Review: "Bleeding Violet" by: Dia Reeves

Bleeding Violet by: Dia Reeves
Released: January 5th, 2010
Publisher: Simon Pulse
Age: Young Adult
Pages: 454 pages
Overall:
Recommend Level: Med-High
Challenge: 2010 Debut Author(The Story Siren)
Summary: "Love can be a dangerous thing....
Hanna simply wants to be loved. With a head plagued by hallucinations, a medicine cabinet full of pills, and a closet stuffed with frilly, violet dresses, Hanna's tired of being the outcast, the weird girl, the freak. So she runs away to Portero, Texas in search of a new home.
But Portero is a stranger town than Hanna expects. As she tries to make a place for herself, she discovers dark secrets that would terrify any normal soul. Good thing for Hanna, she's far from normal. As this crazy girl meets an even crazier town, only two things are certain: Anything can happen and no one is safe."



Review: I don't even know where to begin with this book. It is probably the weirdest book I've read in awhile...if ever! Hanna moves to Portero, Texas after her dad dies and she hits her aunt over the head and leave her for dead! Hanna is crazy....not just he saying "oh she's crazy" no! She has a shelf full of pills, she talks to her dad in her head (remember, he's dead) and talks to her wooden swan statue. But what's weirder, they talk back.
From the first page this book kept me sincerely interested. I thoroughly enjoyed the style of writing and loved how fast paced it is. There really is no room for you to breathe in this book.
By looking at the cover it looks like the girl in this book is lost (true) and that she may find love (also true), but the cover lets nothing on about how crazy she is and how absolutely weird this town is. This book should be only listed as sci-fi....or weird.
(Let's count how many times I say weird in this review. There's really no other word for it!)
The characters were real and I loved reading about them. I loved Wyatt, I felt like he was the star of this book. Hanna, even with all her insanity, I completely enjoyed her. She's the comic relief in the book. Though a lot of the things she thought, said and did were sadonic and morbid, I would laugh out loud about it.
Hanna's mother, I feel, didn't have enough spot light in the book. Neither did anyone else. Yes, it's about Hanna, but I felt it was just Hanna...Hanna...Hanna...Hanna...Wyatt!
I should've known how weird(ha!) this book would be when she just walks into her estranged mother's house and begins cooking....even though she's never set foot in her house nor spoke to her in well, ever!
I recommend this book for anyone who is wanting a relief from all of the dark and depressing books that the debut author's seem to be coming up with this year. This book will have you laughing, gasping, aww'ing, annoyed and even a little nervous.
I can't wait to read Dia Reeve's next book Slice of Cherry. I'm not sure if it's a sequel, but with that title, I think it might be. Bleeding Violet is a perfect stand alone but it'd be nice if it had a sequel.
(If you read it, you'll know why "Slice of Cherry" sounds like a sequel.)
Read and enjoy!


(Check out the full list of 2010 Debut Authors I have lined up to read as well as the reviews of the ones I've already read. Just click here!)