Bleeding Violet

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Bleeding Violet Pub. Date: 1/5/2010 Publisher: Simon Pulse

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Overview

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. And when a crazy girl meets an even crazier town, only two things are certain: Anything can happen and no one is safe.

Dia Reeves

Editorial Reviews

Publishers Weekly

In Reeves's dark and stylish first novel, 16-year-old Hanna arrives in the Texas town of Portero seeking Rosalee, the mother she's never known, and fleeing her aunt, who wants her back in a mental institution (Hanna is manic-depressive and has conversations with her deceased father). But Hanna soon learns that Portero has doors to other worlds, allowing ghoulish creatures such as “lures,” who can turn people to glass, to wreak havoc. A group called the Mortmaine keeps the population safe, and when Hanna helps a member named Wyatt defeat the lures, she finally earns acceptance in the unfriendly town. Hanna's sassy voice reflects her freewheeling, unstable personality (“back in Dallas, I decided to sleep with all the boys in my class in alphabetical order”). Even as Rosalee slowly warms to her daughter, walls remain, at one point driving Hanna to attempt suicide. Reeves writes surely and with flair, though readers should be prepared for gore (Hanna slices flesh from Wyatt's father's leg to defeat a demon) and other disturbing moments, as when a naked Hanna and Rosalee torture a boy. Not for the faint of heart. Ages 14–up. (Jan.)

School Library Journal

Gr 8 Up—Hanna Jarvinen, 16, is biracial, bicultural, and bipolar. She makes her own clothes, all of which are purple. After the death of her Finnish father, Hanna goes to Portero, TX, to reunite with her unsuspecting and unwelcoming mother, Rosalee. Demons, spirits, and monsters of every variety populate the town. The ghost of Hanna's father haunts her even when she takes her meds. She takes up with Wyatt, one of Portero's designated monster hunters, to free her mother of a notorious evil spirit. The town lore is jumbled and confusing, and the vast and gruesome variety of ghouls seems completely random. Everything in Bleeding Violet is overwrought. Hanna describes her sexual encounters in bodice-ripping detail, yet she and Wyatt have zero chemistry. Their paranormal interactions are nonsensically gross instead of legitimately scary. Hanna and Rosalee's conversations are an odd combination of wooden exposition and shrieking melodrama. The gross-outs come fast and often, but fail to move the story along. Rosalee's possession, in the last third of the book, seems like a cheap device to resolve an otherwise aimless plot. Hanna's wacky quirks may irritate teens, and though earnest and occasionally witty, she never engages readers.—Johanna Lewis, New York Public Library

More Reviews (2) Fewer Reviews

Kirkus Reviews

Portero, Texas, is so terrifying that out-of-towners flee in terror. Wonderful new heroine Hanna Jarvinen, however, is hard to spook. She makes friends easily: Black and Finnish, she's comfortable standing out. Moreover, the lifesuckers and cacklers of Portero aren't that freaky to a bipolar girl with hallucinations of her own. After all, Hanna fled here, to her estranged mother, after nearly killing her aunt in a mania-fueled attack. Chopping her way out of the guts of a giant scorpion-thing won't faze her. Sure, it's disconcerting that her pre-Portero delusions have solidified into genuine ghosts, and her new boyfriend fights demons for a living, but Hanna will do whatever it takes to win her mother's love. Hanna's manic depression is integral to her adventure, with her swings alternately harming and helping her in magical battles. Nonetheless, her story is the opposite of a Problem Novel. Neither Hanna nor readers will learn any life lessons about mental illness. This fast-paced (almost manic) page-turner about defeating evil and finding love respects its richly drawn characters too much for easy didacticism. Captivating. (Fantasy. 14 & up)

VOYA

An original plot, a unique protagonist, and plenty of weirdness makes Reeves's first novel a satisfying read for older teens. Hannah Jarvinen is a beautiful, biracial teen looking for someone to love her. She speaks the Finnish language and cooks Finnish cuisine. She wears only purple to honor her dead father, whose ghost speaks to her. She is strong-minded, wild, lonely, and very troubled. She is also bipolar and suffers from hallucinations and fits of violent mania. When her aunt tries to put her in a mental institution, she takes a rolling pin and travels to Portero, Texas, to find her mother. In addition to her mother, she finds a town of black-clad people living in fear of strange monsters called "lures," and a group of monster hunters known as the Mortmaine. Portero contains doors to a dark world that can be opened with "keys" fashioned from bones. Being used to the strange, Hannah is not scared off, and instead becomes determined to prove to her mother that she can be accepted in a town where outsiders are called "transies" (or transients). She falls in lust with popular Wyatt, a Mortmaine. When she helps him to defeat five of the lures, she is hailed as a hero in the town and is compelled to learn more. She becomes Wyatt's lover, and soon she is by his side hunting demons. Her relationship with her mysterious mother, however, does not come as easily. She soon realizes that her mother has her own strange dark connections to Portero and the Mortmaine. This teen novel is not for the faint of heart. There is plenty of blood, gore, violence, sex, and bad decisions. The main character would make many parents cringe. Teens who crave all those things and a dose of the dark arts will love this novel. Although Hannah is not a character to emulate, she is interesting. The plot can be a bit confusing at times, and some situations just do not make sense. For instance, Hannah suffers no consequences for violently assaulting her aunt. Nevertheless it is a fantasy, so some suspension of disbelief is required when reading this interesting debut from an author to watch. Reviewer: Victoria Vogel

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781416986195
Publisher: Simon Pulse
Publication date: 12/7/2010
Pages: 454
Sales rank: 153,948
Age range: 14 - 17 Years
Lexile: HL710L (what's this?)
Product dimensions: 8.68 (w) x 11.70 (h) x 1.23 (d)

Meet the Author

Dia is a librarian currently living in Irving, Texas.

Read an Excerpt

Bleeding Violet

By Dia Reeves

Simon Pulse

Copyright © 2010 Dia Reeves
All right reserved.
ISBN: 9781416986195

Chapter One

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.

Unreal.

Why didn?t you have the truck driver let you off right in front of her house? Poppa?s voice echoed peevishly in my head, as if he were the one having to navigate alone in the dark.

?I have to creep up on her,? I whispered, unwilling to disturb the extreme quiet of midnight, ?otherwise my heart might explode.?

What?s her house number?

?1821,? I told him, noting mailboxes of castles and pirate ships and the street numbers painted on them. I had to fish my penlight from my pack to see the numbers; streetlights were scarce, and the sky bulged with low, sooty clouds instead of helpful moonlight.

Portero sat in a part of East Texas right on the tip of the Piney Woods; wild tangles of ancient pine and oak twisted throughout the town. But here on Lamartine, the trees had been tamed, corralled behind ornamental fences and yoked with tire swings.

?It?s pretty here, isn?t it??

Disturbingly pretty. said Poppa. Where are the slaughterhouses? The oil oozing from every pore of the land? Where?s the brimstone?

?Don?t be so dramatic, Poppa. She?s not that bad. She can?t be.?

No? His grim tone unnerved me as it always did when he spoke of my mother. Rosebushes and novelty mailboxes don?t explain her attitude. I never imagined she would live in such a place. She isn?t the type.

?Maybe she?s changed.?

Ha!

?Then I?ll make her change,? I said, passing a mailbox shaped like a chicken?1817.

How had I gotten so close?

A few short feet later, I was better than close?I was there: 1821.

My mother?s house huddled in the middle of a great expanse of lawn. None of the other houses nestled chummily near hers; even her garage was unattached. A lone tree decorated her lawn, a sweet gum, bare and ugly?nothing like her neighbors? gracefully spreading shade trees. Her mailbox was strictly utilitarian, and the fence that circled her property was chin high and unfriendly.

Ah. said Poppa, vindicated. That?s more like it.

I ignored him and crept through the unfriendly gate and up the porch steps. The screen door wasn?t locked?didn?t even have a lock?so I let myself into the dark space and sat in the little garden chair to the left of the front door. I sat for a long time, catching my breath. I sat and I breathed. I breathed and I sat?

Stop stalling, Hanna.

My hands knotted over my stomach, over the swarm of butterflies warring within. I gazed at the dark length of the front door, consumed with what was on the other side of it. ?Do you think she?ll be happy to see me?? I asked Poppa. ?Even a little??

Not if you go in with that attitude. Where?s your spine?

?What if she doesn?t believe I?m her daughter??

You look exactly like her. How many times have I told you? Now, stop being silly and go introduce yourself.

Poppa always knew how to press my ?rational? button. ?You?re right. I am being silly.? I straightened my dress, hitched up my pack, marched to the front door, and raised my fist to?

NO. The force of the word rattled my brain. Don?t knock. It?s after midnight. You?ll wake her up, and she awakens badly.

?How badly?? I whispered, hand to my ringing skull.

As badly as you.

Uh-oh.

Nine times out of ten, I awoke on my own, naturally, even without an alarm clock, but if I was awoken before I was ready, things could get ? interesting. And apparently, I?d gotten that trait from my mother.

Cool.

Just let yourself in. said Poppa, his advice rock solid as always. It?s practically your house anyway.

I crouched on the porch, the wood unkind to my bare knees, and folded back the welcome mat. A stubby bronze key glinted in the glow of my penlight.

A spare key.

?Only in a small town,? I whispered, snatching it up.

I unlocked the door and slipped inside.

A red metallic floor lamp with spotlights stuck all over it stood in the center of the room. One of the spotlights beamed coldly?as though my mother had known I was coming and had left the light on for me.

Aside from the red chrysanthemums in a translucent vase above the sham fireplace, and the red throw pillow gracing the single chair near the floor lamp, the entire living room was unrelievedly blue-white.

Modern, the same style Poppa had liked?

Still likes. he said.

?and so I immediately felt at home.

My hopes began to rise again.

I slipped the spare key into the pocket of my dress as I traveled down a short hallway, my French heels clicking musically against the blond wood floor. I put my ear to each of the three doors in the hall, until a slow, deep breathing sighed into my head from behind door number three.

My mother?s breath. Soothing and gentle, as if the air that puffed from her lungs was purer than other people?s.

I stood with my head to the door, trying to match my breath to hers, until my ear began to sting from the pressure.

I regarded the door thoughtfully. Fingered the brass knob.

No, I told you. Poppa was adamant. You need to entice her out of bed.

?I know how to do that,? I whispered, the idea coming to me all at once.

I stole into the kitchen and turned on the light near the swinging door. The kitchen, like the living room, was blue-white, with a single lipstick-red dining chair providing the only color, aside from me in my violet dress.

I dumped my purple bag by the red chair and went exploring, and after I learned where she kept the plates, the French bread, and the artisanal cheese, I decided to make grilled-cheese sandwiches. I took no especial pains to be quiet?I wanted her company. I?d traveled more than one hundred miles in three different crapmobiles and an eighteen-wheeler full of beer just to bask in her presence, but it wasn?t until I plated the food that she shoved through the kitchen door.

My grandma Annikki once told me that anyone who looked on the face of God would instantly fall over dead. Looking at my mother?for the first time ever?I wondered if it was because God was beautiful.

I had the same hourglass figure, the same hazel skin, the same turbulence of tight, skinny curls; but while my curls were a capricious brown, hers were shadow black.

Island-girl hair. Poppa whispered admiringly.

I averted my eyes and presented the sandwiches, like an offering. ?Do you want any??

She drifted toward me in a red sleep shirt and bare feet, seeming to bend the air around her. Her mouth was expressive, naturally rosy, and mean. Just like mine. Our lips turned down at the corners and made us look spoiled.

?You broke into my house to fix a snack,? she said, testing the words, her East Texas drawl stretching each syllable like warm taffy. ?I better be dreaming this up, little girl.?

?It?s no dream, Rosalee. I?m here. I?m your daughter.?

Her hands clutched her sleep shirt, over her heart, otherwise she didn?t move. Her oil black eyes raked me in a discomfiting sweep.

?My daughter?s in Finland,? she said, the words heavy with disbelief.

?Not anymore. Not for years. I?m here now.? I reached out to touch her or hug her?any contact would have been staggering?but she stepped away from my questing hands, her mean mouth twisting as she spoke my name.

?Hanna??

?Yes.?

?God.? She seemed to recognize me then, her gaze softening a little. ?You even have his eyes.?

?I know.? I marveled over the similarities between us. ?Not much else, though.?

Rosalee looked away from me, tugging at her hair as if she wanted to pull it out. ?How could he let you come here? Alone. In the middle of the night. Did he crack??

?He died. Last year.?

She let her hair fall forward, hiding from me, so if any grief or regret touched her face, I didn?t see it.

After a time, Rosalee stalked past me and stood before the picture window. ?If he died last year,? she said, ?why come to me now? How?d you even know where to find me??

I sat in the red chair, clashing violently in my purple dress. ?I stole your postcard from Poppa?s desk when I was seven, the month before we moved to the States.? I went into my pack for the postcard. It was soft, yellowed with the years. On one side was a photo of Fountain Square, somewhere here in Portero. On the back was my old address in Helsinki, and in the body of the card, the single word ?NO.?

I showed it to her. ?What were you saying no to??

Rosalee glanced at the postcard but wouldn?t touch it. She settled herself against the window, her back to the lowering sky. ?I don?t remember what question he asked: to marry him, to visit y?all, to love y?all. Maybe all three. No to all three.?

I put the postcard away. ?When Poppa and I moved to Dallas, the first thing I did was go to the public library and look up your name in the Portero phone book.?

I?d gotten such a thrill seeing her name in stark black letters, Rosalee Price, an actual person?not a legend Poppa had made up to comfort me whenever I wondered aloud why other kids had mothers and I didn?t.

?I memorized your address and phone number. For eight years I recited them to myself before I went to sleep, like a lullaby. I didn?t bother to contact you, though. Poppa had warned me what to expect if I tried. That?s why I just showed up on your doorstep?I didn?t want to give you a chance to say no.?

She regarded me with a reptilian stillness, unmoved by my speech. ?Who?ve you been staying with since he died??

?His sister. My aunt Ulla.?

?She know you?re here??

?Even our feet are the same.?

?What??

I took off my purple high heels and showed her my skinny feet?the long toes and high arches. Exactly like hers.

?I asked you about your aunt,? said Rosalee, still unmoved.

I admired the sight of our naked feet, settled so closely together, golden against the icy sheen of the kitchen tile.

?I didn?t even know I looked like you. I figured I did. Poppa told me I did. I knew I didn?t look like anybody on Poppa?s side of the family. They?re all tall and blond and white as snow foxes. And here I am, tallish and brunette and brown as sugar. Just like you. My grandma Annikki used to say if I hadn?t been born with gray eyes, no one would have known for sure that I belonged to them. And I did belong to them, but I belong to you, too. I want to know about you.?

That Sally Sunshine act won?t work on her. Poppa warned.

But it was working. As I spoke, Rosalee?s gaze remained focused on me, her unswerving interest startling but welcome in light of her antagonism.

?Poppa told me some things. He?d tell me how beautiful you were, but in the same breath, he?d curse you and say you were dead on the inside. So I?ve always thought of you that way?an undead Cinderella, greenish and corpselike, but wearing a ball gown. Do you even have a ball gown? I could make one for you. I make all my own clothes. I made this dress. Isn?t it sweet?? I stood so she could admire it. ?I always feel like Alice when I wear it. That would make this Wonderland, wouldn?t it? And you the White Rabbit?always out of reach.?

?Why do you have blood on your dress??

Her intense scrutiny made sense now. She hadn?t been interested in me, but in my bloodstains. I followed her gaze to the two dark smidges near my waist.

Sally Sunshine and her bloodstained dress. said Poppa, disappointed in me. I told you to change clothes, didn?t I?

I fell back into the red chair, the skirt of my dress flouncing about my knees, refusing to let Poppa?s negativity derail me.

?What makes you think that?s blood? That could be anything. That could be ketchup.?

?That ain?t ketchup,? Rosalee said. ?And this ain?t Wonderland. This is Portero?I know blood when I see it.?

I nibbled my food silently.

?Whose blood is that??

Tell her. Poppa encouraged. I guarantee she won?t care.

?It?s Aunt Ulla?s blood,? I said. ?I hit her on the head with a rolling pin.?

I risked another glance into her face. Nothing.

Told you.

?And?? Rosalee prompted.

Did she want details?

?Aunt Ulla?s blood spurted everywhere, onto my dress, into my eyes.? I blinked hard in remembrance. ?It burned.? I fingered the smidges at my waist. ?I thought I?d cleaned myself up, but apparently??

?Hanna.? Despite her apathy, Rosalee addressed me with an undue amount of care, as though I were a rabid dog she didn?t want to spook. ?Did you kill your aunt??

I ate the last bit of grilled cheese. I licked the grease from my fingers. ?Probably.?

? 2010 Dia Reeves

Continues...

Excerpted from Bleeding Violet by Dia Reeves Copyright © 2010 by Dia Reeves. Excerpted by permission.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

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acsimps

Posted July 13, 2010

more from this reviewer

I Also Recommend:

One word will do it....CRAZY!

Bleeding Violet is the most bizarre and amazing book I have read this year. I am not exaggerating when I say that you will literally be reading this book and suddenly say "What the F$*&?!" out loud. This town that Dia has created (Portero, Texas) is full of monsters (too many to even mention), a suicide door, portals to other locations, and a very shady history. This town has enough crazy to go around...enter Hanna.

Hanna is crazy...no literally she is crazy. She is a little strange and hallucinating about her dead father is just the icing on the cake. Hanna is obsessed with purple (hence the title). She even makes her own purple dresses and never goes out in anything but one of her dresses and a pair of heels. Hanna comes to Portero to keep from being sent to an institution. When Hanna shows up on her Rosalie's (her mother's) door step it is clear that Hanna is not welcome. But Hanna is stubborn and will not take no for an answer.

When Hanna starts school she immediately realizes that there is defiantly something strange about this town. Why does everybody wear black? Why does everyone wear earplugs in class? Oh but wait, not everybody is in all black. Wyatt appears on the scene in all of his gorgeousness wearing a lovely shade of green and kicking some major monster butt. Hanna is immediately determined to become a fixture in his life.

Turns out, Wyatt is a member of a group called the Mortmaine, a group of hunters that protects Portero. Despite all of the killing, fighting, and literally being eaten going on it is amazing that Hanna and Wyatt find time to fit romance into the mix. I feel the need to once again say how incredibly insane this book is (wait until you read the naked by the lake scene) but it is also amazing once you finish it. Oh and the cover art is fantastic! How can you not pick it up off the shelf? FYI - this book is more mature then your average YA book. Hanna and Wyatt have a sexual relationship and some scenes are a little bloody/graphic. If you love it as much as I did you will be happy to know that Dia Reeves is releasing another book set in the crazy town of Portero, Texas. Slice of Cherry will be out January 2011! New characters same crazy town! I cant wait!

http://bringmeanotherbook.blogspot.com/

5 out of 6 people found this review helpful.
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Anonymous

Posted October 22, 2011

Pretty awesome

Very entertaining. Dont listen to the negative reveiws. Their just haters. If ur a person that liikes spooky books youll love this!!

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
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Bookwormalltheway

Posted December 22, 2009

Very strange

This book is very strange but also very good. Its about a girl who is bipoler, She runs away to a new town to find her mother, and also to escape from her aunt who was going to put her in a pyche-ward. What happens in the town? You're gonna have to find out yourself, lets just say I didn't see it comeing. I would reccomend this book to anyone who think's all teen books are the same.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
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Anonymous

Posted March 3, 2012

Bleeding Violet

Dark and enchanting. This book was amazing and interesting and romantic. The book had surprises and twist and it was very different from what I usually read. This book ended to where I didn't need another book although I wouldn't mind there being another. The characters were shown great in the book and I loved everything about the main character even her hallucinations which were actually pretty cool. This book is something you would definetly want to read.
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Anonymous

Posted February 24, 2012

Crazy, disturbing... I love it.

i actually enjoyed this book. A mixture of Alice in Wonderland with A hint of Twilight Zone. Amazing
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Katerinamortiky47

Posted January 30, 2012

UMMMMM...............

OK this book was strange, the plot was kinda weird and I slightly hated the main character. But Dia Reeves other book(Slice of Cherry) was pretty good so I recommend that. The plot was kinda scattered and the character's actions kinda make you mad. It was hard to get through, I had to stop and not read for a couple days then force myself to read the rest. But if you like REALLY REALLY weird and messed up stuff then read this book.
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Anonymous

Posted December 21, 2011

Dissapointment

BIG DISSAPOINTMENT the storyline was horrible it made no sense the characters were worse hannah was an obsessive psychotic brat and her mom was weird too everything was all over the place it was a mess. Dont waste youre money.

0 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
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ShadyLane18

Posted October 7, 2011

I Also Recommend:

Crazy Good!!

Okay let me start by saying this book was AMAZING!!! The main character, Hanna, is crazy...literally crazy! I could not put this book down! I finished it in one day and I totally recommend it for anyone who likes books that are fast paced, has a lot of paranormal stuff and a little love story thrown in. Definitely fun and worth the money!
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Anonymous

Posted September 30, 2011

Hated Hannah

The plot and setting of this story was so chaotic it was like putting every paranormal character and every paranormal scenario in a blender and turning it on high speed without the lid on. Hannah was unique but she was also annoying. There is a reason most books aren't told from the perspective of an unreliable narrator, and that's because it gets tiring. The whole swan thing was so ridiculous and childish and it made Hannah seem so much younger than she really was that when she was being slutty I was really disturbed. That was another thing. Hannah was kind of slutty when you think about it, she was always pushing herself on Wyatt and trying to use her physical appearance and her body to make people like her. But on top of all of this I visited Dia Reeve's website and I have to say, she seems like a total witch. The way she addresses her readers on her website is so condescending and rude. She obviously doesn't care about being liked or even reaching out to the people who are buying her books and therefore paying her rent, her utility bills, and lets face it, braces are expensive. She should be a little more gracious and thank her readers for all of their support rather than insult them. I'm sorry but I'm not going to care about an author who doesn't care about her readers. Maybe she was trying to be sarcastic and funny but but it didn't work. I won't be purchasing any more of her books or supporting her in any way in the future

0 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
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9188662

Posted August 11, 2011

Lovveee this book !!!!

I love this book i have read it many times and not once has it bored me :) Its a MUST READ!
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K_malinczak

Posted July 22, 2011

more from this reviewer

Review of Bleeding Violet by Great Imaginations

Bleeding Violet was a very strange book. But it was also a fantastic book! I don't have a lot to say about this one, it was just a very demented read. It was gory, bloody, and very suspenseful. A lot of the plot events that occurred, sometimes didn't even have a reason for occurring. Some of it didn't even make a whole lot of sense.

At first I wasn't sure if I was going to like it. I think it took me about 80 pages for me to decide I was going to finish it. I am glad I made that decision.

This was one of those books where you couldn't really trust the narrator. Because Hanna was nuts. Or at least she used to be. But is she still? She comes to the town of Portero to find her mother. And her mother is nuts too. And all of the hallucinations that Hanna was suffering from come to life. And then suddenly they aren't hallucinations anymore. Because there are some strange things that go on in this town. There are monsters and ghosts, and what I couldn't figure out is, if this is such a dangerous and crazy town to live in, then why don't people just leave? That question was never answered by the way.

It was a good book, it just wasn't mind-blowing. It was definitely different. In a genre where plots are getting tired, and there really isn't a lot of uniqueness left, the author managed to find some. She's got another book, and I intend to read it at some point. I think she's a great author, I just wish I understood her motivations for writing so strangely.
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9093225

Posted June 12, 2011

AMAZING

i+read+this+book+and+i+could+not+put+it+down.+by+far++one+of+my+favorites+and+i+soo+recommend+it
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Mdesmondobrien

Posted May 9, 2011

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Wild, crazy fun

Remember when I said how excited I was to review this one? Remember? Well. I lied. This book is actually a pain in the rear end to review, because is just so darn weird. And in my book in YA at the moment, with dozens and dozens and dozens of books that start to look exactly the same, weird = awesome. This is the kind of book I'd recommend to my special friends, the ones who understand that just because I read a book about a girl who decides to paint the walls with her own blood does not mean I should be committed to a psych ward. The ones who would understand the deep and indestructible bond that has been forged between me and Portero in this book and would fantasize about all the ways we'd prove our non-transy-pants-ness to Hanna, Wyatt, and the rest of the Porterenes when we move there. Seriously, while I don't do "best-of" lists - there are just too many factors at play - if I had to do a "most memorable" list, this book would blow the competition out of the water.

The other reason I can't review a book like this? Every time I start thinking of something bad to say about it, my brain counteracts it with wild admiration of Dia Reeves's bravery in writing this. It's the Donnie Darko of the book world, violent, uncomfortable, just plain effed up. Unlike Donnie Darko, it's also very sexy, which considering that nine out of ten challenged books were challenged for sexual content, is the more dangerous move on the part of the author. I wouldn't exactly recommend that all sixteen-year-olds run around and be as crazy as Hanna by any means - it sure isn't a moral handbook - but it's utterly fresh in its daring, and the repressed rebel inside of me loved it.

Also, Finland! A bicultural, biracial protagonist! Love! I finished reading this book, and even though she never even mentioned lefse I had to go have some. And then I lamented the fact that we don't have a sauna. I'm a Caucasian melting pot, and if there was one particular cultural identity I'd emphasize, it would absolutely be Finland, even though pigs will fly before I learn the language. My vocabulary currently consists of two words. Anyway, thank you Dia Reeves for giving that a shout-out in Hanna's character. If I was the kind of person who said squee - which, of course, I'm not - I would totally be squeeing right now.

It's not the most well-written book I've read this year, but it's definitely one of the most wild, crazy, and fun.
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3675377

Posted March 8, 2011

This book ROCKS!!!!!!!!!! Dia Reeves duz it again!!!!!!!!!!!

this book is awesome. plz dont listen to the people who wrote negative reviews, bcause they obviously dont know what theyre talking about. who other than dia reeves is going to write a book about a crazy girl who slays monsters? seriously? dont listen to them, read this NOW!!!!!! also read her latest book Slice of Cherry. i hope this review has helped u to decide to choose this book for ur library!!!! - PenguinGirl2
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Harriet_the_Spy

Posted February 16, 2011

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HORRID - Do not waste your money!

I bought this book after reading the free excerpt and being intrigued by the madness of the main character. The first 25 or so pages are good...but that's it. From then on, the writing is disjointed and choppy and the storyline is...well, I'm not sure what the storyline was supposed to be. I gave this book 100 pages and could not continue. The author just kept introducing characters without developing any of them. It is most certainly the worst book I have attempted to read in a long time.

0 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
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6878195

Posted February 13, 2011

Disappointment.

The only reason I picked this up was because it said it was about an insane girl. I enjoy reading things about crazy people, and they hardly ever get the spotlight in books. Now, imagine my disappointment when I realize that Hanna is a full blooded Mary Sue. Her insanity takes the back seat and becomes completely irrelevent while she is out fighting monsters and having lots of steamy alone time with her new boyfriend. All while wearing her signature, rediculously unnecessary attire, which consists of overly complicated purple dresses(which she makes herself) and high heels. And yes, she dresses like that PURPOSELY when she knows she is going out to slay monsters. If you are like me, and mainy get into things because the characters are interesting, then I would highly advise that you do not waste your money or time on this.
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kittydanza

Posted January 10, 2011

Great YA Horror

BLEEDING VIOLET, by Dia Reeves, is a graphic and horrifying book about a town in Texas and a girl who stands on her own to fit in. The town of Portero (Spanish to English translation= Doorman), houses people who are not afraid of the unknown creatures of other worlds. There are doorways in this town that open to unimaginable terrors.

Hanna is special girl. She has multiple ailments of the brain that no doctor can correctly diagnose. She is prescribed different pills for her symptoms, such as hallucinations. She moves to Portero to live with her estranged mother after her father passes away. Hanna's mixed up head makes her fit in better because she is not surprised by things that are beyond normal. I really got a kick out of Hanna. This book was strange in itself, so it needed a strong (and strange) character to make it believable. It took a few chapters for me to get the hang of her mentality but she definitely has a place in my heart now. Hanna and Wyatt made for a different kind of couple. In a way they were two halves of a whole. It was sweet that he accepted her so quickly after seeing how she reacted to the abnormal events in the town.

Reeves is definitely a mastermind of creativity. The 'creatures' that Hanna and Wyatt came up against stretched my imagination to the limit. I loved how they became a dynamic duo in battling against those not from our world. Reeves put a lot into one book but she did it so perfectly when incorporating a killer plot into the mix. This is definitely a great book to explore waaay outside a typical YA comfort zone.
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Lolafalana

Posted November 29, 2010

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Lovely

Reeves is a talented author, simply put. Her creativity and words are brilliant, funny, creepy, and circle around to make one of the most entertaining characters I've read in a long time.

Bleeding Violet is about a girl named Hanna who is a little . . . crazy. Certifiably. Which makes this a unique perspective on the teenage mind. I'm still a sucker for the girl meets boy at school and something is different about him and/or where they live. I thought this was going to be one of those. But it wasn't. Hanna is eccentric, like a stray flower floating through the air. She meets Wyatt who likes her, no matter her manic depression and hallucinations. And because of those hallucinations, the monsters, creatures, and creepy-crawlies of Portero, TX are nothing new. Actually, they're exciting because they're actually real.

Over all, this book went above and beyond and the characters came alive for me. Excellent!
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CubicleblindnessKM

Posted November 16, 2010

Dark and Intense

Wow! I DEVOURED this book. I found it completely unique, intriguing and imaginative. I would read this book again any day. Multi-dimensions, ghosts, monsters, wishes, the list goes on. This book can be considered kind of a dark story, but that is right up my alley! I only recommend this book to Mature Teens, there is some sexual content
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TeensReadToo

Posted October 4, 2010

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Reviewed by McKenzie Tritt for TeensReadToo

Hanna is what some people would call insane. After bashing her aunt on the head with a rolling pin, she runs away to Portero, hoping to find her mom. Once there, she quickly learns that dark things are everywhere. Mysterious events continually occur, with people vanishing and dying. Sometimes, even more mysterious than the events, are Portero's residents. Hanna must earn her place in this twisted town and prove her worthiness. Dia Reeves has unabashedly created a world of complete insanity and oddness, sucking the reader in from the start. Her storytelling and characterization will hook readers and have them flipping pages. I devoured this 464-page story in a single day, unable to put it down. Hanna is clinically crazy, but compared to the rest of Portero, she's fairly normal. When first introduced to the story, it may seem hard to grasp and confusing. That, however, was what drew me in. I was utterly confused as to what was going on, but I had to find out more. Hanna's insane antics added excitement to the plot and kept me guessing. I literally never knew what to expect. Living wooden swans, glass people, what next?! This book could have been terribly off in many ways, but because Ms. Reeves presented it in such a convincing, laid-back manner, the oddness became cool. The characters in Hanna's life were each individual and had some of the best characterization I've seen yet. Her mother was harsh, depriving Hanna of a real relationship. Even so, Rosalee is a compelling character who has her motives for being cold. Wyatt, Hanna's love interest, was totally bad ass but not a bad boy. He had a sweet job of taking down the evil entities in Portero, but he still had a fun personality. Wyatt is definitely one of the most enjoyable love interests in Young Adult fiction these days. I loved almost every aspect of this book. The oddities, the real characters, all of it was amazing. I was slightly turned off by the casual approach to sex and nudity, however. For some characters, mainly Rosalee, this laid-back approach was almost a defensive mechanism. It added to her persona in some ways. With Hanna, though, I was irked about her casual manner. I really can't place why I felt differently towards her. It was just off. Sorry, but there's really no way to explain why I was bothered by it. For those who have read it, the lake scene with the nerdy boy? Birthday suits were not necessary, in my humble opinion. Another part of this book was its gruesomeness. I've got a sturdy stomach and am never affected by books' descriptions of blood and gore, but there was one particular scene that really got to me. I actually got woozy and a little nauseous. I caution those with weak stomachs. Regardless, though, this is one of the best books of 2010 - a must-read. It was insane, but enjoyably so. I recommend it to anyone and everyone.
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One word will do it....CRAZY!

Pretty awesome

Very strange

Bleeding Violet

Crazy, disturbing... I love it.

UMMMMM...............

Dissapointment

Crazy Good!!

Hated Hannah

Lovveee this book !!!!

Review of Bleeding Violet by Great Imaginations

AMAZING

Wild, crazy fun

This book ROCKS!!!!!!!!!! Dia Reeves duz it again!!!!!!!!!!!

HORRID - Do not waste your money!

Disappointment.

Great YA Horror

Lovely

Dark and Intense

Reviewed by McKenzie Tritt for TeensReadToo