Tag: Young Adult Contemporary

#WWWWednesday: 29 January

Dini @ dinipandareads15 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:

  1. What did you read last?
  2. What are you currently reading?
  3. What will you read next?

Well, finally my “just finished reading” pile is looking a little bit more lively than earlier on in the month and lookie! That’s three e-ARCs done and dusted 🥳 I’ve been whining a lot about how sick I’ve been lately but being cooped up in the hotel room meant I was able to read more than I expected to!

The Toll (Arc of a Scythe #3) by Neal Shusterman ★★★★☆
This conclusion went in a direction that I didn’t expect but it was wholly satisfying! I wish that the original characters, Citra and Rowan, got way more face-time than they did in this conclusion, but I did appreciate the new POVs that we’re introduced to. I was particularly fond of Jericho! All the pressing questions were answered and Shusterman ends it in such a way that short spin-offs can be made in the future! Check out my full review here.

(e-ARC) Manga Classics: The Count of Monte Cristo by Stacy King, Crystal S. Chan ★★★★½
The Count of Monte Cristo is one heckuva intimidating tome but after reading this manga classic I’m very eager to pick up the original novel! King & Chan did an amazing job at condensing a complex story into a 400-page manga, while still retaining the essence of the story and presenting it in a clear and logical order. Would highly recommend reading this if you’re intimidated by the original! Check out my full review here.

(e-ARC) Bitter Falls (Stillhouse Lake #4) by Rachel Caine ★★★½
Bitter Falls was a fast-paced and action-packed story full of what we’ve come to expect from Caine in this series — there’s family drama, an intriguing mystery, lots of killing, explosions and near-death experiences, and a somewhat happy ending. This was an enjoyable continuation of the Stillhouse Lake series but after reading this, I think my time with Gwen and her familia has run its course. The continuing over-the-top drama seems just a little too unbelievable for me now. Check out my full review here.

Spin the Dawn (The Blood of Stars #1) by Elizabeth Lim ★★★★½
Why did I wait so long to read this one? I don’t know but I was definitely surprised by how much I enjoyed it! While it wasn’t perfect there was certainly a lot to love (imo). I didn’t think I would get so attached to Maia and Edan but I really did and I was a solid shipper! What I did want was a better understanding of the magic though. Also, I’m gutted that I didn’t double check the release date for book two because now I must suffer waiting until July?! Check out my full review here.

(e-ARC) How to Build A Heart by Maria Padian ★★★★☆
The more I let this book sink in I realise I enjoyed it more than I didn’t. Does that sound weird? Maybe. I had some issues with the MC, Izzy, and how one of the main friendships was treated and while I wasn’t 100% pleased with the resolution of that conflict I also recognise that her character experiences satisfying growth by the end. She made questionable decisions but she’s also a teenager and I know I wasn’t immune to making more than my fair share of those! I thought the cultural representation was well done and was the most enjoyable aspect of the story for me. Padian delivers a sincere and well-written coming of age story full of family, friendships, finding yourself and learning where your heart belongs. Review coming very soon!

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#WWWWednesday: 22 January

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:

  1. What did you read last?
  2. What are you currently reading?
  3. 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.

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#TopTenTuesday: Most Recent Bookshelf Additions…

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:

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2020 POPSUGAR Reading Challenge Announcement & Possibility Pile

Dini @ dinipandareads19 Comments

Last year I decided to participate in the POPSUGAR Reading Challenge for the first time. I liked the idea of completing the challenge but I’m also 100% sure the reason I even looked at it in the first place is because of the cute and colorful list of prompts that they came out with. I’m sorry I just really like pretty things 🤣 That aside, I failed to complete it because I just wasn’t organised. I filled a spreadsheet with possible book options for some prompts at the start but gave up before I even really started trying. Bad panda 🐼

BUT I’m ready and eager to make this year different! I’ve not only identified many possible options for each prompt but I’ve even decided what I’ll read for a few of the 40 regular prompts. I haven’t started looking at the 10 advance level prompts yet though I’m not sure that I will this year!

There are basically no rules to this challenge. You can complete it whatever way you want and on Facebook it got a little ugly when people seemed to judge others for saying that they’d use one book for multiple prompts. It wasn’t a fun time 😒 Why can’t we just let people read whatever and however they want without making them feel like they’re “cheating” when there aren’t even any rules on how to complete this challenge in the first place? Sure, a challenge means you push yourself but it’s really nobody’s business but your own, isn’t it? #tea. BUT I DIGRESS! What I meant to say before going off on that rant is that I’ve made some bookish choices that count for multiple prompts but if I complete the regular challenge early (haha) I’ll go back to some of those prompts and choose a different book for it. That way, I’ll feel like I’ve pushed myself even more but I will also have happily completed the challenge in a relaxed and fun way without putting unnecessary pressure on myself. On that note, here are the books that I’ve chosen for some of the prompts. There’s still a possibility that these may change based on my mood but I’m going to do my best to stick to them.

A book published in 2020
A book by a trans or nonbinary author
A book about a book club + A book that has a book on the cover
A bildungsroman
A book with a map + A book by a WOC

A Western
A book by or about a journalist + A book with only words on the cover, no images or graphics
A book with a robot, cyborg or AI character
A book with at least four stars on Goodreads
A book with a pink cover

So far I’ve also managed to complete three of the prompts with the books that I’ve read so far this month:

A book featuring one of the seven deadly sins
A book with a bird on the cover
A book with a three-word title
☝🏽 (I’ve been on the fence about counting this last one though… Would you count it?) ☝🏽

Just like I’ll do for the ARC Apocalypse challenge, I’ll share a quarterly update for the POPSUGAR, which will only help to hold me accountable for my participation and so I don’t half-ass anything lol

Are you also participating in the POPSUGAR Reading Challenge? What do you think of my possibility pile? Do you have any suggestions for what I should read for some of the other prompts?

#WWWWednesday: 15 January

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:

  1. What did you read last?
  2. What are you currently reading?
  3. 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!

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Down the TBR Hole – 12

Dini @ dinipandareads17 Comments

It’s 2020 and I’m back with my first Down the TBR Hole post of the year! As of right now, my Goodreads TBR is a whopping 1,052 books and I thought I’d make it clear that just because it’s on my Goodreads TBR doesn’t actually mean all these books are on my physical or Kindle shelves (I wish I could afford to own that many books)! With that out of the way, I’m hoping to start the year off strong and boot a few more books off my list. Let’s see how I do today!

Down the TBR Hole is a weekly book meme created by the wonderful Lia @ Lost in a Story that attempts to organize our ridiculously long Goodreads TBR list by choosing either to keep or eliminate the books we’ve saved on there. Here’s how it works:

  • Go to your goodreads to-read shelf.
  • Order on ascending date added.
  • Take the first 5 (or 10 (or even more!) if you’re feeling adventurous) books. Of course, if you do this weekly, you start where you left off the last time.
  • Read the synopses of the books
  • Decide: keep it or should it go

Verdict: Keep

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#ARMEDWITHABINGO Announcement & Possibility Pile

Dini @ dinipandareads8 Comments

This year I also joined the #ARMEDWITHABINGO reading challenge hosted by Kriti and Ariel @ Armed with a Book. I thought this sounded cool as it’s a personalised book bingo challenge with regular check-ins, book giveaways, guest posts and more! The challenge has 24 prompts that require individual books for each square (except for the book over 500 pages long, which counts for two!) and it runs throughout the year.

The sign up is open until 15 March, so if this sounds like a fun challenge to you, head on over to their page and let’s BINGO! 😃

So what’s in the bingo? My personalised card below has all the prompts:

I know my announcement is coming in pretty late into January *cough* so I’ve actually managed to already cross of four of the squares so I’m just a tiny bit closer to bingo 🤣

A book in the middle of a series
A book from the last decade (2010-2019)
A young adult novel
A dystopian novel

I still haven’t figured out the books I’m reading for all of the prompts but I do have some ideas. Part of me wants to just “wing it” and see if what I read throughout the year will fit any of the prompts, but that attitude is what caused me to bomb hard last year? So I’ve already started identifying options for some of the prompts 😅 Consider this my mostly “loose” possibility pile. Since I’m trying to cut down on spending most of these are books I already have on my shelves–though I’ma be nice to myself and allow for some of this years’ releases because I mean… I’m only human riiiiiiight? 😬

A book that’s published in 2020
An anthology or poetry collection
A book that a friend recommends
A book that has a number in the title
A fantasty/science fiction

A book by an Indie author
A book with a beautiful cover
A book you saw someone else reading
A book which was gifted/borrowed
A book longer than 500 pages (2 spaces!)

I’ll be sharing progress updates for this along with all the other challenges I’m doing this year in a monthly reading challenges recap post, so be on the look out to see if I’ve managed to cross any other boxes by the end of this month!

Are you joining this reading challenge too? What do you think of my choices? Do you have any suggestions for any of these spaces that you think I must read?

ARC Apocalypse Announcement & TBR

Dini @ dinipandareads12 Comments

As I mentioned in my bookish and blogging goals, I’ve joined quite a few challenges this year! Last year I (very loosely) joined one year-long challenge outside from Goodreads and that was the 2019 POPSUGAR Reading Challenge. I was complete trash at keeping track of what I read and basically gave up before I even started. That was fun 🙄 I guess I must be feeling more optimistic in 2020 because I joined a whopping FIVE challenges, and first up is the ARC Apocalypse!

This challenge was created by Destiny @ Howling Libraries in an effort to tackle those ARCs! And what’s better than tackling these reads with a bunch of other book lovers with the same goal, right? There are fun chats and buddy reads if you don’t think you can go it alone. Head on over to Destiny’s page (linked above) to find out more and join the challenge! I’ve mentioned it before but as an international book blogger I unfortunately (or maybe fortunately) don’t get as much access to all the reads on NetGalley, Edelweiss and from publishers, so my overall list isn’t as long as everyone else’s. Still, there are a few 2020 titles I’d like to stay on top of . but most importantly there are quite a few overdue titles I want to finish this year! Here are my current stats:

  • 2020 eARCs: 12
  • Overdue eARCs: 10

Ten overdue titles doesn’t look so bad right? But overdue is overdue and there’s no making excuses! My game plan is to prioritise my 2020 deadlines (while I’m still ahead of the game!) and alternate with reading the overdue titles. Sounds doable. Seeing as these have deadlines this is going to be my actual TBR for the coming months (January-early March):

After some thought I think I’ll be sharing my progress at the end of every three months along with what’s next on my TBR for the following three months*. I hope that my progress will basically be me saying: I’VE READ THEM ALL! 😍

*After some more thinking I decided to share a monthly progress updates for all my challenges, so you’ll be getting an update from me soon! I still hope that I’ll have made some progress 😂

Are you also joining ARC Apocalypse?
How do you plan to tackle your ARCs?

My Life as Marlee by Victoria Anders – #eARC #BookReview

Dini @ dinipandareads16 Comments

Goodreads: My Life as Marlee
Publish date: 18 September 2019
Publisher: Alt 19 Publications
Genre: Young Adult Contemporary, Young Adult Romance
Panda Rating:

I’m officially a sixteen-year-old insane hermit, thanks to my best friend moving away.
Until I meet Noah.

Noah is my oxygen. He’s those fleeting, deep breaths keeping my world from going black, from drowning into the darkness of my past. He’s the one who helps me find my passion for swimming again, even though it’s a direct reflection of my nightmare. As my mom moves closer to the deep end, barely treading water, Noah’s the only thing holding me afloat. My fear is that her illness will drain her and I’ll have nowhere to go but across the country. Back to the darkness. Back to my father.

Not even Noah can extinguish my demons.

When my life gets sucked in by the riptides, I have to ask myself, is my father truly evil or just broken? Is Noah’s oxygen enough to save me as the muddy waters swallow me whole?

My name is Marlee, and this is my life.

This book started off very well for me but the further I got, the more I was confused about where the author was taking the story. Then at the turn of events in the last 10% of the book, I was left completely baffled (not in a good way) at the direction the book took. I think I understand what the author was trying to do but IMO it didn’t add anything to the story other than unnecessary drama.

*Warning: Minor spoilers ahead*

Marlee is a typical high schooler who is trying to find her place now that her best friend has relocated and she’s left to deal with the last two years of school alone. I like how she decided to remove herself from a toxic group situation, even if it meant being alone/friendless. From the start you can tell that Marlee has been through a lot and that there’s some serious emotional and mental baggage in her past, but I liked how she kept trying to see the positive and the lessons life was throwing her way in each moment. Although most of it was cheesy for me now, I can imagine my younger teen self being totally onboard with all of the positive affirmation she kept on her wall. There were times when I really liked Marlee and how she was quite level-headed for a teenager, but then there were moments where she’d have these really nasty and incredibly selfish thoughts that just threw me off completely. Moments like these showed just how inconsistent her character was and I get it, she’s a teenager, but to be going on about how much her mum means to her and how much she missed her best friend, her actions in the story didn’t really reflect it very well.

SPOILER

This was especially the case when Marlee got home from Thanksgiving and her mother was feeling worse than usual. She hadn’t seen Noah in a few weeks, and was running towards him when her mother collapses and her first thoughts were something along the lines of: “why did she have to be so weak and collapse right now? if it weren’t for her, i’d already be in Noah’s arms, but instead he’s going to her.” I mean… Your mother has cancer dude. Are you serious rn?

END SPOILER

I’m also on the fence about this romance. It really comes off as insta-lovey because they become a couple 2-3 days after officially meeting. Their chemistry is pretty obvious from the start, but I also felt the ‘can’t-eat-can’t-sleep-can’t-breathe-without-you’ love happened FAST. I started off really enjoying the descriptions of having a high school crush, swimming in lust and all those raging hormones of teenage-hood. It sent me laughing down memory lane remembering my own very cringeworthy, boy-crazy moments. So I can understand getting caught up in emotions and everything, but I felt this crossed over to the unhealthy kind of love where they’re so codependent on each other. Maybe I’m too cynical or old (lol) but I don’t believe the kind of love that Noah and Marlee had was really healthy — especially when everything and everyone else falls to the side (like your very sick very dying mother). Marlee does face a moment where she realizes she has no idea who she is without Noah but other than trying for one activity without him, it really doesn’t go anywhere and that was disappointing too.

Noah was genuinely a very good guy though a little too perfect for my tastes and as a result, got slightly boring for me. He didn’t get much of a personality other than the shining, electrifying, life saving light to Marlee’s dark. Which as a teen I’d probably be all over but now not so much. I loved most of their friends, like Stella, who at times seemed much more likable than Marlee! I would’ve definitely liked to see more of them in it.

The really bizzare and out of the blue ending was what really brought the rating down for me. I don’t understand why it the author had to do it. I actually had to double take when I got to this part of the story because I couldn’t believe that the author brought it in this direction. It was just weird and so unnecessary. There’s a lot more I could get into about how the situation with her father was handled (amongst other things including the situation with her brother!), and how Marlee continued to hide the truth, but I’m not gonna go there because it’s just gonna end up being a rant.

In the end, even though this started off well, the inside content just wasn’t as appealing to me as the outside cover. The story was almost nauseatingly perfect at times–everything was so easily resolved and of course, it was predictable, which isn’t always bad if the execution is good. But in this case, it just wasn’t there for me.

Thanks to Book Sirens and the author for the e-ARC in exchange for an honest review. This book is now available.
Have you read My Life as Marlee? Let’s chat in the comments!

The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas – #BookReview

Dini @ dinipandareads23 Comments

Goodreads: The Hate U Give
Genre: Young Adult Contemporary, Contemporary Fiction
Reviewed: August 2018
Panda Rating:

“What’s the point of having a voice if you’re gonna be silent in those moments you shouldn’t be?”
Sixteen-year-old Starr lives in two worlds: the poor neighbourhood where she was born and raised and her posh high school in the suburbs. The uneasy balance between them is shattered when Starr is the only witness to the fatal shooting of her unarmed best friend, Khalil, by a police officer. Now what Starr says could destroy her community. It could also get her killed.

Side note: I reviewed this book in 2018 and well, this was really at the start of when I started reviewing books more. I think I probably could’ve said a lot more about this book but I just really sucked at writing reviews back then, which you can obviously tell!

“Sometimes you can do everything right but things will still go wrong. The key is to never stop doing right”

I think this book has shot to the top of my best reads in 2018 and I think it will be one of the books I recommend people read if they ask. I cried countless times and laughed like crazy while reading this. I loved the Carter family and their relationship with each other; I loved that despite the tough situation Starr found herself in, the family could still find reasons to laugh and they continued to live their life doing good and right. I also loved the sense of community that was shared too. It was like a shared commiseration of their situation but still, they didn’t let that get them down.

Honestly, I admit that I found Starr’s attitude a bit childish/petulant at the beginning, I realized that I was expecting her to act like an “adult” and to speak from that “adult perspective”. Once I realized how silly my perception was, and I changed how I viewed her character, I realized that Angie Thomas perfectly captured a young teenage girl who is not only going through the typical “high school drama” but is also trying to navigate her way through the two worlds she straddles, without having to diminish herself in any way. She struggles but she gets there in the end. It was a heart-wrenching, heart-warming journey that I’m glad we got to go on.

“Brave doesn’t mean you’re not scared. It means you go on even though you’re scared.”

This book covers such important issues (prejudice, injustice, racism) that unfortunately haven’t lost traction in today’s “modern world”. It’s disheartening, frustrating and mind-boggling to know that issues people faced decades ago are still an issue today – it’s like humans haven’t progressed and we’ve only regressed. Okay, I’m discounting all the good people in this world, but it’s frustrating to know that people are still so arrogant and so blind to their privilege and that they refuse to acknowledge that they are, indeed, privileged…

Anyway, before I go on a crazy rant about this, I will say that I recommend everyone read this book. I hope people read this and come away with some understanding. Thomas provides a glimmer of light amidst the darkness with this one.

Have you read The Hate U Give? What’d you think of it?
Let me know in the comments and let’s chat!