#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 😅

Sundays in Bed With… #MyWeeklyWrapUp [40]

January 26, 2020December 4, 2022 Dini @ dinipandareads8 Comments

We’re back with another Sundays in Bed With… meme! This meme dares to ask you what book has been in your bed this morning and is hosted by Midnight Book Girl. Come share what book you’ve been you’ve spent time curled up reading in bed with, or which book you wish you had time to read today!

I’ve spent this Sunday in bed with the last few chapters of Spin the Dawn by Elizabeth Lim! I’ve been wanting to read this one since it came out last year but of course I kept putting it off only to add more books to my growing physical collection. But that’s a story we all already know 🙃 I’m so glad that I’ve finally read this because although it’s not a perfect book, I’ve found myself really enjoying it! I find myself oddly invested in the love 😂 but also, the unique spin of magic and fashion! I’m a little gutted that I didn’t double check the release date of the sequel though and will now be tortured waiting until July…

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…

What are you currently reading?

Friday Favourites: Fictional Families

January 24, 2020January 24, 2020 Dini @ dinipandareads21 Comments

Hello, hello and welcome back to another Friday Favourites, dear friends! This’ll be the first Friday Favourites of the year and there are some small changes to note. 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 fictional families.

My thoughts immediately went to my favourite found families when I saw this prompt but I felt like I had focused a previous post on found families and I was right. In a previous Friday Favourites I shared my favourite character team ups and in that post I basically shared all my favourite found families 😂 So with that done, I decided to suck it up and focus on plain ol’ fictional families and let me tell ya, I struggled because my memory is so awful *why 😭* But after some scouring of my Goodreads shelves, I came up with this smol list of five that I came across last year and who I absolutely loved!

I adored the relationship between Ryn and her siblings. Their love and dedication for one another, even if they might not always agree with each other, was heartwarming. Their banter was also fun and totally relatable!

First Lines Friday – 24 January

January 24, 2020January 25, 2020 Dini @ dinipandareads7 Comments

Yayaya, HAPPY FRIYAY, book lovers and friends 😍We’re back with another First Lines Friday! This is a weekly feature for book lovers hosted by Wandering Words. What if instead of judging a book by its cover, its author or its prestige, we judged it by its opening lines? Here are THE RULES:

Pick a book off your shelf (it could be your current read or on your TBR) and open to the first page
Copy the first few lines, but don’t give anything else about the book away just yet – you need to hook the reader first
Finally… reveal the book!

First lines:

“The two would-be jade thieves sweated in the kitchen of the Twice Lucky restaurant. The windows were open in the dining room, and the onset of evening brought a breeze off the waterfront to cool the diners, but in the kitchen, there were only the two ceiling fans that had been spinning all day to little effect. Summer had barely begun and already the city of Janloon was like a spent lover—sticky and fragrant.“

Do you recognize the book these first lines come from?

#WWWWednesday: 22 January

January 22, 2020January 22, 2020 Dini @ dinipandareads19 Comments

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’ve only finished ONE BOOK since last Wednesday! ONE BOOK! 🙈And it was a re-read too! To say that January is a slow reading month would be a gross understatement. I’m really hoping things pick up next month…

Thunderhead (Arc of a Scythe #2) by Neal Shusterman ★★★★☆
Now that I’m done with my re-read with Thunderhead I feel more than ready for The Toll. Thunderhead was (imo) a slow moving sequel but it was no less enjoyable. I loved learning more about The Thunderhead and the new important character we’re introduced to, Grayson Tolliver, really grew on me. We got to explore more areas of the world including Israebia, a neglected D.C., and Endura which is the heart of the Scythedom. Although the shock factor wasn’t as intense this second time, the plot twists still had me exclaiming my WTFs. Shusterman really knows how to throw you off! You can read my full review here.

#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:

Sundays in Bed With… #MyWeeklyWrapUp [39]

January 19, 2020December 4, 2022 Dini @ dinipandareads3 Comments

Today I so badly wished that I was in the comfort of my bed in my flat in Bali instead of spending hours flying while incredibly sick. I *finally* managed to finish my re-read of Thunderhead (Arc of Scythe #2) by Neal Shusterman and finally started on The Toll on the last leg of my journey. I’m *loving* the detail on this cover — I just noticed the jewels on someone’s robe!? 😱

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.

First Lines Friday – 17 January

January 17, 2020January 17, 2020 Dini @ dinipandareads8 Comments

Pick a book off your shelf (it could be your current read or on your TBR) and open to the first page
Copy the first few lines, but don’t give anything else about the book away just yet – you need to hook the reader first
Finally… reveal the book!

First lines:

“Ask me to spin the finest yarn or thread, and I can do it faster than any man–even with my eyes closed. Yet ask me to tell a lie, and I will stumble and falter to think of one.
I have never had a talent for spinning tales.”

Do you recognize the book these first lines come from?

#WWWWednesday: 15 January

January 15, 2020January 20, 2020 Dini @ dinipandareads16 Comments

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 don’t know what’s going on so far this year but I’m not reading half as much as I’d normally do. Since last Wednesday I’ve only managed to finish two books and one was a eARC of a graphic novel that I read yesterday. I finally finished my re-read of Scythe and contrary to what my slow reading pace would indicate, I did enjoy it just as much as the first time I read it.

Scythe (Arc of a Scythe #1) by Neal Shusterman ★★★★½
Like I said, I loved this re-read. The world building blew me away and the characters really grew on me. I thought it would be difficult to imagine a world where mortality is a thing of the past but Shusterman builds it up nicely and we learn more about it through chapters split with journal entries and various POVs. My little twisted cinnamon roll, Rowan, is by far my favorite character but I loved Scythes Faraday and Curie almost as much! I loved that Shusterman makes you think about how maybe immortality isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. Check out my full review!

(eARC) Doctor Mirage (2019) by Magdalene Visaggio, Nick Robles ★★★★☆
I’ve never actually read a superhero comic and maybe that’s why I enjoyed this one so much. The name Doctor Mirage rang a small bell in my head but I really went into it blind and not knowing what to expect. I loved the illustration style and colour combination of the story; much of our time in the other world felt a bit like what I’d imagine an acid trip would be like! 🤣 There was a slight cliffhanger of an ending to continue the series but this can also be read as a standalone as the main conflict and storyline was nicely resolved. Review coming soon!

#TopTenTuesday: Best Bookish Discoveries of 2019

January 14, 2020 Dini @ dinipandareads37 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: bookish discoveries I made in 2019 (these could be books, authors, blogs, websites, apps, products etc.).

I know I’m sounding like a broken record every time I say that 2019 was an insane bookish year but it really was. The number of bookish discoveries were plentiful, which makes choosing a focus for this week just a little tough. In the end, I decided to share a random mix of a very small number of my new favourite things!