Blog Tour Review: Hollow Magic by Mars Lauderbaugh

August 13, 2026 Dini @ dinipandareads4 Comments

Happy Thursday, friends! I’m here today as part of the blog tour hosted by Toppling Stacks Tours for Hollow Magic by Mars Lauderbaugh, and I’ll be sharing my thoughts on this new debut graphic novel.

Thanks to Feiwel & Friends for providing a digital ARC in exchange for an honest review!

^{Click the banner above or here to check out the other incredible bloggers on the blog tour!}

Hollow Magic
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends
Publication Date: 11 August 2026
Genre: YA Fantasy Graphic Novel
Rep: Queer, LGBTQ+, Trans

Rating:

^{(3 pandas)}

📖 SYNOPSIS

Seventeen-year-old Rosefinch has been traveling along the weather-beaten coast for two years on a quest to find a witch strong enough to help her control her magic. Her magic is volatile, hard to wield, and Rosefinch is tired of the pain of magical backlash. When she’s directed to the sea-side village of Harp, she discovers the ancient castle of a long-lost Witch Queen with the inhabitants long gone; the only remaining soul is a knight encased in solid ice guarding the door.

When she attempts to lift the curse, she frees Thierry, a human with no memory of who they are, wrapped in cursed magic so strong that they cannot leave the castle. Thierry is soft spoken, strong, and in possession of a fey sword that should be impossible for them to have. But they have secrets of their own, as do other members of the Harp family still hidden within the walls.

Harp castle was left in ruins for a reason, and Rosefinch must find a way to cure the curse or lose Thierry—and the chance to learn the truth about the Witch Queen—forever.

📚 BUY A COPY

⚠️ CONTENT/TRIGGER WARNINGS

Blood, murder (recounted)

TL;DR: Overall, I thought Hollow Magic was a good debut graphic novel with a beautiful art style that helped bring the story to life. I would be curious to see what the author comes out with next! Check this out if you’re looking for a light(ish), easy-to-breeze-through, low-angst graphic novel featuring magic, witches, fey, and found family.

#WWWWednesday: 12 August 2026

August 12, 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:

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

#TopTenTuesday: August Reads Over A Decade

August 11, 2026 Dini @ dinipandareads42 Comments

We’re back with another Top Ten Tuesday, a weekly meme hosted by Jana @ That Artsy Reader Girl.

This week’s topic is: Books I Was Reading On This Day Over the Last Ten Years (Stolen from Anne @ HeadFullofBooks) (This might be tricky if you don’t use a reading tracker like Goodreads, but the idea is to share what you were reading on August 11th of 2025, 2024, 2023, 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, and 2016. If you have no idea, pick a book you loved that you read at any time during each of the last ten years. And if you still have no idea, pick a book you loved that was published during each of the last ten years. Make this work for you!)

Fantasy with Friends: Fantasy Plants

August 10, 2026August 10, 2026 Dini @ dinipandareads5 Comments

Happy Monday, book pandas! 🐼 I’m excited to be back with another Fantasy with Friends post today. Also, I’m so sorry if parts of this don’t make sense or if I’m more rambly than usual. I’m fallen ill and the medicine just hit me as I started writing 🤣

What is Fantasy with Friends?

Fantasy with Friends is a discussion meme hosted by Briana and Krysta on Pages Unbound. Questions are posed every Monday about fantasy, either as a genre as a whole or individual works. The yearly schedule is available on Pages Unbound so you can prepare way in advance! Don’t forget to leave a comment and link on the scheduled day so your post can be linked up. You can also tag @pagesunbound on Twitter and/or Bluesky!

Today’s Fantasy with Friends question:
What fantasy plants have stuck in your imagination? A plant with magical properties or a plant a character uses in a potion? What memorable ways does nature feature in fantasy?

Sundays in Bed With… #MyWeeklyWrapUp [337]

August 9, 2026 Dini @ dinipandareads6 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 your time reading in bed or wish you had time to read today.

I’ll be spending the rest of my Sunday night in bed reading Swordheart by T. Kingfisher. I’ve actually got a few reads going on at the minute, but I’ve taken to reading this before bed every night for the past week. I’m not speeding through it, but enjoying it immensely when I read it. Halla and Sarkis have such great banter! 🤭

What book do you have in bed with you this Sunday?

First Lines Friday: 7 August 2026

August 7, 2026August 9, 2026 Dini @ dinipandareads10 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:

“Cannon fire before breakfast is obscene – and waking up to it is an atrocity.”

Do you recognize the book these first lines come from?

July 2026 Community Posts!

August 6, 2026 Dini @ dinipandareads14 Comments

Happy Thursday, book pandas! I’m so sad that it’s been an age since I last did a community post. Life has been a lot over the past several months and I’ve completely dropped the ball with engaging and checking out other blogger’s posts. I’ve been trying to remedy that, but it’s taking time to get back into the groove of things. But here are some of the posts that I’ve really enjoyed reading this past 1+ month.

I hope you’re able to find some new blogs to follow, posts to enjoy, and maybe even books to add to your TBR! ✨📖 Happy Reading! 📖✨

#WWWWednesday: 5 August 2026

August 5, 2026 Dini @ dinipandareads24 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?

#TopTenTuesday: Pantone Birth Chart Palette Book Covers

August 4, 2026 Dini @ dinipandareads45 Comments

We’re back with another Top Ten Tuesday, a weekly meme hosted by Jana @ That Artsy Reader Girl.

This week’s topic is: Cover Freebie (Pick any topic related to book covers. You can make up your own topic or pick one from the list of previous ones!)

Monthly Wrap-Up: July 2026

August 3, 2026 Dini @ dinipandareads30 Comments

July… What happened in July? Honestly, I ain’t got a clue. It was my first month on a retainer contract (meaning I have 3-days of work per month) and “suddenly” finding myself with a heckuva lot more free time resulted in me getting very comfortable very quickly with doing nothing particularly productive every day. 😅 *big sigh* I guess you can say that I have a very lazy + avoidant personality, so I tend to really stick to my comfort zone, which means that I (mostly) allow myself to shove my head in the sand and just exist in ignorant bliss. I am the question hound in the “on fire” comic strip turned meme where the house is burning down and the hound is sat at the table saying “this is fine” (at least for now).

In other news, well, there really isn’t much other news. I managed to be productive a few times over the past month by doing a spot of spring cleaning here and there, but otherwise, I’ve just been languishing the days away… I’m trying not to be too hard on myself cos this is a big life change and I’m very much a creature of comfort and routine, so it has messed me up a bit. But I hope that August will see a turn around at some point. 🙂 Here are some photos from gaming, bookstagram, book mail, and my catto. 🐈