Paper Valentine

by Brenna Yovanoff

[girlinthepages]

I literally just finished this book, moments ago, and it’s left me in a flurry of thoughts. On the one hand, I really loved the eerie atmosphere that Yovanoff is able to create through her prose, yet on the other hand her plot seemed a bit inconsistent and the final reveal was anticlimactic. And then there’s that cover (it’s gorgeous!)

Let me first address the prose and Yovanoff’s atmospheric talent, because these aspects really make the book. Her writing isn’t lyrical or overly saturated with metaphors. Rather her prose is on the simpler and concise side, which actually lends to her being able to create a darkly beautiful and melancholic atmosphere: “I’m thinking that my best friend killed herself so slow it was almost like a magic trick, and other people let her do it.” There’s a certain kind of bluntness in the prose that creates the dark atmosphere for the reader, and I loved the atmospheric touches that the murder-mystery story is set against: it’s an unbearably hot summer, birds are mysteriously dying and left to fester in the heat, there’s a park with gritty train tracks that children play amongst, etc.

Yet despite the darkly gorgeous setting, Paper Valentine seems to juggle too many elements in its plot with not enough explanation and resolution. This book seems to fall in a liminal area between being a mystery and a paranormal thriller, with touches of horror and contemporary. I found that I actually didn’t mind Hannah, the protagonist, as she was quiet and insightful despite being younger, dealing with her own internal demons. Yet there are many aspects of Hannah’s life that are never quite explained, such as why she can see ghosts (Is she a necromancer? Is she insane?) She’s constantly haunted by her dead best friend (who is ironically not dead from the loose murderer but from other reasons altogether) yet readers are never told how this is possible, or if anyone else sees ghosts as well. While speaking to the dead is a huge plot device in the book, it contrasts with a very human string of murders that have nothing to do with the paranormal. There are also contemporary issues that are brought up (like eating disorders, as Hannah’s friend Lillian dies from anorexia), but then aside from brief mentions about the disease, the topic is never really addressed, nor is Lillian’s death ever explicitly talked about despite her presence as a ghost throughout the entire book. Finally the book dovetails into really solely focusing on discovering who the murderer is, which at first is rather anti-climactic and then becomes plain nonsensical, as the identity of the killer feels so random.

There’s also the matter of a slight romance, insta-love, high school popularity drama, and a brief mention of abandonment issues by Hannah’s dad leaving. Despite the fact that this book tried to take on too many plot elements at once, and the ending proved to be a bit disappointing to me, I enjoyed Hannah as a protagonist and really enjoyed the eerie and atmospheric world that Paper Valentine creates and think that Yovanoff could really thrive in the horror genre.