Top 5 Saturday: Hyped Books

September 11, 2021September 11, 2021 Dini @ dinipandareads17 Comments

Welcome back to 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 actually: Hyped Books.

There are so many hyped books so this list really could be endless. While I’m always eager to know what the hyped books are, I’m also quite wary of them because I’m intimidated by the hype and I’m always worried that I won’t end up liking the book half as much as everyone else! Though I do get caught up in the hype and I quite often cave in and pre-order or buy the book not long after its been released, they usually end up sitting on my physical/kindle shelves for… A long time before they actually get read. I know you know what I’m talking about, right?! Here are some more “recent” hyped books that I’ve been telling myself to read but have still not picked up!

These Violent Delights

The year is 1926, and Shanghai hums to the tune of debauchery.

A blood feud between two gangs runs the streets red, leaving the city helpless in the grip of chaos. At the heart of it all is eighteen-year-old Juliette Cai, a former flapper who has returned to assume her role as the proud heir of the Scarlet Gang—a network of criminals far above the law. Their only rivals in power are the White Flowers, who have fought the Scarlets for generations. And behind every move is their heir, Roma Montagov, Juliette’s first love…and first betrayal.

But when gangsters on both sides show signs of instability culminating in clawing their own throats out, the people start to whisper. Of a contagion, a madness. Of a monster in the shadows. As the deaths stack up, Juliette and Roma must set their guns—and grudges—aside and work together, for if they can’t stop this mayhem, then there will be no city left for either to rule.

Top 5 Saturday: Intimidating Books

September 4, 2021September 4, 2021 Dini @ dinipandareads7 Comments

I’m pretty sure I’ve done a similar topic to this quite a few times on the blog already but I always focused on chunky books that intimidated me. So for today’s post I’m going to look at books that I’m intimidated by because of the hype surrounding them. Some of these are classics that I have heard so many good things about and that are often referenced in modern texts, and the others are more recent releases in the fantasy genre that have been so hyped up that I’m a little afraid to pick them up! 😂 Now without further ado, let’s get into it!

Rebecca

A classic that has had several remakes now and that has influenced many art forms, whether it’s movies, books and/or songs. This book intimidates me on various levels but one of the main reasons is because it’s so well-lauded and I’m worried I won’t like it as much?

On a trip to the South of France, the shy heroine of Rebecca falls in love with Maxim de Winter, a handsome widower. Although his proposal comes as a surprise, she happily agrees to marry him. But as they arrive at her husband’s home, Manderley, a change comes over Maxim, and the young bride is filled with dread. Friendless in the isolated mansion, she realises that she barely knows him. In every corner of every room is the phantom of his beautiful first wife, Rebecca, and the new Mrs de Winter walks in her shadow.

Top 5 Saturday: People on the Cover

August 28, 2021August 28, 2021 Dini @ dinipandareads10 Comments

I just had a look for when I did my last Top 5 Saturday and it was back in April! It’s been a long time but earlier this week Mandy announced that they’re bringing back the weekly meme and I’m happy to be taking part in it again! As usual, I’ll be listing the new topics at the end of the post.

This week I’ll be listing five books from my Goodreads TBR! I’m not always a fan of people on covers, especially when they’re “real” people but I am a huge fan of illustrated characters on covers. I don’t know if I can say that this trend is illustrated people on covers trend is quite new but I have noticed it more and more in contemporary romances over the years, and now in a lot of other genres, too. I hope that these covers will continue being made (especially in romances!) because they’re absolutely some of my favourites 😍 On that note, here are some of my most recent adds to the TBR with people on the cover!

Love and Other Disasters

The first openly nonbinary contestant on America’s favorite cooking show falls for their clumsy competitor in this delicious romantic comedy debut “that is both fantastically fun and crack your heart wide open vulnerable.” (Rosie Danan, author of The Roommate)

Recently divorced and on the verge of bankruptcy, Dahlia Woodson is ready to reinvent herself on the popular reality competition show Chef’s Special. Too bad the first memorable move she makes is falling flat on her face, sending fish tacos flying—not quite the fresh start she was hoping for. Still, she’s focused on winning, until she meets someone she might want a future with more than she needs the prize money.

After announcing their pronouns on national television, London Parker has enough on their mind without worrying about the klutzy competitor stationed in front of them. They’re there to prove the trolls—including a fellow contestant and their dad—wrong, and falling in love was never part of the plan.

As London and Dahlia get closer, reality starts to fall away. Goodbye, guilt about divorce, anxiety about uncertain futures, and stress from transphobia. Hello, hilarious shenanigans on set, wedding crashing, and spontaneous dips into the Pacific. But as the finale draws near, Dahlia and London’s steamy relationship starts to feel the heat both in and outside the kitchen—and they must figure out if they have the right ingredients for a happily ever after.

Top 5 Saturday: The Longest Books I’ve Read

April 17, 2021June 23, 2021 Dini @ dinipandareads15 Comments

I usually look at books that are on my TBR for my Saturday posts but I feel like I’ve already looked at the biggest books on my to-read list quite a few times already so I thought it’d be fun to take a look back at the longest books I have read. I had a few predictions for some titles but I was surprised to find only one of my ‘predictions’ made it onto this list, and it was the shortest of the lot! I also focused this list on books that are standalones or the first books in a series, so there were a couple that were even longer than the ones mentioned here but they were all the third or even fifth and sixth books in a series. All that being said, here are some of the biggest chonksters I’ve managed to tackle:

Top 5 Saturday: Bloody Books!

April 11, 2021June 23, 2021 Dini @ dinipandareads15 Comments

So… I’m surprised by how much I struggled to come up with five books on my TBR for this prompt! I even struggled to think of five books that I’ve already read with blood on the cover and I don’t know why but this really surprises me? 😂 What I’ve decided to do for this week’s cover is take the prompt literally and I’ve found five books with the word blood on the cover (cos at least this was easier to find on my Goodreads TBR)! Without further ado… Here are five ‘blood-y’ books that I hope to read this year (she said) 😉:

Top 5 Saturday: Books with Diverse Characters

April 3, 2021June 23, 2021 Dini @ dinipandareads20 Comments

Well, this is gonna be tough because I can pick way more than five books with diverse characters off my TBR, and I’m looking forward to reading all of them soon! In recent years, I’ve made an active effort to diversify my reads because I realised that many of the books I had access to in the main bookstores in Indonesia tended to feature mostly white authors writing white characters. I also never questioned what I was reading and never actively sought out diverse reads—well, not anymore! It has been amazing to read more stories with characters of different ethnicities, nationalities, religions, LGBTQ+ and abilities in contemporaries, romances, and even SFF and I can’t wait to read even more in the future! For this prompt I decided to focus on books with Asian characters because I love to see the Asian rep! So without further ado, here are five books with diverse characters that I’m really excited for.

Top 5 Saturday: Books Set in the Desert

March 27, 2021June 23, 2021 Dini @ dinipandareads23 Comments

I’ve missed a couple Saturday posts but last week’s topic was love triangles and I would’ve struggled hard to have come up with any books cos love triangles are not my jam. It is one of my most hated tropes because the angst is so real and I’m not for that. But I digress! I’m glad be back and posting for today’s desert prompt. All of these are on my TBR although I’ve heard great things about the books and am looking forward to checking them out. They’re all (unsurprisingly) of the fantasy genre and surprisingly, none of them are retellings of the one thousand and one nights (at least I don’t think so but please let me know in the comments if I’m wrong)! I’m not particularly fussed about desert settings–I don’t seek out books with this setting but I also don’t mind reading stories set in the desert. Admittedly, I can actually only recall one desert fantasy and that’s The Kinder Poison (which is awesome and I would highly recommend btw)! On that note, here are five books with desert settings that I’d love to read (soonish):

Top 5 Saturday: Books I’d Gift Others!

March 7, 2021June 23, 2021 Dini @ dinipandareads22 Comments

This prompt has made me realise that… I’ve never really been gifted books before! Hmm… 🤔 I mean, I’ve won giveaways, I’ve had books given to me based on request but I’ve only received a book as a gift three times that I can recall. I’m finding that a little hard to believe and we know my memory is terrible, but I really can’t think of any other times other than a random Secret Santa (Doctor Zhivago), a random “you-like-to-read?!” gift from a family friend (Catch-22), and a summer reunion gift from my bestie (a Nora Roberts book)! That’s a little sad…? LOL, but I digress! 😂 Since it is what it is, I’ve decided to focus today’s post on five books I’d love to gift people! Most of these will come as no surprise to many since I’ve gushed about these books quite often but I’d love for others to also experience the magic of these books ❤️

Top 5 Saturday: Books with Daughter in the Title

February 20, 2021June 23, 2021 Dini @ dinipandareads20 Comments

I was hoping this week’s list would be a good mix of family relationship titles but apparently the mothers, daughters, wives, and sisters are incredibly popular while there was a surprising dearth of titles with husband, father, and brother on both my TBR and read list! It’s funny, now that I think about it, it’s always about the woman and mostly in relation to the man? I actually never noticed this before and now I’m wondering why 🤔 In any case, I decided to focus my list on books with ‘daughter’ in the title since this relationship is the one that had the most hits on my TBR (which is usually the focus of my Top 5 lists)~! So on that note, here are five books that I’m looking forward to reading:

Top 5 Saturday: Books with Unique Formats

February 13, 2021June 23, 2021 Dini @ dinipandareads21 Comments

I can’t believe I had such a hard time coming up with five books for this week’s prompt because I do love a book that’s written in mixed-media format. As it turns out though, I don’t seem to have a lot of them on my TBR although I can think of quite a few that I’ve read and loved, such as the Illuminae Files–which you MUST read if you haven’t yet! In the end, I’ve managed to come up with five books that are a mix of verse and epistolary, and some have been on my TBR for way too long (looking at you, Dracula!) but all of them are high on my priority list for this year!