Published by Razorbill
Released January 8, 2013
368 pages
Where I got it: E-galley from publisher via Netgalley
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Description (from Goodreads):

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.

I was so happy that Paper Valentine wasn’t just another pretty face (cover). Yes, the cover art is gorgeous, but I also found the story and characters contained within to be equally as enticing. There are multiple themes and storylines happening at once, offering readers a complex, but never over-complicated, story centered around the depressed and lonely Hannah.

Hannah isn’t like other girls. Her best friend, Lillian, has recently died of complications of anorexia. That doesn’t mean that she’s gone, though. Lillian hovers around Hannah, both comforting and tormenting her. At times, Hannah just wants Lillian to leave. At others, she can’t imagine life without her constant presence. Hannah’s also struggling with her attraction to bad boy Finny Boone, a large, tough looking classmate missing a finger, who turns out to be surprisingly tender.

At the heart of this story, though, are murders. Yes, this is a murder mystery. Young girls are turning up dead in their town. Since the shop where Hannah works processes the crime-lab photograph, Hannah sees that the murders have a pattern of knickknacks and paper valentines left with the bodies. And I totally didn’t guess who the killer was.

What I love about this book is that Yovanoff isn’t afraid of letting things get creepy. There’s an awesome Ouija board scene, and Hannah begins to descend down into her own dark psyche in order to help solve the murders.

Paper Valentine‘s a must-read for fans of young adult darkness and mystery. The insight into Lillian’s anorexia and the dynamics of the mean-girl clique, as well as how people treat Finny Boone, will get your interest, but the murders will spurn you to keep reading to the dark end.

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Published by Plume
Released November 27, 2012
256 pages
Where I got it: Public library
Rating: 2 out of 5 stars

Description (from Goodreads):

“It’s okay with me if you picked up this book because you’re curious about what it’s like to live with dwarfism. But I hope that you’ll take away much more–about adapting to the world when it won’t adapt to you.”–from “Dwarf ”
A memoir of grit and transformation for anyone who has been told something was impossible and then went on to do it anyway.
Tiffanie DiDonato was born with dwarfism. Her limbs were so short that she was not able to reach her own ears. She was also born with a serious case of optimism. She decided to undergo a series of painful surgeries that gave her an unprecedented 14 inches of height–and the independence she never thought she’d have.
After her surgeries, Tiffanie was able to learn to drive, to live in the dorms during college, and to lead a normal life. She even made time to volunteer, writing to troops stationed abroad, and one of those Marine pen pals ultimately became her husband.
“Dwarf “is a moving and at times funny testament to the power of sheer determination.

I was so looking forward to reading this book since I’d first seen the cover and blurb on Edelweiss all those months ago. The cover looks quirky and fun, and just like DiDonato says at the beginning of the blurb, I really wanted to know firsthand what it’s like to live with dwarfism. Sadly, the book just didn’t deliver on any of those counts. Instead, this is one woman’s story about her own life up until her very early thirties. Still, it could have been compelling, except that I just did not care about Tiffanie DiDonato.

I actually came to actively dislike Tiffanie. If I hadn’t been rushing to finish my yearly reading challenge, I probably would have abandoned this book. Tiffanie comes across as a childish, self-aggrandizing, spoiled brat who happens to have been born with a serious medical condition that made simple things, like brushing her own hair, impossible. Tiffanie was fortunate enough to have had the opportunity to stretch (get it!?) the limits of the newest medical innovations for limb lengthening that were available to her in her childhood and teen years. Tiffanie got blowback from some of the dwarf community for her drastic body modification, but can you blame her for wanting to be self-sufficient? I can’t.

What I can blame Tiffanie for is how she never mentions in this book the monetary costs of her operations. These are procedures that can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars. I see two probable ways these were paid for: a) her parents, b) her insurance. If it was by her parents, then she does not even come close to giving them the huge thanks they deserve for what would be a huge sacrifice. Her parents come across as well-meaning and indulgent, but in their concern for her I think she became very spoiled. At one point, she gets into what she calls a “fender bender” on her drive back to college. When her sorority sister suggests she get her car fixed soon, she laughs it off and has her parents just buy her a new BMW Z3. Yes, seriously. Her sweet sixteen involves a limo ride to a fancy restaurant, as well as other flippantly offered shows that money is clearly not much of a concern of hers. Scenario b, the insurance, would mean that the cost of her surgery, surgery that many doctors would not have been willing to do, was passed on to the other insurance subscribers, raising the rates for everyone. But I’m sure Tiffanie deserves it.

Another reason she was so detestable? When ONE teacher mentioned her dwarfism, her parents tried to get that teacher fired. When that didn’t work, Tiffanie set out with the internet to try to bring the teacher down with a computer virus, and spread her phone number around for awful phone calls. She never seems sorry for any of this, but is gleeful. Time to get over it, “Tiffie.”

I gagged at the end when I came to the description of her fairytale wedding, complete with real trees her parents decorated at her insistence of it looking like an enchanted forest.

Yes, this book was a quick read, and I’m really glad for that, because I wouldn’t want to spend another moment with Tiffanie.

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Welcome to the Happy New Year 2013 Giveaway Hop, hosted by I Am A Reader, Not A Writer and Babs Book Bistro.

The idea of the “hop” is that a whole bunch of blogs plan different giveaways, then link up to make it easier for visitors to find and enter them. This hop runs from Tueday, January 1, 2013 to Monday, January 7, 2013. The winner will be announced on the Rafflecopter form on Tuesday, January 8, 2013.

For this hop, I’m giving away a copy of Dangerous Angels: The Weetzie Bat Books by Francesca Lia Block.

Blurb (from Barnes & Noble):

Love is a dangerous angel.

In five luminous novels, acclaimed writer Francesca Lia Block spins a saga of interwoven lives and beating hearts. These postmodern fairy tales take us to a magical Los Angeles, a place where life is a mystery, pain can lead to poetry, strangers become intertwined souls, and everyone is searching for the most beautiful and dangerous angel of all: love.

Contest open to US and Canada.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Tomorrow’s the end of the year! Ahhh! I’m furiously working to finish my reading goal of 150 books this year. I’ll get it done. I will. However, I think next year I’ll set the goal back at 144, so 12 books a month. It got hard the last three months because I’ve had family/friend visits for one week each. Normally I’d have read 3-4 books during those weeks, so I fell behind.

How’s everyone feeling about the New Year? I’m hoping this is the year that my job situation gets sorted out and I can finally start to settle into adulthood. I also can’t wait to be done applying to and interviewing for jobs. It’s like a combination of applying for college (I work at universities) and dating, and we all know how taxing both of those can be.

Finished (since last It’s Monday post):
Paper Valentine by Brenna Yovanoff
Blasphemy by Sherman Alexie
Monkey Mind: A Memoir of Anxiety by Daniel B. Smith
Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan
Days of Blood and Starlight by Laini Taylor
Dwarf: A Memoir of How One Woman Fought for a Body–and a Life–She Was Never Supposed to Have by Tiffanie DiDonato and Rennie Dyball
Dangerous Angels by Francesca Lia Block

Continuing to read:
Live by Night by Dennis Lehane — Considering whether to make this one a DNF. I might just give up, even though I’ve read half. It’s really boring for being about gangsters.
The Passage by Justin Cronin (audiobook) — still chugging along on this book.

Hoping to finish:
Assholes: A Theory by Aaron James (audiobook)
The Uninvited by Liz Jensen
The Archived by Victoria Schwab

What are you reading this week? And how are you celebrating the new year?

Happy 2013!