Tuesday, January 26, 2016

Review: Playing With Fire by Sherry D. Ficklin

Title: Playing With Fire
Author: Sherry D. Ficklin
Series: Book One in the #Hacker Series
Published By: Clean Teen Publishing (October 27, 2015)
Source: Purchased (Free on Amazon right now!)
Genre: YA Mystery
My Rating: 4 Stars


Book Description:
One brilliant young hacker.
One experimental government aircraft.
One chance to keep it all from going up in flames.

Still recovering from her troubled past, Farris is no stranger to change. But when the military transfers her father across the country to an experimental aircraft squadron, settling in to a new life is the least of her problems. As a series of apparent computer glitches threaten the security of the fleet and the blame falls on her father, she decides to put her computer skills to use digging up the truth. Soon she’s drawn into the perilous world of a hacker who is determined to ground the fleet—at any cost.

When all signs lead to someone close to her as the mastermind, Farris will have to burn more than bridges to get to the truth. She will have to risk her fragile new life to uncover the identity of the cyber criminal before they can escalate from harmless tampering… to all out murder. 










I started this wanting something full of mystery, fun, and just plain and simple, something different. I got all those things with this read and I'm happy to report, enjoyed this so much more than I was expecting too.

This really was well written and held so true to what I feel someone like Farris should be with the way she grew up and the challenges and struggles that she has had in her life. Not only that but can I just say, yay for a parent being very prominent in the YA genre for a change? It was so nice to see Farris and her dad not only having real conversations, but that he played such a huge role in her life, even after the death of her mother where in some many YA reads, the parent shuts down. 

It was so darn refreshing and may have been my most favorite aspect of this whole read, besides the fun characters, fast paced plot and the mystery that kept me turning the pages, not to mention the swoon worthy love interest, this was everything I was hoping it would be in a fun weekend stay at home getaway.






41 comments:

  1. A good YA mystery and present parent situation??? Sounds awesome!

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  2. I've seen this one around, but I'm still not sure It's one I want to read. I don't know, it could be the cover that's throwing me off. It does sound interesting though, especially the science fiction and hacking.

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    1. No science fiction more a mystery but a really good one and great characters too.

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  3. I'm so glad you got what you wanted from this book. I'm not really into the whole hacker thing so I think I'll pass on it myself. Great review and I'm so glad you enjoyed it!

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    1. It really doesn't focus too much on that and no high tech jargon to get you confused if that is what you are worried about. ;)

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  4. I love stories with hackers so I'm all over this one! Nice review :)

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  5. I love the cover and your review Ali, and the next time I'm in the mood for a YA tale. This is it!

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  6. I love to hear that it was a refreshing read for you! I am loving YA mystery these days. I need to add this book to my TBR. :)

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  7. Yay for fun and simple books!!! This sounds perfect, I'm so glad you enjoyed it!! I love stories that shows girls being in STEM fields.

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    1. It was fun and I love that she is smart and tough. ;)

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  8. This sounds utterly enthralling, great review!

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  9. This sounds good! I also like that her father was present, cause you're right, they often aren't.

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  10. Damn! This story has some high stakes indeed. I see why you enjoyed it. And yes it is nice to have non-cardboard cut out parents in YA.

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  11. Yay for present parents in a YA novel. That's awesome. I'm glad there was a lot more that you loved about the book too.

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    1. Thanks, I really was happy about that as well.

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  12. I haven't read a good mystery YA in a long time. This sounds like one I need to try.

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    1. This was a good one and there were parts I didn't know for awhile so that was nice.

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  13. So true. yA should portray and encourage positive parent-child relationships and not advocate angst and rebellion and paint parents as assholes interfering with their kid's lives. Good job Ms. Ficklin for doing that here!

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  14. You seem to be on a big YA mystery/thriller kick lately, Ali! I've been in a YA rut lately so I might give this a whirl.

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    1. I didn't even realize I had read so many until posting all my reviews for the month. :P

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  15. This sounds fun and I like the sound of a swoon worthy love interest - why wasn't he mentioned in the synopsis?! The hacker/mystery aspects is something a little different too. Glad you found this one a perfect escape from work!

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    1. I think because the romance isn't the main focus of the book. ;)

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  16. I love this author's other series, and I am not sure why I didn't start these but I am glad you found it refreshing.

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    1. I need to try her other series I have the first two books even.

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  17. Ohhh I really hope that the author wrote a bunch of terminology and words that makes the hacker sound realistic. I'm a big fan of hackers, so adding this to my pile!

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    1. She did. She added a good amount to seem realistic without it being confusing too. It was a nice balance.

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  18. It's nice to see what you had what you expected

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  19. Booo parents suck. Kidding. Ignore me, I'm sick AGAIN and on NyQuil. I read one sort of hacker type YA before and did not like it, so maybe I should try this one to remove that poor experience from that last one.

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    1. Gah, stop getting sick! Boo, hope you feel better soon and that you like this if you try it. It is free so at least you won't be out anything if you don't.

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  20. Glad, you liked it. Good Review, I definitely think there's way too many orphans in YA too!!

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  21. Ooo the parent thing is HUGE for me. I get rather annoyed in YA and NA at this point with ALL of the parents being horrid or having died. Very nice change.

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    1. One of her parents did die but the other is very much there most of the time. ;)

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