Texas librarian Dia Reeves’ debut novel, Bleeding Violet, is a whirlwind, crazed, supernatural romantic thrillride, replete with madness, demons, sarcasm, irreverence, violence, sex and teen angst. My head is still spinning…
16 year old 
Hanna’s mother abandoned her when she was a baby, leaving her to be raised in Finland by her father. After he dies, Hanna runs away to find and force a reunion with the mother she’s never met. But Hanna’s life isn’t meant to be easy: she’s plagued by her own demons (manic depression and bipolar disorder) and a tendency towards violence and casual risk-taking; and when she breaks into her mother’s spartan Texan home, she finds more than she bargained for. Because Rosalee lives in a small town that’s rife with doorways to other dimensions, allowing horrible, cruel demons and monsters to prey on the town, killing innocents and anyone stupid enough to pass through town. And somehow, Rosalee is at the center of it all. Determined to stay, Hanna forces herself onto a boy at school, who turns out to be a gifted demon-fighter in training and together they turn their heated sexual chemistry towards fighting the legions of Hell that have enveloped their town and made life a living nightmare.
Once I realized that Reeves’ chaotic, hyperbolistic novel was an updated, (not very successful) take on Buffy: The Vampire Slayer, full of over the top demons, Hellmouths, teen angst, fashion, sass and implausible plot lines, I settled in to see what crazy event could top the crazy event that just took place. There’s a lot of violence (some disturbing, including torture) and numerous incidents of almost on the page sex in Bleeding Violetthat may turn off some readers. Additionally, both the mother-daughter relationship angle and Reeves’ attempt to explore the ravages of mental disorders fall flat, leaving me uninterested in what appears to be the opening left at the end for futher episodes.
- Posted by Cori