Saturday, April 10, 2010

Bleeding Violet (YA)


Bleeding Violet. Dia Reeves. 2010. January 2010. Simon & Schuster. 454 pages.

The truck driver let me off on Lamartine, on the odd side of the street. I felt odd too, standing in the town where my mother lived. For the first seven years of my life, we hadn't even lived on the same continent, and now she waited only a few houses away.

Fleeing her Dallas home (where she lived with her aunt), Hanna didn't know what to expect from her middle-of-the-night confrontation with Rosalee, the mother who'd abandoned her. Will her mother let her stay? Would her aunt even take her back? (To say she left on bad terms is an understatement!)

Rosalee reluctantly agrees that she can stay. For two weeks. And two weeks only. Unless Hanna can prove that she belongs in this anything-but-sleepy small town. Hanna thinks it will be easy. It might take a little effort on her part to make friends, but surely there's someone worth being friends with. Like Wyatt.

What she doesn't expect is that those two weeks will be filled with danger. Sure danger can be exciting, thrilling, intoxicating. But it can also be deadly. Is Hanna willing to risk it all for a chance at a future with her mom?

Hanna's mental health is questionable, but there were certain things Hanna did that I couldn't excuse away.

For those looking for a good paranormal read, I think this one could work well. While, Hanna isn't perfect--far from it--she has a bit more gumption than other heroines I could mention. (Cough, cough, Bella). But this one probably won't be for everyone. I think the casual sex and violence might be a bit too much for some readers.

This one actually reminded me a bit of the Midnighters series by Scott Westerfeld.

Other reviews: Kids Lit, TheHappyNappyBookseller, Pure Imagination, Frenetic Reader,

© Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

1 comment:

MissA said...

Out of curiousity, what did Hanna do that you thought was questionable?

I just finished Bleeding Violet and I loved it! It was so unique from the setting, to the plot, characters (Hanna having a mental illness-rarely seen in YA). LOL she definitely left on bad terms. The sex isn't that bad actual, it's banded about casually, but I didn't think it was graphic. I do agree that the violence could be upsetting to some people.