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crowinator's review against another edition
4.0
My YA paranormal lit philosophy: Vampires, werewolves, shape-shifters, and angels may come and go, but ghosts never get old (ba dum bum!).
And serial killers? When you think about it, serial killers and ghosts are a natural pairing. Serial killers make ghosts. Those ghosts need revenge, so they have to find some poor sensitive medium to push around and complete their business. That person becomes an ad hoc detective in order to solve those murders. It’s a premise with endless permutations, and I never get tired of it.
Here the ad hoc detective is Hannah, a teen haunted by the ghost of her best friend Lillian (who interestingly died not from being serial killed, but from an eating disorder gone noticed but unremarked upon). But when other girls start getting murdered – their bodies decorated with a flea-market’s-worth of tchotchkes and a valentine – Hannah has more than one ghost pushing her around. The police suspect the town bad boy, Finny Boone, but after Hannah is on the receiving end of his quiet kindness, she learns that Finny, like Lillian, like herself, has hidden depths. But is he still a killer?
I admire Yovanoff's ability to create a creepy, unsettling mood. She excels at integrating a subtle paranormal element with the everyday. Her settings are distinctive, somewhat otherworldly, and essential to the story. I liked how she ties together the suffocating heat striking Ludlow with the suffocation of suburban small town life, where everybody knows you but doesn't really know you. (She did that same sort of thing with the small town in The Replacement, too.) The birds dropping out of the sky add another layer of seemingly paranormal foreboding.
The friendship between Hannah and ghost Lillian emphasize the difference between reality and perception, too, without hammering it home too much. In its own way, Lillian's presence is also smothering for Hannah, because it keeps her from moving on. Their relationship is complex, particularly because Hannah’s memory of Lillian when she was alive conflict with how Lillian is now that she’s dead. Lillian, as a ghost, is unable to change. She’s stuck in the super-skeletal body she had when she died, and she’s a collection of her most negative, judgmental qualities. She’s also able to speak the truth about her anorexia in a way that she never could while alive, and Yovanoff sensitively portrays her anorexia and Hannah’s grief and guilt over Lillians’s death without allowing it to take over and make this a didactic Problem Novel.
Their comfortable but creepy friendship (and its stagnation) anchor the rest of the relationships in the story because those relationships can change.
I liked that Yovanoff didn't offer an explanation for Hannah's ghost-seeing abilities. If it hadn't been for the other ghost stuff, I would have chalked Lillian up to a metaphor for having your worst self follow you around and remind you of your failures. Finny, as the romantic lead/potential killer, makes a nice contrast with everything that Lillian represents. He's a sign that Hannah has started to develop as her own person, out of Lillian's shadow, and that she's started seeing beyond the surface of people. The two of them bond over being misunderstood, pigeonholed; over not being allowed to be more than other people expect them to be. Hannah has several realistic moments where she realizes that who you are and who you pretend to be aren’t the same, and that pretending to be cool, disdainful, and untouchable can do a lot of harm.
It’s also far, far better than the romances in Yovanoff’s other two books, neither of which developed slowly or organically enough to feel believable for me. This one is steamy and sweet.
The serial killer storyline worked for me, obviously, aside from the tell-all ending. Yovanoff’s endings always happen too fast and don't feel developed enough. – I’ve felt that with her last two books, too. It’s never good when the killer spends pages monologuing about his plans, though I do appreciate a good villain speech. Hannah's investigation and weird obsession with the dead girls are suspenseful (I loved the scene where she makes the Ouija board on her floor), though I think Yovanoff is better at evoking dread than paying off on it. But there were enough red herrings to keep me guessing, and when all is finally revealed, it makes sense.
I think Paper Valentine is Yovanoff's strongest book to date. Some of that might be due to my personal interests. Again, serial killers, ghosts, etc. But I also think her writing and her storytelling structure have improved with each book. I can’t wait to see what she does next.
You Should Read This: If you like Yovanoff’s other two books. If you like cross-genre standalone titles. If you like slasher stories on Valentine's Day. If Ouija boards creep you out. If you like that Sixth Sense, "I see dead people" vibe. If you like strong sibling relationships (Hannah's relationship with her sister is one of the better sibling relationships I've seen).
Also Read: Other, by Karen Kincy. Anya’s Ghost, by Vera Brogosal. The Name of the Star, by Maureen Johnson.
Thanks to Netgalley for the opportunity to read this book.
And serial killers? When you think about it, serial killers and ghosts are a natural pairing. Serial killers make ghosts. Those ghosts need revenge, so they have to find some poor sensitive medium to push around and complete their business. That person becomes an ad hoc detective in order to solve those murders. It’s a premise with endless permutations, and I never get tired of it.
Here the ad hoc detective is Hannah, a teen haunted by the ghost of her best friend Lillian (who interestingly died not from being serial killed, but from an eating disorder gone noticed but unremarked upon). But when other girls start getting murdered – their bodies decorated with a flea-market’s-worth of tchotchkes and a valentine – Hannah has more than one ghost pushing her around. The police suspect the town bad boy, Finny Boone, but after Hannah is on the receiving end of his quiet kindness, she learns that Finny, like Lillian, like herself, has hidden depths. But is he still a killer?
I admire Yovanoff's ability to create a creepy, unsettling mood. She excels at integrating a subtle paranormal element with the everyday. Her settings are distinctive, somewhat otherworldly, and essential to the story. I liked how she ties together the suffocating heat striking Ludlow with the suffocation of suburban small town life, where everybody knows you but doesn't really know you. (She did that same sort of thing with the small town in The Replacement, too.) The birds dropping out of the sky add another layer of seemingly paranormal foreboding.
The friendship between Hannah and ghost Lillian emphasize the difference between reality and perception, too, without hammering it home too much. In its own way, Lillian's presence is also smothering for Hannah, because it keeps her from moving on. Their relationship is complex, particularly because Hannah’s memory of Lillian when she was alive conflict with how Lillian is now that she’s dead. Lillian, as a ghost, is unable to change. She’s stuck in the super-skeletal body she had when she died, and she’s a collection of her most negative, judgmental qualities. She’s also able to speak the truth about her anorexia in a way that she never could while alive, and Yovanoff sensitively portrays her anorexia and Hannah’s grief and guilt over Lillians’s death without allowing it to take over and make this a didactic Problem Novel.
“The idea that a person can be defined by anything so superficial is terrible. Like this is the one true heart of her, reduced to a bony apparition in her pajamas….The simple version isn’t even recognizable when you hold it up against a living, breathing human being. Her ghost will always be so much less of her than the girl I used to see every day.”
Their comfortable but creepy friendship (and its stagnation) anchor the rest of the relationships in the story because those relationships can change.
I liked that Yovanoff didn't offer an explanation for Hannah's ghost-seeing abilities. If it hadn't been for the other ghost stuff, I would have chalked Lillian up to a metaphor for having your worst self follow you around and remind you of your failures. Finny, as the romantic lead/potential killer, makes a nice contrast with everything that Lillian represents. He's a sign that Hannah has started to develop as her own person, out of Lillian's shadow, and that she's started seeing beyond the surface of people. The two of them bond over being misunderstood, pigeonholed; over not being allowed to be more than other people expect them to be. Hannah has several realistic moments where she realizes that who you are and who you pretend to be aren’t the same, and that pretending to be cool, disdainful, and untouchable can do a lot of harm.
“Because the fact is, the contest has always been invulnerability, and even when you win, you still lose.”
It’s also far, far better than the romances in Yovanoff’s other two books, neither of which developed slowly or organically enough to feel believable for me. This one is steamy and sweet.
The serial killer storyline worked for me, obviously, aside from the tell-all ending. Yovanoff’s endings always happen too fast and don't feel developed enough. – I’ve felt that with her last two books, too. It’s never good when the killer spends pages monologuing about his plans, though I do appreciate a good villain speech. Hannah's investigation and weird obsession with the dead girls are suspenseful (I loved the scene where she makes the Ouija board on her floor), though I think Yovanoff is better at evoking dread than paying off on it.
Spoiler
For example: the dead birds are a great mood piece but didn't go anywhere and ultimately distracted me from the story because I kept expecting it to have a more sinister explanation.I think Paper Valentine is Yovanoff's strongest book to date. Some of that might be due to my personal interests. Again, serial killers, ghosts, etc. But I also think her writing and her storytelling structure have improved with each book. I can’t wait to see what she does next.
You Should Read This: If you like Yovanoff’s other two books. If you like cross-genre standalone titles. If you like slasher stories on Valentine's Day. If Ouija boards creep you out. If you like that Sixth Sense, "I see dead people" vibe. If you like strong sibling relationships (Hannah's relationship with her sister is one of the better sibling relationships I've seen).
Also Read: Other, by Karen Kincy. Anya’s Ghost, by Vera Brogosal. The Name of the Star, by Maureen Johnson.
Thanks to Netgalley for the opportunity to read this book.
donnaburtwistle's review against another edition
4.0
A departure for Yovanoff, this novel centres around a serial killer in Hannah's town, who is killing young girls. Perpetually haunted by the ghost of her dead friend, Lillian, who has died of an eating disorder, together, they sort through the clues left behind the gruesome crime scenes. Creepy and clever, I highly recommend this mystery-ghost story-romance!
sarahsulliv's review against another edition
4.0
I've read some mixed reviews but I found this story really lovely, strange and compelling. Read it in hardcover, because that upcoming paperback cover I see on goodreads is nothing special, and this cover is gorgeous. Read the full review at Slatebreakers: http://slatebreakers.com/2013/03/11/review-paper-valentine-by-brenna-yovanoff/
arielzeit's review against another edition
3.0
A girl is haunted by the ghost of her best friend who died of anorexia, but also helped by her to find the serial killer who is murdering young girls in their town.
gothmoose's review against another edition
5.0
Brenna Yovanoff is one of those writers that I never have any expectations going into one of her novels, other than that no matter what or how weird, I'm going to love it.
Paper Valentine didn't disappoint.
So we have a dead, ghostly best friend, sweltering 100+ temperatures, birds falling dead out of the sky and girls being murdered. Hannah, being the weirdo that she is (and I love her), takes it all in stride and, at Lillian's insistence, starts investigating the murders.
Hannah is an awesome, complex heroine struggling to cope with the death of her best friend, and the subsequent fact that her dead best friend, Lillian, is haunting her. Hannah is also struggling internally with finding her place in the world, and her clique, without Lillian's physical presence to keep her tethered in her "rightful place."
Then there is Finny Boone. Finny is the the best kind of delinquent, because under his lighter-thieving ways, really does lurk a vast well of kindness; making Finny Boone a true Dark, Damaged Bad Boy with a Heart of Gold and in Shining, Yet Slightly Tarnished Armor.
“The thought of him is electric, beating in my chest like a birthday wish, dark and warm and secret.”
To me, he was like this:
Which made my inner 17 year-old go:
And the crazy part is that the romance aspect in this story is so completely subtle and just a small portion of the book, but it still makes it's impact.
Beware of the fact that you will not have every question answered for you by the last page, and I believe that to be intentional, possibly to illustrate the point that not everything in life ever has a real reason or cause behind it; it just is. Also, Brenna Yovanoff has never been one to shove every single detail of a character or a situation down your throat, but rather leaves enough to the imagination for the reader to draw their own conclusions.
Paper Valentine was an awesome book that everyone would becompletely and utterly stupid remiss not to read.
Paper Valentine didn't disappoint.
So we have a dead, ghostly best friend, sweltering 100+ temperatures, birds falling dead out of the sky and girls being murdered. Hannah, being the weirdo that she is (and I love her), takes it all in stride and, at Lillian's insistence, starts investigating the murders.
Hannah is an awesome, complex heroine struggling to cope with the death of her best friend, and the subsequent fact that her dead best friend, Lillian, is haunting her. Hannah is also struggling internally with finding her place in the world, and her clique, without Lillian's physical presence to keep her tethered in her "rightful place."
Then there is Finny Boone. Finny is the the best kind of delinquent, because under his lighter-thieving ways, really does lurk a vast well of kindness; making Finny Boone a true Dark, Damaged Bad Boy with a Heart of Gold and in Shining, Yet Slightly Tarnished Armor.
“The thought of him is electric, beating in my chest like a birthday wish, dark and warm and secret.”
To me, he was like this:
Which made my inner 17 year-old go:
And the crazy part is that the romance aspect in this story is so completely subtle and just a small portion of the book, but it still makes it's impact.
Beware of the fact that you will not have every question answered for you by the last page, and I believe that to be intentional, possibly to illustrate the point that not everything in life ever has a real reason or cause behind it; it just is. Also, Brenna Yovanoff has never been one to shove every single detail of a character or a situation down your throat, but rather leaves enough to the imagination for the reader to draw their own conclusions.
Paper Valentine was an awesome book that everyone would be
mssanfordreads's review against another edition
4.0
3.5 stars - I love Yovanoff"s writing style and I enjoyed Finny, the love interest, more than just about anyone else in the story. I was surprised that the serial killings seemed to be more of a background than her issues with Lillian, her late anorexic friend who haunts her still. All the same, this was a speedy and enjoyable read.
sachaferg's review against another edition
5.0
reread july 2019: i always forget how creepy this is
second reread april 2015
i really love everything about this book. i remember the first time i read it i was expecting to hate it and it was going to be boring and whiny and it's none of those things. it's nothing like i expected. i love the atmosphere created in the muggy heavy heat of summer that you can feel yourself even when it's april and it's pouring. i love the writing - the winding sentences and lovely turns of phrases that really pull you in. i love hannah's relationship with her sister and her relationship with lillian. i love that lillian is so integral to the story but she doesn't take over too much. she talks about her illness so matter-of-factly because she knows hannah won't ever understand but she has to explain how she was thinking during it. i love finny
boone. i fell completely for him and hannah. there are sweet moments in the middle of this serial killer mess that you really cling on to. and then the ending is genuinely terrifying even when you know it's coming. it gets me every time.
one of my favourites.
reread: march 2014
first read: july 2013
I liked this book a lot more than I was expecting. It was told in a narrative that used lovely, haunting words that helped shape the overall atmosphere of the novel. Reading the back of the book the story seems to focus on a serial killer but there is so much more than that. Lillian, the best friend who died months prior to the novel due to anorexia, is surprisingly likeable and you can't help but pity her despite the way she sometimes treats Hannah, the protagonist. I had a soft spot for Finny and I was rooting for them the whole way though. The end has some truly unexpected and shocking twists and turns ending the book with a bang. The writing is a big part of why I enjoyed this book so much and I plan to read more of Brenna Yovanoff's novels.
second reread april 2015
i really love everything about this book. i remember the first time i read it i was expecting to hate it and it was going to be boring and whiny and it's none of those things. it's nothing like i expected. i love the atmosphere created in the muggy heavy heat of summer that you can feel yourself even when it's april and it's pouring. i love the writing - the winding sentences and lovely turns of phrases that really pull you in. i love hannah's relationship with her sister and her relationship with lillian. i love that lillian is so integral to the story but she doesn't take over too much. she talks about her illness so matter-of-factly because she knows hannah won't ever understand but she has to explain how she was thinking during it. i love finny
boone. i fell completely for him and hannah. there are sweet moments in the middle of this serial killer mess that you really cling on to. and then the ending is genuinely terrifying even when you know it's coming. it gets me every time.
one of my favourites.
reread: march 2014
first read: july 2013
I liked this book a lot more than I was expecting. It was told in a narrative that used lovely, haunting words that helped shape the overall atmosphere of the novel. Reading the back of the book the story seems to focus on a serial killer but there is so much more than that. Lillian, the best friend who died months prior to the novel due to anorexia, is surprisingly likeable and you can't help but pity her despite the way she sometimes treats Hannah, the protagonist. I had a soft spot for Finny and I was rooting for them the whole way though. The end has some truly unexpected and shocking twists and turns ending the book with a bang. The writing is a big part of why I enjoyed this book so much and I plan to read more of Brenna Yovanoff's novels.
bookishbanterwithmimi's review against another edition
5.0
Let me just start by saying I love you, Brenna Yovanoff. I do. I love your dark mind, I love your Y.A. style, I love your book covers. I just love you. Now that my creepy remarks to the lovely, Yovanoff, are out of my system, let me dive into Paper Valentine.
My first Yovanoff book, The Space Between was completely accidental and entirely pleasurable (You can find the review up on this blog). I went into Paper Valentine with the same hopes. Just look how gorgeous the dust cover is! What I discovered was Paper Valentine was much less paranormal-ish (even with the constant dead companion) and much more this-could-really-happen than The Space Between. Normally that would disappoint me but Yovanoff has a way with words that wraps you around her magic author pen.
It didn't take very long at all to get sucked into Hannah Wagnor's world. Lillian was transitioned so smoothly into the story that one might think it's only normal to have a dead friend who you talk to, who happens to talk to you. Pieces of the paranormal world were easily thrown in just to set you slightly on edge and the ending! Geez! I spent a couple of days pondering upon,"Do we really ever even know someone? Like really know them?". I love the twist at the end and it was an overall satisfying read.
If you're a Yovanoff fan or like the less romanticized aspect of the paranormal (though you will find a tad bit of romance here) and human nature then this one's for you. And (grammer police- I'll rile you up) if you're not, would it hurt you to request a book, put gas in the car, drive to pick it up, spend another couple dollars in gas driving back, spend hours of your life indulging in it, and repeat process to return, would it?! I didn't think so.
My first Yovanoff book, The Space Between was completely accidental and entirely pleasurable (You can find the review up on this blog). I went into Paper Valentine with the same hopes. Just look how gorgeous the dust cover is! What I discovered was Paper Valentine was much less paranormal-ish (even with the constant dead companion) and much more this-could-really-happen than The Space Between. Normally that would disappoint me but Yovanoff has a way with words that wraps you around her magic author pen.
It didn't take very long at all to get sucked into Hannah Wagnor's world. Lillian was transitioned so smoothly into the story that one might think it's only normal to have a dead friend who you talk to, who happens to talk to you. Pieces of the paranormal world were easily thrown in just to set you slightly on edge and the ending! Geez! I spent a couple of days pondering upon,"Do we really ever even know someone? Like really know them?". I love the twist at the end and it was an overall satisfying read.
If you're a Yovanoff fan or like the less romanticized aspect of the paranormal (though you will find a tad bit of romance here) and human nature then this one's for you. And (grammer police- I'll rile you up) if you're not, would it hurt you to request a book, put gas in the car, drive to pick it up, spend another couple dollars in gas driving back, spend hours of your life indulging in it, and repeat process to return, would it?! I didn't think so.
mlwl's review against another edition
4.0
Fantastically chilling, a strong (but not overbearing) message of empowerment. Really liked it.
lauriegilbert's review against another edition
2.0
I wanted to like this one. A great cover, a mystery, and ghosts! But I just . . . kept wanting to kick people. Hannah is too goodie goodie. Even when she's being bad, she's still good. Lillian, her best friend, is a ghost who really really needs an exorcism, she kept annoying me that much. Add in the love interest needing a massively huge dose of self-esteem and . . . I couldn't find any characters to like or relate to. I think Kelly was truly the only one I completely liked.
So yes, overall not a bad tale, if you can get beyond annoyingly self-centered characterization.
So yes, overall not a bad tale, if you can get beyond annoyingly self-centered characterization.