Tag: International Book Blogger

Blog Tour Review: Anything But Fine by Tobias Madden

Dini @ dinipandareads14 Comments

Hello, friends! Today is my stop on the TBR & Beyond Tours for Anything But Fine by Tobias Madden and I’m excited to share my review and a journal spread I made with some thoughts I had and some images that came to mind while I was reading! 🩰

Special thanks to Page Street Kids for providing an ARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review!

Click here or on the banner above to check out the rest of the amazing bloggers on tour!

Goodreads: Anything But Fine
Publisher: Page Street Kids
Publication Date: 29 March 2022
Genre: Young Adult Contemporary

Panda Rating:

(3.5 pandas)

All it takes is one missed step for your life to change forever.

Luca Mason knows exactly who he is and what he wants: In six months, he’s going to be accepted into the Australian Ballet School, leave his fancy private high school, and live his life as a star of the stage—at least that’s the plan until he falls down a flight of stairs and breaks his foot in a way he can never recover from.

With his dancing dreams dead on their feet, Luca loses his performing arts scholarship and transfers to the local public school, leaving behind all his ballet friends and his whole future on stage.

The only bright side is that he strikes up unlikely friendships with the nicest (and nerdiest) girl at his new school, Amina, and the gorgeous, popular, and (reportedly) straight school captain, Jordan Tanaka-Jones.

As Luca’s bond with Jordan grows stronger, he starts to wonder: who is he without ballet? And is he setting himself up for another heartbreak?

PRE-ORDER A COPY:

AMAZON
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BOOK DEPOSITORY
INDIGO
INDIEBOUND
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#WWWWednesday: 16 March 2022

Dini @ dinipandareads21 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?

Is it just me or are the days FLYING by?! Since last week I’ve read five books. Unsurprisingly, most of my reads were romances cos it seems to be the only genre I can happily read in my weird mood that I can’t shake. I admit it’s a little frustrating when I want to read the other books on my TBR and yet nothing else seems to catch! 😂

We Hunt the Flame (Sands of Arawiya #1) by Hafsah Faizal ★★★★½
This was a buddy read with Leslie @ Book Are the New Black & Julie @ One Book More! A good chunk of the beginning was quite a struggle to get through but we all ended up really enjoying the book and came up with some wild and exciting theories for book two! I’m so excited to read the sequel with them next month 😍

(ARC) Anything But Fine by Tobias Madden ★★★½
This was a well-written and engaging YA contemporary debut that sent me running down memory lane as I used to live in Australia and I’m familiar with many of the places mentioned in the book. It was fab! My blog tour review + journal spread is going up tomorrow! 😃

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#TopTenTuesday: Spring 2022 Possibility Pile!

Dini @ dinipandareads77 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: Books On My Spring 2022 TBR POSSIBILITY PILE!

As someone who lives in the tropics, I ask, what even is spring? 😂 Kidding… Sort of! In Indonesia, we only have two seasons, the muggy and hot and the muggier and hotter, and I miss the years when I lived somewhere with four seasons! But I digress. I’m an epic mood reader and so a TBR pile just doesn’t work for me and I tend to go with very loose “possibility piles”. I’ve got a lot of ARCs that need reading so that’s what makes up this week’s list— it’s a good chunk of YA SFF and YA Contemporary with a sprinkling of Adult Romance and Historical Mystery. I’m very excited about these releases and I can’t wait to read these books! 😍

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BBNYA Blog Tour Spotlight: Our Bloody Pearl by D.N. Bryn

Dini @ dinipandareads11 Comments

Hello, friends! I’m excited to be shining a spotlight on Our Bloody Pearl by D.N. Bryn as part of the BBNYA blog tour hosted by The Write Reads. This fantasy filled with blood-thirsty pirates and vicious sirens was part of the top finalists of the BBNYA competition and it’s getting so much love!

More information about the BBNYA competition can be found at the end of my post!

I received this book as part of the 2021 BBNYA competition and the BBNYA tours organised by the TWR Tour team. Thanks to the author and the team for providing a copy in exchange for an honest review!

Click here or on the banner above to check out the rest of the amazing bloggers on tour!

Goodreads: Our Bloody Pearl (These Treacherous Tides #1)
Publisher: Bryn Books
Publication Date: 26 July 2018
Genre: Adult Fantasy

The ocean is uncontrollable and dangerous. But to the sirens who swim the warm island waters, it’s a home more than worth protecting from the humans and their steam-propelled ships. Between their hypnotic voices and the strength of their powerful tails, sirens have little to fear.

That is, until the ruthless pirate captain, Kian, creates a device to cancel out their songs.

Perle was the first siren captured, and while all since have either been sold or killed, Kian still keeps them prisoner. Though their song is muted and their tail paralyzed, Perle’s hope for escape rekindles as another pirating vessel seizes Kian’s ship. This new captain seems different, with his brilliant smile and his promises that Kian will never again be Perle’s master. But he’s still a human, and a captor in his own way. The compassion he and his rag-tag human family show can’t be sincere… or can it?

Soon it becomes clear that Kian will hunt Perle relentlessly, taking down any siren in her path. As the tides turn, Perle must decide whether to run from Kian forever, or ride the forming wave into battle, hoping their newfound human companions will fight with them.

This adult fantasy novel featuring an nonbinary disabled protagonist is a voyage of laughter and danger where friendships and love abound and sirens are sure to steal—or eat—your heart. 

Content/Trigger Warnings: mild gore due to carnivorous sirens and sensations of drowning.

GET YOUR COPY:

AMAZON UK
AMAZON US
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Let’s Talk Bookish: Updating Old Content

Dini @ dinipandareads11 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 March 2022 prompts & a full list of the past prompts!

Now without further ado… The topic asks us about:

UPDATING OLD CONTENT

(SUGGESTED BY NICOLE @ THOUGHTS STAINED WITH INK)
Prompts: Do you ever go back and update older content on your blog? For instance, after getting new graphics or going self-hosted? Why or why not? Do you sometimes curate/clear out old posts that you no longer want published, or rewrite/update them? Do you think people should periodically clean up their old content and update/delete things that don’t align with their current positions/beliefs?

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Blog Tour Spotlight: The Ogress and the Orphans by Kelly Barnhill

Dini @ dinipandareads3 Comments

I’m excited to be shining a spotlight on The Ogress and the Orphans by Kelly Barnhill on the blog today!

I have to admit it was the cover art that immediately caught my eye, but this is a fantasy about the power of generosity and love, and how a community suffers when they disappear, and it sounds like there’s a wonderfully heartwarming tale to be found inside. I don’t know about you but a heartwarming tale full of kindness sounds like the perfect read right now, what with everything happening in the world.

Special thanks to Algonquin Young Readers for having me on tour and for providing an ARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Goodreads: The Ogress and the Orphans
Publisher: Algonquin Young Readers
Publication Date: 08 March 2022
Genre: Middle-Grade Fantasy

Stone-in-the-Glen, once a lovely town, has fallen on hard times. Fires, floods, and other calamities have caused the people to lose their library, their school, their park, and even their neighborliness. The people put their faith in the Mayor, a dazzling fellow who promises he alone can help. After all, he is a famous dragon slayer. (At least, no one has seen a dragon in his presence.) Only the clever children of the Orphan House and the kindly Ogress at the edge of town can see how dire the town’s problems are.

Then one day a child goes missing from the Orphan House. At the Mayor’s suggestion, all eyes turn to the Ogress. The Orphans know this can’t be: the Ogress, along with a flock of excellent crows, secretly delivers gifts to the people of Stone-in-the-Glen.

But how can the Orphans tell the story of the Ogress’s goodness to people who refuse to listen? And how can they make their deluded neighbors see the real villain in their midst?

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#WWWWednesday: 09 March 2022

Dini @ dinipandareads22 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?

Since last week I’ve finished three books. I started what felt like a million titles but I put them down almost immediately cos my focus wasn’t holding. I’ve been struggling to sleep and my brain is tired? 😮‍💨 I think it also shows with the books I read cos while I liked them well enough, they didn’t pull me in the way I was sure they would!

Sin and Ink (Sweetest Taboo #1) by Naima Simone ★★★½
I don’t often read taboo romance but I really enjoyed this one. Simone balances the sexy, angsty and emotional vibes so well! Knox had me weak 🥵

Side Effects (The Prescotts #5) by Tara Wyatt ★★★½
This was my first book by Tara Wyatt and it was a fun friends-to-lovers paramedic romance with two likeable MCs who were slightly kinky and very into dirty talking! 😉

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#TopTenTuesday: Romances with my Favourite Tropes!

Dini @ dinipandareads28 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: Books With Your Favorite Trope/Theme (Submitted by Allona @ Rain Check & Read and Sara Beth @ Life, Love, Writing)

I mostly read romance these days so it’s no surprise that this list will focus on my favourite romance tropes! Honestly, there are so many that I love but I decided to focus today on hate to love/enemies to lovers/rivals to lovers and friends to lovers! I have a feeling the enemies to lovers trope will be a very popular pick today… 😉

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Book Review: The Worst Guy by Kate Canterbary

Dini @ dinipandareads11 Comments

Goodreads: The Worst Guy (Vital Signs #2)
Published: 28 December 2021
Genre: Contemporary Romance

Panda Rating:

(5 pandas)

Eight weeks of forced proximity is a long time to hate someone you’re trying not to love.

Sebastian Stremmel doesn’t need another headache. He has enough of his own without Sara Shapiro, the noisy new reconstructive surgeon, stomping all around his surgical wing with her chippy, chirpy cheerfulness.
But Sebastian doesn’t usually get what he wants.

No one gets under his skin like Sara – so much so a heated “debate” and an exam room left in shambles later, they land themselves in eight weeks of hospital-mandated conflict resolution counseling. Now they’re forced to fight fair…which quickly leads them to playing dirty when no one’s looking. 

They know it’s a mistake.
They promise themselves it will never happen again.
They swear they got it out of their systems.
They didn’t.

Author’s Note: Grumpy/recovering people-pleaser sunshine. Introverts attract. Enemies-to-lovers in the workplace. Banter, bicker, and button-pushing foreplay. Don’t tell the friend group, get jealous when the friend group tries to fix her up.
Heat: rip her clothes off before you get the front door open.
Angst: big laughs, big feels, no ugly crying. 

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Let’s Talk Bookish: Maintaining Blog Aesthetics

Dini @ dinipandareads28 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 March 2022 prompts & a full list of the past prompts!

Now without further ado… The topic asks us about:

MAINTAINING A BLOG AESTHETIC

(SUGGESTED BY HAYLEY @ ON THIS I PONDER)
Prompts: How much time do you spend on making your blog look nice? Is it more about making it functional? Did it take a long time to set it up? Are you still changing it around? Do you ever feel like your blog design is not properly appreciated (for example, are most people reading your posts via the Reader and not actually visiting your blog)? What are the best tools you use to customize the look of your blog?

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