First Lines Friday – 15 May

May 15, 2020May 15, 2020 Dini @ dinipandareads7 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:

“You can’t put a price on finding love. If you could, it wouldn’t be £10. I’ve been playing the dating game for a while now but I just can’t seem to complete it — and I’m usually so good at games. No matter which level I try, there’s always a hole to fall down or a monster to eat me — metaphorically speaking, of course, although with dating apps you only ever feel a few bad decisions away from ending up in someone’s freezer.”

Do you recognize the book these first lines come from?

#WWWWednesday: 13 May

May 13, 2020May 13, 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?

This is going to be a bit of a long one so if you manage to read through to the end, thank you 😉

It’s been a hot minute since I made one of these posts but a nice surprise is that I’ve been reading! …Okay, it’s still mostly blog tour reads but considering how I wasn’t even reading at all at certain points in the last month, it’s good progress! Since I last updated two weeks ago I’ve managed to finish 6 books and lucky for me I enjoyed all of them!

The Henna Wars by Adiba Jaigirdar ★★★★½
I finished this morning and I’m glad to say that I really enjoyed it (plus this cover is just 😍)! I wish this existed when I was still in school but I still related to it now. I loved the diversity, queer rep, cultural rep and discussions about appropriation, religion and identity. My review for the blog tour is up tomorrow so watch out for that if you want to know more!

The Hopes and Dreams of Libby Quinn by Freya Kennedy ★★★★☆
This was a perfect transition book that left me feeling the warm fuzzies at turning the last page. It’s about chasing your dreams and it’s full of hope despite the many doubts that plague our MC. I’m surprised by how much I enjoyed it and how I really related to Libby. Check out my full review!

Harrow Lake by Kat Ellis ★★★★☆
I took a big step outside my comfort zone to read this horror/thriller and I’m glad to report that I didn’t end up feeling that scared (although I made sure to not read this one at night)! Kat Ellis masterfully builds this sinister and eerie atmosphere throughout the read. I do wish we got more answers though… Check out my full review!

Auxiliary: London 2039 by Jon Richter ★★★☆☆
This “dark fiction” was also pretty well outside my comfort zone but I still managed to enjoy parts of it. The characters were lacking but the world building had Scythe, Warcross, Ready Player One vibes that I loved! One thing is for sure: I will never ever buy a 3D printer for home. If you’ve read this, you’ll know why! Check out my full review!

War and Speech by Don Zolidis ★★★★☆
I’ve never read a book about speech/debate but this was so interesting and the MC really won me over. She was snarky and hilarious and I loved seeing her character grow through the read. It was fast paced and fun, and I’m so glad I got to read this one! Check out my full review!

Sunshine Over Bluebell Cliff by Della Galton ★★★☆☆
It’s been a while since I read women’s fiction but this one had all the elements to remind me whyI like them. The best parts were definitely the atmosphere/setting! I could picture it so easily and it made me nostalgic for Norwich 💙 (even though it’s not set in Norwich… but still). Check out my full review!

The Hopes and Dreams of Libby Quinn Blog Tour Review

May 11, 2020May 11, 2020 Dini @ dinipandareads13 Comments

I’m back with another blog tour and this time it’s for The Hopes and Dreams of Libby Quinn by Freya Kennedy. Thanks to Rachel @ Rachel’s Random Resources for organising this blog tour and to Boldwood Books and the author for the e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

There’s also a special bingo game going on for this book, so be sure to keep an eye out for the #LibbyQuinnBingo tag on social media!

Be sure to click on the banner below to check out the rest of the bloggers on tour!

Goodreads: The Hopes and Dreams of Libby Quinn
Publisher: Boldwood Books
Release Date: 05 May 2020
Genre: Women’s Fiction, Romance
Panda Rating:

If you can dream it, you can make it come true…
Libby Quinn is sick and tired of being sensible.
After years of slogging her guts out for nothing at a PR company, she finds herself redundant and about to plough every last penny of her savings into refurbishing a ramshackle shop and making her dream of owning her own bookshop become a reality. She hopes opening ‘Once Upon A Book’ on Ivy Lane will be the perfect tribute to her beloved grandfather who instilled a love of reading and books in her from an early age. When her love life and friendships become even more complicated – will Libby have the courage to follow her dreams? Or has she bitten off more than she can chew?

Buy: Amazon

Sunshine Over Bluebell Cliff Blog Tour: Review

May 2, 2020 Dini @ dinipandareads11 Comments

I’m back with another blog tour and this time it’s for Sunshine Over Bluebell Cliff by Della Galton. Thanks to Rachel @ Rachel’s Random Resources for organising this blog tour and to the publisher for the e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Be sure to click on the banner below to check out the rest of the bloggers on tour!

Goodreads: Sunshine Over Bluebell Cliff
Publisher: Boldwood Books
Release Date: 28 April 2020
Genre: Women’s Fiction, Romance
Panda Rating:

A place to make your dreams come true…
Clara King is left in sole charge of a fabulous new cliff top hotel for the summer. The owner has barely left the country when Clara realises that someone is hell bent on putting the Bluebell Cliff out of business. It becomes a race against time to hunt down the sneaky saboteur before they succeed in bringing the hotel to its knees. Meanwhile Clara’s family is in crisis following her Grandfather’s affair. With her dream job under threat and her personal life in chaos, Clara discovers when what you love the most is in danger it can bring out the very best in you.

eARC Review: The Sunday Potluck Club by Melissa Storm

April 9, 2020April 9, 2020 Dini @ dinipandareads14 Comments

Goodreads: The Sunday Potluck Club
Publish date: 31 March 2020
Publisher: Kensington Books
Genre: Women’s Fiction, Contemporary Romance
Panda Rating:

(actual 2.75 stars)

New friends can be found in unexpected places. For Bridget and Amy, that place was the cancer ward of an Anchorage hospital. Now, as each struggles to overcome loss, they lean on each other for support—sharing suppers, laughter and tears.

Bridget and Amy aren’t about to let hardship knock them down—Bridget plans to return to her veterinarian school studies, Amy to her position as a second-grade teacher—but neither feels quite ready. And so the Sunday Potluck Club is born, a way for Bridget, Amy, and other women who have lost a loved one to find solace and understanding. Savoring favorite dishes while sharing memories and the comfort of connection, the members of the Sunday Potluck Club nourish body and soul.

As weeks go by and the group grows in unforeseen ways, both Bridget and Amy are inspired to find greater purpose. Amy reaches out to a student whose father bravely faces his own struggle. Bridget volunteers at the local animal shelter, rehabilitating dogs whose unconditional love will bring others a chance to heal. And with the help of a very special man, Amy is realizing that there’s always room at the table for love and rekindled joy…

This was a bit of a mixed bag for me. The cover caught my eye, and I liked the idea of a group of friends who meet under unusual life circumstances celebrating their friendship through Sunday potluck get togethers. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the story that was delivered. I think there were maybe two potluck gatherings in the whole book, and the friends didn’t spend any time talking. There was none of that ‘savoring favorite dishes while sharing memories and the comfort of connection’, and also none of that ‘nourishing body and soul’!

First Lines Friday – 13 March

March 13, 2020March 13, 2020 Dini @ dinipandareads7 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:

“Most of life’s defining moments happen unexpectedly; sometimes they slide past you completely unnoticed until afterwards, if at all.”

Do you recognize the book these first lines come from?

Goodreads Monday – Tweet Cute by Emma Lord

February 17, 2020February 17, 2020 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.

First Lines Friday – 14 February

February 14, 2020February 14, 2020 Dini @ dinipandareads10 Comments

HAPPY FRIDAY AND LOVERS DAY, book friends! 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:

“On Sunday I work in sans serif.
Boldface for all the headers, because that’s what the client wants, apexes and vertexes flattened way out into big floors and tables for every letter, each one stretching and counting and demanding to be seen.”

Do you recognize the book these first lines come from?

Trophy Life by Lea Geller – #eARC #BookReview

December 26, 2019December 25, 2019 Dini @ dinipandareads3 Comments

Goodreads: Trophy Life
Publish date: 09 April 2019
Publisher: Lake Union Publishing
Genre: Contemporary Fiction, Chick Lit, Women’s Fiction
Panda Rating:

For the last ten years, Agnes Parsons’s biggest challenge has been juggling yoga classes and lunch dates. Her Santa Monica house staff takes care of everything, leaving Agnes to focus on her trophy-wife responsibilities: look perfect, adore her older husband, and wear terribly expensive (if uncomfortable) underwear.

When her husband disappears, leaving Agnes and their infant daughter with no money, no home, and no staff, she is forced to move across the country, where she lands a job teaching at an all-boys boarding school in the Bronx. So long, organic quinoa bowls and sunshine-filled California life. Hello, processed food, pest-infested house, and twelve-year-old-boy humor—all day, every day.

But it’s in this place of second chances (and giant bugs), where Agnes is unexpectedly forced to take care of herself and her daughter, where she finds out the kind of woman she can be. Ultimately, she has to decide if she prefers the woman and mother she has become…or the trophy life she left behind.

This was slow to start and was a little difficult to get into at first but once the story got rolling, I found the ‘light and fluffy’ contemporary I expected. I didn’t find it very surprising or different to anything that I’ve read in women’s fiction before though. For some reason (probably based on the cover) I might have thought the story and characters would be more comedic, but it was still an enjoyable and entertaining enough read.

Cold Feet at Christmas by Debbie Johnson – #BookReview

December 19, 2019December 18, 2019 Dini @ dinipandareads5 Comments

Goodreads: Cold Feet at Christmas
Genre: Contemporary Romance, Chick Lit, Christmas Holiday Romance
Panda Rating:

Running out on your wedding shouldn’t be this much fun!
A remote Scottish castle on a snowy Christmas Eve. A handsome husband-to-be. A dress to die for. It should have been the happiest day of Leah Harvey’s life – but the fairytale wedding turns sour when she finds her fiancé halfway up the bridesmaid’s skirt just hours before the ceremony!
Fleeing the scene in a blizzard, Leah ends up stranded at the nearest cottage, where she collapses into the arms of its inhabitant – a man so handsome she thinks she must have died and gone to heaven!
And when Rob Cavelli suddenly finds himself with an armful of soaking wet, freezing cold, and absolutely gorgeous bride on the run, he’s more than happy to welcome her into his snowbound cottage this Christmas…

Argh, I’m struggling with my thoughts on this one because it started off really well! I found myself quickly hooked into the story and the characters, however, I’m really sad to say that it quickly went downhill after the first few chapters. I knew I had to suspend my disbelief because obviously, this is penned as a ‘Christmas romance’ and I was expecting some possible insta-love or something else that wasn’t really believable but okay, I was ready for it. The majority of the story takes place after Christmas though and that wasn’t really a problem for me, but if you’re expecting a fun festive romance, this wouldn’t be my first pick. Potential for mild spoilers ahead (just kidding, it’s not potential, there are spoilers ahead)!