Ricky Pine's Blog, page 67

Review: The Darkest Legacy

The Darkest Legacy by Alexandra Bracken
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Almost perfectly coinciding with the long-awaited movie adaptation of The Darkest Minds - which I still haven't seen, though I'm pretty willing to bet that the critics have it all wrong in their utter panning of the movie just like they did with the entire Divergent series - is Bracken's written-word return to this world, promising to be the start of an all-new sequel series. Perhaps another trilogy, all centered on Zu? I'm pre...

Review: Light Years

Light Years by Kass Morgan
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The second ARC of five which I traded for this month, and I'm very happy I managed to get my hands on it! One thing I've noticed with Kass Morgan is that she writes a better book each time - The 100 series being just such an example of this trend. I remember I gave the first book a three-star rating on my first read, but I reread it just after finishing the first season of the TV series and upgraded it to four on the second go. Then the sec...

Review: Girls of Paper and Fire

Girls of Paper and Fire by Natasha Ngan
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Trigger warnings for this book: rape, sex trafficking, homophobia.

I've heard a lot of positive buzz for Natasha Ngan's latest in the last few months, and after trading for this ARC, I can tell you that she and her book earn it all. It's a read that's often dark and dangerous and scary, with the aforementioned triggers. But then there's also the deep dives into royal-court intrigue, the sweet and incredibly loving f/f relationship...

Pitch Wars 2018: #BoostMyBio

Hey peoples. So, as a hopeful Pitch Wars mentee, it's time for me to take part in the #BoostMyBio blog hop, because as much as they said it was optional, I get the feeling (insert Honey Lemon voice) it's really...not. Or I just want an excuse to write some fun stuff about myself. Something like that.

As a YA contemporary fantasy/science-fantasy writer in need of publication, with over 150 queries under his belt, I'm thinking conventional routes might not cut it. Already I've got a small Wattpa...

Review: Surface Tension

Surface Tension by Mike Mullin
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A few years have gone by since Mike Mullin gave us the most recent Ashfall novel. Not the last one, I don't think - on his website, he's hinted at a potential future fourth novel, Blades of Spring, which he's been working on for a while. Well, now he's back with the first of another promising new series, this one a little less sci-fi apocalyptic, but no less action-packed.

It's almost Hitchcockian in how our main character Jake Solley (...

Review: The Complication

The Complication by Suzanne Young
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Promised by Suzanne Young to be the final book of the Program series, and yes, this is most definitely the case. It's not just the end of Tatum's duology, but the wrapping up of the original Program story and the Remedy duology as well. All three main concepts that started all three duologies figure strongly into this final entry. And while it's a bit of a long haul to the end of this one, with a bit of a slow and confusing first hal...

Review: Pride

Pride by Ibi Zoboi
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Another ARC I've picked up at work, another ARC review to make...and like a few of Becky Albertalli's books, I'm going to consider this one a 3.5 to be rounded up to a nice 4.

I admit, the phenomenal level of greatness to which Ibi Zoboi debuted in American Street made me extra-hyped for Pride. It's a slight case of Sophomore Slump to me, but that might be more a case of personal taste than anything else. American Street, after all, has more than a...

Review: Escaping from Houdini

Escaping from Houdini by Kerri Maniscalco
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Last year, when I first started my bookstore job, one of the first ARCs I read was Kerri Maniscalco's second book, Hunting Prince Dracula. Now, almost a full year down the line, the time is almost here for Escaping from Houdini to hit shelves, and I got an ARC of this book at work just like I got for its predecessor.

Picking up very soon after where the second book left off, this one takes place almost entirely on an ocean lin...

Review: The Brightsiders

The Brightsiders by Jen Wilde
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

"Written in graffiti on a bridge in the park
'Do you ever get the feeling that you're missing the mark?'"
-Coldplay, "Hurts Like Heaven"

Trigger warnings for this book: abusive parents, abusive relationships, slut-shaming, biphobia, mental illness (particularly acute social anxiety), allusions to transphobia and racism.

Yeah, compared to Queens of Geek, Jen Wilde's latest ain't so fluffy and sweet. Well, Geek got into some pretty heavy terri...

Review: Lifel1k3

Lifel1k3 by Jay Kristoff
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

First off, Mister Kristoff, how dare you.

Second off, Mister Kristoff, of course you dare. You're the most rockstarinest author in YA, after all. You call your fans "droogs" fershitsake, ya goddamn edgelord, you.

Still, though...there's a reason or two why I named the villain in my current WIP after you. And it's not just 'cause I'm pretty sure you reached into my brain, saw the names Alex and Gabe, and decided to use them a hell of a lot differe...