Top 5 Saturday: Celebrity Authors!

December 19, 2020December 19, 2020 Dini @ dinipandareads8 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: famous authors.

I’m not really sure what this week’s prompt means with ‘famous authors’ but I’ve decided to interpret it as literal famous authors, so celebrities and the like! Most of these are memoirs that I’ve been looking forward to for a while, especially JVN’s because while he can be so extra sometimes, I absolutely love him to death! I’m also really looking forward to checking out the poetry book on this list as I’m a big Halsey fan. 🥰 So without further ado, let’s get to it!

(book covers are linked to the Goodreads pages!)

#WWWWednesday: 16 December

December 16, 2020December 16, 2020 Dini @ dinipandareads8 Comments

Um… How is it already mid-December? Every day this week so far has felt like a Friday and I have a feeling that’ll continue to be the case until the new year 😂 Where is time going?!

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 managed to finish five books:

Steel & Stone (The War of the North Saga #1) by Kate Haley ★★★☆☆
I really loved the concept of this story but I felt that the writing was a bit clunky, especially with changing POVs in chapters, and sadly, I found the main characters and their love-triangle angst a little too frustrating. Our characters were around the 18-21 age but really came across as much younger. That said, I’m curious to see what will happen next! Check out my full review.

Spellbreaker (Spellbreaker Duology #1) by Charlie Holmberg ★★★★☆
It took me a little while to actually get into this story but once I did I ended up really liking it! The first half was a bit slow in pace, but once the action really kicked in, I sped through in less than a day. I enjoyed the historical setting, the magic, and of course, I was a fan of Elsie and Bacchus, and their slow burn romance. There were some twists and turns that I didn’t expect and I’m so curious to see what happens next! Review coming soon.

#TopTenTuesday: December’s Likely Possibility Pile

December 15, 2020December 15, 2020 Dini @ dinipandareads36 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 Winter 2020-2021 TBR (or summer if you live in the southern hemisphere)!

I’m generally terrible with TBRs and tend to half-stick to possibility piles but 2020 has seen my moods become even wilder and whackier than normal, which has resulted in me straying from all the books that I think I possibly want to read over a given period. As much as I have been reading, its still been a tough year for the books 😂 I can’t believe the year is already coming to an end and well, a lot of my bookish reading plans this year kind of got thrown to the wayside! While this prompt does include 2021, I’m focusing on December specifically as I have a few titles that I think I want to read before the year ends… But (again) it’ll depend on my mood when it comes time to pick them up! So here are some possible possibilities for the pile and yes, I’m probably being more than a little ambitious! 😜

#5OnMyTBR: Animals

December 15, 2020December 14, 2020 Dini @ dinipandareads9 Comments

Hello Mondays, welcome back to #5OnMyTBR, a meme created by the wonderful E @ The Local Bee Hunter’s Nook. This bookish meme gets us to dig even further into our TBRs by simply posting about five books on our TBR! You can learn more about it here or in the post announcing it. You can find the full list of prompts (past and future) at the end of this post!

This week’s prompt is: Animals.

Goodreads Monday – The Waking Forest by Alyssa Wees

December 14, 2020December 14, 2020 Dini @ dinipandareads5 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 The Waking Forest by Alyssa Wees. This is a YA paranormal fantasy that was published in 2019 and has a 3.35 rating on Goodreads with 300+ reviews. Hmm… Not that great?

Sundays in Bed With… #MyWeeklyWrapUp

December 13, 2020December 13, 2020 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 spent time curled up reading in bed with, or which book you wish you had time to read today!

This Sunday I’ll be rounding off my day in bed with In Pursuit of Happiness. I read my first book by Kennedy earlier this year and really enjoyed the sweet romance, so I’m looking forward to coming back and experiencing this quaint little Irish village again! We’re following another bookish character again which is also another bonus! 😉

Jo Campbell is perfectly content in a perfectly structured life. Nothing ever changes in Jo’s life, and she likes it that way. Or at least, she tells herself she does. Most of the time, she manages to push down the tiny voice that tells her to chase her dream and maybe, just maybe, open her battered and bruised heart up to love. But to chase her dreams she needs to take chances that are way out of her comfort zone and learn to not put other people’s happiness above her own. Most of all she has to learn to trust her heart, which may just be the biggest challenge of all.

What are you currently reading?

Top 5 Saturday: Water on the Cover

December 12, 2020December 12, 2020 Dini @ dinipandareads19 Comments

I don’t think I’ve ever done a prompt about books with water on the cover. I love the many ways water can be presented on an eye-catching cover. It can represent dark and tumultuous emotions but it can also present a calm or meditative state. Although all of these titles are still on my TBR, and perhaps I’m reading too much into it anyway, but I feel like the covers represent the stories (and genres) well! I guess only time will tell, when I finally read the books, whether that’s true or not 😂

(book covers are linked to the Goodreads pages!)

#WWWWednesday: 09 December

December 9, 2020December 9, 2020 Dini @ dinipandareads27 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 managed to finish three books:

Love thy Neighbor (Roommate Romps #2) by Teagan Hunter ★★★★☆
The second book in Hunter’s latest romcom series was everything that I loved about her Texting series. I loved Caroline and Cooper’s best-friendship and their romance was swoontastic! Their connection as friends was undeniable but their chemistry WAS ABSOLUTE FIRE! 🔥🥵 Review coming soon.

The Bitterwine Oath by Hannah West ★★★★☆
You know I’m The Ultimate Chicken™️ so I can’t believe I read this, but at the same time I’m so glad I stepped out of my comfort zone! West has written an extremely chilling atmosphere in this story involving witches, magic, spirits and demons. There’s a touch of romance that I actually enjoyed, but the “supernatural girl gang” vibes won me over! Check out my review.

#TopTenTuesday: Christmas Romances for the Holidays!

December 8, 2020December 8, 2020 Dini @ dinipandareads44 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: Holiday/Seasonal Freebie (holiday books/covers/titles, wintry reads, snow on cover, cool color covers, takes place in cold settings, cozy scenes on cover, etc.), so I’ve gone for Christmas Romances that I hope to be reading!

Since it’s a holiday/seasonal freebie today, I was debating whether to do a post on the books I want to read before the end of 2020, but I thought it’d end up being not very festive, so I decided to share ten Christmas romances that I’d like to read at some point this month (but also maybe even in January). I’m quite new to seasonal romances but I went a bit wild last year looking at all the gorgeous Christmas covers, and ended up snagging a fair few for 99p on Kindle! I can’t remember what many of these are about but just looking at them gives me those cosy and comforting feels. As with many holiday themed things, I find that sometimes holiday romances can get a little cheesy, but y’know what? We’re here for the cheesy feel-good vibes, especially when so much has been a hot mess this year!