Top 5 Saturday: Books to Read While Stuck Inside

April 4, 2020April 4, 2020 Dini @ dinipandareads22 Comments

We’re back with another Top 5 Saturday! I might’ve missed last week’s topic but I will come back to it at some point 🙂 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 to read while stuck inside/quarantined!

I’ve seen a lot of book bloggers making recommendation lists about what books to read while most of us are stuck inside, WFH, quarantined, self-isolating etc. We’re all looking for either comfort or an escape from what’s going on right now. I know I’m especially avoiding the politics of this pandemic and how the Indonesian government has been handling the situation (real piss poor for effort, mate). So this Saturday I’m going to be looking at five books on my immediate TBR that I’m planning to read during this quarantine period (that for me will last until the end of May)!

It is a year after the action of One of Us Is Lying, and someone has started playing a game of Truth or Dare. But this is no ordinary Truth or Dare. This game is lethal. Choosing the truth may reveal your darkest secrets, accepting the dare could be dangerous, even deadly. The teenagers of Bayview must work together once again to find the culprit, before it’s too late . . .

My first pick would be One of Us is Next. I love a good murder mystery and don’t often read them in YA so I’m really excited for this sequel! OOUIL sucked me in and I’m hoping this will do the job of taking my mind off reality. I’m also a total sucker for this paperback version that has awesome sprayed edges 😍

First Lines Friday – 03 April

April 3, 2020April 3, 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:

“Gina Luca knew one thing right down to the very marrow of her wedding-planner bones: brides were the devil. And a bridezilla on her fourth round of tequila shots during the reception? A highly flammable devil capable of anything, including hijacking the videographer and projecting an impromptu Kiss Cam on the movie theater-sized screen behind the bridal party dais.”

Do you recognize the book these first lines come from?

O.W.L.s Magical Readathon: Announcement and Possibility Pile!

April 3, 2020August 11, 2022 Dini @ dinipandareads30 Comments

I know it’s April so I’m already late to the party (surprise)… But after quite a bit of debating I’ve finally decided to join the O.W.L.s Magical Readathon this year! I’ve been keen on joining since I first heard about it last year and I’m seriously impressed by the amount of amazing work that has gone into making this readathon a possibility. Exhibit A are the career pages in the booklet that G made–the artwork is stunning! Here’s the announcement video from G’s channel about the readathon in case you’re interested and want to join in too (it’s never too late right?)!

G @ Book Roast introducing Year 3 of the O.W.L.s Magical Readathon!

March Monthly Wrap Up!

April 2, 2020April 5, 2020 Dini @ dinipandareads25 Comments

Wow, March is really over? I have passed through the majority of this month in a total daze! My brain seems to think that WFH means “slacking off as much as possible” 😅, especially towards the end of the month. But I also blame that laziness and inability to focus on the purchase of a Switch Lite and Animal Crossing New Horizons… *cough* It was one of the best non-bookish decisions I’ve made in a while and I ain’t mad about it but also, *welp*, real life is just so miserable compared to setting up on a deserted island and building my own community with fun fluffy neighbours?!

But I digress (that’s also happening more these days)! I’m sure I’m not the only one who’s going to say that I’m feeling weary AF with all this negative energy and news… Living with my nan also does not help. You’d think that spending all my time at home being surrounded by books means that I’ve been making progress in cutting my TBR down. That’s unfortunately not the case when you’re a mood reader like me 😔 Still, I managed to read 15 books though the majority were read before mid-March!

#WWWWednesday: 01 April

April 1, 2020 Dini @ dinipandareads26 Comments

Hello, hello and welcome back to another episode of WWW Wednesday, a weekly meme hosted by Sam @ Taking On A World of Words, which means I’ll be answering these questions:

What did you read last?
What are you currently reading?
What will you read next?

Since last Wednesday I’ve managed to read… three books!

Nevermoor: The Trials of Morrigan Crow (Nevermoor #1) by Jessica Townsend ★★★★★
This was such a wonderful, fast-paced and heartwarming adventure! There may be a lot of elements that are similar to and remind me of Harry Potter but to me, this was just as enjoyable. The characters were all funny, charming and very quirky. The pacing was also fast and I couldn’t recommend this more if you’re looking for a simple, well-written fantasy/adventure to take your mind off current world news. Review coming soon!

Warcross (Warcross #1) by Marie Lu ★★★★☆
The ending of this book should be illegal! What a bleeding cliffhanger–if Wildcard didn’t already exist I would be pissed (and I absolutely mean this in the best way)! 🤣 This book was a helluva journey and I was here for every minute of it! The Warcross world gave me strong Ready Player One vibes but a simplified and easier to understand version that made reading it a breeze. I was sucked in from chapter one and I became fully invested in all our characters! Really keen to see what happens next… Review coming soon!

The Sunday Potluck Club (The Sunday Potluck Club #1) by Melissa Storm ★★¾
It took me several tries to actually get into this book but once I did it was a fast and fairly easy read. That said, it left me feeling pretty “meh” and was very different to what I expected. I thought there would be chats shared during the Sunday Potluck Club but what I got was insta-love, a lot of romance angst, and not particularly likeable characters… I really didn’t feel for any of them! Review coming soon!

#TopTenTuesday: Signs You’re A Book Lover

March 31, 2020March 31, 2020 Dini @ dinipandareads38 Comments

We’re back with another Top Ten Tuesday, a weekly meme hosted by Jana @ That Artsy Reader Girl. This week’s prompt is: signs you’re a book lover (basically, people know you’re a book lover because… i.e., you’re always carrying a book or two, your library card broke from overuse, etc.)

Friends, these last two weeks have been a time and my weary mind is finding it so hard to focus on anything (as I’m sure almost all of you can relate to). It’s insane! I think the only thing I’ve been able to focus on lately is gaming–not even reading and that’s the craziest part, right?! Maybe this week’s list will remind me why I can still call myself a book lover? 🤣 My brain is seemingly determined to forget what books are since I got my Switch Lite last week… I’m really hoping that something is going to suck me back into reading though, because right now I’m struggling to put down these games. But before I digress even further… here’s a list of 10 signs that I’m a book lover! 📖

#5OnMyTBR: Humorous Books

March 31, 2020March 30, 2020 Dini @ dinipandareads22 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: Humour/Funny Books!

Goodreads Monday – The Institute by Stephen King

March 30, 2020March 30, 2020 Dini @ dinipandareads16 Comments

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.

So last week was his son’s book and this week it’s The King’s turn with The Institute. I may not be a fan of horror but apparently I do like giving in to the hype and adding them to my shelves in the hopes that I will, one day, read them 🤣 This horror/thriller has a 4.21 star average with 83.8k+ ratings and 10.2k+ reviews, which is pretty great!

Sundays in Bed With… #MyWeeklyWrapUp [49]

March 29, 2020December 4, 2022 Dini @ dinipandareads17 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 the day chilling in bed with Warcross. Yep, I haven’t finished Warcross yet. It’s not because it’s bad (because I ended up reading 150 pages in 2 hours last night!) but because I’ve been wanting to wait until closer to the group discussion date to finish it. I don’t think I can wait anymore though. I will be finishing it in bed tonight (hopefully…)!

When a game called Warcross takes the world by storm, one girl hacks her way into its dangerous depths. For the millions who log in every day, Warcross isn’t just a game—it’s a way of life. Struggling to make ends meet, teenage hacker Emika Chen works as a bounty hunter, tracking down players who bet on the game illegally. When Emika hacks into the game illegally, she’s convinced she’ll be arrested, and is shocked when she gets a call from the game’s creator, the elusive young billionaire Hideo Tanaka, with an irresistible offer. He needs a spy on the inside of this year’s tournament in order to uncover a security problem … and he wants Emika for the job. In this sci-fi thriller, #1 New York Times bestselling author Marie Lu conjures an immersive, exhilarating world where choosing who to trust may be the biggest gamble of all.

What are you currently reading?

First Lines Friday – 27 March

March 27, 2020March 27, 2020 Dini @ dinipandareads21 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 journalists arrived before the coffin did. They gathered at the gate overnight and by dawn they were a crowd. By nine o’clock they were a swarm.”