Tag: Book Reviewer

Sundays in Bed With… #MyWeeklyWrapUp [44]

Dini @ dinipandareads21 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!

I’ve spent this Sunday wishing I were in bed reading Wicked As You Wish! I’m at about 35% and things have escalated very quickly. I had a prediction about one of the characters and the reveal just happened in the part I’m at. Although I “called it” I still found myself a little shocked but I also felt sorry for our MC. It already wasn’t the best way to learn about it and it’s a pretty big your-life-will-never-be-the-same kind of revelation! Looking forward to what happens next…

Tala Warnock has little use for magic – as a descendant of Maria Makiling, the legendary Filipina heroine, she negates spells, often by accident. But her family’s old ties to the country of Avalon (frozen, bespelled, and unreachable for almost 12 years) soon finds them guarding its last prince from those who would use his kingdom’s magic for insidious ends. And with the rise of dangerous spelltech in the Royal States of America; the appearance of the firebird, Avalon’s deadliest weapon, at her doorstep; and the re-emergence of the Snow Queen, powerful but long thought dead, who wants nothing more than to take the firebird’s magic for her own – Tala’s life is about to get even more complicated….

What are you currently reading?

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Review: Vengeful (Villains #2) by V.E. Schwab

Dini @ dinipandareads6 Comments

Goodreads: Vengeful (Villains #2)
Publisher: Titan Books
Genre: Contemporary Romance

Panda Rating:

Magneto and Professor X. Superman and Lex Luthor. Victor Vale and Eli Ever. Sydney and Serena Clarke. Great partnerships, now soured on the vine.

But Marcella Riggins needs no one. Flush from her brush with death, she’s finally gained the control she’s always sought—and will use her new-found power to bring the city of Merit to its knees. She’ll do whatever it takes, collecting her own sidekicks, and leveraging the two most infamous EOs, Victor Vale and Eli Ever, against each other.

With Marcella’s rise, new enmities create opportunity–and the stage of Merit City will once again be set for a final, terrible reckoning.

Holy heck. What can I even say?! I loved Vicious but I’m surprised to say that I might love Vengeful even more?! I just finished reading it earlier today (when I wrote this on Saturday) so my thoughts are still a jumbled mess but I’m going to at least try writing something semi-coherent. Also, sorry but there will be spoilers for Vicious as this picks up after that!

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Top 5 Saturday: Books about Spies

Dini @ dinipandareads21 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 about spies!

Well, I definitely came up blank when I saw this prompt because books about spies aren’t necessarily the highest on my list? I mean, I like the idea of spy books but I just don’t normally read them. Though thanks to Goodreads I’ve discovered that I have a few spy books waiting to be read!

I’ve had The Alice Network sitting on my TBR cart for a really long time. I love historical fiction and I’ve heard some really great things about this book. I feel like I have to gear myself up to read it though so I can be emotionally prepared 😂

I haven’t read much YA historical fiction but I’ve heard a lot about how great Code Name Verity is! Just reading the synopsis has me so very intrigued and I’m looking forward to picking it up eventually.

I feel like Ken Follett is so underrated lol I’ve only read one of his series in full (The Century Trilogy) but I could not put them down. All three were almost 1,000 pages long and I sped through them like I’ve never done before. I think it took me just a little over one week to finish the series! So I’m excited to try Eye of the Needle to see if all of Follett’s books are as good!

I actually forgot about this book but I remember it first coming on my radar because it got made into a movie Jennifer Lawrence and the trailer looked interesting but I never did end up watching the movie. When I realised it Red Sparrow was a book first I added it to my TBR. It sounds intense!

John Le Carré’s books kind of intimidate me because I always feel like it’ll go flying over my head 😂 But I was intrigued when I found out The Tailor of Panama was based on a book bbecause I knew it was made into a movie with Pierce Brosnan, Jamie Lee Curtis and Geoffrey Rush forever ago. Heavily political books aren’t really my jam at all… but I’d read this one! It sounds really good.

Upcoming Schedule:

  • 02 Feb 2020: Dystopian books
  • 08 Feb 2020: Mental Illness
  • 15 Feb 2020: Books about Mermaids
  • 22 Feb 2020: Books about spies
  • 29 Feb 2020: Books inspired by mythology

Do you like reading books about spies? Let me know below if you have any favourites or recommendations!

Kingshold (Wildfire Cycle #1) by D.P. Woolliscroft Blog Tour – #BookReview

Dini @ dinipandareads11 Comments

I’m back with another blog tour with the @WriteReads gang and this time it’s for the epic fantasy: Kingshold. I’m so glad that this book was brought to my attention thanks to Dave and that I was lucky enough to receive a copy from the author. This is one fantasy adventure that’s not to be missed!

Goodreads: Kingshold (Wildfire Cycle #1)
Published: 30 April 2018
Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy
Panda Rating:

The King is Dead. Long Live the People!
Mareth is a bard, a serial under achiever, a professional drunk, and general disappointment to his father. Despite this, Mareth has one thing going for him. He can smell opportunity. The King is dead and an election for the new Lord Protector has been called. If he plays his cards right, if he can sing a story that will put the right person in that chair, his future fame and drinking money is all but assured. But, alas, it turns out Mareth has a conscience after all.

Neenahwi is the daughter of Jyuth, the ancient wizard who founded the Kingdom of Edland and she is not happy. It’s not just that her father was the one who killed the King, or that he didn’t tell her about his plans. She’s not happy because her father is leaving, slinking off into retirement and now she has to clean up his mess.

Alana is a servant at the palace and the unfortunate soul to draw the short straw to attend to Jyuth. Alana knows that intelligence and curiosity aren’t valued in someone of her station, but sometimes she can’t help herself. And so she finds herself drawn into the Wizard’s schemes, and worst of all, coming up with her own plans.

Chance brings this unlikely band together to battle through civil unrest, assassinations, political machinations, pirates and monsters, all for a common cause that they know, deep down, has no chance of succeeding – bringing hope to the people of Kingshold.

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Friday Favourites: Potential Favourite Authors

Dini @ dinipandareads19 Comments

Welcome back to another Friday Favourites, dear friends! Last year this weekly meme was hosted by the wonderful Kibby @ Something of the Book! However, this year Kibby has passed the torch on to Lorraine @ Geeky Galaxy. This week’s topic is: favourite authors.

Well, this list could go on forever, couldn’t it? Did I mention that I’m quite terrible at picking favourites? I’ve actually done a few posts mentioning some of my favourite authors (like this one and this one) so I thought I’d take a bit of a different spin for this week’s author topic by focusing on authors that have a potential to be favourites. I say potential because I’ve only read one book by these authors but they absolutely wowed me and I could see them becoming a favourite if I end up enjoying their other books just as much. I hope that explanation made sense! 😂 Here we go…

Ugh, just look at this gorgeous cover! I mean, isn’t that reason enough to love this?! Kidding… Sort of. The content was just as enjoyable as the cover and I sped through this heart-wrenching story. The characters were so real and relatable and I loved these two cinnamon rolls so much 💞 I just wanted to hug them forever. I’m so excited to read Choi’s second book released last year!

I love historical fiction and am partial to reading books set during the Holocaust or WWII. I’d never read YA historical fiction before but I was really taken with Sepetys‘ evocative writing. I learned a lot about the atrocities that occurred in other nations during this period and it was eye-opening. I have a good feeling I’ll really enjoy her other books too!

Yes, this book is making another appearance on my lists this week because I absolutely loved it and like I said in my review, I highly recommend it! Sorry not sorry 😉 I adored this book and I’m looking forward to trying Clayborn’s other books because of how she managed to so captivate me and my feels!

I don’t know what I expected when I went into this but it wasn’t what I got–and I mean that in the best way too! This was such a great sci-fi thriller that really kept me on the edge of my seat and on my toes the whole time. James managed to reel me in with how she set the atmosphere and always had me second guessing myself while reading! Definitely keen to try her other work.

This book quickly captivated me with the magic, world building and books, but the characters had me speeding through the pages to find out what happens next. I adored this book so much and I’m really looking forward to trying Rogerson’s other work. I hope I love it just as much as I did this 😍

Who are authors you want to read more of and who have the potential to become a new favourite? Would any of these authors make your list?

First Lines Friday – 21 February

Dini @ dinipandareads12 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:

“Wren had learned early on that trouble comes in all sorts of packages. Even vanilla ones with rose petal frosting.“

Do you recognize the book these first lines come from?

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The Sunshine Blogger Award III

Dini @ dinipandareads26 Comments

Hello, friends! It’s been a bit of a stressful week so I thought I’d take it ‘easy’ with a fun post. It’s been a long while since I’ve done an award or tagged post and I’ve got an embarrassing number of them that I need to get to. I should really plan this better (but also what’s new?)!

Several months ago I was nominated by Kathryn @ Metaphors and Miscellanea for the Sunshine Blogger Award! I love reading her insightful reviews and other entertaining posts, such as when she’s spilling the tea on hot bookish topics. If you’re not following Kathryn yet, I would suggest getting on it now!

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Love Lettering by Kate Clayborn – #BookReview

Dini @ dinipandareads27 Comments

Goodreads: Love Lettering
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Panda Rating:

Meg Mackworth’s hand-lettering skill has made her famous as the Planner of Park Slope, designing beautiful custom journals for New York City’s elite. She has another skill too: reading signs that other people miss. Like the time she sat across from Reid Sutherland and his gorgeous fiancée, and knew their upcoming marriage was doomed to fail. Weaving a secret word into their wedding program was a little unprofessional, but she was sure no one else would spot it. She hadn’t counted on sharp-eyed, pattern-obsessed Reid…

A year later, Reid has tracked Meg down to find out—before he leaves New York for good—how she knew that his meticulously planned future was about to implode. But with a looming deadline, a fractured friendship, and a bad case of creative block, Meg doesn’t have time for Reid’s questions—unless he can help her find her missing inspiration. As they gradually open up to each other about their lives, work, and regrets, both try to ignore the fact that their unlikely connection is growing deeper. But the signs are there—irresistible, indisputable, urging Meg to heed the messages Reid is sending her, before it’s too late…

Oh my heart… I can’t even with this book and how it’s made me feel!!! I knew I was going to enjoy this but I didn’t think that I’d fall so hard and fast (after a slightly rocky start) for Meg and Reid, and their love story. Swoonsh, indeed! I literally just finished this book two minutes ago (when I reviewed this on Monday…) and my heart is still soaring and I don’t know if I’ll be able to write a coherent review but I’m going to try anyway!

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#WWWWednesday: 19 February

Dini @ dinipandareads25 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:

  1. What did you read last?
  2. What are you currently reading?
  3. What will you read next?

So remember how last week I challenged myself to read all those romances? Well, I didn’t manage to read ten but I did get through eight! Although the majority of romances I read were on my possibility pile, I did stray and pick up a dystopian romance series on a whim (hmm). Plus I read two other books so in total I’ve read 10 books since last Wednesday (who am I even). As always, you can check out my mini-mini reviews below!

Kingshold (The Wildfire Cycle #1) by D.P. Woolliscroft ★★★★☆
This is a fantasy that’s not to be missed! There’s great world building, the writing is infused with humour and is easy to follow despite there being so many characters. Everything came together seamlessly and nothing felt forced. My blog tour review will be posted on Saturday!

A Pizza My Heart (Slice #1) by Teagan Hunter ★★★☆☆
Y’all know how much I loved Hunter’s ‘Texting’ series because I can’t stop gushing about it, so I was a little disappointed with my lack of feels for A Pizza My Heart. It wasn’t bad, but it was missing the cheeky sass and spark I’d come to expect from her writing! Check out my mini review.

I Knead You Tonight (Slice #2) by Teagan Hunter ★★★★☆
The sass and banter came back in the second book of this series and I was living for it! I didn’t particularly care for both characters when they’re intro’d in book one, but I grew to love them so much in this book! They’re both such strong characters and it was super a satisfying read. Check out my mini review.

That Secret Crush (Getting Lucky #3) by Meghan Quinn ★★★★½
I’d been waiting for this release since finishing book two and it really didn’t disappoint. I didn’t think much of Reid before but I loved his no-filter character and Eve was his perfect match! I loved their love 😍 All I know is that I can’t wait for the last book now. I needed it yesterday! Check out my full review.

Well Met (Well Met #1) by Jen DeLuca ★★★★★
All the swoons for me when I was reading this book! I was definitely kicking myself for not reading it sooner. Who knew that a Ren Faire romance is what I needed in my life? I adored Emily and Simon so much and I really enjoyed their character development! 💞 Check out my full review.

The Rain Trilogy by B.B. Easton ★★★☆☆ (average)
With book one I knew this book wasn’t for me. I just couldn’t with the super insta-love but I also couldn’t stop reading it until and I can’t explain why. It did get *marginally* better as the story progressed and the ending was satisfying but I still don’t think I’d recommend it… Review coming soon.

Love Lettering by Kate Clayborn ★★★★★
I fell hard and fast for Meg & Reid and their love story. This book gave me all the feels and I had a much deeper connection to the story and characters than I expected to when going into it. It’s a wonderful read that I know I’ll be recommending, especially to you romance lovers out there! Review coming soon.

Friends with the Monsters by Albany Walker ★★★½ – ★★★★☆?
So… I’ve never read a Reverse Harem romance before but one TTT post led to Goodreads to Amazon searches through books I’ve never even thought of reading before and I ended up on this. The cover is what really caught my eye coz it’s just really cool and dark? I’m surprised by how much I enjoyed it. It was a dark read with monsters, supernaturals and magic. Plus the heroine was vicious. Obviously it goes without saying there was a lot of sex. Not sure if I’ll continue reading Reverse Harem romances but it was definitely interesting! Review (maybe) coming soon.

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#TopTenTuesday: The Dreaded Book Hangovers!

Dini @ dinipandareads56 Comments

It’s that time of the week again, friends! We’re back with another Top Ten Tuesday, a weekly meme hosted by Jana @ That Artsy Reader Girl. This week’s prompt is: the last ten books that gave me a book hangover!

This is a toughie because I really can’t remember the last time I had a book hangover? I don’t think I have them that often and most of the time it’s because I try to push through those feelings (and I guess I’m pretty good at it)! 😂 When I think about books that have given me hangovers, they’re usually the ones that leave me so emotionally devastated and thinking “what in the actual f did I just read?!” They’re the ones I can’t get out of my head when I want to try reading something new; the ones whose stories and characters play on an endless loop because I want more of exactly that kind of emotional devastation (such a masochist but it’s true). Some books I’ve read lately have high book hangover potential, namely Love Lettering, but I refuse to allow myself to dwell too long on the feels because I have book deadlines! But the characters are definitely lingering in my mind.

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