Valentine | Book Review

TRIGGER WARNING: This story revolves around the rape of a young girl and the trial. Only the first few chapters are graphic.

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 I understand why so many people love this book, but it just didn’t do it for me. Valentine had so much potential to be really good, but it lacked a real storyline. The story followed a few ladies and a young girl in 1976, Odessa, Texas. I loved seeing how people lived during this time period and seeing how they look at the world! We need to talk about this cover. It’s so pretty! I love all the colors and how it was talked about in the book! 

Synopsis

In the early hours of the morning after Valentine’s Day, fourteen-year-old Gloria Ramírez appears on the front porch of Mary Rose Whitehead’s ranch house, broken and barely alive. The teenager had been viciously attacked in a nearby oil field—an act of brutality that is tried in the churches and barrooms of Odessa before it can reach a court of law. When justice is evasive, the stage is set for a showdown with potentially devastating consequences. Valentine is a haunting exploration of the intersections of violence and race, class and region in a story that plumbs the depths of darkness and fear, yet offers a window into beauty and hope. 

– Goodreads

Hardcover: $14.95 Paperback: $16.99 Kindle: $11.99

My Thoughts

I have mixed feelings about this book. I loved the storyline of Gloria and Mary Rose. Honestly, it was the only storyline I was interested in, and it’s so bad we didn’t get too much from them. I also wasn’t a fan of the lack of quotation marks in the book. It was nice to have a change in this book, but it was a little hard to keep up with the dialogue and the thoughts of the narrator. I also felt like there was too much going on. While the book seemed to surround the trial, we looked into the lives of a few women in the town. This made it feel like the plot wasn’t really moving forward. I felt that the plot was at a standstill for most of a lot of the book.

If you like this review, read my rating of beautiful book covers by clicking here!

I think a lot of people would like this book; it just wasn’t for me. Valentine is the perfect book for a pool day or any day you want a quick read and to relax. I was able to skip a full chapter and still understand what was going on for the most part. It was an interesting story, but I wouldn’t read it again.