Goodreads Monday – The Shape of Thunder by Jasmine Warga

January 18, 2021June 23, 2021 Dini @ dinipandareads10 Comments

Welcome back to Goodreads Monday! It’s been a very hot minute since I did one but I figured I might as well get back into it! 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.*

*Sorry if a book has been featured twice. I need to make better note of which ones I’ve done already!

This week’s featured book is The Shape of Thunder by Jasmine Warga. This is a middle grade contemporary that is set to be published May 2021.

Top 5 Saturday: Metals in the Title

January 16, 2021June 23, 2021 Dini @ dinipandareads14 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: Metal in the Title (Gold, Silver, Brass, Steel, etc.).

I surprisingly don’t have a lot of books with metals in the titles and neither have I read that many apparently, but I did mange to *just* come up with a list of five that I’m looking forward to reading (mostly). One of them, The Goldfinch has been sat unfinished on my TBR since I started reading it during my worst ever reading slump and that was a bad decision as now I associate that book to that horrible time? I got about 70% through the book and I’m sad I didn’t push myself to keep reading it. The others are ones that I’ve heard mostly good things about while some, like Silver Sparrow, I’ve seen mostly mixed reviews for. Still, I’m eager to check all of these out at some point, especially The City of Brass as so many people have raved about how good that series is!

THE GOLDFINCH BY DONNA TARTT

#TopTenTuesday: Goals & Hopes for 2021

January 12, 2021August 12, 2022 Dini @ dinipandareads52 Comments

So, we’re back with another Top Ten Tuesday, a weekly meme hosted by Jana @ That Artsy Reader Girl. This week’s prompt is: resolutions/hopes for 2021 (bookish or not).

Last week I wrote a post about reading resolutions and how I don’t really make them because I’m not great on the follow through 😂 I do set at least one reading goal every year and that’s my Goodreads Reading Challenge but when it comes to other bookish goals, I don’t really make concrete ones because I like to keep the pressure light. That said, I do like to have a few “guiding goals” that’ll help me focus my reading and give me motivation to keep doing it throughout the year! So let’s take a look at some of the ideas I have for myself when it comes to bookish-blogging goals, and perhaps one or two personal goals as well!

#5OnMyTBR: Graphic Novels

January 12, 2021June 23, 2021 Dini @ dinipandareads15 Comments

Hello Mondays, welcome back to #5OnMyTBR, a meme created by the wonderful E @ The Local Bee Hunter’s Nook. This bookish meme gets us to dig even further into our TBRs by simply posting about five books on our TBR! You can learn more about it here or in the post announcing it. You can find the full list of prompts (past and future) at the end of this post!

This week’s prompt is: Graphic Novels.

Goodreads Monday – Mr. Right Across the Street by Kathryn Freeman

January 11, 2021June 23, 2021 Dini @ dinipandareads6 Comments

*Sorry if a book has been featured twice. I need to make better note of which ones I’ve done already!

This week’s featured book is Mr. Right Across the Street by Kathryn Freeman. This is a contemporary romance that is set to be published this month (22 Jan 2021) and currently has a 3.76 rating on Goodreads with just over 50 reviews.

Top 5 Saturday: Multiple POVs

January 9, 2021June 23, 2021 Dini @ dinipandareads25 Comments

I didn’t think I’d have such a hard time coming up with a list for this week’s prompt but I gotta admit that I struggled a little bit. It feels like I haven’t made one of these lists for a while (even though that’s falsies, brain!) so I think I just needed a good warm up by browsing through my Goodreads shelf and staring at my actual bookshelf 😂 Weirdly enough, it worked! I usually love a book with multiple POVs especially when they involve a big cast of characters, like in a lot of YA fantasy. It helps to get a better and more well-rounded picture of what’s going on in the story and I tend to enjoy experiencing events through various characters eyes. As long as it’s well done, of course!

I’m pretty sure at least two of these are definitely multiple POVs but I don’t think I’m wrong in thinking they all are? I’m looking forward to reading them as I’ve heard rave reviews about them all!

#TopTenTuesday: Most Anticipated Releases for the First Half of 2021!

January 5, 2021August 12, 2022 Dini @ dinipandareads46 Comments

So, we’re back with another Top Ten Tuesday, a weekly meme hosted by Jana @ That Artsy Reader Girl. This week’s prompt is: Most Anticipated Releases for the First Half of 2021.

Welcome, welcome back to the first Top Ten Tuesday of 2021! I hope you’re all doing well and that you’ve had a pain free start to the new year. ❤️

Last month, the blogosphere was full of lists for what’s coming out in 2021 and unsurprisingly my TBR has been growing quickly since I took the time to scour through some of them. I know I’m still missing out on a ton but I already have 50(+/-) books on my 2021-releases shelf and I have no doubt that it’s going to keep growing, especially after reading everyones posts today! Since I tend to read a lot of romances and YA fantasies, that’s mostly what this list is full of but I’m definitely keen to add some adult contemporary/literary fiction and some good ol’ thrillers/mysteries too (hint hint: any recs?)!

Now without further ado, here are some titles that I’m super excited for in the first half of 2021:

#TopTenTuesday: Favourite 2020 Reads!

December 29, 2020 Dini @ dinipandareads33 Comments

So, we’re back with another Top Ten Tuesday, a weekly meme hosted by Jana @ That Artsy Reader Girl. This week’s prompt is: Favourite Books of 2020.

I can’t believe that it’s already time to make this list because wow, what a year 2020 has been, eh? I mean, we all know what kind of year it was and although not all of us had the worst one, I think the general mood of 2020 has been pretty despondent. I’m definitely not expecting things to magically turn around in 2021 but I am hoping that it’ll at least be marginally better than this one (I’m keeping my expectations low though so that I might be pleasantly surprised)! 😂

That said, it was a pretty great year for books/reading and I’m sure many of you will agree! Although it actually wasn’t my best year, I did get to some pretty fantastic titles that I’m sure will stick with me for a while to come. Unsurprisingly, I’m notoriously bad at picking ‘favourites’ so this list was a bit of a struggle 😂 It took me way too long to narrow it down and definitely don’t be surprised by the few honorary mentions at the end! I’m really keen to see what 2021 brings in terms of reading and I’m hoping that I’ll get to even more of my backlist because let’s face it, it gets bigger with each year that passes! Now without further ado, here are my favourites for the year…

#5OnMyTBR: Planned to Read in 2020

December 29, 2020December 28, 2020 Dini @ dinipandareads18 Comments

This week’s prompt is: Planned to read in 2020.

Goodreads Monday – The Fortunate Ones by Ed Tarkington

December 28, 2020December 28, 2020 Dini @ dinipandareads3 Comments

*Sorry if a book has been featured twice. I need to make better note of which ones I’ve done already!

This week’s featured book is The Fortunate Ones by Ed Tarkington. This is a literary fiction that is set to be published in January 2021 and currently has a 4.0 rating on Goodreads with 32 reviews. So very early days!