Blog Tour Review: The Other Side of Perfect by Mariko Turk

May 12, 2021June 23, 2021 Dini @ dinipandareads10 Comments

Today is my stop on the TBR & Beyond Tours for The Other Side of Perfect by Mariko Turk.
Special thanks to Netgalley and Little Brown Books for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review!

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

Goodreads: The Other Side of Perfect
Publisher: Little Brown Books
Publication Date: 11 May 2021
Genre: Young Adult Contemporary
Panda Rating:

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Alina Keeler was destined to dance, but one terrifying fall shatters her leg–and her dreams of a professional ballet career along with it.

After a summer healing (translation: eating vast amounts of Cool Ranch Doritos and binging ballet videos on YouTube), she is forced to trade her pre-professional dance classes for normal high school, where she reluctantly joins the school musical. However, rehearsals offer more than she expected–namely Jude, her annoyingly attractive cast mate she just might be falling for.

But to move forward, Alina must make peace with her past and face the racism she had grown to accept in the dance industry. She wonders what it means to yearn for ballet–something so beautiful, yet so broken. And as broken as she feels, can she ever open her heart to someone else?

Touching, romantic, and peppered with humor, this debut novel explores the tenuousness of perfectionism, the possibilities of change, and the importance of raising your voice.

CW/TW: the protagonist is dealing with a lot of anger and some depression, various experiences of racism, bullying

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Blog Tour Review: The Ones We’re Meant to Find by Joan He

May 5, 2021June 23, 2021 Dini @ dinipandareads18 Comments

Today is my stop on the TBR & Beyond Tours for The Ones We’re Meant to Find by Joan He.
Special thanks to Netgalley and Roaring Brook Press for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review!

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

Goodreads: The Ones We’re Meant to Find
Publisher: Roaring Brook Press
Publication Date: 04 May 2021
Genre: Young Adult Science Fiction/Climate Fiction
Panda Rating:

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One of the most twisty, surprising, engaging page-turner YAs you’ll read this year—We Were Liars with sci-fi scope, Lost with a satisfying resolution.

Cee awoke on an abandoned island three years ago. With no idea of how she was marooned, she only has a rickety house, an old android, and a single memory: she has a sister, and Cee needs to find her.

STEM prodigy Kasey wants escape from the science and home she once trusted. The eco-city—Earth’s last unpolluted place—is meant to be sanctuary for those commited to planetary protection, but it’s populated by people willing to do anything for refuge, even lie. Now, she’ll have to decide if she’s ready to use science to help humanity, even though it failed the people who mattered most.

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Mini-Break Time!

April 26, 2021June 22, 2021 Dini @ dinipandareads13 Comments

Hello, friends! How are we all doing? I hope everyone is continuing to stay safe and healthy no matter where you are in the world. ❤️

I’ve been mentioning for a few weeks now that I might take a mini-break and I think the time has come! I’ve been a little swamped with work lately (even only working three days a week) but I’ve also been struggling to come up with the mental capacity to actively engage for a while now, and I feel guilty about it but I think my brain is just really tired? Aside from my lack of engagement, I’ve also been struggling to write half-decent reviews and I feel like everything I’ve come out with has been a rambling mess! I think what I’m hoping for with this break is to really just find my groove again with all things blogging because I feel off-kilter! 😂

I’ll still be posting blog tours and ARC reviews and I’m planning to focus more on engaging during this break, so you’ll hopefully find me popping by your posts now and again!

It’s kinda funny because I had a quick look at when I took my mini-break last year and it was basically at the same time as now. I don’t know what it is about this particular month that has me regularly feeling in need of a break—maybe it’s just my way of gearing up for the rest of the year? 🤷🏻‍♀️ Who knows! As of right now, I don’t really have a timeline for my break. I’m going to at least give myself 1-2 weeks and see how I feel after that! Perhaps this will also be the perfect time for me to finally work on the revamp of my blog that I had planned for earlier this year? 🙈 SO many plans, SO little time… (kidding, I’m just a really great procrastinator! 😔)

On that note…

stay safe, healthy and happy! 🐼

Blog Tour Review: The Stolen Kingdom by Jillian Boehme

April 24, 2021June 23, 2021 Dini @ dinipandareads6 Comments

Today is my stop on the TBR & Beyond Tours for The Stolen Kingdom by Jillian Boehme.
Special thanks to Netgalley and Tor Teen for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review!

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

Goodreads: The Stolen Kingdom
Publisher: Tor Teen
Publication Date: 02 March 2021
Genre: Young Adult Fantasy
Panda Rating:

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For a hundred years, the once-prosperous kingdom of Perin Faye has suffered under the rule of the greedy and power-hungry Thungrave kings. Maralyth Graylaern, a vintner’s daughter, has no idea her hidden magical power is proof of a secret bloodline and claim to the throne. Alac Thungrave, the king’s second son, has always been uncomfortable with his position as the spare heir—and the dark, stolen magic that comes with ruling.

When Maralyth becomes embroiled in a plot to murder the royal family and seize the throne, a cat-and-mouse chase ensues in an adventure of dark magic, court intrigue, and forbidden love.

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#WWWWednesday: 14 April 2021

April 22, 2021August 11, 2021 Dini @ dinipandareads14 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?

Since last week I’ve managed to finish five books (and I’m still behind on my blog tour reads—how does time get away from me so quickly?)!

Aurora Burning (Aurora Cycle #2) by Jay Kristoff and Amie Kaufman ★★★★☆
This was my buddy read with Sammie and we finally finished the book last week! Both of us raged just a *tiny bit* at that ending—I mean, I really love Squad 312 but oh my, how they angered me at the end 😂 What was that? Not cool, that’s what! 😒 Overall, I still really enjoyed the book as we get a good look into Zila and Kal’s histories, plus we also learn more about just what exactly the squad is dealing with. There were also some delicious twists that had me gasping. I can’t wait until the final book is out and it has lovely bb Finian on the cover! RTC (maybe)?

Exit Strategy (The Murderbot Diaries #4) by Martha Wells ★★★★½
Yay for Murderbot! Yay for reuniting with our favourite OG humans! Yay for more feelings that we don’t want to be feeling! Honestly, at this point I’m starting to terrify myself with how much I identify with Murderbot? Just as with all the other books in this series, the intensity of the action quickly escalated and of course, Murderbot’s signature sarcastic humour was still so very on point! Leslie and I are gonna continue our buddy read for this series, and though we didn’t realise book 5 was a full-length novel, we can’t wait. 😍 Series RTC!

#TopTenTuesday: Colourful Middle Grade Covers!

April 20, 2021August 12, 2022 Dini @ dinipandareads31 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: Colourful Book Covers.

For this week’s topic I decided to focus on middle grade books because they have some of the BEST colourful covers! Maybe I’m biased because I love illustrated covers and middle grade books always serve hard when it comes to those. You can bet that if I had the money and the space, I would populate a whole section of shelves with these gorgeous books and it’d be fire 😍🔥 This list is a mix of books I’ve read and a few that are still waiting for me to pick them up!

#5OnMyTBR: Anticipated Middle Grade Books!

April 20, 2021June 23, 2021 Dini @ dinipandareads14 Comments

Hello Mondays, welcome back to #5OnMyTBR, a meme created by the wonderful E @ The Local Bee Hunter’s Nook. This bookish meme gets us to dig even further into our TBRs by simply posting about five books on our TBR! You can learn more about it here. You can find the full list of prompts (past and future) at the end of this post!

This week’s prompt is: Children/Middle Grade.

Goodreads Monday – Night Spinner by Addie Thorley

April 19, 2021June 23, 2021 Dini @ dinipandareads7 Comments

Welcome back to Goodreads Monday! It’s been a very hot minute since I did one but I figured I might as well get back into it! 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.*

*Sorry if a book has been featured twice. I need to make better note of which ones I’ve done already!

This week’s featured book is Night Spinner by Addie Thorley. This is a YA fantasy and is the first book of a duology. It’s apparently a retelling of The Hunchback in Notre Dame? 😍

Top 5 Saturday: The Longest Books I’ve Read

April 17, 2021June 23, 2021 Dini @ dinipandareads15 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: Longest Books (Books you’ve rad, on your TBR.)

I usually look at books that are on my TBR for my Saturday posts but I feel like I’ve already looked at the biggest books on my to-read list quite a few times already so I thought it’d be fun to take a look back at the longest books I have read. I had a few predictions for some titles but I was surprised to find only one of my ‘predictions’ made it onto this list, and it was the shortest of the lot! I also focused this list on books that are standalones or the first books in a series, so there were a couple that were even longer than the ones mentioned here but they were all the third or even fifth and sixth books in a series. All that being said, here are some of the biggest chonksters I’ve managed to tackle:

Let’s Talk Bookish: What Makes You Pick Up A Book?

April 17, 2021August 30, 2024 Dini @ dinipandareads7 Comments

Let’s Talk Bookish is a weekly meme, hosted by Rukky @Eternity Books & Dani @ Literary Lion, where we get to discuss certain topics, share our opinions, and spread the love by visiting each other’s posts! You can check out these pages for more information on April 2021 prompts & a list of all past prompts!