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Book Review: Paper Valentine – Brenna Yovanoff

The Madman’s Daughter
Author: Brenna Yovanoff
Series: None
Genre: Young Adult, Romance, Fantasy, Horror, Mystery, Thriller
Publisher: Razorbill
My Rating:

Summary:

I am not the kind of person who gets haunted by anything.
Hannah’s best friend Lillian died six months ago, and Hannah just wants her life to go back to normal. But how can it when Lillian’s ghost is haunting her bedroom, pushing her to investigate the mysterious string of murders linked only by a paper valentine? Hannah can hardly begin to understand why her friend self-destructed, and where she fits now that Lillian isn’t there to save a her a place among the social elite. And she must stop thinking about Finny Boone, the big, enigmatic delinquent whose main hobbies seem to include petty larceny and surprising acts of kindness.
With the entire city in a panic, Hannah soon finds herself drawn into a world of ghost girls and horrifying secrets. She realizes that only by confronting the Valentine Killer will she be able move on with her life – and it’s up to her to put together the pieces before he strikes again.

 
First Sentence: My sister, Ariel, is sprawled upside down on the couch, pointing with the TV remote.

My Review:

I just love the unique cover of Paper Valentine. When my friends saw it, they immediately snatched it out of my hands to admire it (which they have never done before with any of my books). To make things even better, Paper Valentine sounded like it would be an excellent serial killer murder mystery kind of novel. However, once I started reading Paper Valentine, it wasn’t quite what I expected.

Before I started reading Paper Valentine, I was worried that Brenna Yovanoff would dedicate a huge portion of the book to Hannah’s popularity issue that was mentioned in the summary because that happened when I read other books (like Reaper by L.S. Murphy), but thank goodness Brenna never spent much time dwelling on the issue. Instead, Brenna Yovanoff focuses on other aspects of the book like loss, friendship, and of course, the murder mystery.

Which brings me to my next point – it wasn’t until I reached the end of Paper Valentine that I realized that Paper Valentine isn’t so much a mystery novel than it is a novel about friendship, loss, and finding one’s true self. Basically, I feel that 75% of the book is dedicated to friendship, loss, and finding one’s true self while the remaining 25% of the book drags the murder mystery along. However, Paper Valentine is still a beautiful bittersweet book despite that issue.

Finny Boone, Hannah’s love interest, is really the only character I liked in Paper Valentine. The other characters I just felt nothing for. Finny is just so adorable! Paper Valentine was plain dull until Finny came along. He bought a huge smile on my face and I just loved the tough, but sweet, patient, and quiet guy Finny was portrayed as.

One thing I think Brenna Yovanoff should have done more was give a little more hints or clues about the serial killer’s identity. Once I found about the serial killer’s identity, I didn’t get the satisfied feeling of ohhh, I should have known all along! I was like well, how do you actually expect me to know that that was the killer when you only gave us ONE minor clue on figuring out the killer’s identity? The serial killer’s identity was just totally a surprise for me.

Overall, if you were expecting a highly suspense mystery about a serial killer from Paper Valentine, you won’t get one. Instead, you’ll get a book about loss, finding one’s true self, and growing out of her shell while a serial killer is going around killing people. Basically, the mystery part of Paper Valentine felt like it was in the backseat, along for the ride.

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-Kelly

Posted by Kelly on 3-04-13 · 13 Comments
Categories: 2013 book, book review Tagged: 3.5 star

« Book Review: Last Kiss Goodnight – Gena Showalter
Top Ten Series I’d Like To Start But Haven’t Yet »

Speak Your Mind

  1. Ashley Rogers says

    3-05-13 at 3:43 PM

    I am really interested in reading this book! I love the cover it looks so awesome. Thank you for sharing your review. I hope that I do not get too emotional reading the book. I do not know how I feel about reading about a serial killer…. but this sounds really awesome!

    Reply
    • Kelly says

      9-29-13 at 2:53 PM

      The cover is absolutely gorgeous; I can just stare at it and stroke it all day. <3
      And don't worry, the serial killer isn't too scary. ;D
      Kelly recently posted…Blogoversary Day 2: Cover Guessing GameMy Profile

      Reply
  2. Dianne says

    3-05-13 at 10:10 PM

    Ooooohhh, I’ve been meaning to read this book and yes, the cover is so gorgeous. Thank you for the review! Gotta pick it up soon.

    Reply
    • Kelly says

      9-29-13 at 2:54 PM

      I hope you’ll like it as much as I do Dianne!
      And that pretty cover! I still have to buy myself a copy so I can stroke it all day and admire it. (Like that’s totally normal.) ;D
      Kelly recently posted…Blogoversary Day 2: Cover Guessing GameMy Profile

      Reply
  3. Ashfa_Anwer says

    3-07-13 at 6:23 AM

    OMG the blur itself looks great. I didn’t ‘t pay that much attention to this book even thought I kept seeing it everywhere. First time I read the blurb and its awesome Loved the review too.

    Reply
    • Kelly says

      9-29-13 at 2:56 PM

      I know, who can resist reading books about serial killers? I definitely can’t. ;D
      Thanks, I glad you loved it. (:
      Kelly recently posted…Blogoversary Day 2: Cover Guessing GameMy Profile

      Reply
  4. CP says

    9-28-13 at 11:52 PM

    Oh, this cover really does look amazing!! The serial killer murder mystery aspect also piqued my interest, so I’m glad you shared your reservations as well – I think I too would be disappointed at the lack of focus on the mystery!

    Reply
    • Kelly says

      9-29-13 at 2:57 PM

      Despite the lack of mystery in Paper Valentine, the romance and the finding one’s self concept won me over. Maybe it’ll win you over too CP! (:

      Reply
  5. Susan T. says

    10-22-13 at 5:21 PM

    This sounds awesome and the cover is beautiful!

    Reply
  6. HIllary R. says

    10-22-13 at 8:02 PM

    I keep hearing about Paper Valentine, but for some reason I forget about it easily. And you gave it a pretty decent review score too. Maybe I should check it out, especially since it involves a ghost and it also sounds like a mystery :)

    Reply
  7. Frannie Panglossa says

    12-19-13 at 1:30 AM

    And I found a reding for next st. Valentine or… Halloween! :P
    Frannie Panglossa recently posted…WWW Wednesday #19My Profile

    Reply
  8. Cali W. says

    1-09-14 at 12:26 PM

    Great review! i love the cover of this book. I love the mytery story line of the book too, I will have to read it.

    Reply

Trackbacks

  1. Let’s Speculate: A Cover Inside A Cover (Yes, You Read That One Right) says:
    5-06-14 at 9:11 AM

    […] Curse by Marie Rutkoski (wouldn’t that be amazing, especially with a cover like that?) and Paper Valentine by Brenna […]

    Reply

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