Ricky Pine's Blog, page 65

Review: Anger Is a Gift

Anger Is a Gift by Mark Oshiro
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Apparently this one began as a sci-fi book, and there are still elements in the final print that read like they should belong there. A most literal police state, armed with high-tech riot gear that they're shamelessly deploying against high school students in West Oakland, dangerous military-grade technology that has a habit of malfunctioning horribly - and, by all accounts, intentionally - when put into use...yeah, there's a reason why...

Review: Let's Talk About Love

Let's Talk About Love by Claire Kann
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

It's been a while since I first saw this book appear on the shelves at work, and I feel like it took longer than it should have for me to finally pick it up and read it. In the weeks between me picking up the book at the library and finally reading it, I heard a few rumblings about it possibly being problematic. Something about it being lesbophobic because our main character, Alice, her ex Margo is a bit of a nasty type who breaks...

Review: The Reckoning of Noah Shaw

The Reckoning of Noah Shaw by Michelle Hodkin
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Even though the first book disappointed me a bit, I'm still super-psyched for The Reckoning because dammit I want Noah and Mara and Jamie and all their peeps to make it out of this new series happy!

Except if this ARC is anything to go by, they don't, but what else is new?

This one still isn't as good for me as the original series was, mostly due to a somewhat unfocused second half that kinda drags it down. But the first ha...

Review: From Twinkle, with Love

From Twinkle, with Love by Sandhya Menon
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Though unrelated to When Dimple Met Rishi, Sandhya Menon's second book captures a lot of the same style - very #ownvoices Indian, very YA, very rom-com. Though I had to say while Dimple was more of a 3.5 rounded up to a 4 for me, From Twinkle, with Love was more easily a solid 4.

I think part of the reason why I enjoyed this one more was because of the use of first-person POV instead of third - which makes sense since this one...

Review: Dear Evan Hansen

Dear Evan Hansen by Val Emmich
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

A novelization of a play I've been low-key really wanting to see someday, especially given that its title character fights severe social anxiety? I could read this ARC #ownvoices just on that level alone, and so I did.

Maybe if I'd already seen the musical first, I could have enjoyed the book a bit better, but...no, especially not if it were a faithful adaptation of the musical already. Which, from what I understand, it pretty much is. A...

Review: Shadow of the Fox

Shadow of the Fox by Julie Kagawa
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Kagawa wasn't done with 2018 when she put out the fifth and final Talon novel - nope, now she's ready to start a brand-new, very #ownvoices fantasy series, a trilogy that's promising us all the usual we've come to expect from her and more. The ARC I traded for, it shows us how well-fed Kagawa's keeping us, her fans, with kitsune and demonslayers and ronin and samurai and eight clans of elemental magic.

Maybe there's a tad less romanc...

Review: The Poet X

The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I haven't read too many novels in verse, but those few that I've read, I've loved. Long Way Down, of course. The poetry sections in Bronx Masquerade. And now, The Poet X, possibly the longest novel in verse I've read, and for sure a gripping read all the way through. Acevedo knows how to make use of so much blank space on the page to paint a stark picture, and wastes no time in not only smashing the patriarchy, but also taking conserva...

Review: Impostors

Impostors by Scott Westerfeld
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I was pretty surprised when Westerfeld announced that there would be not only this extension to the Uglies series, but that it would be the first of a new four-part sequel/spinoff series. It's for sure the best book Westerfeld wrote in this universe since the original - especially since Specials and especially Extras played out increasingly nonsensically and weirdly, though I'm sure I'd appreciate them better on a second read.

As for this...

Review: What If It's Us

What If It's Us by Becky Albertalli and Adam Silvera
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Weird. I'm reading a book that Adam Silvera wrote and I didn't rate it five stars. But then, it's also a Becky Albertalli book, and I haven't rated a single one of hers five stars yet, not even the iconic Simon Vs. I just wish this one, which I read as an ARC that I picked up at work, could've been the five-star read I expected from a collaboration between two of the YA community's best and brightest.

That's not...

Review: Picture Us in the Light

Picture Us in the Light by Kelly Loy Gilbert
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This one, I think I picked it up because Harry said it was good. Or that he was hoping to read it himself. Having read it, I have to say, I'm...not all that impressed? I mean, it wasn't a half bad book. Danny was a most likable MC, and the Cupertino setting felt pretty real - though I have to admit, the most of Cupertino I've seen is the rather scuzzy Homestead Bowl, not exactly the luxurious place where everyone knows eac...