Brenna Yovanoff is one of those writers that I never have any expectations going into one of her novels, other than that no matter what or how weird, I'm going to love it.

Paper Valentine didn't disappoint.

So we have a dead, ghostly best friend, sweltering 100+ temperatures, birds falling dead out of the sky and girls being murdered. Hannah, being the weirdo that she is (and I love her), takes it all in stride and, at Lillian's insistence, starts investigating the murders.

Hannah is an awesome, complex heroine struggling to cope with the death of her best friend, and the subsequent fact that her dead best friend, Lillian, is haunting her. Hannah is also struggling internally with finding her place in the world, and her clique, without Lillian's physical presence to keep her tethered in her "rightful place."

Then there is Finny Boone. Finny is the the best kind of delinquent, because under his lighter-thieving ways, really does lurk a vast well of kindness; making Finny Boone a true Dark, Damaged Bad Boy with a Heart of Gold and in Shining, Yet Slightly Tarnished Armor.

“The thought of him is electric, beating in my chest like a birthday wish, dark and warm and secret.”

To me, he was like this:



Which made my inner 17 year-old go:



And the crazy part is that the romance aspect in this story is so completely subtle and just a small portion of the book, but it still makes it's impact.

Beware of the fact that you will not have every question answered for you by the last page, and I believe that to be intentional, possibly to illustrate the point that not everything in life ever has a real reason or cause behind it; it just is. Also, Brenna Yovanoff has never been one to shove every single detail of a character or a situation down your throat, but rather leaves enough to the imagination for the reader to draw their own conclusions.

Paper Valentine was an awesome book that everyone would be completely and utterly stupid remiss not to read.