Boo!

Ghost Stories 

"Shall I tell you a story? A new and terrible one? A ghost story? Are you ready? Shall I begin?"

- Libba Bray, A Great and Terrible Beauty

I hate ghost stories! When I was 10 I went on a school trip and the owner of the hotel we were staying at decided to tell us all this a story. It was about a man who's family died in a car crash and then one night at EXACTLY midnight the wife turned up and well I can't remember the rest, but I do remember that I was terrified of midnight for about four years! I'm a total wimp. I can't watch horror/thriller movies and if I even think someone about to tell me a scary story I leave the room... and yet I seem to find myself picking up books that are about ghosts.

Why is it we feel the need to be scared? It doesn't make sense and yet there's this dark, almost seductive pull towards the supernatural that terrifies and enchants us. Maybe it's the fact in my head I keep thinking how much I loved Casper - so ghost's can't be that scary can they? And then I'm surprised when I put down a book or finish watching Supernatural and I'm sleeping with the lights on.

All of this is out of context for me though, because I don't believe in ghosts. I don't believe in other dimensions or gods... Zombie Apocalypse is totally plausible, but ghosts? Nope, sorry I'm not buying it. And yet my imagination runs wild with these stories and I'm able to freak myself out over something I fully believe doesn't exist. I'm not going to lie I said Bloody Mary three times in front of a mirror when I was about 8 and was more than a little worried when I turned 21 I'd look into a mirror and die. For the record I'm fine, 21 and breathing!

So what I guess I'm wondering is am I the only one? And why do we feel the need to make ourselves scared? I mean, you're not going to walk down a dark ally in the middle of  a dodgy area in the city late at night for kicks are you? Well I hope you're not... and if you are? Please stop it's really not safe! So if anyone has any plausible answers please feel free to enlighten me because I'd really like to know!

Paper Valentine

Paper Valentine by Brenna Yovanoff

Rating: 2 out of 5

Summary (From Back Cover)
Hannah's best friend, Lillian, starved herself to death six months ago, and Hannah's been haunted by her ever since. But now Lillian's ghost has an urgent task for Hannah - someone is killing girls in their suburban neighbourhood, and the victims want justice. Drawn into a world of ghost girls and horrifying secrets, Hannah slowly pieces the clues together, starring with the child-like paper valentines the killer leaves on each body. But her investigations are bringing her into the Valentine Killer's orbit. How long before he strikes again?

Review
Your first thought when putting down a book should never be, well I've read worse. Which is exactly how I felt when I finally finished this book. I was really disappointed with this book because I loved Yovanoff's first book The Replacement. It's a slow burner, that if I'm completely honest, I though I wasn't going to finish it for a while. It wasn't until the last 100 pages or so that it actually got interesting.

I think the main issue I had with this story was that the character's didn't seem real. The way Hannah's little click is described seemed a little farfetched and it was a struggle to imagine them... but maybe that's just because I'm British. Maybe girls dress and act like that in America? I don't know, but I think that no matter what, you should be able to imagine the character's in a book - even if you don't relate to them, they should at least seem real. Which unfortunately these did not.

The story itself takes way too long to get going. I wanted to know more about the killings, I needed to have something other than bitchy teenage girls to a plot line. It seems the the author wanted to set the scene and drop lots of little hints the we'd be able to pick up on later, but that doesn't work if we get so bored that we put the book down before we get to the end!

Redeeming aspect are few and far between but there are some. For instance I thought that the whole family dynamic was sweet, I could imagine Decker cooking pancakes for the two kids and Hannah. Also I really liked Finny's character. Maybe I just need a love story? Because until we really got to know a bit more about him - I wasn't really interested. I mean, I wasn't fangirling over him or anything, but having someone other than a winy teenage girl was a real boost to the story!

As far as the story goes, it had potential, it could have been really good and maybe it would have been more interesting if I was slightly younger? I wouldn't recommend this to anyone over the age of 16. I really wanted this book to be good, but unfortunately it just wasn't. It had it's moments but I struggled to make it to the end.

Book Trailer...