Top 5 Saturday: My Favourite Cover Buys

November 29, 2020November 28, 2020 Dini @ dinipandareads19 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: cover buys.

Listen, we all claim to not judge books by their covers but let’s be real–we totally do and we’re not alone in doing so! And sometimes, when we get a little book crazy, we do buy books based on their covers. Well, I guess I should just speak for myself on that one 😅

I think this week’s topic is pretty self-explanatory. While all of these titles were eye-catching because of their gorgeous covers, I did eventually read the synopsis to make sure that I wasn’t just throwing my money away like it grows on trees 😂 These are probably the most beautiful books on my shelf and although I still need to read them (heh…😬), I have zero regrets about indulging in a little splurge for them! We all deserve to treat ourselves now and again, right? So without further ado…

(book covers are linked to the Goodreads pages!)

First Lines Friday – 27 November

November 27, 2020November 27, 2020 Dini @ dinipandareads10 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:

“Picking up hitchhikers never worked out for Easton Lockett. It would start fine, but then things always got really weird, really fast.”

Do you recognize the book these first lines come from?

#TopTenTuesday: Books I’m Thankful for in 2020!

November 24, 2020 Dini @ dinipandareads42 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: Thanksgiving/I’m Thankful for… Freebie!

When I saw the prompt for this week I wasn’t really sure that I was feeling it, plus, we also don’t celebrate Turkey Day but I let the prompt simmer for a while and then decided I’d just share ten books I’m thankful for (sorry for the unoriginal idea lol)!

We all know what a hellacious year 2020 has been, more so for some than others, and all the ways that has impacted various aspects of our lives including reading. So I thought it’d be fun to take a look at the ten books that I am especially thankful to have read this year! Whether it’s because they brought me joy and gave me all the heartwarming feels, or it took me out of the nightmarish reality that we’re all living in, or it just really helped me process emotions and was a cathartic read (intended or otherwise)! Basically, these books helped me to keep going this year and I’m very thankful for them! Picking only ten from the 100+ books I’ve read is going to be tough AF but let’s see what I come up with! Maybe I’ll include some honorary mentions 😂

#5OnMyTBR: Non-Fiction dun dun dun

November 24, 2020November 23, 2020 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: Non-Fiction

Goodreads Monday – The Midnight Lie by Marie Rutkoski

November 23, 2020November 23, 2020 Dini @ dinipandareads9 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.

This week’s featured book is The Midnight Lie (The Midnight Lie #1) by Marie Rutkoski. This is a YA fantasy published earlier this year and it has a 3.96 rating on Goodreads with 1k+ reviews.

Top 5 Saturday: Books with Two Authors

November 21, 2020November 21, 2020 Dini @ dinipandareads20 Comments

I think the first book that I read written by two authors was the Illuminae Files. Actually, it was probably Christina Lauren before I even knew they were two people 😂 But I don’t read a lot of books that are written by two authors although I do have a surprising number of them on my TBR! I’m gonna keep this introduction short and simple and there’s really no need for a lengthy introduction 😉

(book covers are linked to the Goodreads pages!)

First Lines Friday – 20 November

November 20, 2020November 20, 2020 Dini @ dinipandareads11 Comments

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:

“The police officer’s body goes blurry, then sharpens again.
I don’t stare at him directly. I can’t really focus on one thing in this room, but when I do look, his face shimmers.”

Do you recognize the book these first lines come from?

#TopTenTuesday: Characters I’d Name a Pet After

November 17, 2020 Dini @ dinipandareads40 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: Characters I’d Name a Pet After!

When I first saw this prompt I came up against a solid wall and couldn’t think of a single character I’d like to name a pet after. In all my life, I think the only pet I’ve named after a character was my first cat when I was a kid and I very originally (cough) named her Totoro.

I was so sure that I was going to give this week a pass, but then I decided to challenge myself by having a look at my shelf to see if any names came to mind from the books staring back at me. Surprisingly, there were a few! I have two doggos in my life right now and it’s been years since I’ve had a cat, so it’s kinda funny that when I thought of these names, I actually pictured them all as names for cats? All of the characters I mention are some of my all-time favourites. Maybe one takes an animal form. Some are full of mischief. Others are very sweet and nerdy. Almost all of them have dry senses of humour and are as sarcastic as I can be IRL. Basically, they’re characters who have wormed their way into my heart and who made my reading experience that much better!

#5OnMyTBR: Books with Black Covers

November 17, 2020November 16, 2020 Dini @ dinipandareads15 Comments

This week’s prompt is: Black Covers

Goodreads Monday – Minimum Wage Magic by Rachel Aaron

November 16, 2020November 16, 2020 Dini @ dinipandareads15 Comments

This week’s featured book is Minimum Wage Magic (DFZ #1) by Rachel Aaron. This is an urban fantasy with magic and dragons and it has a 4.16 star rating on Goodreads with roughly 400 reviews.