Blog Tour Review: The Cousins by Karen M. McManus

November 28, 2020November 28, 2020 Dini @ dinipandareads11 Comments

Hey friends! I’m excited to be back for another @WriteReads blog tour for the highly anticipated The Cousins by Karen M. McManus. Be sure to check out all the other bloggers participating in this tour: here! Thanks to Dave for organising the tour and Noly for the banner! 😍

Special thanks to Penguin Random House and NetGalley for providing the ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Goodreads: The Cousins
Publisher: Penguin Random House Children’s UK
Published: 03 December 2020
Genre: Young Adult Mystery/Thriller
Panda Rating:

The Storys are the envy of their neighbours: owners of the largest property on their East Coast island, they are rich, beautiful, and close. Until it all falls apart. The four children are suddenly dropped by their mother with a single sentence:
You know what you did.
They never hear from her again.

Years later, when 18-year-old cousins Aubrey, Milly and Jonah Story receive a mysterious invitation to spend the summer at their grandmother’s resort, they have no choice but to follow their curiosity and meet the woman who’s been such an enigma their entire lives.

This entire family is built on secrets, right? It’s the Story legacy.
This summer, the teenagers are determined to discover the truth at the heart of their family. But some secrets are better left alone.

Top 5 Saturday: Books with Two Authors

November 21, 2020November 21, 2020 Dini @ dinipandareads20 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: books with two authors.

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!)

Can’t Wait Wednesday: Ever After Always by Chloe Liese

October 28, 2020October 28, 2020 Dini @ dinipandareads1 Comment

Can’t-Wait Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted at Wishful Endings, to spotlight and discuss the books we’re excited about that we have yet to read. Generally they’re books that have yet to be released. It’s based on Waiting on Wednesday, hosted by the fabulous Jill at Breaking the Spine.

This is my first week joining in on Can’t Wait Wednesday and it’s because I’m really excited to be sharing this upcoming book with everyone. I simply cannot wait until I can get my grabby little hands on it because I loved the first two books in this fun romcom series and it definitely takes one of the top spots for my favourite romance of 2020!

Note: this is the third book in the series and while it can technically be read as a standalone, trust me, you won’t want to! 😉

Goodreads: Ever After Always (Bergman Brothers #3)
Publication: 12 January 2021
Genre: Contemporary Romance

Aiden
I’ve spent twelve years loving Freya Bergman and twelve lifetimes won’t be enough to give her everything she deserves. She’s my passionate, tender-hearted wife, my best friend, and all I want is to make her happy. But the one thing that will make her happiest is the one thing I’m not sure I can give her: a baby. With the pressure of providing and planning for a family, my anxiety’s at an all-time high, and I find myself pulling away, terrified to tell my wife how I’m struggling. But when Freya kicks me out, I realize that pulling back has turned into pushing too far. Now it’s the fight of a lifetime to save our marriage.

Freya
I love my cautious, hard-working husband. He’s my partner and best friend, the person I know I can count on most. Until one day I realize the man I married is nowhere to be found. Now Aiden is quiet and withdrawn, and as the months wear on, the pain of our growing distance becomes too much. As if weathering marriage counseling wasn’t enough, we’re thrown together for an island getaway to celebrate my parents’ many years of perfect marriage while ours is on the brink of collapse. Despite my meddling siblings and a week in each other’s constant company, this trip somehow gets us working through the trouble in paradise. I just can’t help worrying, when we leave paradise and return to the real world, will trouble find us again?

PRE-ORDER YOUR COPY: Amazon UK | Amazon US

Ever since stumbling across her first book, Only When It’s Us, earlier this year and absolutely loving the slow-burn romance between a fiesty sports heroine and lumberjack hero, I immediately knew I needed to read more by Chloe Liese. I was over the moon when I managed to get an ARC for her second book, Always Only You, and I fell even more in love with the characters. The whole Bergman family are a trip to read about and I dare you to not fall in love with all their loves! Chloe Liese’s books are such underrated gems and if you’re a lover of own voices and diverse romances with realistic and relatable characters, you should definitely read her sooner rather than later! 😉

If you’re not yet convinced, take a peek at my reviews for book 1 and book 2!

Have you read any books by Chloe Liese or any of the books in the Bergman Brothers series? Are you excited as me to get book three?!

#TopTenTuesday: Questions I’d Ask My Favourite Authors

August 25, 2020July 18, 2022 Dini @ dinipandareads45 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: questions I’d ask my favourite author(s) (submitted by Nushu @ Not A Prima Donna Girl).

When I first looked at today’s prompt I was stumped and *almost* decided to pass up on doing this or choosing a different topic. Just the thought of meeting my favourite authors let alone getting the chance to ask them questions already has me tongue tied and honestly? I’m just really bad at coming up with good/smart questions 😂 So that was pressure on my little brain that I didn’t know if I could handle today… Until I decided that I would just think of ten random/silly questions, and so I did. I’m not going to be identifying my favourite authors below but as I was writing down these questions I did have these authors in mind: V.E. Schwab, Neil Gaiman, Jay Kristoff/Amy Kaufman, Leigh Bardugo, and Laini Taylor. It goes without saying that these are just some of my favourites (in random order). Now without further ado…

How much time do you usually spend on research while writing a book?
Do you have any weird/quirky superstitions or rituals that are part of your writing process?
What’s one of your favourite quotes from one of your books?
What’s the funniest/weirdest/coolest moment that struck as inspiration for one of your books?
Do you have a favourite out of the books you’ve written (for sentimental or any other reason)?
Do you write with music or shows/movies on? If yes, what is your favourite band/show/movie to listen to?
If you could see one of your books be adapted into a series/movie which would you pick?
What are three of your favourite tropes to read or write about?
Would you survive living in the world(s) in your book(s)?
Can you describe your most popular book in the most boring way you can think of?

#TopTenTuesday: Authors I’ve Read the Most Books By

July 7, 2020July 7, 2020 Dini @ dinipandareads17 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: authors I’ve read the most books by.

This week’s topic is pretty straightforward and although it should be easy I have to admit I was a little stumped to figure out who I’ve read the most books by. I have to admit that I don’t actually know the number of books that I’ve read for each author and I’m also really tired right now so I don’t have the energy to look it up (I’m so lame, I’m sorry, friends!), and so I’m ballparking it here… I’m also keeping this short since this week has already felt like the past three months combined and is it really only Tuesday? 🙃 Welp.

Jodi Picoult and Nora Roberts really take the top spots for this because I used to devour their books starting from high school and when I picked up reading again after I finished uni. I’ve also read almost all of Michael Crichton’s books after I discovered a bunch of his books in the secondhand bookstore when I moved to Cambodia and started reading again (the same time as Roberts’ books actually which were also found in abundance at the secondhand store)!

I’ve read about half of V.E. Schwab’s books including some of her earlier works (The Archived series) but I’m still planning to read her latest middle grade books eventually… If I can work up the courage to since it’s all ghost-y and stuff!

Pretty sure that when it comes to romances I’ve binged a large number of Mariana Zapata and Christina Lauren (including their much earlier and quite smutty romances back in the day)! 😂 I love these three authors so much and they’re always my go-to recs.

I realise that I’ve actually read all of Leigh Bardugo’s books, save for her latest two releases. I read her series years ago before knowing that such a huge book community existed online and that the books had such huge followings lol. Same goes for Laini Taylor! All I have to finish now is Muse of Nightmares… *cough*

Then of course there are my more ‘recent’ favourites: Jay Kristoff (& Amie Kaufman) and Neil Gaiman! I still have a lot of Gaiman to read although I’ve already read a fair few of his books. Of course I can’t wait to read more of Kristoff and Kaufman, too!

#TopTenTuesday: Authors I Follow on Social Media

March 10, 2020 Dini @ dinipandareads38 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: authors who have a fun social media presence.

I almost skipped this week’s TTT for the first time since joining in weekly because I honestly don’t follow that many authors on my social media accounts? Not for any particular reason other than the fact that I just don’t? 🤷🏻‍♀️ I think there’s only one author who I follow religiously on all platforms I’m on and he’ll be at the top of my list. There are a few other authors whose tweets I do enjoy reading whenever they come up on my feed though so they’ll be making up my list for today!

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

February 23, 2020August 18, 2021 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!

Friday Favourites: Potential Favourite Authors

February 21, 2020February 21, 2020 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?

Top 5 Saturday: Unread Books by Favourite Authors

January 25, 2020January 26, 2020 Dini @ dinipandareads16 Comments

I’m back this week for another Top 5 Saturday, a weekly meme created by Mandy @ Devouring Books. This week’s topic is: books by favourite authors, but as it’s a Top 5 Saturday and I usually focus on books that are on my TBR or books that I haven’t read yet, I’ve turned it into unread books by my favourite authors. Narrowing down this list was surprisingly tough because I really suck at picking favourites and there are just so many, how do I pick only five?! Even with my favourite authors there are still plenty of books that I need to read because really, will there ever be enough time? In no particular order…

I’ve admittedly only read The Shadow of the Wind but I was so blown away by it that Zafón was quickly added to my favourite authors list. If you haven’t read it, I’d highly recommend it! 🖤 The Angel’s Game is the second book in The Cemetery of Forgotten Books series and I’ve shamefully had it sitting unread on my shelf for TOO LONG!