#WWWWednesday: 13 October 2021

October 13, 2021October 13, 2021 Dini @ dinipandareads20 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?

Post divider: What did you just finish reading?

I’ve been in a bit of a funky reading mood since last week and found it difficult to really focus on a book for long. I went back and forth a lot until I managed to finish reading these four books:

Sunny Song Will Never Be Famous by Suzanne Park ★★★★☆
This was a super fast read and a very entertaining and relatable YA contemporary/coming-of-age story. Sunny is a teenager obsessed with social media due to being a mid-level influencer. I think many readers will be able to relate to her rocky relationship with social media! My first book by Park but certainly not my last. 📱 RTC

Hooked (Never After #1) by Emily McIntire ★★★☆☆
If you’re into dark romances with villainous heroes and innocent heroines with darker desires, this might be up your alley! It does get bloody and slightly gory but there are some great twists and turns to the story (although not entirely unpredictable). It’s not a Peter Pan retelling but I loved how elements of the original story were incorporated into this. Also, pretty steamy! 🔥 RTC

#TopTenTuesday: My Favourite Places to Be…

October 12, 2021August 12, 2022 Dini @ dinipandareads41 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: Favourite Book Settings

So… This topic was decidedly difficult? 🤔 It could be that my brain just wasn’t in a thinking mood and the brain fog was admittedly working extra hard today (lol, of course I’m making the post on the day of!), so I couldn’t decide on whether I wanted to focus it on a few specific places from my favourite books or whether I wanted to focus on the setting and highlight books based on those. In the end, I decided to go with the former because I thought it would be easier? It wasn’t. There are just too many settings I love so this is simply a tiny taste of my favourites. Sorry in advance cos this post is just a hot mess 😂

Sundays in Bed With… #MyWeeklyWrapUp

October 10, 2021October 10, 2021 Dini @ dinipandareads10 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 spent time curled up reading in bed with, or which book you wish you had time to read today!

I’m in a bit of a restless reading mood so I’ve struggled to focus on books this week/end. 😔 It’s giving me some pre-slump feels but I’m trying to push through, which means reading bits of books on rotation. Here’s what I’ve got going on so far:

I’m about 35% through Dim Stars and it’s so much fun! I love this quirky crew and I’ll be sharing my first impressions for the Storytellers on Tour book blitz starting tomorrow!

This cover kinda freaks me out? But the premise has me intrigued plus it’s so short (~90pgs), so it won’t take long to finish once I get into Games We Play!

I’m about 40% through The Bastard’s Betrayal and I’m loving Rose and Dante! I don’t know why I stopped but I think I’ll try to finish it tonight!

What are you currently reading?

Top 5 Saturday: Books with Bones on the Cover!

October 9, 2021October 9, 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: Bones on the Cover

It’s been a hot minute since I did a Top 5 Saturday post but of course I had to come back on the day when the topic is a toughie (for me!) LOL. 😂 It took a little bit of digging on Goodreads but I managed to find 5 books that are on my TBR that have bones on the cover and that I can’t wait to read! ☠️

If We Were Villains

Oliver Marks has just served ten years in jail – for a murder he may or may not have committed. On the day he’s released, he’s greeted by the man who put him in prison. Detective Colborne is retiring, but before he does, he wants to know what really happened a decade ago.

As one of seven young actors studying Shakespeare at an elite arts college, Oliver and his friends play the same roles onstage and off: hero, villain, tyrant, temptress, ingenue, extra. But when the casting changes, and the secondary characters usurp the stars, the plays spill dangerously over into life, and one of them is found dead. The rest face their greatest acting challenge yet: convincing the police, and themselves, that they are blameless.

#WWWWednesday: 06 October 2021

October 6, 2021October 6, 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 read seven books. This past week I discovered one of my favourite reads of the year and I can’t recommend it enough—especially if you’re a fan of Norse mythology and unapologetically queer characters! 😍

The Sweetest Oblivion (Made #1) by Danielle Lori ★★★★☆
I didn’t expect to enjoy this mafia romance as much as I did but the characters, the slow burn romance and absolutely explosive sexual tension made this a delightfully heart-pounding read. My review

As Good As Dead (A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder #3) by Holly Jackson ★★★½
This is the third and final book in the AGGGTM series and although Pippa’s story took a wild turn that was outrageous and had me really suspending my disbelief, I appreciated how Jackson tied in all the stories and had everything come full circle. My review

The Goddess of Nothing at All by Cat Rector ★★★★★
This is an amazing Norse Mythology retelling told from the perspective of the lesser known deity Sigyn Odindottir, aka Loki’s wife (and so much more in her own right). This dark fantasy is as much a love story as it is a tragedy that ripped my feelings to shreds, and if you love mythology, queer retellings, and morally grey characters, then defo give this a try! My review

#TopTenTuesday: Bookish Pet Peeves!

October 5, 2021August 12, 2022 Dini @ dinipandareads45 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: Bookish Pet Peeves

I wasn’t totally enthusiastic about this topic when I drafted this post but once the ball got rolling it didn’t take long for me to come up with ten! I guess I have a lot of things that I like to whine about when it comes to books/reading! 😂

Sundays in Bed With… #MyWeeklyWrapUp

October 4, 2021October 3, 2021 Dini @ dinipandareads14 Comments

I’ll be spending the rest of my Sunday finishing Seducing the Sorcerer by Lee Welch. I’ve never heard of this author before but I picked it up cos I saw Nick @ The Infinite Limits of Love review it and since it sounded like a fun MM romance, I thought I’d give it a try! It took a while for me to get into it but I’m enjoying it so far! These two are such softies (outside of the bedroom) and I they’re so awkwardly sweet together! ❤️

Homeless and jobless, Fenn Todd has nearly run out of hope. All he has left is his longing for horses and the strength of his own two hands. But when he’s cheated into accepting a very ugly sackcloth horse, he’s catapulted into a world of magic, politics and desire.

Fenn’s invited to stay at the black tower, home of the most terrifying man in the realm: Morgrim, the court sorcerer. Morgrim has a reputation as a scheming villain, but he seems surprisingly charming—and sexy—and Fenn falls hard for him.

However, nothing is as it seems and everyone at the tower is lying about something. Beset by evil hexes, violent political intrigue and a horse that eats eiderdowns, Fenn must make the hardest choices of his life.

Can a plain man like Fenn ever find true love with a scheming sorcerer?

What are you currently reading?

#WWWWednesday: 29 September 2021

September 30, 2021September 29, 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 read six books. It’s more romances from my side although I think I’m going to stop with this particular romantic suspense series for now… I also found my first 5-star read in months!

Warping Minds & Other Misdemeanors (Guild Codex Universe #1) by Annette Marie & Rob Jacobsen ★★★★☆
I’ve never read anything set in this universe but this was such a fun read! Lots of magic, rogue magic guilds, the “magic police”, hunting psychopaths and ex-best-friends, demons and more. Kit is our main character and he’s delightfully witty and deviously charming! Can’t wait to read more from this universe (and there are a lot of books to read). RTC.

Lucky Number Eleven by Adriana Locke ★★★☆☆
Minor spoiler: I’m not a fan of the surprise pregnancy trope and this one surprised me by having it so this is a “it’s not the book, it’s me” moment! 🙈 I liked Branch at the start but he was quite the dillweed when he found out about Layla’s situation and it took time for me to be convinced of his turn-around attitude. I respected Layla’s determination to be on her own but I kind of wished we saw more strength from her character—it was more tell than show. There were defo cute banter-filled moments though and I’m glad they worked out their HEA in the end! RTC.

#TopTenTuesday: First Lines, Favourite Reads!

September 28, 2021August 12, 2022 Dini @ dinipandareads46 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: Freebie (Come up with your own topic or do a past TTT topic that you missed or would like to do again)!

I always struggle when it comes to freebie topics but I decided to keep things as simple as possible and share the first few lines from ten of my favourite reads this year! I surprisingly don’t have very many five-star reads this year but looking through my read list, I had a hard time choosing just ten from the ones that had me feeling all the feels! I would definitely recommend checking out these reads though so maybe these first lines will entice you to pick them up?! 😉

Goodreads Monday – How It Feels to Float by Helena Fox

September 27, 2021September 27, 2021 Dini @ dinipandareads8 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 How It Feels to Float by Helena Fox. It’s a Young Adult Contemporary that came out in 2019 and has an average rating of 4.02 with over 3k ratings and just under 1k reviews.