We’re back with another Top Ten Tuesday, a weekly meme hosted by Jana @ That Artsy Reader Girl. This week’s prompt is: Books I Enjoyed but Rarely Talk About (This is for the books you liked, but rarely come up in conversation or rarely fit a TTT topic, etc.)!
OK, I have to admit that I struggled a bit with this one because a lot of the books I loved/enjoyed I DO talk about quite often? I feel like maybe I talk about all of them too much? Admittedly these books are more “recent” reads over the last few years because my memory is truly terrible. It’s weird and (I know) doesn’t make sense but it is what it is! So I went digging through Goodreads and found some reads that I think qualify (sorry if I end up cheating just a little bit)! I don’t talk about these books much because there’ve never really been any prompts in tags, award questions, or TTT topics that necessarily fit it!
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 featured book is Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett. I’m still not sure why I haven’t read this yet since I’m a big fan of Gaiman’s books. I’ve never read anything by Pratchett though so I’m curious about what I’ll think of this book in the end. This urban fantasy has a 4.25 star average with 499k+ ratings and 25.4k+ reviews, which is pretty wow!
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 the day in bed with Donut Disturb. After finishing an intense historical fiction yesterday I thought I’d pick up something a bit happier so I went for an enemies-to-lovers romcom because of course. I chose this because the cover is cute, although now I’m realising the fact that she doesn’t have eyes is kinda creepy–I was distracted by the hot pink title and donut! I don’t think I’m jamming with it as I started skimming through big chunks of it at around the 20% mark. There’s not much character development but also I feel like a lot is happening but also not a lot is really happening, if that makes sense? I’m also finding the heroine more annoying than funny! It’s making me eager to pick up my next read though, so mission accomplished 😂
A full-length STANDALONE romantic comedy from author Melissa Williams. A hot cop and a donut baker, what could go wrong? It was a donut emergency. A dough or die moment. At least, that’s what I’m telling myself. It would explain why, from the moment Baxter DeCavhalo comes crashing into my kitchen, I’ve been acting out of character. Why I’m sharing secret donut recipes, licking frosting off fingers that aren’t mine, and falling for the off-limits neighbor. I know better, I need to be focusing on my bakery and my next donut creation…but there’s just something about Bax that keeps me coming back for more. It’s not the heat of the kitchen that’s getting to me, it’s Bax. And this slow burn is about to combust.
I totally spaced yesterday and forgot that it was Saturday because the days have blurred since I’ve been WFH… I only realised I had missed Saturday’s post when I was doing a little after midnight gaming. Oops!
We’re back with 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: books with a colour in the title.
I thought that I would be able to very easily recall five titles with colours in them off the top of my head but apparently I can’t! LOL So here comes Goodreads and Google searches to the rescue! I don’t know what I’d without these mad interwebs brains 😂
JADE CITY is a gripping Godfather-esque saga of intergenerational blood feuds, vicious politics, magic, and kungfu. The Kaul family is one of two crime syndicates that control the island of Kekon. It’s the only place in the world that produces rare magical jade, which grants those with the right training and heritage superhuman abilities. The Green Bone clans of honorable jade-wearing warriors once protected the island from foreign invasion–but nowadays, in a bustling post-war metropolis full of fast cars and foreign money, Green Bone families like the Kauls are primarily involved in commerce, construction, and the everyday upkeep of the districts under their protection. When the simmering tension between the Kauls and their greatest rivals erupts into open violence in the streets, the outcome of this clan war will determine the fate of all Green Bones and the future of Kekon itself.
JADE CITY! I can’t believe I forgot this one especially since it’s currently on my bedside table as I was attempting to read it a few weeks back! I put a hold on reading this for now because it requires a lot of concentration and I’m really not in the right headspace for it, although I did enjoy what I read!
Goodreads: Eat, and Love Yourself Publish date: 21 April 2020 Publisher: BOOM!Studios Genre: Graphic Novel Panda Rating:
A story about Mindy, a woman living with an eating disorder who has to learn how to love herself again.
In pursuit of the perfect body, Mindy buys the low-fat diet products and the glossy magazines which promise the secret to losing weight. One night, while perusing the aisles of the neighborhood convenience store for a midnight snack, she finds a new product. A chocolate bar called “Eat and Love Yourself”. On a whim, Mindy buys the curious candy, not knowing that with every piece of chocolate she eats, she will be brought back to a specific moment of her past — helping her to look at herself honestly, learn to love her body the way it is, and accepting love. Perhaps, she will even realize that her long lost high school best friend, Elliot, was more than just a friend…
Trigger warnings: Eating disorders, body dysmorphia, body shaming, binge-eating, purging
I got extremely excited when I saw this cover and read the synopsis. The comic covers an extremely important topic that is such a personal issue for so many people who have struggled with their weight, and loving and accepting themselves. So I’m pretty sad to say that the story gave me pretty mixed feelings and that ending was especially disappointing because it was so abrupt. I checked to see if this was a series but I couldn’t find any information on it. I’m kind of hoping that Mindy’s journey will continue but I have a feeling it won’t?
Happy Friday book lovers! We’re back with another First Lines Friday, a weekly featurefor 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:
“When Red wins, she stands alone. Blood slicks her hair. She breathes out steam in the last night of this dying world.”
Do you recognize the book these first lines come from?
Goodreads: The Sunday Potluck Club Publish date: 31 March 2020 Publisher: Kensington Books Genre: Women’s Fiction, Contemporary Romance Panda Rating: (actual 2.75 stars)
New friends can be found in unexpected places. For Bridget and Amy, that place was the cancer ward of an Anchorage hospital. Now, as each struggles to overcome loss, they lean on each other for support—sharing suppers, laughter and tears.
Bridget and Amy aren’t about to let hardship knock them down—Bridget plans to return to her veterinarian school studies, Amy to her position as a second-grade teacher—but neither feels quite ready. And so the Sunday Potluck Club is born, a way for Bridget, Amy, and other women who have lost a loved one to find solace and understanding. Savoring favorite dishes while sharing memories and the comfort of connection, the members of the Sunday Potluck Club nourish body and soul.
As weeks go by and the group grows in unforeseen ways, both Bridget and Amy are inspired to find greater purpose. Amy reaches out to a student whose father bravely faces his own struggle. Bridget volunteers at the local animal shelter, rehabilitating dogs whose unconditional love will bring others a chance to heal. And with the help of a very special man, Amy is realizing that there’s always room at the table for love and rekindled joy…
This was a bit of a mixed bag for me. The cover caught my eye, and I liked the idea of a group of friends who meet under unusual life circumstances celebrating their friendship through Sunday potluck get togethers. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the story that was delivered. I think there were maybe two potluck gatherings in the whole book, and the friends didn’t spend any time talking. There was none of that ‘savoring favorite dishes while sharing memories and the comfort of connection’, and also none of that ‘nourishing body and soul’!
We’re back with another Top Ten Tuesday, a weekly meme hosted by Jana @ That Artsy Reader Girl. This week’s prompt isbooks I bought because of… bookstagram!
I’m sure by now you’re all aware that book Instagram or bookstagram exists. You might even have one and run it alongside your blog! Some days it’s hard to believe that I actually started on bookstagram and then took the big leap to start a book blog. It’s especially hard to believe now since I’ve basically all but abandoned my bookstagram 🙈 #shame But while I have you here (*shameless plug*), feel free to check out my bookstagram and follow me if you feel so inclined: @dinipandareads!
Last year I started a bookstagram and got quickly sucked into the book community! I fell hard and fast for all the beautiful hardcovers and gorgeous accounts. I tried to “keep up” with the good-looking posts by buying props etc. but it’s so hard to find quality things here I decided I didn’t want to spend all that money for it! LOL, but there’s seriously something about seeing gorgeous books in aesthetically pleasing photos that give me some serious *grabby hands* feels. Does that only happen to me?! 😂 So here are some of the books that I absolutely needed to get my hands on all thanks to the ‘gram! Honestly, if it wasn’t for bookstagram I probably would’ve never even heard of some of these, so I really can’t be that mad, right?!
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 featured book is The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield. I don’t remember when I first came across this book but it’s been on my Goodreads TBR for five years already! I’m not really sure what genre this would be classified as but Wiki is telling me it’s gothic suspense! It has a 3.96 star average with 263k+ ratings and 22.2k+ reviews, which is pretty great!
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 should’ve spent the day in bed with Ruthless Gods. But if you guessed that I spent the day gaming, then you’d be 10,000% correct 😅 I’m reading this as a buddy read so I really need to get myself together and get cracking on it! I’ve got my first two blog tours coming up next week and yikes, this panda has not read anything in what feels like forever now 🐼 Curse you, gaming! 🙃
Darkness never works alone… Nadya doesn’t trust her magic anymore. Serefin is fighting off a voice in his head that doesn’t belong to him. Malachiasz is at war with who–and what–he’s become. As their group is continually torn apart, the girl, the prince, and the monster find their fates irrevocably intertwined. They’re pieces on a board, being orchestrated by someone… or something. The voices that Serefin hears in the darkness, the ones that Nadya believes are her gods, the ones that Malachiasz is desperate to meet—those voices want a stake in the world, and they refuse to stay quiet any longer.
dinipandareads 