Slice of Cherry by Dia Reeves
pages: 505
released: september 2011
publisher: Simon Pulse
cover love: ♥♥
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. (from Goodreads)
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED ON 7/17/2011 ON BOOKSLIKESTARS.NET
Review:
Slice of Cherry is the second book in the Portero series by Dia Reeves and though I enjoyed reading it, I liked Bleeding Violet better. A few characters from the first book do make small cameos in this one. The Cordelle sisters, Kit and Fancy are the daughters of the infamous Bonesaw Killer and are outcasted in Portero because of their father’s crimes. So the girls only have each other to lean on for companionship. They’re also just as twisted as daddy was. They keep animal parts in jars and torture a thief in their cellar.
The story really gets going after Fancy is able to bring her “happy place” to life through an old kinetoscope. Her imaginary world is the perfect place to kill their victims and not worry about cleaning up evidence. The story is full of gory mayhem and blood but there’s also a coming-of-age theme ribboned around the girls loopy murderous appetite. When it comes to growing up, Fancy is more reluctant to let go of her little girl image (she still wears bows in her hair and clothes that are too small and childish) and Kit embraces dating, looking mature and discovering she can settle the dead. But Fancy has a hell of a time accepting that Kit is growing up and doesn’t want to share her sister’s love with anyone. Especially her new boyfriend, Gabriel.
Dia Reeves has managed once again to write a truly unique horror story. It did involve some of the monsters that reside in Portero like cacklers, fairy rings, doors to other worlds and the Mortmaine do come to the rescue, just like in the first book but this story focuses more on the two sisters and their determination to get rid of other kinds of monsters, the type that beat their children and poison their siblings. It’s still a creepy-crawly read with plenty of slicing, hacking, beating and of course, killing…oh, and cherries too. So, if you think your stomach can handle it, go get this book.
3
