#WWWWednesday: 25 August 2021

August 25, 2021September 13, 2021 Dini @ dinipandareads15 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 happy to say that all of them were ARCs—yay! 😍

Taken to Lemora (Xiveri Mates #6) by Elizabeth Stephens ★★★☆☆
This was another entertaining and fast addition to the Xivery Mates series. Lemora might be my favourite alien planet so far because the city was a giant melting pot of alien races and cultures, and it felt so vibrant and alive! Everyone was extremely friendly, helpful and accepting of others and it just served pleasant and happy vibes that I was totally here for. Raingar and Essmira were great but I especially loved Essmira because Stephens does a great job writing smart and headstrong heroines! Check out my full review.

My Dirty Duke: A Victorian Novella by Joanna Shupe ★★★☆☆
I’m gonna be honest, I read this for the smut and it definitely delivered! This is an age-gap romance, which is not something that I normally ever read but I wasn’t bothered by it in this story. There’s not much in the way of character development or a strong plot, and their relationship to each other is already an established thing, but I liked both the Duke and Victoria. I thought they were both interesting characters and that the author handled the emotional and moral struggle (especially on his part) well! Obviously, I liked the steamy bits and it did get quite steamy pretty quickly. The Duke ticked that dirty-talking hero box and so if that (and historical romance) is your thing, I would recommend checking this out (especially if you have KU)!

#WWWWednesday: 18 August 2021

August 18, 2021August 19, 2021 Dini @ dinipandareads16 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 four books and I’m happy to say that all of them were ARCs—yay! 😍

(ARC) Shadow Frost (Shadow Frost #1) by Coco Ma ★★☆☆☆
I’m honestly quite proud for having finished this book because it was a bit of a… slog at times. I’m still very impressed Coco Ma wrote this when was 15?! Mind blown! 🤯 Sadly, I think younger me would’ve loved this much more than adult me did. It’s chock full of YA fantasy tropes (which isn’t bad if you like them!) but it was the characters that were more of a miss for me than anything else. Check out my full review.

(ARC) Fireborn by Aisling Fowler ★★★★½
Revenge of the Sluts was an interesting YA contemporary that had a bit of a mystery to it. It’s not a fast-paced book but it was engaging enough and the writing simple enough for me to quickly work through the pages. While I didn’t think any of the characters stood out, and neither did I like the representation of the MC, I think it’s a book that can generate discussions about privacy, cyberbullying, revenge porn, slut-shaming, toxic masculinity and society’s double standards, especially amongst the targeted young readers! Check out my full review.

#WWWWednesday: 11 August 2021

August 11, 2021August 19, 2021 Dini @ dinipandareads10 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 four books and all but one were ARCs—yay!

Tempt Thy Neighbor (Roommate Romps #4) by Teagan Hunter ★★★★☆
This was another fun, fast and super-steamy second-chance/enemies-to-lovers romance by Teagan Hunter! It was a little hard to buy into the romance at the very beginning with how vehemently Holland hated on Sutton and with how he came across as pretty douchey, but they did grow on me in the end. Hunter really built up the sexual tension in this book and it was explosive! RTC.

(ARC) Revenge of the Sluts by Natalie Walton ★★★★½
Revenge of the Sluts was an interesting YA contemporary that had a bit of a mystery to it. It’s not a fast-paced book but it was engaging enough and the writing simple enough for me to quickly work through the pages. While I didn’t think any of the characters stood out, and neither did I like the representation of the MC, I think it’s a book that can generate discussions about privacy, cyberbullying, revenge porn, slut-shaming, toxic masculinity and society’s double standards, especially amongst the targeted young readers! Check out my full review.

#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!

#WWWWednesday: 14 April

April 15, 2021June 23, 2021 Dini @ dinipandareads17 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?

Although I have actually been *reading things* over the past week, I’ve only managed to finish two books. One of which I’m already confident in saying will be my favourite read this month!

Jade War (The Greenbone Saga #2) by Fonda Lee ★★★★★
Friends, I honestly have nothing bad to say about this series. My level of investment in No Peak and the Kaul family is ~~almost~~ at an unhealthy level but y’know what? I don’t care because these characters, this story, this world deserves everything. Although Fonda Lee continues to mercilessly hack away at what little feelings I have left, I can honestly say that I’d let her do it every single time cos that’s how much I love this book/series. This was another buddy read with Jess and we already have future plans to buddy read (or maybe even group read, if anyone’s interested?) Jade Legacy when it comes out in December. I just… I love this so much 😭 If you’re going to read this series I’d highly recommend the audiobooks! RTC.

The Lore of Prometheus by Graham Austin-King ★★★¾
I can count on one finger how many military urban fantasies I’ve read and although this was quite a step outside of my comfort zone (it’s a very dark read!) I still really enjoyed it. Austin-King makes it easy to visualise the real world setting while still managing to seamlessly introduce fantastical elements without making it seem out of place. The characters were realistic and so easy to root for and the humour woven into the story brought great and much needed comedic relief that balanced the story out well. I can definitely see why this book won the BBNYA 2020. Check out my blog tour review!

#WWWWednesday: 07 April

April 7, 2021 Dini @ dinipandareads12 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?

I really haven’t been reading much since last week because it has been weird vibes ALL AROUND and I’m just ready to sleep. In the last week, I’ve read 3 books and one of them was the worst book I will read in 2021 and ever. So that was fun 😂

Pride and Premeditation (Jane Austen Murder Mystery #1) by Tirzah Price ★★★★☆
This was an entertaining and fast-paced murder mystery and it was definitely a fun take on one of my all time faves! It’s a very loose retelling of Pride and Prejudice but I enjoyed Price’s writing and clever additions of Austen’s classic lines in the story. The characters stayed very true to their original traits and it was fun to see them in a new and more modern (not to mention murder-y) setting! Check out my review.

Den of Vipers by K.A. Knight ★☆☆☆☆ (and that’s me feeling generous!!!)
There was literally no point to this book. I saw Gavin @ How to Train Your Gavin mention it in one of his booktube videos and my curiosity was *piqued*. When I saw it was available on Kindle Unlimited I added it to my library and picked it up on a whim—and wow, I must really hate myself cos I finished this book and WHY? 😂 I’m linking Gavin’s vlog and review cos same. This was 80% horrifyingly bad smut and 20% murder, torture, blood and gore, and 0% good writing. It was a cycle of bad. There was no plot, no character development, nobody worth rooting for and are you also questioning why I didn’t DNF? Curiosity definitely killed this cat 💀 DON’T READ IT. I would recommend it to NO ONE. Also, I’m truly sorry if you have read and loved this book and I’d (genuinely) be interested to know why!

#WWWWednesday: 31 March

March 31, 2021June 23, 2021 Dini @ dinipandareads19 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?

I had a lot of reading that I should’ve done this past week but I… Really did none of that 😂 I ended up reading one book that I needed to read for tomorrow’s blog tour and that’s basically it out of the 5 books I finished. I can definitely say it has been a weird month for reading and I’m not feeling the weird vibes!

Rogue Protocol (The Murderbot Diaries #3) by Martha Wells ★★★★½
It felt so good to be back with Murderbot in this book 😍 At this point I would pretty much read anything to do with them? Even though I missed ART’s company in this book, I really liked all the new characters we meet and this is every bit as action packed as the previous books. The ending sets up really nicely for the next one and I can’t wait to find out what happens! Series RTC when Leslie and I finish the books!

Devil’s Playground Duology: The Devil & The Devil’s Advocate by Ashley Jade ★★★ (average)
I don’t even know how I stumbled across these books but I ended up bingeing the duology in less than two days. I’m gonna start by saying this was completely different to any kind of romance/erotica that I’ve ever read, not only in terms of the ‘sex play’ but also the characters. To put it simply, the steaminess was off-the-charts and if you’re looking for a book that keeps it high, this is it! 🥵😂 That said, the characters are all semi- and even full-on psychotic? Plus, there’s a lot of traumatic and completely fcked up situations/relationships, physical and mental abuse, taboo relationships, and plenty of betrayals and twists. Also, angst. A lot of angst! Basically, there’s plenty of hot mess in this book and it’s probably the darkest erotica I’ve ever read (it honestly makes 50 Shades look like child’s play) but I can’t say I didn’t enjoy it!

#WWWWednesday: 24 March

March 24, 2021June 23, 2021 Dini @ dinipandareads19 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?

It has been another weird reading week and I still feel like I’ve not read anything but I finished five books? Good news is I’ve found my favourite of the month and a contender for one of my faves of the year! 🥳 Also, if you can’t tell by all the “RTCs” below, although I’ve been reading some I haven’t been doing my best when it comes to writing reviews… 🙈

The Hunter (Boston Belles #1) by L.J. Shen ★★★★☆
After reading my first Shen romance last week I went ahead and picked up another one of her books (as they’re all available on Kindle Unlimited) and sped through this one. I can understand when people say Shen’s books are formulaic as the H/H are almost carbon copies of the previous book I read of hers? That said, I liked Hunter and Sailor! Hunter was intensely douchey at the start but I enjoyed his ‘growing up’ and I loved how ‘take no shit’ Sailor was and how she stood up for Hunter against his shady ass family. There were definitely some corny and cliche moments but they were cute together!

The Villain (Boston Belles #2) by L.J. Shen ★★½
I thought I’d love this one the most since Cillian was the kind of broody/rude that intrigued me. In the end, Persy was the big surprise here–still a good girl, still ‘pure’ but she has a backbone! That said, there was such a lack of communication between them that it was unreal. I get Cillian’s reasons for being as he is and though his history was upsetting/sad I also thought that it was too much and not a great representation of someone with his condition (based on personal experience anyway). No spoilers though, so I won’t go on about it but ultimately, this didn’t end up working for me. I also don’t think I’ll continue with the story because these alpha-holes are getting too next level for my liking 😂 Series RTC.

#WWWWednesday: 17 March

March 17, 2021June 23, 2021 Dini @ dinipandareads11 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?

Wow, it really doesn’t feel like I’ve read a lot since last week but apparently I’ve managed to finish five books? Surprise to me! LOL. It might not help that I haven’t actually marked these as read on Goodreads and neither have I properly reviewed them either. Oopsies, one thing a time though… 🤣

Artificial Condition (The Murderbot Diaries #2) by Martha Wells ★★★★☆
Repeatedly chants: I love Murderbot! Because I really really do and I would read all the books with Murderbot as the protagonist. This one was slightly less exciting than book one but we got to dive a bit more into Murderbot’s psyche and we also get to meet ART, who I also loved! 😂 Buddy reading this series with Leslie and we’re both loving it and can’t wait to continue! Series RTC.

Namesake (Fable #2) by Adrienne Young ★★★★☆
Namesake was a really satisfying conclusion to the Fable duology. The story picks up immediately where book one ends and it’s full of pirate-y goodness, many more high-seas adventures, and delicious deceptions and twists! This second book is less focused on world building and character development, but it has a very fast-paced plot that leaves little time to dwell on it. Check out my review!

#WWWWednesday: 10 March

March 10, 2021June 23, 2021 Dini @ dinipandareads12 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 three books. I haven’t been doing a lot of reading over the last week as I’ve been too busy watching anime and playing ACNH… 🙈 Oops!

The Last Secret You’ll Ever Keep by Laurie Faria-Stolarz ★★★☆☆
I wanted to love this one but I ended up feeling very confused for a good chunk of it. I think Faria-Stolarz gave a realistic portrayal of someone dealing with PTSD but if you’re not a fan of unreliable narrators this will not be the book for you! While I definitely got creeped out at points, I found the resolution to the mystery was a bit underwhelming. Check out my review!

Happy Singles Day by Ann Marie Walker ★★½
I really thought I’d love this one but that was purely me judging the book on its cover (and okay, the synopsis too)! It’s not that I hated this book I just thought it was very unmemorable and nothing special. I’ve already forgotten quite a lot about it and I only finished it last week! Oops… Check out my review!