#TopTenTuesday: Five-Star Predictions on my TBR!

February 4, 2020February 4, 2020 Dini @ dinipandareads49 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: books on my TBR I predict will be five star reads!

I’ve just been thinking about the books I’ve been reading lately and… I’m kind of shook to realise that I haven’t really been giving out a whole lot of 5★ ratings to my reads lately. It’s funny because prior to joining the book community I’m pretty sure that the majority of my ratings were 4★s or 5★s… It makes me wonder whether I’ve not become more critical of the books I read or am I just not as easy to please as I was before? These thoughts actually made me realise how difficult this week’s TTT prompt is for me. It took some stewing over my want-to-read list but I think I’m happy with these predictions…

Book Review: Let’s Get Textual by Teagan Hunter

February 3, 2020March 21, 2024 Dini @ dinipandareads16 Comments

Let’s Get Textual (Texting #1)
Pub Date: 20 September 2022
Genre: Contemporary Romance

Panda Rating:

_{(5 pandas)}

📖 SYNOPSIS

A wrong number is supposed to be just that—a wrong number.
Delete. Done.
Do not continue to text. Do not flirt.

A wrong number shouldn’t be the first person on your mind in the morning, or the last at night…and you’re definitely not supposed to talk them into buying a baby goat.

Because that would be weird.

When Zach Hastings and I get into a wrong-number mix-up, we don’t follow the rules. We keep texting and flirting, because he’s wicked funny and perfectly nerdy and a wonderful distraction.

I’m not looking for love, and Zach definitely had the wrong number.
But maybe…
Maybe he’s the right guy.

Goodreads Monday – Educated by Tara Westover

February 3, 2020February 3, 2020 Dini @ dinipandareads9 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 Educated by Tara Westover. This book was all over bookstagram and the book community has hyped it up extremely. Plus I absolutely love this cover (another illustrated cover but it’s also the small details that I love)! 😍 It has a very high 4.48 average with 535k+ ratings and 52k+ reviews.

#TopTenTuesday: Favorite Illustrated Covers (Cover Freebie)

January 28, 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: a cover freebie!

The first topic that always comes to mind are the prettiest covers and while I wanted to keep the topic easy enough for myself today (as I’m finally traveling home–YAY!), I thought that’d also be too easy. Plus, I kinda already did something like it at the end of 2019. After some thought I decided to focus on my favorite illustrated covers, which is a trend I’ve been noticing lately and loving a lot! 😍 I’m a sucker for illustrated covers and I’m definitely guilty of judging a book by its cover when it comes to them 😅

Book Review: Spin the Dawn by Elizabeth Lim

January 27, 2020October 12, 2021 Dini @ dinipandareads17 Comments

Goodreads: Spin the Dawn (The Blood of the Stars #1)
Publisher: Alfred A. Knopf
Publication Date: 09 July 2019
Genre: Young Adult Fantasy

Panda Rating:

(4.5 pandas)

A gifted tailor in disguise.
Three legendary dresses.
The competition if a lifetime.

On the fringes if the Great Spice Road, Maia Tamarin works as a seamstress in the shop of her father, once a tailor of renown. She dreams of becoming the greatest tailor in the land, but as a girl, the best she can hope for us to marry well.

When a royal messenger summons her ailing father to court, Maia poses as his son and travels to the Summer Palace in his place. She know she her life is forfeit if her secret is discovered, but she’ll take that risk to save her family from ruin and achieve her dream of becoming the imperial tailor. There’s just one catch: Maia is one of twelve tailors vying for the job.

The competition is cutthroat, and Maia’s job is further complicated by the unwelcome attention of the court enchanter, Edan, who seems to see straight through her disguise. But nothing could have prepared her for the final challenge: to sew three gowns so dangerously beautiful, it will take a quest to the ends of the earth to complete them…

Tell me, why did I take so long to read this? Spin the Dawn is pitched as Mulan meets Project Runway and with such a unique premise, I couldn’t wait to get my hands on this #OwnVoices Asian inspired fantasy. I was wary when I started reading it (because I was really let down by another Asian inspired fantasy last year) but I’m so glad this one didn’t disappoint! Not to sound cheesy or anything but it was so magical! It didn’t take long for me to fall head first into the story and to find myself caring deeply about its characters. 💞

Goodreads Monday – Renegades by Marissa Meyer

January 26, 2020January 27, 2020 Dini @ dinipandareads8 Comments

This week’s book is Renegades (Renegades #1) by Marissa Meyer. First of all, can we take a look at this awesome cover? I love it! This YA fantasy/sci-fi was added to my Goodreads TBR in 2017! It has a pretty good 4.16 average with 46k+ ratings and 8k+ reviews.

The Toll (Arc of a Scythe #3) by Neal Shusterman – #BookReview

January 23, 2020January 26, 2020 Dini @ dinipandareads6 Comments

Goodreads: The Toll (Arc of a Scythe #3)
Genre: Young Adult, Science Fiction, Fantasy, Dystopia
Panda Rating:

It’s been three years since Rowan and Citra disappeared; since Scythe Goddard came into power; since the Thunderhead closed itself off to everyone but Grayson Tolliver.

In this pulse-pounding conclusion to New York Times bestselling author Neal Shusterman’s Arc of a Scythe trilogy, constitutions are tested and old friends are brought back from the dead.

You know when you’re so excited to read a book and then you finish it and you’re left feeling pretty… whelmed? Not over or under whelmed just… WHELMED? I think that’s kind of how I feel after finishing this series. I don’t know, I’m honestly kind of confused!

“You can whisper, and people will still hear thunder.”

#TopTenTuesday: Most Recent Bookshelf Additions…

January 21, 2020January 21, 2020 Dini @ dinipandareads46 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 ten most recent additions to my bookshelf. I’m taking this to mean my actual (physical) bookshelf and not my Goodreads TBR shelf.

Have I mentioned yet how I’m looking to cut down spending on new books in 2020? The plan is not only to save money but it’s also an attempt to cut down on my unread physical shelf! But let’s also be real because I’m only hooman and when it comes to books I have little to no control (and I know I’m not alone in that); especially when it comes to that FOMO feeling! It gets me every time 🙈 So while I have added a *few* books to my shelves lately, I’ve also been doing pretty good at holding back, if I do say so myself! Here’s what I got:

Thunderhead (Arc of a Scythe #2) by Neal Shusterman – #BookReview

January 21, 2020January 26, 2020 Dini @ dinipandareads8 Comments

Goodreads: Thunderhead (Arc of a Scythe #2)
Genre: Young Adult, Science Fiction, Fantasy, Dystopia
Panda Rating:

The stakes are high in this chilling sci-fi thriller, in which professional scythes control who dies. Everything else is out of human control, managed by the Thunderhead. It’s a perfect system – until it isn’t.

It’s been a year since Rowan went off-grid. Hunted by the Scythedom, he has become an urban legend, a vigilante snuffing out corrupt scythes in a trial by fire. Citra, meanwhile, is forging her path as Scythe Anastasia, gleaning with compassion. However, conflict within the Scythedom is growing by the day, and when Citra’s life is threatened, it becomes clear that there is a truly terrifying plot afoot.

The Thunderhead observes everything, and it does not like what it sees. Will it intervene? Or will it simply watch as this perfect world begins to unravel?

“That’s exactly what the scythedom is: high school with murder.”

A somewhat slower paced sequel to Scythe but it is no less enjoyable. I savoured learning more about this dystopia and I became even more invested in the characters. I loved the Thunderhead and as a reader, I felt its helplessness to do anything very acutely!

Goodreads Monday – Dune by Frank Herbert

January 20, 2020January 26, 2020 Dini @ dinipandareads5 Comments

Welcome back to another Goodreads Monday, a 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 Dune (Dune Chronicles #1) by Frank Herbert. This is another pretty well known classic science fiction/fantasy novel! Surprisingly I only added it to my Goodreads TBR in November 2018! On Goodreads it has an impressive 4.22 average stars with 662k+ ratings and 18k+ reviews.