Monday, July 23, 2012

Review: Slice of Cherry by Dia Reeves

Slice of Cherry by Dia Reeves

Kit and Fancy Cordelle are sisters of the best kind: best friends, best confidantes, and best accomplices. The daughters of the infamous Bonesaw Killer, Kit and Fancy are used to feeling like outsiders, and that’s just the way they like it. But in Portero, where the weird and wild run rampant, the Cordelle sisters are hardly the oddest or most dangerous creatures around.
It’s no surprise when Kit and Fancy start to give in to their deepest desire—the desire to kill. What starts as a fascination with slicing open and stitching up quickly spirals into a gratifying murder spree. Of course, the sisters aren’t killing just anyone, only the people who truly deserve it. But the girls have learned from the mistakes of their father, and know that a shred of evidence could get them caught. So when Fancy stumbles upon a mysterious and invisible doorway to another world, she opens a door to endless possibilities….

Review: 

Having not read Dia's debut, Bleeding Violet, I was not at all sure what to expect from this book. I brought it along to read on a road trip and it surprised me in so many ways. Dia is not afraid to take risks and her imagination is crazy awesome-- I often found myself wondering just how she came up with certain aspects of the novel.

Kit and Fancy Cordelle are unlike any characters I have ever read about. They are independent and strong-willed and their relationship was so intriguing to read about-- there was so much more to each sister than met the eye. As the only daughters of the infamous Bonesaw Killer, you would expect them to maybe be a little twisted. But they are so much more than that. It was both an interesting and disgusting book to read (certain scenes (especially in the beginning) certainly made me feel a little nauseous), but I don't consider myself faint-of-heart and definitely enjoyed the horror angle of Slice of Cherry.

Portero is a town in Texas that is just plain weird. I never knew what to expect from this town and its inhabitants and as hard as it might be to believe, the Bonesaw Killer was not the worse thing inhabiting the town. Having not read Bleeding Violet, I didn't completely know what to expect from this book, but the town was ten times crazier than I anticipated. I wish I had gone into this book expecting more supernatural craziness, but at times I just wished things were set more often in our own world because some things just seemed to distract from the story.

Even though this novel is over 500 pages, I was able to finish it fairly quickly because I just had to know what was going to happen and the development of Kit and Fancy was so well done. Neither girl was as they originally seemed and there was a ton of depth to each of them. There were quite a few secondary characters, but none felt that important to me and I liked the parts that focused more on the two sisters and their relationship and how they dealt with their... urges much better.

No one can deny that the premise of Slice of Cherry is fantastically original and unique. I have been anxious to read this book for a long time and while it didn't completely live up to my expectations, it was still a mind-bending and gruesomely good read.

Dia Reeves is certainly an author to watch and I like how she is not afraid to write something completely different from everything else out there. Although Bleeding Violet isn't a prequel to this novel, it is still set in Portero so I am interested in reading more about the town and other inhabitants. Definitely give this book a try, but be prepared for a truly wild ride!

Overall: 4 out of 5 stars

January 4, 2011/Simon Pulse/505 Pages/Young Adult

Source: Purchased
Other books by this author: Bleeding Violet 

9 comments:

  1. "Portero is a town in Texas that is just plain weird" - agreed! I had the same thought when reading Bleeding Violet.

    Nice review, Kelsey! I'll have to start this one soon, it's been sitting on my shelf for too long :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I recommend it! It's an intense read, but I think you'll like it :)

      Delete
  2. That name...Portero, just sounds a little weird and I like weird. I haven't read this or Bleeding Violet and I saw this in my library and was having second thoughts about reading this book, but now I must go pick it up.

    Thanks for helping me out,
    Great review

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I don't think Dia's books are for everyone-- but I say definitely give one a shot and just be prepared for things to get pretty crazy!

      Delete
  3. Oh Bleeding Violet was one of my favorite reads! It's so fucked up... crazy, but so entertaining.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I know exactly what you mean! It was insane, but I couldn't stop reading!

      Delete
  4. It's good to hear that this book is good because I loved Bleeding Violet. I can't wait to return the crazy world!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. If you loved Bleeding Violet, I'm sure you'll also enjoy this one!

      Delete
  5. I have "Bleeding Violet" on my shelves, but haven't managed to get to it yet. Though after reading your review, it's made me curious about Reeves's work. I like how you pointed out that she has a crazy imagination -- it really piqued my interest!

    Great review. :)

    -Amelia
    The Authoress

    ReplyDelete

I love getting comments, so feel free to leave your thoughts :)