Tag: Retelling

Book Review: Pride and Protest by Nikki Payne

Dini @ dinipandareads6 Comments

Pride and Protest
Publisher: Berkley
Pub Date: 15 November 2022
Genre: Contemporary Romance, Retelling

Panda Rating:

(4.5 pandas)

📖 SYNOPSIS

Liza B–The Only DJ That Gives a Jam—wants to take her neighborhood back from the soulless property developer dropping unaffordable condos on every street corner in DC. But her planned protest at their corporate event takes a turn after she mistakes the smoldering hot CEO for the waitstaff. When they go toe-to-toe, the sparks fly—but her impossible-to-ignore family thwarts her every move. Liza wants Dorsey Fitzgerald out of her hood, but she’ll settle for getting him out of her head.

At first, Dorsey writes Liza Bennett off as an over-caffeinated woke weekend warrior. As the adopted Filipino son of a wealthy white family, he’s always felt a bit out of place, and knows a fraud when he sees one. But when Liza’s protest results in a viral meme, their lives are turned upside down and Dorsey comes to realize this irresistible revolutionist is the most real woman he’s ever met.

⚠️ CONTENT/TRIGGER WARNINGS

Family death (recounted), racism, microaggressions, classism, incarceration (briefly recounted), explicit sexual content

TL;DR: I’ve been looking forward to reading this ever since I first heard about it and I’m glad that I finally read it. While there were elements I wanted more of I found myself enjoying this a lot! I especially loved the chemistry between Dorsey and Liza and I ate their romance up. The angst, tension, the way the atmosphere in the room changed when they came into contact, their peak horniness—honestly, it was a fun sexual vibe! 🥵 The Bennett family was a mess in their usual way but I appreciated the inclusion of modern issues such as gentrification and the way the story was conveyed through alternating POVs and mixed media. Overall, this was a witty, funny, and entertaining P&P retelling and I can’t wait to read more by this author!

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#FirstLinesFriday: 22 December 2023

Dini @ dinipandareads5 Comments

Happy Friday book lovers! We’re back with another First Lines Friday, 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:

“A read light blipped on the top left of the control board. Liza B. had a caller. “Hello and good evening. You are live with Liza B., the only DJ who gives a jam. Tell me what’s on your mind…””

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Mini Book Review: Thornhedge by T. Kingfisher

Dini @ dinipandareads10 Comments

Thornhedge
Publisher: Tor
Pub Date: 15 August 2023
Genre: Adult Fantasy

Panda Rating:

(4 pandas)

📖 SYNOPSIS

Thornhedge is the tale of a kind-hearted, toad-shaped heroine, a gentle knight, and a mission gone completely sideways.

There’s a princess trapped in a tower. This isn’t her story.

Meet Toadling. On the day of her birth, she was stolen from her family by the fairies, but she grew up safe and loved in the warm waters of faerieland. Once an adult though, the fae ask a favor of Toadling: return to the human world and offer a blessing of protection to a newborn child. Simple, right?

But nothing with fairies is ever simple.

Centuries later, a knight approaches a towering wall of brambles, where the thorns are as thick as your arm and as sharp as swords. He’s heard there’s a curse here that needs breaking, but it’s a curse Toadling will do anything to uphold…

⚠️ CONTENT/TRIGGER WARNINGS

Death, murder, suicide (mentioned), blood, animal cruelty & death (mentioned)

Despite the underlying darkness of this story, Thornhedge was surprisingly sweet and wholesome. I’m so glad Kingfisher has fantasies that allow me to experience her immersive worlds, intriguing characters and wonderful writing. I otherwise would’ve missed out on a great author since I don’t read horror!

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ARC Review: Hollow by Shannon Watters

Dini @ dinipandareads13 Comments

Special thanks to BOOM! Studios for providing a digital ARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review!

Hollow
Publisher: Boom! Studios
Publication Date: 04 October 2022
Genre: YA Paranormal Graphic Novel

Panda Rating:

(4 pandas)

📖 SYNOPSIS

From Shannon Watters, the co-creator of the bestselling worldwide phenomenon Lumberjanes, and co-writer debut author Branden Boyer-White, rising star artist Berenice Nelle (Wanderlicht), and colorist Kaitlyn Musto (Specter Inspectors), comes a supernatural queer romance and adventure set in the infamous town of Sleepy Hollow, available in September 2022.

Isabel “Izzy” Crane and her family have just relocated to Sleepy Hollow, the town made famous by—and obsessed with—Washington Irving’s legend of the Headless Horseman. But city slicker-skeptic Izzy has no time for superstition as she navigates life at a new address, a new school, and, with any luck, with new friends. Ghost stories aren’t real, after all….

Then Izzy is pulled into the orbit of the town’s teen royalty, Vicky Van Tassel (yes, that Van Tassel) and loveable varsity-level prankster Croc Byun. Vicky’s weariness with her family connection to the legend turns to terror when the trio begins to be haunted by the Horseman himself, uncovering a curse set on destroying the Van Tassel line. Now, they have only until Halloween night to break it—meaning it’s a totally inconvenient time for Izzy to develop a massive crush on the enigmatic Vicky.

Can Izzy’s practical nature help her face the unknown—or only trip her up? As the calendar runs down to the 31st, Izzy will have to use all of her wits and work with her new friends to save Vicky and uncover the mystery of the legendary Horseman of Sleepy Hollow—before it’s too late.

⚠️ CONTENT/TRIGGER WARNINGS

Attempted murder, violence

TL;DR: I knew I was going to enjoy this graphic novel the minute I started reading it! You’d think a story about the legend of sleepy hollow would not be my jam (as a notorious scaredy) and normally, you’d be right, but this had a cosy mystery + modern take to it that made it more fun than scary. It would be the perfect addition to your spooky season reading lists!

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Book Review: Malice by Heather Walter

Dini @ dinipandareads10 Comments

Goodreads: Malice (Malice Duology #1)
Publisher: Del Rey
Published: 13 April 2021
Genre: Adult Fantasy, Retelling

Panda Rating:

(3 pandas)

📖 SYNOPSIS

Once upon a time, there was a wicked fairy who, in an act of vengeance, cursed a line of princesses to die. A curse that could only be broken by true love’s kiss.
You’ve heard this before, haven’t you? The handsome prince. The happily-ever-after.Utter nonsense.

Let me tell you, no one in Briar actually cares about what happens to its princesses. Not the way they care about their jewels and elaborate parties and charm-granting elixirs. I thought I didn’t care, either. Until I met her.

Princess Aurora. The last heir to Briar’s throne. Kind. Gracious. The future queen her realm needs. One who isn’t bothered that I am Alyce, the Dark Grace, abhorred and feared for the mysterious dark magic that runs in my veins. Humiliated and shamed by the same nobles who pay me to bottle hexes and then brand me a monster. Aurora says I should be proud of my gifts. That she…cares for me. Even though it was a power like mine that was responsible for her curse.

But with less than a year until that curse will kill her, any future I might see with Aurora is swiftly disintegrating—and she can’t stand to kiss yet another insipid prince. I want to help her. If my power began her curse, perhaps it’s what can lift it. Perhaps, together, we could forge a new world.

Nonsense again. Because we all know how this story ends, don’t we? Aurora is the beautiful princess. And I— I am the villain.

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Blog Tour Review: Anne of West Philly by Ivy Noelle Weir

Dini @ dinipandareads5 Comments

Today is my stop on the TBR & Beyond Tours for Anne of West Philly by Ivy Noelle Weir.
Special thanks to Little, Brown Books for Young Readers 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: Anne of West Philly: A Modern Retelling of Anne of Green Gables
Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Publication Date: 01 March 2022
Genre: Middle-Grade Graphic Novel

Panda Rating:

(4 pandas)

Anne of Green Gables with a twist: in this follow-up to Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy and The Secret Garden on 81st Street, this full-color graphic novel moves Anne Shirley to modern-day West Philadelphia, where where she finds new friends, new rivals, and a new family.

When Marilla and Matthew Cuthbert decide to foster a teenage girl for the first time, their lives are changed forever. Their redheaded foster daughter, Anne Shirley, is in search of an exciting life and has decided that West Philly is where she’s going to find it. Armed with a big personality and unstoppable creativity, Anne takes her new home by storm as she joins the robotics club, makes new friends in Diana and Gilbert, experiences first love, and turns the ordinary into the extraordinary. But as Anne starts to get comfortable, she discovers one thing she wasn’t looking for: a family.

BUY A COPY:

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Blog Tour Review: Creation by Bjørn Larssen

Dini @ dinipandareads5 Comments

I’m back with another blog tour with The Storytellers on Tour for Creation (Why Odin Drinks #1) by Bjørn Larssen. Thanks to the SoT for organising and to the author for providing a copy in exchange for an honest review!

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

Goodreads: Creation (Why Odin Drinks #1)
Publisher: josephtailor
Publication Date: 18 August 2021
Genre: Humorous Fantasy, Norse Mythology Retelling
CW: Contains the word “ass-thetics”

Panda Rating:

(3.5 pandas)

In the beginning there was confusion.

Ever woken up being a God, but not knowing how to God properly? Your brothers keep creating mosquitoes and celery and other, more threatening weapons. What can your ultimate answer be – the one that will make you THE All-Father and them, at best, the All-Those-Uncles-We-All-Have-But-Don’t-Talk-About?

“FML! The answer’s why I drink!” – Odin

Perfect for fans of Terry Pratchett, Neil Gaiman, Thomas Hobbes of Malmesbury, and Mrs Brown’s Boys.

BUY A COPY
PRE-ORDER WISDOM
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Blog Tour Review: The Secret Garden on 81st Street by Ivy Noelle Weir

Dini @ dinipandareads6 Comments

Today is my stop on the TBR & Beyond Tours for The Secret Garden on 81st Street: A Modern Retelling of the Secret Garden by Ivy Noelle Weir. Special thanks to Little, Brown Books for Young Readers for providing an ARC via NetGalley 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 Secret Garden on 81st Street: A Modern Retelling of the Secret Garden
Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Publication Date: 19 October 2021
Genre: Middle Grade Graphic Novel

Panda Rating:

(4 pandas)

The Secret Garden with a twist: in this follow-up to Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy, this full-color graphic novel moves Mary Lennox to a New York City brownstone, where she and her very first group of friends restore an abandoned rooftop garden…and her uncle’s heart.

Mary Lennox is a loner living in Silicon Valley. With her parents always working, video game and tech become her main source of entertainment and “friends.” When her parents pass away in a tragic accident, she moves to New York City to live with her uncle who she barely knows, and to her surprise, keeps a gadget free home. Looking for comfort in this strange, new reality, Mary discovers an abandoned rooftop garden and an even bigger secret…her cousin who suffers from anxiety. With the help of her new friends, Colin and Dickon, Mary works to restore the garden to its former glory while also learning to grieve, build real friendships, and grow.

GET A COPY:

AMAZON
B&N
BOOK DEPOSITORY
INDIEBOUND
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Blog Tour Review: The Goddess of Nothing at All by Cat Rector

Dini @ dinipandareads20 Comments

I’m back with another blog tour with The Storytellers on Tour for The Goddess of Nothing at All by Cat Rector. Thanks to the author 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 bloggers on tour!

Goodreads: The Goddess of Nothing at All
Publication Date: 01 October 2021
Genre: Dark Fantasy, Retelling

Panda Rating:

(5 pandas)

A dark fantasy Norse myth retelling for fans of Circe, The Witch’s Heart, and The Silence of the Girls

Perhaps you know the myths.
Furious, benevolent Gods.
A tree that binds nine realms.
A hammer stronger than any weapon.
And someday, the end of everything.

But few have heard of me.

Looking back, it’s easy to know what choices I might have made differently. At least it feels that way. I might have given up on my title. Told my father he was useless, king of Gods or no, and left Asgard. Made a life somewhere else.

Maybe I would never have let Loki cross my path. Never have fallen in love.
But there’s no going back.
We were happy once.
And the price for that happiness was the end of everything.

CONTENT & TRIGGER WARNINGS
REPRESENTATION
BUY A COPY
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