4 Comments

Hi, friends! I’m delighted to share a book spotlight + excerpt today as part of the Xpresso Tours tour for Relentless Habit by Karen Renee!

Be sure to click on the banner below to check out the rest of the bloggers on tour!

Goodreads: Relentless Habit (O-Town #1)
Publish Date: 01 September 2020
Genre: Contemporary Romance

Cecilia Lyons escapes her sordid past by moving to Orlando and reinventing herself. Staying clean is challenging enough, but she’s challenged further when she catches the eye of the sexiest deejay in Orlando. Desperately, she wants to tell Brock her secret, but telling him would taint his view of her. It’s been years since she’s had a healthy relationship, and the more time she spends with Brock, the harder she falls for him. To protect her heart, she keeps her secret.

Brock Sullivan trusts very few people. Abandoned by his mother and tragically losing his first love, he puts little faith in women. When he meets Cecilia, he is unprepared for their overwhelming attraction. Not only is she a habit he doesn’t want to break, being with her forces him to rethink his beliefs. Even when he learns the worst about Cecilia, he can’t stay away. But when push comes to shove, will Brock be able to keep her safe?

Book Spotlight: Divinity’s Twilight: Rebirth by Christopher Russell

September 24, 2020 Dini @ dinipandareads5 Comments

I’m delighted to be sharing a book spotlight today with the Storytellers on Tour team for Divinity’s Twilight: Rebirth by Christopher Russell. This sounds like a truly epic read!

Be sure to click on the banner below to check out the rest of the bloggers on tour!

Goodreads: Divinity’s Twilight: Rebirth
Publish Date: 02 June 2020
Genre: Fantasy

A world consumed by war . . .
An ancient evil resurrected . . .
A millennia old bargain comes due . . .

When two blades clash, the third will fall, and the fate of all will be jeopardized. To save Lozaria, the failures of the past must be atoned for by a new generation of heroes. The time has come for mortals to cast off sight and, in doing so, truly come to see . . .

Victory is never absolute.

Seven centuries ago, the forces of order won the Illyriite War on the plains of Har’muth. Darmatus and Rabban Aurelian slew their elder brother, Sarcon, the despotic architect of the conflict, then sacrificed themselves to banish the cataclysmic vortex opened with his dying breath. The first advent of the Oblivion Well was thwarted. Even without their vanished gods, the seven races of Lozaria proved themselves capable of safeguarding their world.

Or so the story goes.

The year is now 697 A.B.H (After the Battle of Har’muth). Though war itself remains much the same, the weapons with which it is waged have evolved. Airships bearing powerful cannons ply the skies, reducing the influence of mages and their spells. Long range communication has brought far flung regions of Lozaria closer than ever before. At the center of this technological revolution are the three Terran states of Darmatia, Rabban, and Sarconia, who have fought a near ceaseless campaign of 700 years in an attempt to best each other. The roots of their enmity lie buried beneath the wasteland of Har’muth, a place all three nations consider best forgotten.

However, an ancient power sealed within Har’muth has not forgotten them, and the descendants of those who fought on that field must now take a stand to rectify the mistakes of the past.

BUY NOW: Amazon

Tour the World in 30 Books Tour: Wicked As You Wish

September 23, 2020September 23, 2020 Dini @ dinipandareads11 Comments

Tour the World in 30 Books is a blog tour hosted by Sammie @ The Bookwyrm’s Den in support of her local public library’s Diverse Book Drive. The CCPL—a small, rural library in an area with a high poverty rate and a very homogeneous population, where people rarely have the means to travel or experience new perspectives. However, the library doesn’t believe that should stop people from learning more about the world around them, so they’re running a Diverse Book Drive through the month of September in an attempt to bring the rest of the world to the county instead. With a focus on MG and YA books, the CCPL aims to expose especially its young patrons to new and diverse perspectives and cultures.

I’ve been so excited to take part in this awesome tour! It’s such a wonderful way to visit other countries and learn about other cultures without having to leave the comfort of your home. I’m so happy to support a wonderful friend and librarian in promoting diverse reads in her small-town library. Be sure to check out the other wonderful posts and bloggers on tour—trust, you don’t want to miss out on seeing their awesome content! 😉

Today I’ll be talking about the book Wicked As You Wish by Rin Chupeco. You can also check out my og review for the book! I was a little unsure about how I wanted to do this post and to be honest, I’m still not 100% sure about it but I’m rolling with it and seeing where it takes me. I thought I’d share five reasons why you should read WAYW, but I’m also going to share a short reflection about reading this book, and I’ll be sharing a recipe for a Filipino dish that is one of my all-time favourite foods. What better (and more delicious) way is there to connect to a culture than through food? I hope you enjoy it!

Book Blitz: Maya and the Rising Dark by Rena Barron

September 22, 2020September 21, 2020 Dini @ dinipandareads5 Comments

🥳 Happy Book Birthday to Maya and the Rising Dark! 🥳

I’m delighted to be taking part in a book blitz with TBR & Beyond Tours for Maya and the Rising Dark by Rena Barron. This middle grade fantasy was pitched as Stranger Things meets Percy Jackson and seriously, how good does that sound?! Plus, this cover is just love!

Be sure to click on the banner below to check out the rest of the bloggers on tour!

Goodreads: Maya and the Rising Dark
Publisher: HMH Books for Young Readers
Publish Date: 22 September 2020
Genre: Middle Grade Fantasy

In this highly anticipated contemporary fantasy, twelve-year-old Maya’s search for her missing father puts her at the center of a battle between our world, the Orishas, and the mysterious and sinister Dark world. Perfect for fans of Aru Shah and the End of Time and The Serpent’s Secret.

Twelve-year-old Maya is the only one in her South Side Chicago neighborhood who witnesses weird occurrences like werehyenas stalking the streets at night and a scary man made of shadows plaguing her dreams.

When Papa goes missing, Maya is thrust into a world both strange and familiar as she uncovers the truth. Her father is the guardian of the veil between our world and the Dark—where an army led by the Lord of Shadows, the man from Maya’s nightmares, awaits. Now that the veil is failing, the Lord of Shadows is determined to destroy the human world and it’s up to Maya to stop him. She just hopes she can do it in time to attend Comic-Con before summer’s over.

BUY NOW: Amazon (US) | Book Depository | Barnes & Noble | Indigo