I read several reviews before requesting a copy of this book, and the opinions were vastly different. Some people absolutely loved the book while others had serious issues with it. Since there were so many awards shown on the front cover, I thought I should read it and form my own opinion.

Pastel Pink had a compelling opening- the main protagonist was murdered in the first chapter- and the story’s summary seemed quite promising. It started out strong and made me think that those who gave it a negative review might be wrong. However, it felt to me like everything quickly fell apart as the story started to unfold. Without giving spoilers, here are a few reasons why I gave Patel Pink such a low rating:

1. I felt there was no character development.
2. All of the characters were static which resulted in little to no connection on my part.
3. The way mental health issues were used to explain the horrific actions of one character was poorly done.
4. The relationship between two characters that suddenly turned toxic was so jarring that it felt like the author was trying to hard to create conflict.
5. The way racism was used in the story didn’t resonate well with me.
6. The plot felt weak to me. It seemed like the love triangle (or possibly even square) was the driving force behind this story.

So, this was not a winner for me. I enjoyed the narrators and appreciated the change in accents to let me know when we were on Zadok and when we were on Earth. I also felt the book’s concept had great potential. Sadly, all that great potential got lost in the actual execution of the idea.

Thank you NetGalley for providing me with a digital copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
#PastelPink #NetGalley

This was a unique take that I hadn't actually expected to like nearly as much as I did. The whole color cast system was a bit confusing but after a few chapters of back and forth I got the hang of it. I feel like this book would fit nicely on a YA shelf or sort of dystopian meets fantasy shelf.

This was a great audiobook. I especially enjoyed the chapters where the narrator had an Australian accent, it was so nice to listen to. The story is so interesting, reincarnated on a different world but still able to remember and eventually visit her past life as a ghost!

The male narrator wasn’t as easy to listen to as the female. He spoke like he never knew what was going on, but the male pov character was also a bit whiny and unsure of himself.

I would have liked there to be a bit more of a climax in Ruby’s current life story, but it was overall an enjoyable listen.

I just didn't care + made up curse words, info dumps, comparing everything to IRL things & dreadlocks on a white girl.
In terms of the audio, the main character's audio quality was worse than the rest which took me out of the story every time the perspective switched.

At first, I didn't know what to think of this series. I was a little confused and not sold on it. BUT! It did get better the more I read and I grew to find the premise fascinating.

This is set in a futuristic society. Humans were the great, great descendants from which this new world was built and a few can still recall their humanity and past selves, but it is rare. This is a society built on colors: purples being the top rulers, magenta solid middle and upper class and pastels as the lower class. There are different tribes with different structures as well.

Harlow still dreams of being Ruby - her human past self who was brutally murdered at 18 by a friend who got away with the crime and now be ingratiating himself with her twin sister. When she's not dreaming, Harlow is a pastel pink living amid magentas because while she was born a pastel, her twin sister was born a magenta - something that had never happened before or after their birth.

The novel alternates between Ruby's story and Harlow's stories. It gets complicated when Ruby meets Alex who also was murdered and lives a duel life. You do get a few other POV, but they are limited.

While I didn't fall in love with any of the characters or the world building, I do appreciate the concepts and the plot lines that were woven together as well as the social commentary. And the ending was the epitome of a cliff hanger.

I personally did not enjoy this book at all. I feel like the description of the book oversold the actual story.

I only managed to finish the audiobook on my second attempt as I found it really hard to get into the book.

Firstly, the world building, in my opinion was not done very well. Secondly, there was little to no character development and I feel  like there was lots of opportunities for it. Thirdly, using actual POC experiences when it comes to racism (in real-life) for a lighter skinned character (in a made up world) seemed a bit insensitive to me and did not seem okay.

I doubt I will be able to follow up with the sequels.

Thank you to the publisher, the author and NetGalley for the audiobook

Many thanks to BooksGoSocial Audio and Nikki Minty for the advanced audiobook copy of Pastel Pink via NetGalley, in return for my honest and unbiased review.

Pastel Pink is a Sci Fi-Fantasy tale featuring death, reincarnation, and astral travel, right from the off.
The story itself definitely suits readers who have an interest in Science Fiction as well as Fantasy, due to the names, planets, and caste descriptions. These may all feel like a bit ‘too much’ for a Fantasy genre, and, to me, fall more into a SciFi theme.

It was refreshing to read something in the genre from an Australian perspective, as most works tend to be from the USA and UK. It was a shame that only one of the narrators was Australian.

The narrators overall were pleasant to listen to, although some of the attempted accents were a bit cringey.

There were a few obvious issues within the story which can be seen as problematic, depending on how much you want to superimpose them on to a ‘human’ society. The use of dreadlocks, caste systems, skin colours, etc. However, taken purely as a work of science-fantasy fiction, I think this was well-written and imaginative.

Moods: adventurous
Pace: medium
Character development: weak-medium
Plot or character driven: plot
Diversity: medium
Trigger warnings: Abusive relationship, Alcohol abuse, Cheating, Death, Death of a family member, Drugs, Mental Illness, Murder, Racism

Rating: 4/5

The reviews on this had me hesitant after I had already selected Pastel Pink.
But after listening to it as an audiobook, I find that I really enjoyed it.

We follow Harlow as she navigates two worlds. One where she is a ghost, the other she a pastel. Both are “invisible” as her color means she bottom wrung on the social ladder, and well on earth she’s a ghost.

Somehow this girl becomes intwined with so many big changes, drawing in the affection of several men , one on both realms.

This has a lot going on, but the author manages to keep everything flowing, and I found myself rooting for Harlow and her future.

I cannot wait for the next book.

I don’t usually listen to audiobooks as I prefer reading books myself, however; there’s a first time for everything and I received an audiobook version of Pastel Pink from Netgalley for a review.

I liked the concept of being reincarnated into different worlds, the characters (except Alex towards the end) and I loved the narrators (that Australian accent hit me right in the heart).
The multiple POV’s were interesting but Xavier’s I didn’t really like- I found him to be a very repetitive character with not much to add to the story.
Speaking of story- i went into this knowing there are 3 parts but still.. not much really happened. Main character Harlow spends most of her time either the dream world, or the hospitals. That’s about it except for a little adventure later on..

I’m going to end with my favourite quote of the book-

‘I’m as dry as a chip.’


Thanks to Netgalley, Nikki Minty, and BooksGoSocial Audio for the audiobook copy in exchange for an honest review.

I didnt get any further than the first chapter bc I absolutely cannot stand the narrator, the premise of the story sounds interesting tho

Pretty average sci-fi/fantasy book. This felt more like a set-up for upcoming books rather than a self-contained story of it's own which is kinda a bummer because the concept holds so much potential. I really hope Minty expands on this in future books in the series... unfortunately though I won't know since I'm just not intrigued enough to spend my time finishing the series.
Also, Minty decided to explain away Lucas' actions by saying he's schizophrenic.
A. Massive misrepresentation of a viciously stigmatized mental illness that quite frankly offensive.
B. A lazy writing choice. A cop out really. Instead of giving a character actual motives he was given a stereotype (that doesn't even hold true). Gross.
This is yet another author who could do with some sensitivity readers.
All in all I'd rank this a low 3 stars.

I read the Zadok Series on my Kindle last year and absolutely loved it, so when I saw there was a Pastel Pink audiobook version available I just had to check it out.

The word “brilliant” doesn’t even begin to cover the quality of this audio production. The narrators did a remarkable job at bringing Nikki Minty’s unique and loveable characters to life.
Also, I thought the choice of using different accents for the Zadonians and Humans was a stroke of genius. It made it easy to differentiate between the two seperate world settings.

I can certainly see why this audiobook has won so many awards. I highly recommend giving it a listen.

The story was interesting a fresh twist. A little convoluted at times but easy enough to follow. The character was likeable though I liked her human self better than her zeek self.. the pace was good and I enjoyed it but it was a little confusing at times.

Ruby was murdered on her birthday on Earth almost eighteen years ago. But that wasn’t the end of her existence. She was reincarnated as a Pastel Zeek named Harlow on Zadok, a place that is ruled by a caste system based on the Zeek’s skin color. As a pastel, she is one of the lowest ranking Zeeks and has the dangerous task of hunting. When a hunt goes wrong and she is subjected to toxic venom, she finds herself with the ability to visit her sister on Earth as a spirit. But as tensions rise on Zadok surrounding her position in the caste system, her murderer on Earth also starts reconnecting with her sister. Harlow finds herself torn between both worlds as dangers increase, unsure what she can do about either situation.

This was a unique concept for this work. Who doesn’t like a book that begins with the protagonist’s murder? I loved the reincarnation and alternate plane/world idea, but unfortunately, the worldbuilding was just okay. On Zadok there are modern things like hospitals and restaurants, but there are hunting/gathering jobs, and they live in caves. Also there’s some magic, but that’s all the reader is told about it – that it exists. There was no real discussion of why the author made these choices. There were some fascinating monsters included on Zadok as well, but they lacked any real descriptions. Hopefully, more of the Zadok world is explored in the next books, as it was relatively limited in this one and detracted from the story.

The characters were…fine. Ruby/Harlow was well written with the most character development, but there wasn’t much growth for her throughout the work. The other characters had less depth and even less growth. There was also one character who had some pretty toxic behavior towards the end of the work, but it wasn’t addressed as being an issue at all. The characters were okay, but I didn’t find myself connecting to any of them in any meaningful way.

The story was told from Harlow/Ruby’s POV as well as from Zavier’s (one of her Zeek friends). I didn’t find Zavier’s chapters to be particularly compelling, and I think that the inclusion of his POV weakened the story. I listened to the audiobook version, and I enjoyed the way the narrator changed accents for if the story was told from Harlow’s POV or Ruby’s POV, which helped to differentiate when she was on Earth or Zadok.

Unfortunately, this work contained several YA tropes that I do not enjoy. Some of these include: the protagonist is gorgeous, and everyone is in love with her, but she just can’t imagine that anyone could actually love her; the protagonist is unexplainedly different from all others of her species with special unexplained abilities; love triangles that don’t add any character development or growth; and NO REAL PLOT.

Also, and probably most importantly, it did not feel okay to have an author who is light-skinned write a world where her light-skinned protagonist faces the exact types of racism that POCs in our real-world face. In her world, the paler you are, the more you’re discriminated against and the more useless you’re thought to be. And I believe she even included that the darker-skinned (Purple and Magenta) characters in her work wore their hair in cornrows or dreadlocks, while the pastels are described as having different hairstyles. This is cringe worthy and really doesn’t seem like a great way to tackle racism and prejudice.

The more I think about this book, the less impressed I am with it unfortunately. Aside from the negatives mentioned above, it also ended on a massive cliffhanger with almost no resolution. The negatives outweighed the positives for me with this one, and I won’t be continuing the series.

I received a complimentary copy of this work through NetGalley and BookSirens in exchange for my honest opinion. All thoughts and opinions expressed in this review are my own.

Oh my goodness what a unique and fascinating book! Even taking place on two worlds, I wasn't confused. The story is expertly written with obvious links to racism, sexism and bigotry but in a world of pink, purple, red and more. Possible triggers: violence against women, stalking, neglect, child abuse, death. Racism.

I can't wait to read the next book.

If you like reading books by Leigh Bardugo or Holly Black this is a great series to read. I received the audio book and the narrators are fantastic. The story line grabbed me right away, and I felt like I was watching everything happen not just hearing it.