Date Read: January 19 - 26 2017
Date Released: January 30th 2017
Publisher: Penguin Australia
Source: Review copy via publisher
Genre: Paranormal
My Rating:
Synopsis:
"Four teenagers – all born on the same Valentine’s Day – begin to disappear. As the bodies mount up, Pearl Linford has to work out what in the supernatural hell is going on, before it happens to her.
Finn Blacklin is the boy with whom Pearl shares a birthday, the boy she has known all her life and disliked every second of it, the boy her subconscious has a totally annoying crush on. Finn is also the Valentine: a Seelie fairy changeling swapped for a human boy at birth. The Unseelie have come to kill the Valentine – except they don’t know who it is. And now both the Seelie and the Unseelie think Pearl is the Valentine, and if they find out she isn’t, she’ll disappear too.
Pearl must use all her wits to protect herself. Finn must come to terms with his newfound heritage. And then there’s the explosive chemistry between them that neither of them know quite what to do about..."
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Contrary to its seemingly romantic name, Valentine is a fun yet increasingly dark tale.
The story is told from the first person perspective of Pearl, one of the four teenagers born on Valentine’s Day. I really liked Pearl. She’s got a very strong personality and is opinionated which I respect. She’s the type of person that has really close friends that like her but also people that she hates (and hate her back) but gives no fucks. She values the relationships she has with people and it really came through in the way she keeps talking about the people around her – her best friend Phil who is logical and practical, her crush Cardy who she admires for his academics and all-roundedness. I enjoyed reading her funny and sarcastic voice so much, she made the story seem authentic.
There’s a lot of secondary characters and friendships explored but my favourite was Pearl’s relationship with her brother and sister. Shad and Dise are twins seventeen years older than Pearl and they basically raised her. I freaking adored the dynamics these three had. Shad the computer genius is laid back but loves his little sister (well both sisters) so much while Dise is more opinionated and kind of like an aunt to Pearl. They’re both more laid back than parents and yet manage to do the parenting thing perfectly. Pearl obviously respects them in the way she talks to them, in the way her siblings share their opinions with her but still joke about their youth days. Best. Sibling. Relationship. Ever.
The romance was an interesting one. She’s got this crush on Cardy but her hate towards Finn is also some like unresolved sexual tension me thinks. She also has weird fantasies about him and for a moment I was scared it was going to an Alice in Zombieland moment (in that one, the girl has hot daydreams about the guy and this is their excuse to get together WTF) but thankfully it’s not! The romance is slowburn and Pearl respects herself so much I was like YES YOU GO GIRL. She’s rational (ok at times angry) and isn’t lovesick or mopey. She knows there’s more important things than romance when you’re a teen!
Okay so the plot wow. Teenagers start disappearing guys. Friends and classmates. There are black cats everywhere and black birds attacking people. Everybody seems to find it odd but Pearl seems to be the only that notices. When one of her best friends goes missing she’s the only know who takes a step back to check up on her and things really start to get freaky from there. The blurb clearly says this is a story of Seelie/Unseelie but how this unfolds is fantastic. McAlister has done it in such a believable way – the way a normal human being might go down a detective path when things around them start getting weird. The level of disbelief, scepticism and research required is perfectly balanced with the way things happen. It’s slow, but to me that’s how to make it seem real.
McAlister’s writing style is casual yet descriptive. She has Pearl talk with abbreviations “TBH”, “FA” which I think enhanced Pearl’s voice as this is the lingo of the generation. There’s Pearl thinking in all caps which really helps with seeing her freak out or get excited about something. There’s also the one word sentences on each line and this makes it really seem like I’m experiencing things from Pearl’s POV – her drowning and blacking out at the right moment as her thoughts and consciousness dwindled. It’s superb. Then there’s the freaky scenes that had me texting my friends at like 12am and going on full freak out mode because I WAS FREAKING SCARED. I nearly started crying not even lying I had to go watch some K-pop to calm down. McAlister is really good at creating atmosphere.
My only gripe with the book was that at times it was a tad too slow and the ending really left me wanting. It wasn’t as fey as I wanted and the conclusion felt rushed. However, I hear this is a series and Ironheart already has a cover – PLEASE BE A SEQUEL.
McAlister’s debut has established her as a strong writer in Aussie YA. I enjoyed Valentine so much with its strong protagonist, dark plot and engaging writing style.
Contrary to its seemingly romantic name, Valentine is a fun yet increasingly dark tale.
The story is told from the first person perspective of Pearl, one of the four teenagers born on Valentine’s Day. I really liked Pearl. She’s got a very strong personality and is opinionated which I respect. She’s the type of person that has really close friends that like her but also people that she hates (and hate her back) but gives no fucks. She values the relationships she has with people and it really came through in the way she keeps talking about the people around her – her best friend Phil who is logical and practical, her crush Cardy who she admires for his academics and all-roundedness. I enjoyed reading her funny and sarcastic voice so much, she made the story seem authentic.
There’s a lot of secondary characters and friendships explored but my favourite was Pearl’s relationship with her brother and sister. Shad and Dise are twins seventeen years older than Pearl and they basically raised her. I freaking adored the dynamics these three had. Shad the computer genius is laid back but loves his little sister (well both sisters) so much while Dise is more opinionated and kind of like an aunt to Pearl. They’re both more laid back than parents and yet manage to do the parenting thing perfectly. Pearl obviously respects them in the way she talks to them, in the way her siblings share their opinions with her but still joke about their youth days. Best. Sibling. Relationship. Ever.
The romance was an interesting one. She’s got this crush on Cardy but her hate towards Finn is also some like unresolved sexual tension me thinks. She also has weird fantasies about him and for a moment I was scared it was going to an Alice in Zombieland moment (in that one, the girl has hot daydreams about the guy and this is their excuse to get together WTF) but thankfully it’s not! The romance is slowburn and Pearl respects herself so much I was like YES YOU GO GIRL. She’s rational (ok at times angry) and isn’t lovesick or mopey. She knows there’s more important things than romance when you’re a teen!
Okay so the plot wow. Teenagers start disappearing guys. Friends and classmates. There are black cats everywhere and black birds attacking people. Everybody seems to find it odd but Pearl seems to be the only that notices. When one of her best friends goes missing she’s the only know who takes a step back to check up on her and things really start to get freaky from there. The blurb clearly says this is a story of Seelie/Unseelie but how this unfolds is fantastic. McAlister has done it in such a believable way – the way a normal human being might go down a detective path when things around them start getting weird. The level of disbelief, scepticism and research required is perfectly balanced with the way things happen. It’s slow, but to me that’s how to make it seem real.
McAlister’s writing style is casual yet descriptive. She has Pearl talk with abbreviations “TBH”, “FA” which I think enhanced Pearl’s voice as this is the lingo of the generation. There’s Pearl thinking in all caps which really helps with seeing her freak out or get excited about something. There’s also the one word sentences on each line and this makes it really seem like I’m experiencing things from Pearl’s POV – her drowning and blacking out at the right moment as her thoughts and consciousness dwindled. It’s superb. Then there’s the freaky scenes that had me texting my friends at like 12am and going on full freak out mode because I WAS FREAKING SCARED. I nearly started crying not even lying I had to go watch some K-pop to calm down. McAlister is really good at creating atmosphere.
My only gripe with the book was that at times it was a tad too slow and the ending really left me wanting. It wasn’t as fey as I wanted and the conclusion felt rushed. However, I hear this is a series and Ironheart already has a cover – PLEASE BE A SEQUEL.
McAlister’s debut has established her as a strong writer in Aussie YA. I enjoyed Valentine so much with its strong protagonist, dark plot and engaging writing style.
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