by Brenna Yovanoff
Hardcover, 368 pages
Expected publication: January 8th 2013 by Razorbill
ISBN 1595145990 (ISBN13: 9781595145994)


Blurb

The city of Ludlow is gripped by the hottest July on record. The asphalt is melting, the birds are dying, petty crime is on the rise, and someone in Hannah Wagnor’s peaceful suburban community is killing girls.

For Hannah, the summer is a complicated one. Her best friend Lillian died six months ago, and Hannah just wants her life to go back to normal. But how can things be normal when Lillian’s ghost is haunting her bedroom, pushing her to investigate the mysterious string of murders? Hannah’s just trying to understand why her friend self-destructed, and where she fits now that Lillian isn’t there to save her a place among the social elite. And she must stop thinking about Finny Boone, the big, enigmatic delinquent whose main hobbies seem to include petty larceny and surprising acts of kindness.

With the entire city in a panic, Hannah soon finds herself drawn into a world of ghost girls and horrifying secrets. She realizes that only by confronting the Valentine Killer will she be able move on with her life—and it’s up to her to put together the pieces before he strikes again.

The Good

  1. The news coverage.  The news coverage and the way the murders are handled throughout the story felt very realistic. This helped give a kind of credibility to the narrator and made me buy into the story more.

  2. The sickness.  As someone who has been afflicted with anorexia, I found the honesty with which Lillian’s sickness was portrayed very impressive. The simultaneous feelings of powerlessness and complete control in particular were very well written. For anyone who has never been a victim of or had a loved one who was a victim of this sickness, this aspect of the novel gives a horrifyingly realistic window into the life of someone who has.

  3. Finny.  I found Finny to be a particularly interesting character, probably one of my favorites in the story. The way his true character was revealed slowly allowed the reader to discover him in what felt like a very genuine fashion.

  4. The clues.  I loved how Yovanoff sprinkled clues like breadcrumbs throughout the story, leading not only the reader but the characters to the same conclusion, only to turn right around and rip the rug right out from under everyone.


The Bad

  1. The competing plot lines.  This story has three main plots. 1) Whole flocks of birds falling dead throughout the town. 2) Lillian’s sickness and her ghost. 3) The serial killer. Having more than one path to follow at any given time isn’t a bad thing at all, it usually helps give the story depth. In the case of Paper Valentine however, it simply feels like Yovanoff had three very different stories in mind and instead of keeping the three ideas separate, she decided to take the best bits of each and cram them altogether into one novel. None of them feel particularly related (the birds are never explained at all). At times they even seem to compete with one another, leaving the narrative disjointed and confusing.


Favorite Quote

"Our whole lives, it was like we were always trying so hard to be perfect—for our families and our friends, for each other—when the funny thing was, we didn’t have to. In the end, we were better than that."


Overall Rating

I loved the serial killer plot line in this book. It was creepy, clever, and well-paced. The final reveal was shocking and had a great twist. Unfortunately, the presence of additional plot lines left the story feeling cluttered and disjointed, making the overall read a little less enjoyable.