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A review by lolasreviews
Pico's Crush by Carol Van Natta
4.0
Pico's Crush is the exciting third book in the Central Galactic Concordance series. I really enjoyed the first two books in this series and this book was just as good. One things I especially liked about this book is how it bring the plot lines and characters from the first two books together and also introduces us to some new characters.
At first I thought Pico's Crush would be about Pico and her crush. Then once I started reading I thought it would be Jerzi's story and romance, whom we already met in books. Eventually I can only conclude it's both of those and more. Yes Pico is one of the main characters, but Jerzi too and Jerzi's love interest has a big role to play too and Pico's crush turns out to be the assistant of Mairwen and Luka, who play a role in this book too. It was great.
The story is mostly about a serial killer who makes the campus unsafe. Pico studies at the campus and Andra teaches there. Jerzi is visiting his daughter and Luka and Mairwen are following the serial killer, which brings them all together on this planet. And then things start going wrong. There is a scene toward the end of the book that takes several chapters and with how little I read each evening it could be a bit hard to follow and keep everything straight as it's a pretty long sequence of scenes with lots of characters involved. But it also made for a great action and danger packed part.
The story is told from the multiple point of views. While I love the multiple point of views, it did cause the book to feel a little less focused and less small scoped than the first two ones. Which worked, but at the same time I felt like Jerzi and Andra's romance and Pico and Sojaire's romance got a bit less attention than the romances in the first two books. Nevertheless both romances still were worked out really well and I really felt the romances. Pico and Sojaire were so cute together and I thin they made for a great couple once they got past their misunderstandings. I also liked Jerzi and Andra, who both didn't have had the best history when it came to romance now find each other.
I really liked seeing Mairwen and Luka again. They are probably my favorite couple of this series and it was so fun to see them again. And it's amazing how well Carol Van Natta writes them even when seen from another point of view. Sometimes characters seem very different when the author writes them from another perspective and I was totally impressed how Mairwen was still typically Mairwen even when seen from one of the other character's perspective. Same with all the characters actually, but Mairwen has such a distinctive personality that with her you notice it even more. I loved the meeting between Liéren and Luka, it was totally awesome to read, although I am not fully sure what the significance of that meeting will be yet. And the scene where Mairwen had to handle the kids was quite funny.
There isn't much mystery about who's behind the attacks on campus as we get the bad guys perspective as well. The bad guys were pretty nasty and creepy and I have the feeling we haven't seen the last of them yet. But even with the lack of mystery it is still great to see it all play out. I am a bit uncertain how some things tied together or maybe I missed some subtle hints as the story can be quite complex at times.
I liked how this book tied the previous ones together and also adds some pieces of world building. Things all come together and fall on it's place. It also is an important book in terms of continuity and while it always was obvious this series was part of one universe, this book also ties al the individual storylines together as one big whole. There is more we learn about the CPS and how they work. And it was fun to see another planet as well. There are also some different minder gifts we see in action with Sojaire, Pico and Jerzi all having minder abilities.
To summarize: this was another great book in this series. It's filled with action, a great story, romance and an awesome cast of characters. It also ties the previous books together and has a bunch of recurring characters as well as new ones. The author does a great job with the characterization of all the characters and I liked reading about all the characters. It was awesome to see Luka and Mairwen again and Liéren too. This book had two romances going on, Pico and Sojaire and Jerzi and Andra, I liked both romances and it was great to see them all play out. I really enjoyed this book and I am curious about the next book and to see how everything what happened in this book will be relevant later on in the series.
Audiobook and Reread review
It was a joy to re-read this book and this time in audiobook. I felt the start was a less engaging this time, but that might be because I already knew what was going to happen. The start is a bit quieter with most of the action toward the end. I found it much easier to follow all the events toward the end of the book in the action packed part this time along, whether that's due to the re-read or audiobook version I don't know. Although I had trouble visualizing the campus and all the building on the floater and who was were at times.
One of my favorite parts about this book is how we get to see most of the previous main characters again. I really like the conversation Luka and Liéren have. And seeing Jerzi again is fun too, this time he gets his own romance. Andra is a perfect match for him. I loved how they talked things through at the end. And there's also a romance going on between Pico and Sojaire. Both romances are great and I also love seeing a bit of Lukas and Mairwen again. I like all the characters and how they have their own personality and how they handle situations in a clever way.
This time around I was better able to see the relevance of the villain storyline and knowing what's going to happen next it was great to see how the build up starts here. This book is so full with foreshadowing, build up and characters that it can feel a bit full at times, it's also such an important and impactfull book in this series.
The narration for this series is awesome. I really like how the narrator did Pico's voice. And with all the male leads together in one book I was better able to appreciate the subtle differences each of their voices has. At first I thought them more similar, but hearing them next to each other it's clear they do all sound different. I continue to be impressed with how she handles the accents and foreign words. Andra has a Spanish accent and her voice was well done and the Spanish words sounded well pronounced, not that I have heard a lot of Spanish, but it sounded great to my ears.
To summarize: I loved this series and was happy to re-read Pico's Crush in audio format. I enjoyed experiencing the story a second time, the start felt a bit more slow, but that's okay. I liked the action packed part later on in the book and was better able to keep the storylines and what was going on in my mind this time. I like seeing some of the previous main characters again in this book. Jerzi and Andra are great together and I liked how things got resolved. The plot is great and I like the foreshadowing and build up and how I was better able to see the relevance of the villain's point of view this time. The narration is done amazing just like the previous books. The accents and foreign words are well done and I also was able to appreciate even more how she makes each character sound different. All in all I can't recommend this series enough either in e-format or audio.
At first I thought Pico's Crush would be about Pico and her crush. Then once I started reading I thought it would be Jerzi's story and romance, whom we already met in books. Eventually I can only conclude it's both of those and more. Yes Pico is one of the main characters, but Jerzi too and Jerzi's love interest has a big role to play too and Pico's crush turns out to be the assistant of Mairwen and Luka, who play a role in this book too. It was great.
The story is mostly about a serial killer who makes the campus unsafe. Pico studies at the campus and Andra teaches there. Jerzi is visiting his daughter and Luka and Mairwen are following the serial killer, which brings them all together on this planet. And then things start going wrong. There is a scene toward the end of the book that takes several chapters and with how little I read each evening it could be a bit hard to follow and keep everything straight as it's a pretty long sequence of scenes with lots of characters involved. But it also made for a great action and danger packed part.
The story is told from the multiple point of views. While I love the multiple point of views, it did cause the book to feel a little less focused and less small scoped than the first two ones. Which worked, but at the same time I felt like Jerzi and Andra's romance and Pico and Sojaire's romance got a bit less attention than the romances in the first two books. Nevertheless both romances still were worked out really well and I really felt the romances. Pico and Sojaire were so cute together and I thin they made for a great couple once they got past their misunderstandings. I also liked Jerzi and Andra, who both didn't have had the best history when it came to romance now find each other.
I really liked seeing Mairwen and Luka again. They are probably my favorite couple of this series and it was so fun to see them again. And it's amazing how well Carol Van Natta writes them even when seen from another point of view. Sometimes characters seem very different when the author writes them from another perspective and I was totally impressed how Mairwen was still typically Mairwen even when seen from one of the other character's perspective. Same with all the characters actually, but Mairwen has such a distinctive personality that with her you notice it even more. I loved the meeting between Liéren and Luka, it was totally awesome to read, although I am not fully sure what the significance of that meeting will be yet. And the scene where Mairwen had to handle the kids was quite funny.
There isn't much mystery about who's behind the attacks on campus as we get the bad guys perspective as well. The bad guys were pretty nasty and creepy and I have the feeling we haven't seen the last of them yet. But even with the lack of mystery it is still great to see it all play out. I am a bit uncertain how some things tied together or maybe I missed some subtle hints as the story can be quite complex at times.
I liked how this book tied the previous ones together and also adds some pieces of world building. Things all come together and fall on it's place. It also is an important book in terms of continuity and while it always was obvious this series was part of one universe, this book also ties al the individual storylines together as one big whole. There is more we learn about the CPS and how they work. And it was fun to see another planet as well. There are also some different minder gifts we see in action with Sojaire, Pico and Jerzi all having minder abilities.
To summarize: this was another great book in this series. It's filled with action, a great story, romance and an awesome cast of characters. It also ties the previous books together and has a bunch of recurring characters as well as new ones. The author does a great job with the characterization of all the characters and I liked reading about all the characters. It was awesome to see Luka and Mairwen again and Liéren too. This book had two romances going on, Pico and Sojaire and Jerzi and Andra, I liked both romances and it was great to see them all play out. I really enjoyed this book and I am curious about the next book and to see how everything what happened in this book will be relevant later on in the series.
Audiobook and Reread review
It was a joy to re-read this book and this time in audiobook. I felt the start was a less engaging this time, but that might be because I already knew what was going to happen. The start is a bit quieter with most of the action toward the end. I found it much easier to follow all the events toward the end of the book in the action packed part this time along, whether that's due to the re-read or audiobook version I don't know. Although I had trouble visualizing the campus and all the building on the floater and who was were at times.
One of my favorite parts about this book is how we get to see most of the previous main characters again. I really like the conversation Luka and Liéren have. And seeing Jerzi again is fun too, this time he gets his own romance. Andra is a perfect match for him. I loved how they talked things through at the end. And there's also a romance going on between Pico and Sojaire. Both romances are great and I also love seeing a bit of Lukas and Mairwen again. I like all the characters and how they have their own personality and how they handle situations in a clever way.
This time around I was better able to see the relevance of the villain storyline and knowing what's going to happen next it was great to see how the build up starts here. This book is so full with foreshadowing, build up and characters that it can feel a bit full at times, it's also such an important and impactfull book in this series.
The narration for this series is awesome. I really like how the narrator did Pico's voice. And with all the male leads together in one book I was better able to appreciate the subtle differences each of their voices has. At first I thought them more similar, but hearing them next to each other it's clear they do all sound different. I continue to be impressed with how she handles the accents and foreign words. Andra has a Spanish accent and her voice was well done and the Spanish words sounded well pronounced, not that I have heard a lot of Spanish, but it sounded great to my ears.
To summarize: I loved this series and was happy to re-read Pico's Crush in audio format. I enjoyed experiencing the story a second time, the start felt a bit more slow, but that's okay. I liked the action packed part later on in the book and was better able to keep the storylines and what was going on in my mind this time. I like seeing some of the previous main characters again in this book. Jerzi and Andra are great together and I liked how things got resolved. The plot is great and I like the foreshadowing and build up and how I was better able to see the relevance of the villain's point of view this time. The narration is done amazing just like the previous books. The accents and foreign words are well done and I also was able to appreciate even more how she makes each character sound different. All in all I can't recommend this series enough either in e-format or audio.