Tag: Book Blogger

#TopTenTuesday: Favorite Bookmarks!

Dini @ dinipandareads42 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: favourite bookmarks! It’s a pretty loose topic and I could talk about anything related to my favorite bookmarks. I was tempted to talk about the Etsy stores I’ve seen that sell great bookmarks or to talk about the different types of bookmarks that I love, but I decided to showcase ten of my favorite bookmarks (that aren’t from Book Depository). In preparation for this post I wanted to take pictures of the bookmarks that I own but it turns out…

I’M REALLY GREAT AT LOSING BOOKMARKS!!! 🙃 Like, I don’t even know where they go because I’m 99.9% sure my favorites don’t ever leave the house (I switch them out to BD bookmarks before I leave). So they should be somewhere in my tiny ass flat (and when I say tiny I mean tiny) that seems to swallow things up so well that I can never find them again! It’s mind boggling and drives me a bit mental. But… Thankfully I received three new favorite bookmarks last week in last month’s Owlcrate box, and I love them so much! Before I ramble on much more, here are ten of my favorite bookmarks (better say bye to them now in case they miraculously disappear after I post this hah)!

I don’t know how I stumbled upon FictionTeaDesigns but I’m glad that I did because their bookmarks are gorgeous! They’re pretty big in size but they’re made of sturdy material. There are so many designs to choose from and shipping from Glasgow was surprisingly fast! I chose two from V.E. Schwab and one classic book lover one. Would 10/10 recommend!

I got these four beauties in the Darkdawn Illumicrate box and they’re gorgeous! My photo is a little blurry and doesn’t do the quality of the work justice, but trust me when I say that these bookmarks designed by Merwild are awesome!

This might be one of my all-time favorite bookmarks! It’s a wooden bookmark that was in the July or August Owlcrate box that came with House of Salt and Sorrows. It’s inspired by The Daughter of the Pirate King and designed by Juniper and Ivy Designs and the quality is pretty great! It says: “The sea watches over me. She protects her own.” I also love the turquoise tassel!

I got these beautiful magnetic bookmarks designed by CraftedVan from the October Owlcrate box! Y’all have no idea how excited I got knowing that they’re SAGA CHARACTERS!!! I wasn’t expecting that, even with the box’s more sci-fi theme but to say I was stoked would be an understatement. My love for Saga is forever; especially for Lying Cat! 😻

Do you have any favorite bookmarks?
Are you as talented as I am at losing bookmarks? LOL 🙂

Down the TBR Hole – 07

Dini @ dinipandareads16 Comments

We’re back with another episode of Down the TBR Hole! My TBR is currently sits at a whopping 1,011 books because I added some books to my list after last week’s culling 😅 I’ll be reviewing 10 books again today and I’m hoping to find it easier to cut more out!

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

Fates and Furies by Lauren Groff. I bought this book earlier this year because I thought for sure it’d be my jam but now I’m not so sure anymore… I’m gonna try it since I already have it. I hope my first thought was right! 🤞

Finders Keepers (Bill Hodges #2) by Stephen King. I sped through Mr. Mercedes and absolutely loved it, so I was really keen to get my hands on Finders Keepers. So far I’ve tried reading it twice and both times I’ve put it down with the intention of ‘picking it up later’. Third time’s the charm, I guess? But if it’s still not working for me, it’ll definitely go in the bye pile!

The Quiet Game (Penn Cage #1) by Greg Iles. After reading his Natchez Burning trilogy, I’m convinced that I need to read the rest of Iles’ books — especially involving Penn Cage! 😍

The Glass Magician (The Paper Magician #2) by Charlie N. Holmberg. I remember loving The Paper Magician so much and don’t know why I didn’t continue with the series right then. I have this on my Kindle library though and I’m still keen to check it out!

Verdict: Bye-bye-bye!

Notorious (Max Revere #1) by Allison Brennan. Just doesn’t appeal to me so much anymore. Didn’t even recall ever seeing this book before LOL

Austenland (Austenland #1) by Shannon Hale. I LOVED this movie so naturally thought I wanted to read the book. The reviews scream a big fat NO — especially Emer’s review (and the shelves she chose for this) on Goodreads, which is plain gold and had me dead 🤣

Ten Things I’ve Learnt About Love by Sarah Butler. Reading this synopsis just doesn’t appeal to me at all anymore…

The Invention of Wings by Sue Monk Kidd. This sounds interesting but I’ve had multiple times to pick it up in stores and I never do… So I think I’m taking that as a sign to say bye-bye-bye?

The Master Magician (The Paper Magician #3) by Charlie N. Holmberg. I’m only removing this one because I haven’t read the second book yet (which I decided to keep!). I read the first book AGES ago but remember loving it, so this’ll probably come back if I love the sequel!

City on Fire by Garth Risk Hallberg. It was really hard for me to decide on this one but I’ve chosen to remove it for now. The synopsis is interesting but not so much that I’m sure I’ll read it ASAP. So, bye-bye-bye for now!

bluepanda

BAM BABY! I let 6/10 books go this week bringing my TBR tally to 1,005 books. Still a lot but we’re making progress by removing 60% of the list this week, right?! 😃 Again, I think I’m pretty satisfied with my decisions; perhaps more so this week than I was last week!

Goodreads Monday – 11 November

Dini @ dinipandareads11 Comments

We’re back with another Goodreads Monday, a weekly meme started by @Lauren’s Page Turners. This meme 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 Sadie by Courtney Summers. Well, I’ve had this one on my list for quite some time now (added in September 2018)! Sadie has pretty great rating statistics on Goodreads: an average rating of 4.18 stars with 39,121 ratings and 9,949 reviews.

A missing girl on a journey of revenge. A Serial―like podcast following the clues she’s left behind. And an ending you won’t be able to stop talking about.

Sadie hasn’t had an easy life. Growing up on her own, she’s been raising her sister Mattie in an isolated small town, trying her best to provide a normal life and keep their heads above water.

But when Mattie is found dead, Sadie’s entire world crumbles. After a somewhat botched police investigation, Sadie is determined to bring her sister’s killer to justice and hits the road following a few meager clues to find him.

When West McCray―a radio personality working on a segment about small, forgotten towns in America―overhears Sadie’s story at a local gas station, he becomes obsessed with finding the missing girl. He starts his own podcast as he tracks Sadie’s journey, trying to figure out what happened, hoping to find her before it’s too late.

Why do I want to read it?

I’ve heard a lot about this book and much of it is mixed ! I’m getting the feeling that you either really love/hate this book and there’s very little feeling in between. That said, the cover has always pulled me in (I remember seeing it for the first time and thinking: MUST TO HAVING)! I don’t know what it is about it, but I love it. I’ve also heard that listening to this as an audiobook really enhances the reading experience, as the story is told partly in podcast format. I’ve never read anything in podcast style before so it’ll be interesting and I’m definitely looking forward to it!

Have you read Sadie or is it on your TBR too?

Sundays in Bed With… #MyWeeklyWrapUp [29]

Dini @ dinipandareads4 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!

This Sunday I spent part of my day in bed with The Stranger Beside Me by Ann Rule and friends, this book has me feeling some type of way and I don’t even know… I can’t even begin to imagine what it would do to someone knowing that a person you consider(ed) a friend is a serial killer whose trail you’ve followed so closely from the start. It’s terrifying! How she writes about Ted Bundy is creepy AF because the person she knew seemed legit like a pretty freaking decent guy. Saying that about a guy like Ted Bundy makes me want to gag a little but… How he was presented at the start of this book made me think that. I have a feeling this book is going to be a helluva ride. Just in case you don’t know the book I’m talking about, you can read the synopsis below.

Utterly unique in its astonishing intimacy, as jarringly frightening as when it first appeared, Ann Rule’s The Stranger Beside Me defies our expectation that we would surely know if a monster lived among us, worked alongside of us, appeared as one of us. With a slow chill that intensifies with each heart-pounding page, Rule describes her dawning awareness that Ted Bundy, her sensitive coworker on a crisis hotline, was one of the most prolific serial killers in America. He would confess to killing at least thirty-six young women from coast to coast, and was eventually executed for three of those cases. Drawing from their correspondence that endured until shortly before Bundy’s death, and striking a seamless balance between her deeply personal perspective and her role as a crime reporter on the hunt for a savage serial killer — the brilliant and charismatic Bundy, the man she thought she knew — Rule changed the course of true-crime literature with this unforgettable chronicle.

What are you currently reading?

It’s Sunday again (already) and surprise, surprise, I’m sad about it. Although my weekends have been relatively ‘chill’ recently, I usually do end up scheduling one or two activities that leave me feeling tired and productive enough to feel like I haven’t completely wasted my weekends away 😅 Yesterday I accompanied one of my close friends/colleagues to do one of her final prenatal check ups, followed up by lunch at what very quicly became one of our favorite places to eat for its delicious food and drinks! I had the tuna poké with a fresh summery fruit smoothie, and we rounded up our meal by sharing their delectable french toast. Friends, IT IS SO FREAKING DELICIOUS I CAN’T EVEN. My friend and I literally had dreams about eating that french toast again, which is why we decided to head back to get it again. You know when something invades your dreams it’s just really that good 🤤

Aside from that, I’m planning to try ‘Zero Gravity Float Therapy’ soon. One of my besties told me about it and she thought it might be something interesting for me to try out for my sleep and mental health related issues. I thought I’d booked my session for today but it turns out it’s actually next week 😅 So that was already a good start to my Sunday LOL I’m kind of glad that it’s next week though because it’s given me more time to get more comfortable with the idea of it. The thought of being enclosed in a small, dark space, surrounded by water and zero sound, kind of FREAKS ME THE F OUT… But apparently this therapy is pretty good and does things that normal therapy doesn’t! So… ehrm… I guess let’s do this?

Reading & Blogging Recap

I sadly haven’t read a lot this week and I think I’ve only managed to finish one book? November not off to the best start! A lot of that had to do with the fact that I’ve been trying to catch up on engaging on blogs and most of my nights after work have been spent writing and reading… Not to mention that I’ve been caught up in the Twitterverse a couple of times this last week… 🙃 Next thing I know it’s 2AM, I haven’t read, I’m not sleepy and I just spent the last 3 hours scrolling social media LMAO I know I’m not the only one this happens to, amirite?! But also, I spent a lot of time this week reading Wicked Saints. I’m so sad to say that it really didn’t blow me away like I was hoping it would. I was a little disappointed by it but I am looking forward to reading Ruthless Gods, the sequel, which I got an eARC of a few months back! You can check out my review listed down below 🙂

Like I said earlier, I’ve been trying to blog and engage a bit more this week. I haven’t been able to get back to the levels before mid-October threw me completely off my game, but I managed to knock out some tags and awards that I’ve been putting off for way too long. I love getting tagged and nominated for these things but I am undoubtedly the absolute worst when it comes to answering them 🤣🙃🤣 Please don’t stop tagging me though–I really do love it! 💜 I also started doing some of the weekly memes that I’ve missed over the last few weeks (Friday Favorites and Top 5 Saturday) and it felt good to get back into it! In case you missed them, you can check out the posts I’ve made this week down below!

Review: Wicked Saints (Something Dark and Holy #1) by Emily A. Duncan
Top 5 Saturday: Books with a Survival Theme!
Friday Favorites: Inspiring Characters
First Lines Friday: 08 November
Review: Under Locke by Mariana Zapata
Are You Ready for Sweater Weather: The Autumn Tag!
Real Neat Blog Award!
Review: Frankly In Love by David Yoon
#WWWWednesday: 06 November
#TopTenTuesday: Books Giving Me Those Autumn Vibes!
Down the TBR Hole – 06
Goodreads Monday: 04 November

A special music shout out to HAIM this week for their new song: Now I’m In It. Contrary to what it sounds like, this is actually about depression and falling back ‘in it’. These sisters are amazing and whenever I start listening to them I can’t stop!

How has your week been? Hope everyone has/had a great weekend!

Wicked Saints (Something Dark and Holy #1) by Emily A. Duncan – #BookReview

Dini @ dinipandareads19 Comments

Goodreads: Wicked Saints (Something Dark and Holy #1)
Genre: Young Adult Fantasy
Panda Rating:

A girl who can speak to gods must save her people without destroying herself.
A prince in danger must decide who to trust.
A boy with a monstrous secret waits in the wings.
Together, they must assassinate the king and stop the war.

In a centuries-long war where beauty and brutality meet, their three paths entwine in a shadowy world of spilled blood and mysterious saints, where a forbidden romance threatens to tip the scales between dark and light. Wicked Saints is the thrilling start to Emily A. Duncan’s devastatingly Gothic Something Dark and Holy trilogy..

You know that feeling when you so badly want to love a book but there’s just something about it that ultimately lets you down? Friends, this is how I felt about Wicked Saints and I could not be more disappointed… I’m not saying it was a horrible read, I liked the parts I enjoyed (lol) but there was just something about it that stopped me from losing myself in the story and it left me feeling pretty ‘meh’ towards the end. It took me so much longer than expected to finish this book.

It started off really strong and I was hooked from the first paragraph. But as the story progressed the pace really slowed down and I found myself struggling to pick the book back up every time I had to leave it. Again, it wasn’t that it was wholly unenjoyable, there was just some missing element(s) that had me frustrated trying to work it out.

I think much of it had to do with the predictability of the plot and the inability for me to connect with any of the characters and the story itself. I have to admit that I read countless passages over and over again because I just couldn’t get a grip on the writing. I thought the world building was set up well and I thought the magic system was interesting, but I often found myself getting lost in the author’s explanations about how things worked that I feel like I didn’t know anything despite just having read about it. A lot of the time I felt that we were also told things instead of shown things. I noticed a lot of foreshadowing about characters and events that were so obviously told to us as readers, that it ruined the possibility of any surprise in the story.

I also have to mention the one gripe that many readers had and that was the character names. While I didn’t have an issue with most of them, I did find myself repeating Malachiasz’ name so many freaking times because I had no clue if I was pronouncing it correctly; and the same goes with many of the cleric’s names liberally sprinkled throughout. I think this book would’ve really benefited from having a glossary for the characters and I was disappointed to find there wasn’t one.

I also found the characters a little flat. I wanted to know more about Nadya, Serefin and Malachiasz’ backstories, and while we learn more about the latter two than we do about Nadya, it still wasn’t much. I thought the side players showed more character in certain respects, especially Parajihan and Rashid, and I found myself disappointed that they all but ‘disappeared’ as the story went on. I really wish that the characters were better developed as it would’ve made me feel more invested in what would happen to them, and especially in the romance that blooms.

There were certain elements to the story that I did like though. I haven’t read many Russian inspired stories so I enjoyed reading one so heavily influenced by it. Like I said earlier, the magic systems in both countries were interesting. I liked how Nadya, the last cleric of Kalyazin communed with the Gods and how she was gifted their powers. I also thought the blood magic, dark though it was, was pretty cool. I definitely wanted to know more about the books they used to conjure spells and I wanted to better understand what makes one blood mage more powerful than another, but more importantly where blood magic came from.

The action really picks up in the last few chapters but I sadly found myself trying too hard to focus on understanding the author’s writing (I really read so many passages countless times), that it really took away from my reading experience. I’m not sure that I understood much of what happened, but what I did get had me racing towards the finish, especially when things took another turn that I was pleasantly surprised by because it was a little unexpected.

By the end though I just felt that there was so much potential for awesome in this story but I was let down by the execution of it. I originally thought I’d rate this about 2.5 stars but the final events did get me excited for the sequel, so I’m boosting it up to 3 stars. I got the e-ARC of Ruthless Gods recently so I’m looking forward to seeing if it will be an improvement and if it’ll change the way I feel about this series so far.

Have you read Wicked Saints? What’d you think of it?
Let’s chat in the comments!

Top 5 Saturday: Books with a Survival Theme!

Dini @ dinipandareads15 Comments

It’s time for another Top 5 Saturday, a weekly meme created by Mandy @ Devouring Books and this week’s topic is: books with a survival theme. So it’s been a hot minute since I participated in a top five saturday post because I’ve either been too busy on the weekend or I’ve just been too mentally drained to feel inspired, but I’m glad to be back this week. That said, I’ve pretty much drawn a blank for this week’s prompt because do I even have any books with survival themes on my TBR or read list? Then again, ‘survival theme’ has a pretty broad scope and can be interpreted in a few ways: actual survival from the elements/nature or survival of a trying situations. So I’m going to do my best with that for my list of five books that I want to read one day!

Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail by Cheryl Strayed
I’ve not read the book or seen the movie (with Reese Witherspoon!) but I’ve heard some pretty amazing reviews about this book. It’s definitely one I’m keen to check out!

The Stand by Stephen King
This is a story about those who survived after a worldwide plague killed off 99% of the population. I have no doubt that this post-apocalyptic story is going to be creepy AF (I mean just look at that cover?) and we all know how I am with creepy books. But it just sounds too good to not try!

The Revenant by Michael Punke
I really enjoyed the movie when it came out and have been interested in the book ever since. It sounds like a brutal story about survival and revenge after being left to die in the Rocky Mountains!

These Broken Stars (Starbound #1) by Amie Kaufman & Megan Spooner
I haven’t had this one sitting on my tbr for too long but I’ve been wanting to read another book by Kaufman for a while now! This is about survival in space with a bit of romance thrown in!

The Tattooist of Auschwitz by Heather Morris
This one is very obviously a different kind of survival story but it’s very much a survival story. I’m super keen to read it as I’ve heard so many great things; I just really hope it lives up to all the hype!

Have you read any of my ‘survival themed’ book picks? Any recs on which one to start first and any more recs to add to my list?!
Come let me know in the comments and let’s chat! 😂

Friday Favorites: Inspiring Characters

Dini @ dinipandareads13 Comments

It’s time for another Friday Favorites hosted by Kibby @ Something of the Book! This weekly meme is where you get to share a list of all your favourites based on the list of prompts on Kibby’s page. Sounds fun, right? This week’s prompt is: favorite inspiring characters! I skipped last Friday’s post because I was feeling completely drained and wholly uninspired, but I’m back and feeling a little more inspired (apt, considering the prompt 😉)! This is going to be tough to choose though; I know I’ve encountered many inspiring characters in books, but I admit that my memory makes it difficult to keep track of this sometimes 😅 That said, here’s a list of five of some of my favorite inspiring characters! They’re not in any particular order and honestly, they’re the first ones that came to my mind for this prompt lol

Isabelle & Vianne from The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah
This is a two-fer because although both sisters were like day and night in terms of personalities, but the strength, resilience and courage they displayed in the face of unimaginable horrors, although presented in different ways, were as equally inspiring. I loved these sisters.

Tierney James from The Grace Year by Kim Liggett
Tierney is a survivor. She had to face the horror of having her peers turn against her and she had to face unknown demons alone in the outside world just to survive The Grace Year. Despite facing so much cruelty and torture, she was still full of compassion and kindness, and she takes a stand against a society that would see her and other women kill each other rather than be empowered.

Photo Credit: Erika Doss

Starr Carter from The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas
I mean, do I even have to give justification for this? I can’t begin to fathom having to experience losing a friend in front of your face so unjustly. She faces everything head on with determination, courage, and such great strength! She is incredibly inspiring and I’m sure no one would disagree.

Romy Silver from The Loneliest Girl in the Universe by Lauren James
Imagine being completely isolated light years away from the closest human being and then you suddenly find yourself blindsided by a threat you didn’t even know was coming. What Romy did to survive, the smarts she utilised despite being almost paralyzed by her fear was hella inspiring!

Esme Tran from The Bride Test (The Kiss Quotient #2) by Helen Hoang
Unfortunately what Esme does to build a better life for herself, her daughter and mother is not an uncommon scenario for many. But she faces her challenges, which range from dealing with meddling strangers, learning a new language, being in a foreign country, not to mention dealing with love, all head on and with a fierce determination that’s very inspiring!

Who are some of your favorite inspiring characters? Wow, I just realized that all the characters I mentioned are women 😏 Hells yeah, inspiring women of the book world! Let’s chat in the comments!

First Lines Friday – 08 November

Dini @ dinipandareads12 Comments

Yayaya, HAPPY FRIYAY, book lovers and friends 😍We’re back with another First Lines Friday! This is 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 a storm.
Adrenaline ripped through my veins like lightning as I leaned close to the body of my crow, preparing to execute a dive. Iyla’s warm, steady heat kept me grounded, even hundreds of feet in the air.”

Do you recognize the book these first lines come from?

Okay, okay, calm yourself Loki, mate...

*drumroll please!*

The book is: The Storm Crow by Kalyn Josephson

In the tropical kingdom of Rhodaire, magical, elemental Crows are part of every aspect of life…until the Illucian empire invades, destroying everything.

That terrible night has thrown Princess Anthia into a deep depression. Her sister Caliza is busy running the kingdom after their mother’s death, but all Thia can do is think of all she has lost.

But when Caliza is forced to agree to a marriage between Thia and the crown prince of Illucia, Thia is finally spurred into action. And after stumbling upon a hidden Crow egg in the rubble of a rookery, she and her sister devise a dangerous plan to hatch the egg in secret and get back what was taken from them.

Have you read The Storm Crow or is it on your TBR?
Leave me a comment and let’s chat 🙂

Under Locke by Mariana Zapata – #BookReview

Dini @ dinipandareads11 Comments

Goodreads: Under Locke
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Panda Rating:

He was my boss, my brother’s friend, a Widower, an ex-felon, and a man I’d seen casually with a handful of women. But he was everything that gripped me, both the good and the bad. Worst case scenario if things turned awkward between us, I could go somewhere else. I’d gotten over epic heartbreak before, one more wouldn’t kill me.

After moving to Austin following six months of unemployment back home, Iris Taylor knows she should be glad to have landed a job so quickly… even if the business is owned by a member of the same motorcycle club her estranged father used to belong to. Except Dex Locke might just be the biggest jerk she’s ever met. He’s rude, impatient and doesn’t know how to tell time.

And the last thing they ever expected was each other.
But it was either the strip club or the tattoo shop.
… she should have chosen the strip club. 

It’s official: I’m a big Mariana Zapata fan and I think she’ll be an auto-read (maybe even auto-buy) author from now on. I’m so glad that Jen recommended this to me because I absolutely loved it! I was waiting for the right time to start reading this because past experience has shown me that once I start a Zapata book I won’t want to put it down.

Under Locke was surprisingly not as much of a slow burn compared to her other books; although compared to most other romances, it was still very much a slow burn. I don’t think there’s anyone who does slow burns as well as Zapata and it’s always so damn satisfying when the MCs finally get together. I can safely say that it’s absolutely always worth the wait and this one was no different. Although Dex did grate on my nerves a little bit with his extremely volatile temper and asshole-ish behavior, I pretty much fell in lovelust with him at the same pace as Iris did. Although his attitude does soften as the story goes on (especially towards her), he’s unapologetically himself and while I can see how that can rub people the wrong way, I appreciated that about his character. Can I also say that tattoos + men + me = (almost) guaranteed win? They’re kind of like my Achilles heel? Especially when they’re tall, brooding and totally inked (mega bonus points to Dex for owning his own parlor)!

Unsurprisingly, Iris is the total opposite of Dex. She’s sweet, shy, very innocent and it doesn’t take much to make her blush. She’s a pretty strong and resilient character, and did I mention that she’s also bookish and smart? Iris has been through some pretty tough shit in life that made her have to grow up faster than usual. While she’s only in her early twenties, she comes off as pretty mature and I really admired her character! Is the dynamic between Iris and Dex sounding a little too cliché and tropey right now? Well, maybe it is…but Zapata really does it so well and I wasn’t mad about it! Their chemistry was FIRE and those steamy scenes… Damn, those steamy scenes! 😏 I was doing a lot of swooning while reading this book (lmao).

What I also really loved about Under Locke were the side characters. The friendships that form between Iris and the rest of the artists at the parlor really gave me ‘found family’ vibes and I was here for it! The banter (oh, the banter) between everyone that worked at the store had me genuinely bent with laughter and the scenes that showed Dex relaxing/laughing with the group were also some of my favorites! Iris’ half-brother was another character that really grew on me and I really hope that we get his story because he’s such marshmallow/cinnamon roll and I want to know more ASAP!

Overall, I clearly loved this book and it definitely is a contender for my top Zapata book next to The Wall of Winnipeg and Me and Wait For It. I took off half a star because of some repetitive things some characters did which I found slightly eye-roll inducing. I’ve definitely noticed this repetitive trait in Zapata’s characters in other books too though; so by now it’s not unexpected, it’s just a little eh. But that won’t stop me from reading her books because LOVE 😍

Have you read Under Locke? Are you a Mariana Zapata fan?
Let’s chat in the comments!

Are You Ready for Sweater Weather: The Autumn Tag!

Dini @ dinipandareads19 Comments

Technically it’s still Autumn, right? So while I’m late with answering this tag I didn’t miss the party completely with this Autumn Tag, right?! 😂 I love being tagged in tags but I’m sorry I’m so shoddy at answering them! Thanks to Sara @ The Bibliophagist, Jen @ Nen & Jen, and E @ Local Bee Hunter’s Little Nook for tagging me on this one! I swear I was born in the wrong country because my favorite season is Autumn, so woe is me for living in the tropics! I’m hoping that one day I’ll once again live in a country that has more than two seasons (hot and really hot and humid) 🙄

All credit for the graphics below go to Jenn @ Jenniely, the creator of this lovely tag!

The Rules

  • Answer the questions.
  • Link back to the creator (Jenniely).
  • Tag other people!

Hot Chocolate – What is your comfort book?

My answer for all time: Pride & Prejudice by Jane Austen. I know others find it really weird that this is my “comfort book” but reading this brings me comfort like no other every. single. time 💜

Pumpkin Carving – What is your favorite creative outlet?

I love playing around with graphic design stuff! I’m self-taught on Adobe InDesign and Illustrator (thanks to the power of YouTube!) and I love being able to create graphics for both work and my blog, despite not being able to draw for shit 🤣 I’m still pretty much a noob compared to real graphic designers, but it’s so much fun to experiment!

Falling Leaves – Changes that appear bad but that you secretly love

I’m going to have to agree with Sara on this one: moving. Moving can be scary and stressful AF, but it can also be really rewarding. I only have to look at my whole life experience as a Third Culture Kid to remember this! There’s always so much room for opportunities and endless possibilities when you move and ‘start fresh’. It’s as exciting as it is terrifying 🙂

Pumpkin Spiced Latte – Something you love that others tend to judge

Romance. I’ve been judged so hard by many people who look at me with such beady eyed judgement when I say that I love romance (or when they see that I have romance books on my shelf). I just don’t understand why it bothers people so much or what even makes them feel they have the right to judge me for anything? Lol

Bonfire Night – What makes you explode with joy?

Naming one thing would be impossible! Delectable food, scrumptious drinks, amazing music and dancing, reading the night away, the smell of new/old books, engaging with all you lovely book people, watching a great show/movie, spending time with my loves… All of these make me explode with joy!

Fright Night – Favorite scary book or movie

We all know that I’m the worst when it comes to scary stuff. A lot of people (annoyingly) try to force me to watch scary things but that’s where I toe a hard line. It’s no dice, home slice. That said, I did read one scary book last month that I surprisingly really enjoyed and that was Rules for Vanishing by Kate Alice Marshall! Color me definitely surprised because I couldn’t put that one down and I was terrified the whole time!

Halloween Candy – Favorite thing to eat

Wow, as if I could only choose one thing for this! How?! I will say that one thing that I could probably eat every day for the rest of my life is Japanese food (I won’t limit myself to just sushi specifically but sushi for always)!

Scarves – your Autumn ‘must have’ accessory

Well… Scarves I guess? Lol I don’t really wear accessories but I do love giant scarves. Oh, but I also love beanies! A cute beanie and a scarf if it’s cold enough… Yaas! I really wish it wasn’t blazing hot while I write this because I wanna get cozy with these autumn accessories 😅

Fire – A book or film that burns your soul

What does this even mean? Lol does burning my soul mean something that makes me feel all the feels? I’ll take it as that. Tough question but I’ll go with The Nevernight Chronicle! This series though… And I haven’t even read Darkdawn yet–I’m too scared of all the burning my soul will experience! 😂 😭

Toffee Apples – A book or film that seems one thing but really has a different inside

The first book that comes to mind is Frankly In Love by David Yoon. I recently finished it and it was completely different to what I expected. It’s marketed as romance and while there are elements of it, I feel marketing it as that really did it a disservice. Not surprised people didn’t like it since they went in expecting something light and fluffy. I ended up really enjoying Frank Li’s story but the content is on a completely different vibe from the romance it’s ‘meant’ to be 😅

And that’s a wrap, folks! 🎬 Ooh, that was so much fun. I love a great tag and answering all these questions have really got me in that autumn mood where I want to cozy up in bed under my duvet with a book!

I Tag…

It’s okay if you don’t like tags or don’t feel like doing this one. No pressure at all! Also, even if you’re not tagged and want to do it, consider yourself officially tagged! Don’t forget to link back so I can see your answers 😉