Blog Tour Review: The Witch, The Sword, and the Cursed Knights by Alexandria Rogers

February 10, 2022February 10, 2022 Dini @ dinipandareads11 Comments

Today is my stop on the TBR & Beyond Tours for The Witch, The Sword and The Cursed Knights by Alexandria Rogers. Special thanks to Little, Brown Books for Young Readers for providing an ARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review!

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

Goodreads: The Witch, The Sword and The Cursed Knights
Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Publication Date: 08 February 2022
Genre: Middle-Grade Fantasy

Panda Rating:

(3 pandas)

Twelve-year-old Ellie can’t help that she’s a witch, the most hated member of society. Determined to prove her worth and eschew her heritage, Ellie applies to the Fairy Godmother Academy—her golden ticket to societal acceptance. But Ellie’s dreams are squashed when she receives the dreaded draft letter to serve as a knight of King Arthur’s legendary Round Table. She can get out of the draft—but only if she saves a lost cause.

Enter Caedmon, a boy from Wisconsin struggling with the death of his best friend. He first dismisses the draft as ridiculous; magic can’t possibly exist. But when Merlin’s ancient magic foretells his family’s death if he doesn’t follow through, he travels to the knights’ castle, where he learns of a wicked curse leeching the knights of their power.

To break the curse, Ellie and Caedmon must pass a series of deathly trials and reforge the lost, shattered sword of Excalibur. And unless Ellie accepts her witch magic and Caedmon rises to become the knight he’s meant to be, they will both fail—and the world will fall to the same darkness that brought King Arthur and Camelot to ruin.

GET YOUR COPY:

AMAZON

B&N

BOOK DEPOSITORY

INDIGO

INDIEBOUND

#WWWWednesday: 09 February 2022

February 9, 2022August 11, 2022 Dini @ dinipandareads28 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:

What did you read last?
What are you currently reading?
What will you read next?

It’s been a pretty good reading week if you see the numbers (11 books) but I only enjoyed less than half of them… I surprisingly read 3 audiobooks while painting and I realise that’s something I’d definitely love to continue doing! 😊

The Dark Side Series (Books 1-4) by Kristy Cunning ★★¾
This was not the series I thought it’d be and I was disappointed! It started off strong but this could’ve easily been a 2-novella series because a lot of it was filler, the explanations nonsensical and I got bored. The series more than lost its spark for me by the end!

The Deep by Rivers Solomon ★★★★½
My first audiobook of 2022 and it was wow! Daveed Diggs’ narration was *chefs kiss*! Check out my review!

#TopTenTuesday: 10 Romances I Want to Read ASAP!

February 8, 2022August 11, 2022 Dini @ dinipandareads62 Comments

So, we’re back with another Top Ten Tuesday, a weekly meme hosted by Jana @ That Artsy Reader Girl. This week’s prompt is: Love Freebie (come up with your own topic having to do with love).

I was planning on doing something a little more fun with this freebie today but time got away from me at the weekend and last night saw a family emergency that had me up until 6am only to start work at 9am and so… I’m exhausted! Therefore, I’m keeping this short, sweet and maybe a little boring with a list of ten romances I’m really looking forward to reading ASAP. I discovered the majority of these thanks to Nick who keeps my romance TBR fully stocked at all times and I’m here for it! 😍

Book Review: The Deep by Rivers Solomon

February 7, 2022August 13, 2022 Dini @ dinipandareads18 Comments

Goodreads: The Deep
Publisher: Saga Press
Published: 05 November 2019
Genre: Adult SFF

Panda Rating:

_{(4.5 pandas)}

Yetu holds the memories for her people—water-dwelling descendants of pregnant African slave women thrown overboard by slave owners—who live idyllic lives in the deep. Their past, too traumatic to be remembered regularly, is forgotten by everyone, save one—the historian. This demanding role has been bestowed on Yetu.

Yetu remembers for everyone, and the memories, painful and wonderful, traumatic and terrible and miraculous, are destroying her. And so, she flees to the surface, escaping the memories, the expectations, and the responsibilities—and discovers a world her people left behind long ago.

Yetu will learn more than she ever expected to about her own past—and about the future of her people. If they are all to survive, they’ll need to reclaim the memories, reclaim their identity—and own who they really are.

Inspired by a song produced by the rap group Clipping for the This American Life episode “We Are In The Future,” The Deep is vividly original and uniquely affecting.

Sundays in Bed With… #MyWeeklyWrapUp

February 6, 2022August 13, 2022 Dini @ dinipandareads19 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 time curled up reading in bed with, or which book you wish you had time to read today!

I’ll be wrapping up my Sunday in bed reading The Witch, The Sword and the Cursed Knights by Alexandria Rogers. I didn’t make as much progress on this as I’d hoped and it took me a little while to get into it but I’m really enjoying the magical school vibes and an exciting twist on Arthurian legend!

What are you currently reading?

Book Review: How to Walk Away by Katherine Center

February 5, 2022August 13, 2022 Dini @ dinipandareads11 Comments

Goodreads: How to Walk Away
Publisher: Pan
Published: 09 August 2018
Genre: Women’s Fiction, Romance

Panda Rating:

_{(4 pandas)}

Margaret Jacobsen has a bright future ahead of her: a fiancé she adores, her dream job, and the promise of a picture-perfect life just around the corner. Then, suddenly, on what should have been one of the happiest days of her life, everything she worked for is taken away in one tumultuous moment.

In the hospital and forced to face the possibility that nothing will ever be the same again, Margaret must figure out how to move forward on her own terms while facing long-held family secrets, devastating heartbreak, and the idea that love might find her in the last place she would ever expect.

#FirstLinesFriday: 04 February 2022

February 4, 2022October 23, 2022 Dini @ dinipandareads12 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:

“It was like dreaming,” said Yetu, throat raw. She’d been weeping for days, lost in a remembering of one of the first wajinru.
“Then wake up,” Amaba said, “and wake up now. What kind of dream makes someone lurk in shark-dense waters, leaking blood like a fool? If I had not come for you, if I had not found you in time…”

Do you recognise the book these first lines come from?

Blog Tour Spotlight: The Counterclockwise Heart by Brian Farrey

February 3, 2022February 2, 2022 Dini @ dinipandareads5 Comments

I’m excited to be shining a spotlight on The Counterclockwise Heart by Brian Farrey today! This middle-grade fantasy sounds really good and I actually started it on a whim the other day. I’m already getting slightly dark but very magical fairytale-gone-wrong vibes from it and I can’t wait to dive back in whenever I have to put it down. I can’t wait to see where this story goes 😄 Also, how cool is this cover?!

Special thanks to Algonquin Young Readers for having me on tour and providing an ARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Goodreads: The Counterclockwise Heart
Publisher: Algonquin Young Readers
Publication Date: 01 February 2022
Genre: Middle-Grade Fantasy

Tick . . . tick . . . tick . . .
Time is running out in the empire of Rheinvelt.

The sudden appearance of a strange and frightening statue foretells darkness. The Hierophants—magic users of the highest order—have fled the land. And the shadowy beasts of the nearby Hinterlands are gathering near the borders, preparing for an attack.

Young Prince Alphonsus is sent by his mother, the Empress Sabine, to reassure the people while she works to quell the threat of war. But Alphonsus has other problems on his mind, including a great secret: He has a clock in his chest where his heart should be—and it’s begun to run backwards, counting down to his unknown fate.

Searching for answers about the clock, Alphonsus meets Esme, a Hierophant girl who has returned to the empire in search of a sorceress known as the Nachtfrau. When riddles from their shared past threaten the future of the empire, Alphonsus and Esme must learn to trust each other and work together to save it—or see the destruction of everything they both love.

buy a copy

Pondathan Update ft. A Blossoming Garden & Gen’s Side Quest

February 3, 2022February 2, 2022 Dini @ dinipandareads18 Comments

Hello, friends! Today I’m excited to share a short update on my Pondathon reading progress, Pompom’s updated character card and most importantly… Pompom’s blossoming garden! 😍

Want to know more about the Pondathon? Check out my announcement post!

For the first round of the Pondathon, I managed to complete all the objectives for Xiaolong’s Side Quest, including the bonus and secret achievement. This means that Pompom gets their first badge for their character card plus some exciting decorations for the garden. Yay! 😃

I’ve also started to fill up the garden. I surprisingly only got two flowers last month but I got a lot of planter boxes and garden beds, so at least I’ll be ready to add flowers to my garden as the year progresses 😄 I’m pretty happy with how it’s looking and y’know, I think Pompom is too!

Now that it’s February, there’s an exciting new side quest to tackle: Planting Saplings with Gen! The quest expires on 19 February 2022, 8:00PM NZT. _^[?]

*Click on the banner for more information about Gen’s side quest!*

The objective of the quest is to read a book by a Black author for Black History Month. If you read at least three books by Black authors, you’ll receive the Sleepy Sapling badge. You complete the Secret Achievement if you read a book by a Black author with one of the following themes: friendship, family, community, nature.

As I’m not one for fixed TBRs, here’s a big possibility pile from my existing shelves that I’m hoping to finally tackle this year:

Are you reading for the Pondathon? Did you complete Xialong’s side quest and will you help Gen with his side quest? If you are, what books are you planning to read for it?

#WWWWednesday: 02 February 2022

February 2, 2022August 11, 2022 Dini @ dinipandareads20 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:

What did you read last?
What are you currently reading?
What will you read next?

Since last week I’ve finished 4 books. Well, it was inevitable at the rate that I was reading last month that I’d slow down at some point and I’ve finally hit that point 😂

Blackout by Various Authors ★★★★★
I literally have nothing bad to say about this anthology. I loved the way the stories were interconnected and I enjoyed every minute of reading them. I only wish that they could’ve been longer because I didn’t want to move on at the end of each one! Highly recommended 😍