Review: Slice of Cherry by Dia Reeves

Tags: YA, paranormal, sisters, murder, horror

Summary

Kit and Fancy Cordelle are more than simply sisters: they’re practically the same person. The daughters of an infamous killer, the girls keep to themselves, yet are always aware that their father’s tendencies may manifest in them as well. So when they begin to kill—only those who deserve it, of course—the sisters are not all that surprised.

What shocks Fancy, however, is when Kit begins to want to branch out beyond their close relationship. The more Fancy kills, the more she tries to hold on to the way things were, the more things change. Turns out there are some things more horrifying than killing, and that may be acknowledging the real world.

Review

Dia Reeves is like a bucket of cold water on YA lit’s face…and I mean that in the best way. Her debut novel, Bleeding Violet, turned paranormal inside out and made it fascinating, in a sexy and gruesome sort of way. Her sophomore novel, SLICE OF CHERRY, is like a twisted childhood fantasy come true. Which is to say that I LOVED it.

As she did in Bleeding Violet, Dia kind of simply throws readers to the wolves and makes you fight to understand and be sympathetic to what’s going on in the story. In a world where some YA writers seem to “baby” their readers, this is a refreshing challenge. Things are not outright explained to us, but rather allowed to unfold gradually over the course of the book’s many pages. SLICE OF CHERRY focuses greatly on the horrors of the human psyche. I mean, Portero is weird enough on its own, but Kit and Fancy’s sociopathic behavior could technically happen in any normal American town, which is the truly creepy part of this novel.

The characters in SLICE OF CHERRY are fantastically messed up, definitely out there in a caricature-like but still completely understandable way. Little time is wasted on backstory, on explanations of what made the girls the way they are. Instead, they—especially Fancy—believe so thoroughly in their oddness that they leave us no room to question how they came to be that way…and that was totally fine with me. We don’t need complicated psychiatric explanations because they are so fully realized, their bizarreness so beyond our comprehension of typical human behavior that they successfully straddle the line between the real and the macabre.

SLICE OF CHERRY is in a genre all its own. If Bleeding Violet didn’t convince me that Dia is a genius, then this book most definitely did. This book will appeal to anyone who has even a pinch of darkness to them, who ever felt like they were weird and enjoyed things that no one else seems to.

Similar Authors
Cecil Castellucci


Cover discussion: It's not what I'd expected. I had wanted something darker, something that perhaps shared elements similar to the cover of Bleeding Violet. But that doesn't mean I dislike it. It may be a bit misleading for anyone who's heard nothing about this book, but I like its unusual creepiness.

Simon Pulse / Jan. 4, 2011 / Hardcover / 512pp. / $16.99

Review copy sent by Simon & Schuster on behalf of the author. Thank you!

Waiting on Wednesday (86)

Slice of Cherry by Dia Reeves

Happiness is a bloody knife.

Kit and Fancy Cordelle are sisters of the best kind: best friends, best confidantes, and best accomplices. The daughters of the infamous Bonesaw Killer, Kit and Fancy are used to feeling like outsiders, and that’s just the way they like it. But in Portero, where the weird and wild run rampant, the Cordelle sisters are hardly the oddest or most dangerous creatures around.

It’s no surprise when Kit and Fancy start to give in to their deepest desire—the desire to kill. What starts as a fascination with slicing open and stitching up quickly spirals into a gratifying murder spree. Of course, the sisters aren’t killing just anyone, only the people who truly deserve it. But the girls have learned from the mistakes of their father, and know that a shred of evidence could get them caught. So when Fancy stumbles upon a mysterious and invisible doorway to another world, she opens a door to endless possibilities.... [summary from Goodreads]

Not many of my favorite books stay with me down at school; most go home eventually. But Dia's first book, Bleeding Violet, is one of the few that I am able to stare wondrously at nearly every day of my life. Its unapologetic and fantastic weirdness have earned it a spot on my favorites shelf, alongside the Hunger Games trilogy, Kristin Cashore's books, and all of the Jessica Darling series, among just a few others. Obviously I anticipated Dia's sophomore novel with a little more than a typical amount of anticipation. And read that synopsis! Look at that cover! Only Dia can pull off something like this, and I am really looking forward to reading this.

Slice of Cherry will be published in hardcover from Simon Pulse on January 4, 2011.

Review: Bleeding Violet by Dia Reeves

Tags: YA, paranormal, mental illness, family, action, quirky

Rating: 4 out of 5


Summary

Hanna Jarvinen is an unusual teenager. She is biracial, sees and hears hallucinations, wears only purple to remember her dead father (with whose ghost she still communicates)—and is hardly extraordinary when she arrives on her mother’s doorstep in Portero, Texas, after her aunt kicked her out.

That’s because Portero is far weirder than Hanna could’ve imagined. It contains dangerous monsters and many doors between worlds. Portero is hardly the place for Hanna to fall in love and get to know her mother better, but Hanna is nothing if not determined to get what she wants, in spite of both human and inhuman obstacles.

Review

Not since I read Holly Black’s TITHE five years ago have I encountered a story as unique and fascinatingly compelling as Dia Reeve’s debut novel, BLEEDING VIOLET. Indeed, BLEEDING VIOLET defies adequate description and categorization, blending snark, relationship issues, and the supernatural into a sexy paranormal read that will be hard to forget.

From page one, Dia unapologetically yanks readers into a dark and twisted world where monsters and mental illness are simply Hanna and Portero’s way of life, confused people be damned. While this total immersion in the world of Portero may be initially jarring, once I began figuring things out, I felt like I had been let in on a terrific secret, and I LOVED being in Hanna’s world. It’s brutal and shocking, and not for one second can you look away.

Hanna is a protagonist like no other, with her crazy thoughts and her way of looking at the world. She’s slightly disturbing yet inexplicably alluring, the kind of girl you know you should stay away from but who part of you almost wants to be. Hanna is fearlessly original in her interactions with the Porterenes: the awkwardness of her developing relationship with her mother is well drawn, and I found Hanna’s budding romance with Wyatt, a local boy with an important job in monster-policing, to be one of the most well-developed romances I’ve read in recent YA literature. From beginning to end it’s no fairy-tale relationship: there’s no immediate rush of physical and soul-mate attraction, but rather the blossoming of it through witty repartees.

BLEEDING VIOLET is not for those who like their reading fluffy. It’s dark, unapologetic in its occasional gory and weird scenes. Some may disapprove of Hanna and Wyatt’s physical relationship (though personally I found it sexy and well done). Others may be too hopelessly confused by the first couple of chapters or the occasional vagueness of the plot to connect with it. But if you’re looking for a one-of-a-kind dark read, I will find it hard to resist thrusting this book into your hands. Read it, and maybe you will savor it like I did!

Similar Authors
Holly Black (Tithe)

Writing: 5/5
Characters: 4/5
Plot: 4/5

Overall Rating: 4 out of 5


Cover discussion: 3.5 out of 5 - It's purple and manic and totally representative of Hanna. Definitely compelling and something I would pick up on a whim in the store!

Simon & Schuster / Jan. 5, 2010 / Hardcover / $16.99


Thanks to the awesome Sharon for letting me borrow her copy!