Top 5 Saturday: Intimidating Books

September 4, 2021September 4, 2021 Dini @ dinipandareads7 Comments

Welcome back to another Top 5 Saturday! Just in case you don’t know Top 5 Saturday is a weekly meme created by Mandy @ Devouring Books and it’s where we list the top five books (they can be books on your TBR, favourite books, books you loved/hated) based on the week’s topic. You can see the upcoming schedule at the end of my post 🙂 This week’s topic is actually: Intimidating Books.

I’m pretty sure I’ve done a similar topic to this quite a few times on the blog already but I always focused on chunky books that intimidated me. So for today’s post I’m going to look at books that I’m intimidated by because of the hype surrounding them. Some of these are classics that I have heard so many good things about and that are often referenced in modern texts, and the others are more recent releases in the fantasy genre that have been so hyped up that I’m a little afraid to pick them up! 😂 Now without further ado, let’s get into it!

Rebecca

A classic that has had several remakes now and that has influenced many art forms, whether it’s movies, books and/or songs. This book intimidates me on various levels but one of the main reasons is because it’s so well-lauded and I’m worried I won’t like it as much?

On a trip to the South of France, the shy heroine of Rebecca falls in love with Maxim de Winter, a handsome widower. Although his proposal comes as a surprise, she happily agrees to marry him. But as they arrive at her husband’s home, Manderley, a change comes over Maxim, and the young bride is filled with dread. Friendless in the isolated mansion, she realises that she barely knows him. In every corner of every room is the phantom of his beautiful first wife, Rebecca, and the new Mrs de Winter walks in her shadow.

First Lines Friday – 03 September 2021

September 3, 2021August 13, 2022 Dini @ dinipandareads8 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’s all fun and games until someone shits their pants. And for once, Vlad Konnikov wasn’t the culprit.”

Do you recognize the book these first lines come from?

August 2021 Monthly Wrap Up!

September 3, 2021January 2, 2022 Dini @ dinipandareads25 Comments

The last time I wrote a monthly wrap up was all the way back in March so I’m not gonna lie, I’m feeling kinda overwhelmed at the thought of making one now? Plus, although the last time I shared a ‘bigger’ life update was months ago, not a whole lot has really happened since. I guess I can share some highlights:

I went on a mini break (which extended to a several months) at the end of April
I turned a year older in May — 🎵 I don’t know about you but I’m feeling 3233! 😉
I took a short trip to Bali for a funeral and a birthday in June
I got fully vaccinated at the end of July — yay!
We’ve been in semi-lockdown for almost three months as Indonesia’s COVID cases soared to a terrifying 50k+ daily cases towards the end of June. The situation has gotten better now and things are slowly opening up again…
I’ve done a lot of baking and managed to make soft pretzels and cinnamon rolls for the first time!
I’ve been doing quite a few paint-by-numbers kits and I even started doing drill diamond paintings but I still have yet to finish one 😂

Goodreads Reading Challenge: August Update 106 of 150 books

I made “my comeback” to blogging in early August and it has been so good to be back! I don’t think I realised how much I missed blogging until I started again but the long break I took was something I really needed so I don’t regret it—I just missed this community!

This month I ended up reading 18 books and a lot of them were novellas, which is quite surprising as I’ve always struggled to enjoy novellas! I’ve found new novella favourites though, but the top spot goes to Sing Anyway, an adorable queer romance that had my heart singing!

Another surprise is the fact that I don’t have a 5-star read this month! I don’t know if it’s just my mood being a bit wonky but that doesn’t mean I haven’t read some great books! I think my favourite was The Will Darling Adventures and I feel like I’ve gushed a lot about this series already but… just in case you (somehow) missed it: this is a trilogy set in the Golden Era (1920s) and it’s a mystery and MM romance with amazing characters (including the supporting ones), a murderous criminal gang, infuriating aristocracy, and deliciously steamy romance! I would definitely recommend checking it out, plus at roughly 250 pages per book they’re the perfect reading length! The majority of my reads this month fell in the ‘4 pandas’ range so I’m really not too mad about it. I had hoped to read a few more ARCs than I did but towards the end of August I started to stray from that goal (as usual 🥲) but I did tackle more than I thought I would so that at least is good. Hopefully I’ll continue making steady progress on my ARCs as the year progresses.

Blog Tour Review: Dark and Shallow Lies by Ginny Myers Sain

September 1, 2021September 1, 2021 Dini @ dinipandareads10 Comments

Today is my stop on the TBR & Beyond Tours for Dark and Shallow Lies by Ginny Myers Sain.
Special thanks to Razorbill/Penguin for providing an ARC via NetGalley 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: Dark and Shallow Lies
Publisher: Razorbill
Publication Date: 31 August 2021
Genre: YA Mystery/Thriller, YA Fantasy

Panda Rating:

(3 pandas)

A teen girl disappears from her small town deep in the bayou, where magic festers beneath the surface of the swamp like water rot, in this chilling debut supernatural thriller for fans of Natasha Preston, Karen McManus, and Rory Power.

La Cachette, Louisiana, is the worst place to be if you have something to hide.

This tiny town, where seventeen-year-old Grey spends her summers, is the self-proclaimed Psychic Capital of the World—and the place where Elora Pellerin, Grey’s best friend, disappeared six months earlier.

Grey can’t believe that Elora vanished into thin air any more than she can believe that nobody in a town full of psychics knows what happened. But as she digs into the night that Elora went missing, she begins to realize that everybody in town is hiding something—her grandmother Honey; her childhood crush Hart; and even her late mother, whose secrets continue to call to Grey from beyond the grave.

When a mysterious stranger emerges from the bayou—a stormy-eyed boy with links to Elora and the town’s bloody history—Grey realizes that La Cachette’s past is far more present and dangerous than she’d ever understood. Suddenly, she doesn’t know who she can trust. In a town where secrets lurk just below the surface, and where a murderer is on the loose, nobody can be presumed innocent—and La Cachette’s dark and shallow lies may just rip the town apart.

BUY A COPY:

AMAZON

B&N

BOOK DEPOSITORY

INDIEBOUND

INDIGO

#TopTenTuesday: New Fictional Favourites

August 31, 2021August 12, 2022 Dini @ dinipandareads30 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: 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:

Goodreads Monday – The Bridge Kingdom by Danielle L. Jensen

August 30, 2021August 30, 2021 Dini @ dinipandareads11 Comments

Welcome back to Goodreads Monday! It’s been a very hot minute since I did one but I figured I might as well get back into it! This weekly meme was started by @Lauren’s Page Turners and it invites you to pick a book from your TBR and explain why you want to read it. Easy enough, right? Feel free to join in if you want to! I’ll be using a random number generator to pick my books from my insanely long GR Want-to-read list.*

*Sorry if a book has been featured twice. I need to make better note of which ones I’ve done already!

This week’s featured book is The Bridge Kingdom by Danielle L. Jensen. It’s a YA** romantasy that came out in 2020 and has an average rating of 4.11 with several thousand reviews/ratings on Goodreads. It’s the first book in The Bridge Kingdom series (1 of 5).

Book Review: Subtle Blood by K.J. Charles

August 30, 2021September 9, 2022 Dini @ dinipandareads5 Comments

Goodreads: Subtle Blood (The Will Darling Adventures #3)
Publisher: KJC Books
Published: 23 June 2021
Genre: Historical Romance, Mystery/Thriller

Panda Rating:

_{(4.5 pandas)}

Will Darling is all right. His business is doing well, and so is his illicit relationship with Kim Secretan–disgraced aristocrat, ex-spy, amateur book-dealer. It’s starting to feel like he’s got his life under control.

And then a brutal murder in a gentleman’s club plunges them back into the shadow world of crime, deception, and the power of privilege. Worse, it brings them up against Kim’s noble, hostile family, and his upper-class life where Will can never belong.

With old and new enemies against them, and secrets on every side, Will and Kim have to fight for each other harder than ever—or be torn apart for good.

Sundays in Bed With… #MyWeeklyWrapUp

August 29, 2021August 29, 2021 Dini @ dinipandareads9 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 spent a good majority of my Sunday reading Dark and Shallow Lies by Ginny Myers Sain. Can we take a moment to appreciate how gorgeous and creepy this cover is? I wanted to get this done during the day time as I thought this would be a rather spooky paranormal read and I managed to finish it in a couple of hours! This was a pretty atmospheric read and it definitely took me to places that I did not expect after reading the synopsis. Wednesday is my stop on the blog tour so I’ll be posting my review (and a journal spread!) then.

A teen girl disappears from her small town deep in the bayou, where magic festers beneath the surface of the swamp like water rot, in this chilling debut supernatural thriller for fans of Natasha Preston, Karen McManus, and Rory Power.

La Cachette, Louisiana, is the worst place to be if you have something to hide.

This tiny town, where seventeen-year-old Grey spends her summers, is the self-proclaimed Psychic Capital of the World–and the place where Elora Pellerin, Grey’s best friend, disappeared six months earlier.

Grey can’t believe that Elora vanished into thin air any more than she can believe that nobody in a town full of psychics knows what happened. But as she digs into the night that Elora went missing, she begins to realize that everybody in town is hiding something – her grandmother Honey; her childhood crush Hart; and even her late mother, whose secrets continue to call to Grey from beyond the grave.

When a mysterious stranger emerges from the bayou – a stormy-eyed boy with links to Elora and the town’s bloody history – Grey realizes that La Cachette’s past is far more present and dangerous than she’d ever understood. Suddenly, she doesn’t know who she can trust. In a town where secrets lurk just below the surface, and where a murderer is on the loose, nobody can be presumed innocent–and La Cachette’s dark and shallow lies may just rip the town apart.

What are you currently reading?

Book Review: Sing Anyway by Anita Kelly

August 29, 2021September 9, 2022 Dini @ dinipandareads12 Comments

Goodreads: Sing Anyway (Moonlighters #1)
Publisher: Anita Kelly
Published: 01 June 2021
Genre: Contemporary Romance, LGBTQ+

Panda Rating:

_{(4 pandas)}

After a lifetime of failed relationships, non-binary history professor Sam Bell is committed to a new (non)romantic strategy: Thirst Only. It’s the actual drinking where things get too complicated, where Sam inevitably gets hurt.

Sam is good at being thirsty, though, especially when it’s karaoke night at The Moonlight Café, otherwise known as Moonie’s to its largely queer regulars. Moonie’s is fun. Comfortable. Safe. Except for tonight, when one by one, all of Sam’s friends abandon them. Disappointed, they prepare to leave—until their #1 karaoke crush catches their eye…

For Lily Fischer, karaoke at Moonie’s is the only time she can step outside of her quiet shell. When there’s a mic in her hand, she’s no longer merely a receptionist harboring big dreams. At Moonie’s, Lily can pretend to be someone else: someone bold, who takes what she wants. And tonight, what Lily wants is the way Sam looks at her across the room as she sings her signature opening song, like they see her exactly as she wants to be seen. Like Moonie’s Lily is real.

As the night progresses, both Sam’s and Lily’s personal fears are tested, and the real world outside of Moonie’s looms. But maybe sometimes, the real world should be a little more like karaoke. It’s not always about knowing all the right words or having the perfect voice. Maybe all Sam and Lily need is a little courage to pick up the mic, and sing anyway.

Top 5 Saturday: People on the Cover

August 28, 2021August 28, 2021 Dini @ dinipandareads10 Comments

I just had a look for when I did my last Top 5 Saturday and it was back in April! It’s been a long time but earlier this week Mandy announced that they’re bringing back the weekly meme and I’m happy to be taking part in it again! As usual, I’ll be listing the new topics at the end of the post.

This week I’ll be listing five books from my Goodreads TBR! I’m not always a fan of people on covers, especially when they’re “real” people but I am a huge fan of illustrated characters on covers. I don’t know if I can say that this trend is illustrated people on covers trend is quite new but I have noticed it more and more in contemporary romances over the years, and now in a lot of other genres, too. I hope that these covers will continue being made (especially in romances!) because they’re absolutely some of my favourites 😍 On that note, here are some of my most recent adds to the TBR with people on the cover!

Love and Other Disasters

The first openly nonbinary contestant on America’s favorite cooking show falls for their clumsy competitor in this delicious romantic comedy debut “that is both fantastically fun and crack your heart wide open vulnerable.” (Rosie Danan, author of The Roommate)

Recently divorced and on the verge of bankruptcy, Dahlia Woodson is ready to reinvent herself on the popular reality competition show Chef’s Special. Too bad the first memorable move she makes is falling flat on her face, sending fish tacos flying—not quite the fresh start she was hoping for. Still, she’s focused on winning, until she meets someone she might want a future with more than she needs the prize money.

After announcing their pronouns on national television, London Parker has enough on their mind without worrying about the klutzy competitor stationed in front of them. They’re there to prove the trolls—including a fellow contestant and their dad—wrong, and falling in love was never part of the plan.

As London and Dahlia get closer, reality starts to fall away. Goodbye, guilt about divorce, anxiety about uncertain futures, and stress from transphobia. Hello, hilarious shenanigans on set, wedding crashing, and spontaneous dips into the Pacific. But as the finale draws near, Dahlia and London’s steamy relationship starts to feel the heat both in and outside the kitchen—and they must figure out if they have the right ingredients for a happily ever after.