Bleeding Violet

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Author(s)

Dia Reeves

Publisher

Simon Pulse

Genre(s)

General Fiction

Age Range

14+

Release Date

January 05, 2010

ISBN

1416986189

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Love can be a dangerous thing...

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

Love can be a dangerous thing...

Editor reviews

2 reviews

What's crazy?

September 26, 2009

Overall rating

4.0

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Mentally ill sixteen-year-old Hanna Jarvinen suffers from bipolar disorder. She has hallucinations, a medicine cabinet filled with pills, and lots of frilly violet dresses. Shes sick of being the freak and weird one. After escaping from being set to a mental institution by her aunt, she decides to go to a new town, Portero, Texas. Her long lost mother, Rosalee, lives there. Hanna hopes that Rosalee will now love her and accept her for who she is.

Problem is her fantasies of her mother are just thatfantasies. Rosalee wants nothing to do with her and threatens to send her back to the same mental institution her aunt threatened to put her in. Also somethings up with the town. Strange things are happening. Portero has its own dark secrets that involve hidden doors to different dimensions. These doors are protected by demon hunters called the Mortmaine. Hannas so-called craziness is a good thing otherwise these things would terrify her. Hanna tries to make sense of these secrets while also trying to get close to the mother that deserted her so long ago. Add a cute Mortmaine, a vengeful ghost, and demons. Nothing makes sense in this town. Only one thing is certain--no one, including Hanna is safe.

I really enjoyed this story. This tale is sure to stand out among other paranormals with a character who is not only biracial but who deals with very real issues such as mental illness and wanting to be loved. Hannas strength is her refusal to be ignored by those in the town and from her own mother. Shes strong yet also vulnerable.

Hannas bipolar traits are very realistic. Not many books address that yes, some bipolar individuals suffer from hallucinations. Her differences fit right in this town. Exactly what is normal? Instead of being freaked out by seeing demons and other weird things, she wants to help fight the dangers. And knows she can.

The images are intense and very vivid. The scene where Wyatt takes Hanna to her first demon hunting gives the reader a glimpse into the other dimensions in graphic detail. Hidden doors are everywhere. One of the best parts of this story is the setting. The towns eccentricities give flavor to this novel with its surreal citizens, secrets, and ghosts.

If youre looking for a paranormal novel with a twist, this is the one.

Kim Baccellia, Staff Reviewer Top 10 Reviewer 889 reviews

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Awesomely bizarre!

April 08, 2013

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Don’t let the gorgeous cover fool you; this book is bizarre!

” ‘Did you kill your aunt?’
I ate the last bit of grilled cheese. I licked the grease from my fingers. ‘Probably.’ “

And that is how Hanna meets her mother! Well, that’s certainly a great way to draw me in! From that point things just get weird. On Hanna’s first day at Portero High, she notices two peculiarities: everyone wears black (to blend in), and they all have earplugs (to keep out the calls of hungry things). Of course Hanna is supplied with earplugs by a teacher, but she only wears purple, so she sticks out like a sore thumb. Then there’s the glass statues that students group around and mourn, and the mass amount of missing person reports. Portero, Texas certainly is not what Hannah was expecting.

Hanna isn’t exactly normal either, aside from her strict purple dress-code. She’s on enough medication to run her own pharmacy and talks to ghosts. She’s a super quirky character and I liked her immediately. Sure she’s a bit strange, but she knows who she is and isn’t afraid to be herself. I also liked how she displayed some vulnerability towards her cold-hearted mother. I just wished there was more focus on her mental illness, other than her mother telling her to take her pills.

I really enjoyed this book, even though some of the weirdness was verging on cheesy and ridiculous. Some of the monsters seemed to have climbed out of a Syfy Channel movie, but I’m not complaining! I like odd, and if you do too, go pick this up!