Tag: Book Series

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!

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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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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Down the TBR Hole – 13

Dini @ dinipandareads21 Comments

My guilt has kicked in and told me that I can’t keep avoiding another culling of my ridiculous TBR forever, so here I am. Back again with a list of books from my Goodreads TBR that is now a whopping 1,073 books! I thought I’d make it clear again that just because it’s on my Goodreads TBR doesn’t actually mean I own copies of the book (that’d be way ridiculous even for me)! Let’s see what we can get rid of today, eh?

Down the TBR Hole is a weekly book meme created by the wonderful Lia @ Lost in a Story that attempts to organize our ridiculously long Goodreads TBR list by choosing either to keep or eliminate the books we’ve saved on there. Here’s how it works:

  • Go to your goodreads to-read shelf.
  • Order on ascending date added.
  • Take the first 5 (or 10 (or even more!) if you’re feeling adventurous) books. Of course, if you do this weekly, you start where you left off the last time.
  • Read the synopses of the books
  • Decide: keep it or should it go

Verdict: Keep

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Goodreads Monday – Tweet Cute by Emma Lord

Dini @ dinipandareads13 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.

This week’s book is Tweet Cute by Emma Lord. The hype is super real for this book! I think I’ve already mentioned this book a few times in several posts so y’all know how excited I am to read this contemporary YA romance. It has a 4.12 star average with 3.4k+ ratings and 1.4k+ reviews.

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That Secret Crush (Getting Lucky #3) by Meghan Quinn – #BookReview

Dini @ dinipandareads7 Comments

Goodreads: That Secret Crush (Getting Lucky #3)
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Panda Rating:

What happens when your secret crush isn’t so secret anymore?

I’ve had feelings for Eve Roberts for as long as I can remember, but because she also happens to be the twin sister of my best friend, Eric, I’ve never acted on my feelings and long ago resigned myself to keeping my crush under wraps.

But after a terrible falling-out with Eric involving a failed restaurant venture and plenty of blame on both sides, I’m back in Port Snow without my best friend and without any direction. But can you guess who’s here? Eve. And my attraction to her is as strong as ever.

As old feelings rush back, Eve and I find ourselves pulled together, whether we like it or not. Lines are crossed, secrets are kept, and we soon discover that the difference between love and friendship may not be so black and white, after all.

Everyone wants that secret crush to love them back…but will I be ready when she does?

I’ve been counting down to the release of this book since I finished book two and it didn’t disappoint! I didn’t think much about Reid’s character when we meet him in the first two books. He’s known for not being able to take much of anything seriously, so I was surprised by how much I connected with his story. Fair warning: out of all the books in the series this has the most sex and it gets pretty steamy up in this read, my friends. Reid’s character also has zero filter and he does lay it on real thick with the sexual innuendos etc., so if neither of those are your jam then this book might not be for you! Safe to say, this best-friend’s-sister/friends-to-lovers story would be a 6/5 on the steamy scale (for reals).

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Sundays in Bed With… #MyWeeklyWrapUp [43]

Dini @ dinipandareads8 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’m spending the rest of this Sunday in bed with Love Lettering. I’ve been excited to read this one ever since I first heard about it. The synopsis makes it sound like a heart-melting, warm and feel-good romance, and I can’t wait to dive into it. Plus, there’s something about this cover that’s just so cute. I love it!

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

What are you currently reading?

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