Review of "Bleeding Violet"

"Bleeding Violet"
By Dia Reeves
4

Pub. Date: January 05, 2010
Pages: 454

Synopsis:

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.

Reeves has create a first book to be truly proud of. Hanna is a complex character that maybe truly crazy, but her quirks are what make you love her. Even though this book was a paranormal book about a town where monsters and magic are a reality, Reeves was able to weave more important topics such as family, love, responsibility, honor, and the search to find ones place in the world. When I first heard about this novel I didn't expect to find the depth that this book was able to achieve. I really enjoyed the world that Reeves created where things that would be considered crazy become a reality; and I'm not just talking about the monsters.

With that said, there were a couple of things that rubbed me the wrong way. I don't know why this bothered me, but there was a lot of sexual encounters in this book. I understand that this is just part of Hanna's character, but for some reason it just didn't work for me. It's not that I thought they weren't believable and I understand why Reeves put them in there, but it is just something that I could have done without. I also didn't quite feel the chemistry between Hanna and Wyatt. I understood why Hanna had a thing for Wyatt, but Wyatt kind of fell flat for me. I think what it comes down to is that I could have done with more of the paranormal monster stuff and less with the Wyatt relationship and sexual content.

I definitely recommend this book for mature teens. Even though there were things that bothered me about the book, I found it to be a fast read. I have a feeling that most readers won't care about the things I mentioned. The first chapter of the book is available on Dia Reeve's website, check it out by clicking here.