Book Review: The Seventh Bride by T. Kingfisher

September 9, 2023 Dini @ dinipandareads11 Comments

The Seventh Bride
Publisher: 47North
Pub Date: 11 November 2014
Genre: Young Adult Fantasy

Panda Rating:

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📖 SYNOPSIS

Young Rhea is a miller’s daughter of low birth, so she is understandably surprised when a mysterious nobleman, Lord Crevan, shows up on her doorstep and proposes marriage. Since commoners don’t turn down lords—no matter how sinister they may seem—Rhea is forced to agree to the engagement.

Lord Crevan demands that Rhea visit his remote manor before their wedding. Upon arrival, she discovers that not only was her betrothed married six times before, but his previous wives are all imprisoned in his enchanted castle. Determined not to share their same fate, Rhea asserts her desire for freedom. In answer, Lord Crevan gives Rhea a series of magical tasks to complete, with the threat “Come back before dawn, or else I’ll marry you.”

With time running out and each task more dangerous and bizarre than the last, Rhea must use her resourcefulness, compassion, and bravery to rally the other wives and defeat the sorcerer before he binds her to him forever.

TL;DR: This was my first book by T. Kingfisher and it won’t be my last. It was definitely creepy and gothic and I didn’t read this in bed in the dark hours, but I don’t regret picking it up and thoroughly enjoyed reading it! The Seventh Bride wasn’t the most fast-paced YA gothic fantasy thriller combo but it fit the foreboding creepiness of the story perfectly. I loved Rhea, her strength and the friendships that form throughout this story. While I wished that the ending hadn’t been as rushed, this was a fun yet creepy and cosy story that even a scared like me can read!

#FirstLinesFriday: 8 September 2023

September 8, 2023September 8, 2023 Dini @ dinipandareads11 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:

“King Sref of Cavanos watches me with the deadened eyes of a raven circling a corpse—patient, waiting to devour me the second I let my guard down. I briefly debate telling him that humans don’t taste all that good, until I remember normal girls don’t eat people. Or fake their way into royal courts.”

Book Review: Amari and the Great Game by B.B. Alston

September 7, 2023September 7, 2023 Dini @ dinipandareads8 Comments

Amari and the Great Game (Supernatural Investigations #2)
Publisher: Farshore
Pub Date: 1 September 2022
Genre: Middle-Grade Fantasy

Panda Rating:

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📖 SYNOPSIS

Sequel to the New York Times bestseller Amari and the Night Brothers!

Artemis Fowl meets Men in Black in this magical second book in the New York Times bestselling Supernatural Investigations trilogy, soon to be a major movie starring Marsai Martin. Perfect for 8+ fans of Percy Jackson and Nevermoor.

After finding her brother and saving the entire supernatural world, Amari Peters is convinced her first full summer as a Junior Agent will be a breeze.

But between the fearsome new Head Minister’s strict anti-magician agenda, fierce Junior Agent rivalries, and her brother Quinton’s curse steadily worsening, Amari’s plate is full. So when the secretive League of Magicians offers her a chance to stand up for magiciankind as its new leader, she declines. She’s got enough to worry about!

But her refusal allows someone else to step forward, a magician with dangerous plans for the League. This challenge sparks the start of the Great Game, a competition to decide who will become the Night Brothers’ successor and determine the future of magiciankind.

The Great Game is both mysterious and deadly, but among the winner’s magical rewards is Quinton’s last hope… so how can Amari refuse?

⚠️ CONTENT WARNINGS

Racism, bigotry, bullying

TL;DR: Amari and the Great Game was just as action-packed, if not even more so, as the first book in this series but this time, there are a lot more players involved and everyone’s actions felt a lot more sinister than ever before. I loved those who rallied around Amari through all the hate she once again faces and her friendship with Elsie is still my absolute favourite! While I didn’t necessarily recognise who the ultimate villain would become by the end of this book, it does have me excited to see how Amari will deal with probably the most diabolical and powerful of baddies in the next one.

#WWWWednesday: 6 September 2023

September 6, 2023 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: It Was a Hit, It Was a Miss!

September 5, 2023 Dini @ dinipandareads23 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 That Defied My Expectations (books you thought you would didn’t like that you loved, books you thought you’d love but didn’t, books that were not the genres they seemed to be, or in any other way subverted your expectations!) (Submitted by Sia @ everybookadoorway.com)

Did I Pass My Classes? The Magical Readathon: Orilium Autumn Equinox 2023

September 4, 2023April 1, 2024 Dini @ dinipandareads6 Comments

Hello, hello, friends! ✨ The Magical Readathon: Orilium Autumn Equinox 2023 ✨ is. nowover which means another semester and another year have come and gone at Orilium. Can you believe it? I can’t. 😂 Now that classes are over, it’s time to wrap up what I read and see how Meeska fared this semester. Much like it was IRL, the Autumn Equinox was pretty low-key but that didn’t stop Meeska from just making it to the finish line, lol. We’re a mess! But on that note, let’s take a look at what got read this semester. As always, thanks to G for continuously making this one of the best and most magical readathons out there! 💜✨

If you’re confused and don’t know what I’m on about, you’re totally fine. Check out this video by our super lovely host and creator of this wonderful magical readathon, G @ Book Roast!

CHARACTER BACKGROUND

Guild Tier Status: Exhaulted (360 pts)

Name: Meeska Shonara
Guild: House of the Arcane
Calling: Illusionist Rogue
Background: Urban
Province: Kerador
Heritage: Earthling (Fire)
Conduit: Staff
Legacy: Pocket Dimension

Sundays in Bed With… #MyWeeklyWrapUp [200]

September 3, 2023 Dini @ dinipandareads8 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 curled up reading in bed with or which book you wish you had time to read today!

**Hideaway Heart** by Melanie Harlow, **Magic Bites** by Ilona Andrews, **You, With a View** by Jessica Joyce, **Escorted** by Claire Kent

I’ve been trying to figure out what I want to read next and I’ve been kind of jumping around with a couple of books trying to see which one will stick the most. I’m not sure which one I’ll return to tonight but it could be any of these!

Monthly Wrap-Up: August 2023

September 2, 2023 Dini @ dinipandareads18 Comments

🎶August slipped away into a moment in time…🎶

August felt like it got over in the blink of an eye! Work started to pick up again this month but I also took a long weekend break to get away to Bali to visit my aunt and cousin and to hang out with the whole family. My sister also sent me some things from Japan through a friend of hers and that little package made my day a few weeks back! Overall, it was a pretty decent month 🙂

#FirstLinesFriday: 1 September 2023

September 1, 2023 Dini @ dinipandareads8 Comments

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:

“I lost an arm on my last trip home. My left arm.
And I lost about a year of my life and much of the comfort and security I had not valued until it was gone.”

Book Review: Role Playing by Cathy Yardley

August 31, 2023September 1, 2023 Dini @ dinipandareads19 Comments

Role Playing
Publisher: Montlake
Pub Date: 1 July 2023
Genre: Contemporary Romance

Panda Rating:

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📖 SYNOPSIS

Maggie is an unapologetically grumpy forty-eight-year-old hermit. But when her college-aged son makes her a deal―he’ll be more social if she does the same―she can’t refuse. She joins a new online gaming guild led by a friendly healer named Otter. So that nobody gets the wrong idea, she calls herself Bogwitch.

Otter is Aiden, a fifty-year-old optimist using the guild as an emotional outlet from his family drama caring for his aging mother while his brother plays house with Aiden’s ex-fiancée.

Bogwitch and Otter become fast virtual friends, but there’s a catch. Bogwitch thinks Otter is a college student. Otter assumes Bogwitch is an octogenarian.

When they finally meet face to face―after a rocky, shocking start―the unlikely pair of sunshine and stormy personalities grow tentatively closer. But Maggie’s previous relationships have left her bitter, and Aiden’s got a complicated past of his own.

Everything’s easier online. Can they make it work in real life?

⚠️ CONTENT WARNINGS

Homophobia, racism, bigotry, forced outing, toxic family, parental death

TL;DR: If you’re looking for a cosy, heartwarming and hopeful story about older characters finding their people and being accepted just as they are; for a story where people find joy and comfort in gaming and online connections; and for a story that’s equally entertaining but that’s not without it’s heavier moments, I would 100% recommend this book!