Review: Slice of Cherry by Dia Reeves

Title: Slice of Cherry
Author: Dia Reeves
Published by: Simon Pulse
Pages: 505
Source: Bought
Format: Paperback
Rating: 1.5

Summary from Goodreads: 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…

Slice of Cherry is definitely not like anything you've ever read before.  Dia Reeves puts her own twist on a coming of age, horror story with a touch of fantasy.

I have to admit that the cover and then the synopsis is what drew me to this book.  I do not typically read this type of novel, but I wanted to give it a try.  For me it was a little too realistic to be fantasy, and little too light to be horror.  I'm not really sure what I would classify it as, but this novel wasn't for me.

The characters were well developed, though it was often difficult to determine what type of people they were.  At times I felt I could really like them and understand them and then they tortured and killed someone without remorse and it became a game to them.  Maybe I'm too sensitive or I just read Slice of Cherry at a time when there were too many stories in the news of teens killing people "because they were bored," but I didn't understand the torture and killing from these girls.  

There were some redeeming parts to Slice of Cherry as well, like the parts featureing the siblings fighting, the coming of age of Fancy, and the towns dynamics (what we saw of it) I enjoyed.  They are what kept me reading from page to page.  Though, I'm still really confused about the monsters...not the human ones, but the ones living in the woods.  Can anyone explain them to me?  I felt like I didn't understand this world or that it wasn't developed enough for it to add to the story.    

One thing that is remarkable is the originality of Slice of Cherry.  I have never come across another plot or story-line quite like this one.  While I didn't understand the girls, I think if the world and some of the smaller details of the book would have been explored further I could have ended up liking this story more.

It is not a bad story and if you think you may be interested, I would say you should read it.  However, this story was not for me.

Review of Crusade by Nancy Holder and Debbie Viguié

Title: Crusade (Crusade, #1)
Authors: Nancy Holder and Debbie Viguié
Published by: Simon Pulse
Pages: 470
Source: Bought
Format: Paperback
Rating: 4 stars

Summary from Goodreads: For the past two years, Jenn has lived and trained at Spain's Sacred Heart Academy Against the Cursed Ones. She is among the few who have pledged to defend humanity or die trying. But the vampires are gaining power, and the battle has only just begun.

Forced to return home after death takes a member of her family, Jenn discovers that San Francisco is now a vampire strong-hold. As a lone hunter apart from her team, Jenn is isolated—and at risk. She craves the company of her fighting partner, Antonio: his protection, his reassurance, his touch. But a relationship with Antonio comes with its own dangers, and the more they share of themselves, the more Jenn stands to lose.

Then Jenn is betrayed by one who was once bound to protect her, causing her to doubt all she had held as true. To survive, Jenn must find the courage to trust herself—and her heart.

Do you ever stumble across those books where they start off so uninteresting and you want to put them down, but before you know it you're completely hooked?  That was how Crusade started for me.  I struggled to get through the first couple chapters of this novel, but once I started to get to know the characters and their backgrounds I wanted to know more and fast.  

This story is so much more than just Jenn getting betrayed.  The group of Salamanca hunters is an eclectic group of elite individuals brought together for one cause...to destroy vampires(the blood-thirsty, controlling kind).  They each came to the school to train for their own reasons and have their own vendettas to carry out.  This was the best part about the novel.  I can't begin to explain to you how unique each of these characters are.  I strongly believe each one deserves their own novel so we as readers can share in the complexity of their lives. 

While this book may have started off slow, the plot continues to build and thicken throughout.  The conflict grows intense and is interwoven between each of the characters leading up to an epic battle at the end with an unexpected twist.  The characters and the story made this one definitely worth sticking with, so if you are struggling with Crusade, don't give up...it gets so much better.   

Review of If I Lie by Corrine Jackson

Title: If I Lie
Author: Corrine Jackson
Published by: Simon Pulse
Pages: 276
Source: Library
Format: Hardcover
Rating: 5 stars

Summary from Goodreads: Quinn’s done the unthinkable: she kissed a guy who is not Carey, her boyfriend. And she got caught. Being branded a cheater would be bad enough, but Quinn is deemed a traitor, and shunned by all of her friends. Because Carey’s not just any guy—he’s serving in Afghanistan and revered by everyone in their small, military town.

Quinn could clear her name, but that would mean revealing secrets that she’s vowed to keep—secrets that aren’t hers to share. And when Carey goes MIA, Quinn must decide how far she’ll go to protect her boyfriend…and her promise.

A complex tale of one person's secret and another's lie.  If I Lie is not only a powerful, emotional novel, it is also wonderfully written with a skill that far surpasses a debut author.

What a heart-breaking novel.  It was raw, pure and unbelievably good.  Quinn is completely ostracized by not only her friends and classmates, but the whole town.  The dynamic of this military town is fascinating.  They all band together to support those serving overseas and to do something that betrays one of them is unthinkable. 

Immediately before the secret came out I knew what it was and I adored Quinn that much more.  She took verbal and physical abuse just to protect someone's secret.  In fact, she is protecting multiple secrets and bears her suffering in silence.  Quinn definitely got the short end of the stick, but instead of complaining she finds an unlikely companion in the VA hospital that her father forced her to volunteer at.  Quinn uses this friendship to help heal her and make her go from a scared little girl to a strong and independent woman. 

Corrine Jackson blew me away with this debut novel and I can't wait to see what she comes up with next.