Tag: Book Blogger

Top 5 Saturday: Trilogies

Dini @ dinipandareads27 Comments

We’re back with another Top 5 Saturday! I might’ve missed last week’s topic but I will come back to it at some point 🙂 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: trilogies!

I’m surprised to learn that a lot of the series on my TBR and ‘need-to-finish’ lists are trilogies! I like trilogies. I think three books is a good number because it’s just long enough for those who like reading series but it’s also “short” enough for those who don’t like long series. Or simply for those who don’t have the patience to wait even longer for the next book to come out 😅 Lucky for me, almost all the series mentioned below are complete so there’s no waiting time between books and that’s really the most perfect scenario! I’m really looking forward to starting/finishing these series!

First up is the Chaos Walking Series by Patrick Ness. I still haven’t read anything by Ness although I have five of his books (including this full series) sitting on my physical shelf. I got really cool copies too!

I’ve been wanting to read more by Amie Kaufman and when I saw the covers for the Starbound Series I knew there was no way I would be passing these up. Totally cover judging here–they’re STUNNING!

Ah, The Kingkiller Chronicles. I don’t know whether I’m dreaming but THERE IS A COVER FOR BOOK THREE. Is it the actual? I don’t know. There’s still no official release date but there are 2020 whispers and if it happens I’ll be deceased (kidding… But I might actually pass out from shock LOL)!

I have been meaning to finish His Dark Materials for a while now. I enjoyed the first book but didn’t continue with the rest of the series because I wanted to find matching books. Anyone else do that? 😂

I loved The Bear and the Nightingale when I read it last year but I was waiting for the rest of the Winternight Trilogy to deliver (which obvi took forever). Planning to re-read and finish this year!

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Down the TBR Hole – 15

Dini @ dinipandareads20 Comments

My guilt has kicked in and told me that I can’t keep avoiding another culling of my ridiculous TBR forever, so here I am. Back again with a list of books from my Goodreads TBR that is now a whopping 1,088 books (don’t judge me, I added a lot more books to my TBR since last week)! I thought I’d make it clear again that just because it’s on my Goodreads TBR doesn’t actually mean I own copies of the book (that’d be way ridiculous even for me)! Let’s see what we can get rid of today, eh?

Down the TBR Hole is a weekly book meme created by the wonderful Lia @ Lost in a Story that attempts to organize our ridiculously long Goodreads TBR list by choosing either to keep or eliminate the books we’ve saved on there. Here’s how it works:

  • Go to your goodreads to-read shelf.
  • Order on ascending date added.
  • Take the first 5 (or 10 (or even more!) if you’re feeling adventurous) books. Of course, if you do this weekly, you start where you left off the last time.
  • Read the synopses of the books
  • Decide: keep it or should it go

Verdict: Keep

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First Lines Friday – 06 March

Dini @ dinipandareads13 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:

“Sweet sixteen is when the claws come out. We’re all flash tonight. Jenny and Summer and Mads and me. Vodka and heels that we could never quite walk in before, but tonight we can.”

Do you recognize the book these first lines come from?

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February Reading Challenge Update

Dini @ dinipandareads9 Comments

Can someone tell me where February went? At times it went insanely slowly (probably due to being sick early on) but then as the weeks passed it went in a blink! What a month… Unfortunately as it was quite busy I didn’t manage to do so well on my challenges? There was a little progress but I’m hoping March will be better!

ARC Apocalypse

I managed to read six ARCs and I’m pretty good with that progress! Yes, most of them were for blog tours but I’m glad I had that as motivation to keep reading them. I thought a few were just okay but I really enjoyed some of these and can’t wait for everyone to read them!

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February Monthly Wrap Up!

Dini @ dinipandareads19 Comments

February was a month 🤯 My health issues continued to plague me but after seemingly endless rounds of medication, I’m starting to finally feel semi-human again. I’ve just felt constantly drained of energy the whole time but I had to push through especially since I also moved houses and did the majority of the cleaning and packing myself. I really need to start taking on Marie Kondo habits into my life and minimise (next time)! But I digress… Despite all the craziness this month I managed to read 22 books, mostly thanks to the crazy romance reading challenge I set for myself during Valentine’s week.

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#WWWWednesday: 04 March

Dini @ dinipandareads25 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:

  1. What did you read last?
  2. What are you currently reading?
  3. What will you read next?

Since last Wednesday I’ve managed to finish four books and three of them were four blog tours!

Jack Janson and The Storm Caller by Andrew Marsh ★★★☆☆
I don’t normally read MG books but I am always keen to step outside my comfort zone. I read this for a blog tour and it ended up being more enjoyable than I anticipated! I can definitely see the younger audiences it’s aimed at really enjoying the story and connecting with the characters. It’s a good introduction to fantasy! Check out my full review.

To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee, Adapted & Illustrated by Fred Fordham ★★★★☆
This was a very quick read that I finished in a matter of a few hours. It’s a good adaptation of the classic and really brought the story to life. While the art style wasn’t my favourite kind, it very much suited the era of the book and gave it a ‘old school/classic comic feel’. Would definitely recommend it for those who would like to read the classic but don’t have much time. RTC

Havenfall (Havenfall #1) by Sara Holland ★★★½
This was my first book by Holland but I’m keen to check out her other books now. Due to the mystery element this was a much slower paced fantasy than I expected but it was still enjoyable. I kept second guessing who could be trusted, but I’m glad I got the villain right at least! I read and reviewed this as part of the FFBC Blog Tour! Check out my full review.

The Mountains Sing by Nguyen Phan Que Mai ★★★★★
This book was absolutely stunning. It was such an intimate telling of Vietnam’s history beyond the Vietnam War and from the unique perspective of a northern Vietnamese family. This story is filled with so much tragedy, suffering and heartbreak, but also so much love and hope. The Tran family’s resilience and ability to overcome hardship was inspiring and brought me to tears. I’m part of the blog tour for this book so my review will be coming up (sort of) soon!

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#TopTenTuesday: One Word Titles

Dini @ dinipandareads56 Comments

It’s that time of the week again, friends! We’re back with another Top Ten Tuesday, a weekly meme hosted by Jana @ That Artsy Reader Girl. This week’s prompt is: books with single-word titles! This prompt was submitted by Kitty @ Kitty Marie’s Reading Corner (who you should definitely go follow right now)!

What would I ever do without Goodreads? I would fail, that’s what. I would never be able to do these posts because my memory fails so hard. I really couldn’t come up with one title until I looked at several lists on GR and realised that I have read a few books with single-word titles! Plus, plenty of them are actually books from series that I love, so I can’t believe that I couldn’t think of any titles to start 😂

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Havenfall Blog Tour: Review & Favourite Quotes

Dini @ dinipandareads17 Comments

Hello, friends! I’m back with another The Fantastic Flying Book Club blog tour today and this time it’s for Havenfall! Best believe I was shook when I got picked to be part of this tour because I thought I stood no chance in hell 😂 It was a great squealing moment! Thanks to FFBC for organising these tours and for the author for making the eARC available to us. Be sure to click on the blog tour banner above to check out the other bloggers on the tour! 😊

Havenfall (Havenfall #1)
Publisher: Bloomsbury YA
Release date: 03 March 2020
Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy

Panda Rating:


A safe haven between four realms. The girl sworn to protect it–at any cost.

Hidden deep in the mountains of Colorado lies the Inn at Havenfall, a sanctuary that connects ancient worlds–each with their own magic–together. For generations, the inn has protected all who seek refuge within its walls, and any who disrupt the peace can never return.

For Maddie Morrow, summers at the inn are more than a chance to experience this magic first-hand. Havenfall is an escape from reality, where her mother sits on death row accused of murdering Maddie’s brother. It’s where Maddie fell in love with handsome Fiorden soldier Brekken. And it’s where one day she hopes to inherit the role of Innkeeper from her beloved uncle.

But this summer, the impossible happens–a dead body is found, shattering everything the inn stands for. With Brekken missing, her uncle gravely injured, and a dangerous creature on the loose, Maddie suddenly finds herself responsible for the safety of everyone in Havenfall. She’ll do anything to uncover the truth, even if it means working together with an alluring new staffer Taya, who seems to know more than she’s letting on. As dark secrets are revealed about the inn itself, one thing becomes clear to Maddie–no one can be trusted, and no one is safe . . .

Amazon (US) | Barnes & Noble | iTunes | Book Depository | Google Books

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Goodreads Monday – All the Ugly and Wonderful Things by Bryn Greenwood

Dini @ dinipandareads12 Comments

It’s the first Goodreads Monday of 2020, friends! 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.

This week’s book is All the Ugly and Wonderful Things by Bryn Greenwood. This book was released in 2016 but I saw a lot of hype for it on bookstagram last year. This contemporary fiction has a 4.07 star average with 79.7k+ ratings and 11.5k+ reviews.

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Sundays in Bed With… #MyWeeklyWrapUp [45]

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 been you’ve spent time curled up reading in bed with, or which book you wish you had time to read today!

I started The Mountains Sing on a whim last night as I felt that I needed to take a short break from my YA/fantasy reads before I continue with them in the coming weeks! I spent a good part of Sunday in bed reading the book. I’m learning so much about Vietnam from a perspective that I’ve not read from before. It’s funny because I actually know the author, she and her husband are good friends with my parents, so I think this makes it an even more personal read. It’s very hard (and is making me quite emotional) to read about the cruelties and injustices done but I think it’s certainly important to know.

With the epic sweep of Min Jin Lee’s Pachinko or Yaa Gyasi’s Homegoing and the lyrical beauty of Vaddey Ratner’s In the Shadow of the Banyan, The Mountains Sing tells an enveloping, multigenerational tale of the Trần family, set against the backdrop of the Việt Nam War. Trần Diệu Lan, who was born in 1920, was forced to flee her family farm with her six children during the Land Reform as the Communist government rose in the North. Years later in Hà Nội, her young granddaughter, Hương, comes of age as her parents and uncles head off down the Hồ Chí Minh Trail to fight in a conflict that tore not just her beloved country, but her family apart.

Vivid, gripping, and steeped in the language and traditions of Việt Nam, The Mountains Sing brings to life the human costs of this conflict from the point of view of the Vietnamese people themselves, while showing us the true power of kindness and hope.

The Mountains Sing is celebrated Vietnamese poet Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai’s first novel in English.

What are you currently reading?

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