bookishnicole's review against another edition
4.0
I felt that Paper Valentine was a really well written book. From the start I was pulled right into the story line and I couldn’t put the book down. All in all, it took me a few hours to read if we don’t include leaving for a run into civilization. Yes, I did read this book during the Sandy Blackout of the Northeast, and that’s why it has taken me some time to get this review up. I really felt that it has this intricate plot that dealt with Hannah really coming to terms with Lillian’s death and this investigation into who was killing these middle school girls.
I loved the investigation of the girls who were dying. While it wasn’t the most centric point of the book, I still enjoyed how the plot did incorporate it. I did not see the killer coming although once the killer was revealed it was easy to see how this person managed to become who they were. I felt awful for these little girl who had to lose their lives for such a stupid reason. In the murder plot, I loved how Lillian and Hannah worked together to try to figure out the different clues that they were given. I did find it a little creepy that Lillian kept like a murder binder about the first girl that died.
I felt that Hannah as a character was very loyal and I really liked that about her. Even though she had a strange little sister, she still treated her fairly and took care of her. I also loved that she worked in her cousins photo shop because I used to love to take photos and I always wanted my own dark room. It’s a total bummer that it’s a dying hobby, but I thought that part of the story was very cool. As for how this relates to Hannah, well even though she doesn’t get paid to work there its still great that she did it for her cousin even though she didn’t have to. Of course, there was the bonus feature of the crime scene photos, but either way, still very cool.
I adored Finny. I will admit that I was on the judgmental bandwagon when we were first introduced to him and his looks. Bleached hair? Summer school? He sounds just like an overall bad pill, but then you factor in the really cool and sweet things that he did like stick up for Hanna in the months following Lillian’s death, and how he sort of watched out for her little sister as well. There were a few times that he was a little suspicious, like when he had them cut through the woods where girls bodies were being found rather than taking the longer safer way home. But I still adored him and his sad story. I felt bad for him and I wanted to kiss all of his troubles away. (Just don’t tell my boyfriend.)
I was really glad that Hannah gave him a chance even though she knew she was going to get shit from her friends and she was very far out of the realm of his type. I was so proud of Hannah when she stood up for herself and Finny, and that was the moment where you saw that there was this really positive influence that he was having on her. Even when Lillian said that Finny wasn’t good enough for Hannah, she fought back.
I felt bad for Hannah and the guilt that she seemed to still carry around about the reason that Lillian died. It was no secret that she starved herself to death, and I felt bad that Hannah clearly felt that she should have done more to help her friend. In my own opinion, I think that there as more that she could have done for her, but that same loyalty that she has for her friends and family as blurred on if she should rat Lillian out about her anorexia. It was the decision not to that lead to her death. I know that being a teenager is hard, and I know that it can be hard to decide when to say that something is wrong and when not to, and Hannah made the wrong decision, but you can see how she grew from the girl that didn’t say anything and that would just set aside her own food for her friend into this young woman who wasn’t going to let her friend/boyfriend be bullied (or herself for that matter). I was pissed though that her mother got away with saying these awful things to her daughter about her weight when she was very clearly in trouble and she needed help, not someone to continue to make her feel inferior.
I adored this book, and Yovanoff has a new reader for life. I plan on checking out some of her other book and seeing if they can hold up to Paper Valentine.
I loved the investigation of the girls who were dying. While it wasn’t the most centric point of the book, I still enjoyed how the plot did incorporate it. I did not see the killer coming although once the killer was revealed it was easy to see how this person managed to become who they were. I felt awful for these little girl who had to lose their lives for such a stupid reason. In the murder plot, I loved how Lillian and Hannah worked together to try to figure out the different clues that they were given. I did find it a little creepy that Lillian kept like a murder binder about the first girl that died.
I felt that Hannah as a character was very loyal and I really liked that about her. Even though she had a strange little sister, she still treated her fairly and took care of her. I also loved that she worked in her cousins photo shop because I used to love to take photos and I always wanted my own dark room. It’s a total bummer that it’s a dying hobby, but I thought that part of the story was very cool. As for how this relates to Hannah, well even though she doesn’t get paid to work there its still great that she did it for her cousin even though she didn’t have to. Of course, there was the bonus feature of the crime scene photos, but either way, still very cool.
I adored Finny. I will admit that I was on the judgmental bandwagon when we were first introduced to him and his looks. Bleached hair? Summer school? He sounds just like an overall bad pill, but then you factor in the really cool and sweet things that he did like stick up for Hanna in the months following Lillian’s death, and how he sort of watched out for her little sister as well. There were a few times that he was a little suspicious, like when he had them cut through the woods where girls bodies were being found rather than taking the longer safer way home. But I still adored him and his sad story. I felt bad for him and I wanted to kiss all of his troubles away. (Just don’t tell my boyfriend.)
I was really glad that Hannah gave him a chance even though she knew she was going to get shit from her friends and she was very far out of the realm of his type. I was so proud of Hannah when she stood up for herself and Finny, and that was the moment where you saw that there was this really positive influence that he was having on her. Even when Lillian said that Finny wasn’t good enough for Hannah, she fought back.
I felt bad for Hannah and the guilt that she seemed to still carry around about the reason that Lillian died. It was no secret that she starved herself to death, and I felt bad that Hannah clearly felt that she should have done more to help her friend. In my own opinion, I think that there as more that she could have done for her, but that same loyalty that she has for her friends and family as blurred on if she should rat Lillian out about her anorexia. It was the decision not to that lead to her death. I know that being a teenager is hard, and I know that it can be hard to decide when to say that something is wrong and when not to, and Hannah made the wrong decision, but you can see how she grew from the girl that didn’t say anything and that would just set aside her own food for her friend into this young woman who wasn’t going to let her friend/boyfriend be bullied (or herself for that matter). I was pissed though that her mother got away with saying these awful things to her daughter about her weight when she was very clearly in trouble and she needed help, not someone to continue to make her feel inferior.
I adored this book, and Yovanoff has a new reader for life. I plan on checking out some of her other book and seeing if they can hold up to Paper Valentine.
rachielove9's review against another edition
5.0
This book absolutely bowled me over. I am in love with Finny Boone like I was in love with Augustus Waters. My heart hammered throughout this book and I teetered on the edge of my seat. Read it. Read it now.
ginnikin's review against another edition
I enjoyed it okay, but I am clearly not the target audience. I'm so done with bad boys, even if they only appear to be bad boys. The mood was moody, I guess, but that's not really my thing. I'm really ready for authors to stop throwing around words like "crazy" and "psychopath" (even if someone turns out to have very psychopathic traits: unless it's a psychiatrist talking about their patient, it's deeply inappropriate.)
kblincoln's review against another edition
5.0
I don't know what it is about Yovanoff's writing, but with finishing this second book, I'm a confirmed fan.
Maybe its how painfully earnest and real her characters are. Maybe its how she can take things like anorexia and murder and bullying and abuse and make them into everyday, lovely things when her characters get through them.
Maybe its because I love the way her dark, sad images reach down past the walls we make telling ourselves who we are into our little, frightened hearts.
"Someone has stolen the trees outside my room and replaced them with bones-- the kind that throw long shadows on the wall, reaching in through the butter-yellow curtains until morning."
Hannah lives in a town where a serial killer is loose. But death isn't completely unknown to her. She's lived with the ghost of her dead best friend for more than six months now, and only by luck and concentration has she kept people from assuming she's crazy.
But this serial killer is targeting girls too close to Hannah, and soon there will be other ghosts clamoring for her attention.
So yes, at the heart of this book is a mystery, but its not the serial killer one. What doesn't get said in blurbs (even mine) is that at the heart of the book is the mystery of how a girl stops pretending to be perfect and happy long enough to find someone who loves her brokenness.
And for Hannah, that person might be Finny-- the boy who used to take lunch money and pushed her face into ice crystals back in elementary school.
Maybe, when it comes down to it, that's what makes Yovanoff's books so compelling for me. There is no insta-attraction, no undying love, just two damaged souls finding a kind of peace.
The serial killer stuff is probably a bit disturbing for young readers not yet 5th grade.
This Book's Snack Rating: Dark-chocolate covered ginger for the bitter, shadowed flavor of the emotional struggles with the sharp bite of a murder mystery
Maybe its how painfully earnest and real her characters are. Maybe its how she can take things like anorexia and murder and bullying and abuse and make them into everyday, lovely things when her characters get through them.
Maybe its because I love the way her dark, sad images reach down past the walls we make telling ourselves who we are into our little, frightened hearts.
"Someone has stolen the trees outside my room and replaced them with bones-- the kind that throw long shadows on the wall, reaching in through the butter-yellow curtains until morning."
Hannah lives in a town where a serial killer is loose. But death isn't completely unknown to her. She's lived with the ghost of her dead best friend for more than six months now, and only by luck and concentration has she kept people from assuming she's crazy.
But this serial killer is targeting girls too close to Hannah, and soon there will be other ghosts clamoring for her attention.
So yes, at the heart of this book is a mystery, but its not the serial killer one. What doesn't get said in blurbs (even mine) is that at the heart of the book is the mystery of how a girl stops pretending to be perfect and happy long enough to find someone who loves her brokenness.
And for Hannah, that person might be Finny-- the boy who used to take lunch money and pushed her face into ice crystals back in elementary school.
Maybe, when it comes down to it, that's what makes Yovanoff's books so compelling for me. There is no insta-attraction, no undying love, just two damaged souls finding a kind of peace.
The serial killer stuff is probably a bit disturbing for young readers not yet 5th grade.
This Book's Snack Rating: Dark-chocolate covered ginger for the bitter, shadowed flavor of the emotional struggles with the sharp bite of a murder mystery
emperorcupcake's review against another edition
3.0
3.5
Ok look, I don't like romance. I like murder. You can keep your popular jocks and millionaires and doctors and lawyers and such - even your cowboys! - but if you present me with a kind, misunderstood Bad Boy from The Wrong Side of the Tracks, you got me. Dear god, I'm only human. I wouldn't read a whole book about that but you put it in my murder book, I'm not gonna be mad.
This is a YA supernatural thriller with a romance. It is nothing earth-shattering, but I like Brenna Yovanoff's writing. There's an effortless honesty to it. I loved her story in Toil and Trouble, which brought me here. And I liked this too, though sometimes novel-length YA can test my patience. I'm so beyond caring about things like mean girls and fitting in and high school hierarchies, but I understand I'm not the intended audience. And I still enjoyed it, so of course I'd recommend this to teens. I also love stories that are about the value of people you can just be yourself with - like without even having to think about it - even if they're not the so-called "right" people, and that's a big theme in this book.
One thing that bothered me tho - the paper valentines are never explained! like we know who left them, but not WHY. What is the significance of the title of the dang book, please??
Ok look, I don't like romance. I like murder. You can keep your popular jocks and millionaires and doctors and lawyers and such - even your cowboys! - but if you present me with a kind, misunderstood Bad Boy from The Wrong Side of the Tracks, you got me. Dear god, I'm only human. I wouldn't read a whole book about that but you put it in my murder book, I'm not gonna be mad.
This is a YA supernatural thriller with a romance. It is nothing earth-shattering, but I like Brenna Yovanoff's writing. There's an effortless honesty to it. I loved her story in Toil and Trouble, which brought me here. And I liked this too, though sometimes novel-length YA can test my patience. I'm so beyond caring about things like mean girls and fitting in and high school hierarchies, but I understand I'm not the intended audience. And I still enjoyed it, so of course I'd recommend this to teens. I also love stories that are about the value of people you can just be yourself with - like without even having to think about it - even if they're not the so-called "right" people, and that's a big theme in this book.
One thing that bothered me tho - the paper valentines are never explained! like we know who left them, but not WHY. What is the significance of the title of the dang book, please??
aloudy16's review against another edition
2.0
this book took me a few chapters to get into the teen mindset again and i am sad to say as good as the author did writing from a teenagers point of view, the events happening in the story were not exciting for me
froydis's review against another edition
4.0
4 1/2 stars - wow, what a great read! This is a compelling mystery with a conclusion I did NOT see coming, as well as a terrific psychological drama. Early on, I got to the point where I just couldn't put it down. The writing propels you along with the story. There are some fantastic characters. Highly Recommended!
dawnoftheread's review against another edition
3.0
Both ghost story and serial killer tale, this book tries perhaps to do too many things. Audiobook packaging says 12-18, but I definitely would not go lower than high school with this one.
missprint_'s review against another edition
5.0
Ludlow is in the midst of a heatwave that refuses to break. The thermometer is staying in the hundreds. Birds are dying. And Ludlow seems to be at a breaking point.
Hanna Wagner might be at a similar breaking point. Really, Hannah wants nothing more than to keep pretending she is the shiny, happy girl she used to be. She wants to go back to living the shiny, happy life everyone remembers her having.
But it's hard to pretend to be perfect and untouchable when her best friend, Lillian, died six months ago and has been haunting her ever since. It's even harder when all Hannah really wants to do is think about Finny Boone and his expansive shoulders and sudden but surprising moments of kindness.
All of that pretending to be normal becomes nearly impossible when a girl is found murdered and Lillian's ghost insists that Hannah should find out more about the dead girl and the investigation.
Soon Hannah realizes that she and Lillian may know more about the so-called Valentine Killer than either girl realized. Drawn into complicated dealings with ghosts, killers, and the enigmatic Finny Boone, Hannah begins to understand that nothing about dying--or living--is as straightforward as she once thought in Paper Valentine (2013) by Brenna Yovanoff.
Equal parts mystery and ghost story, Paper Valentine is a gripping, unexpected read. Yovanoff expertly weaves the suspense and tension of a mystery into Hannah's subtler story of grieving (and being haunted) and a summer that has the potential to change everything even before the murder.
Hannah is a vivid, lovable heroine. She is handy, artsy, fashionable, has a healthy home life and is generally fantastic. A proverbial lady-in-waiting without her queen, Hannah is adrift in a world she may not even like anymore. This novel is as much a story of her growth throughout the summer as it is a mystery or a ghost story. Populated with a vibrant ensemble cast and evocative settings, Paper Valentine is an excellent story of enduring friendship and suspense (and it has a beautiful cover to boot--this one is definitely the full package.)
Possible Pairings: Wintergirls by Laurie Halse Anderson, The Vast Fields of Ordinary by Nick Burd, Clarity by Kim Harrington, Guardian of the Dead by Karen Healey, The Name of the Star by Maureen Johnson, Fire and Hemlock by Diana Wynne Jones, The Queen of Attolia by Megan Whalen Turner, Between by Jessica Warman, Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein
Hanna Wagner might be at a similar breaking point. Really, Hannah wants nothing more than to keep pretending she is the shiny, happy girl she used to be. She wants to go back to living the shiny, happy life everyone remembers her having.
But it's hard to pretend to be perfect and untouchable when her best friend, Lillian, died six months ago and has been haunting her ever since. It's even harder when all Hannah really wants to do is think about Finny Boone and his expansive shoulders and sudden but surprising moments of kindness.
All of that pretending to be normal becomes nearly impossible when a girl is found murdered and Lillian's ghost insists that Hannah should find out more about the dead girl and the investigation.
Soon Hannah realizes that she and Lillian may know more about the so-called Valentine Killer than either girl realized. Drawn into complicated dealings with ghosts, killers, and the enigmatic Finny Boone, Hannah begins to understand that nothing about dying--or living--is as straightforward as she once thought in Paper Valentine (2013) by Brenna Yovanoff.
Equal parts mystery and ghost story, Paper Valentine is a gripping, unexpected read. Yovanoff expertly weaves the suspense and tension of a mystery into Hannah's subtler story of grieving (and being haunted) and a summer that has the potential to change everything even before the murder.
Hannah is a vivid, lovable heroine. She is handy, artsy, fashionable, has a healthy home life and is generally fantastic. A proverbial lady-in-waiting without her queen, Hannah is adrift in a world she may not even like anymore. This novel is as much a story of her growth throughout the summer as it is a mystery or a ghost story. Populated with a vibrant ensemble cast and evocative settings, Paper Valentine is an excellent story of enduring friendship and suspense (and it has a beautiful cover to boot--this one is definitely the full package.)
Possible Pairings: Wintergirls by Laurie Halse Anderson, The Vast Fields of Ordinary by Nick Burd, Clarity by Kim Harrington, Guardian of the Dead by Karen Healey, The Name of the Star by Maureen Johnson, Fire and Hemlock by Diana Wynne Jones, The Queen of Attolia by Megan Whalen Turner, Between by Jessica Warman, Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein
lisagoe's review against another edition
5.0
Another recent instant comfort read. This one deals with a serial killer, a dead best friend and yet I liked it. Admittedly, I think the author's prose helps, it's infinitely readable and the characters' have depths that flesh out gradually as you read. It's a teen drama with super big highs and lows for sure, but so well done that I felt the highs and lows without rolling my eyes. I held my breath instead. I liked these characters, especially the family dynamics between the sisters that developed and especially the narrator's developing idea about herself as her own person.