Skip to content
Responsive image
Vendor
Mohrbooks Literary Agency
Sebastian Ritscher
Original language
English
Categories

VALENTINE

Jodi McAlister

Valentine is the first in a smart, witty and page-turning YA series with a paranormal twist for fans of Sarah J. Maas.
Four teenagers – all born on the same Valentine’s Day – begin to disappear. As the bodies mount up, Pearl Linford has to work out what in the supernatural hell is going on, before it happens to her.

Finn Blacklin is the boy with whom Pearl shares a birthday, the boy she has known all her life and disliked every second of it, the boy her subconscious has a totally annoying crush on. Finn is also the Valentine: a Seelie fairy changeling swapped for a human boy at birth. The Unseelie have come to kill the Valentine – except they don’t know who it is. And now both the Seelie and the Unseelie think Pearl is the Valentine, and if they find out she isn’t, she’ll disappear too.

Pearl must use all her wits to protect herself. Finn must come to terms with his newfound heritage. And then there’s the explosive chemistry between them that neither of them know quite what to do about...

Jodi is an author and academic from Kiama, a seaside holiday town on the south coast of New South Wales. She is a literary historian, and her PhD was awarded by Macquarie University in 2015. She is currently a lecturer in English at the University of Tasmania. Her academic work focuses on the history of love, sex, women and girls, popular culture and literatures. It means that reading romance novels and watching The Bachelor is technically work for her. You can find Jodi on Twitter at @JodiMcA, where she tweets regularly about her research, her writing, cool things she finds interesting, her hero worship of Kate Bush, and rainbows outside her office window.
Available products
Book

Published 2017-01-30 by Penguin Australia

Book

Published 2017-01-30 by Penguin Australia

Comments

Fans of urban fantasy aged 13 years and up will find themselves quite at home with this debut novel from Jodi McAlister.

I read this book knowing nothing about it, I didn't even read the blurb because I like to read blind - I want to discover things as the writer intended - for me, this is the ultimate reading experience. Valentine delivered! I laughed, cried, gasped, fell in love, held my breath and sat on the edge of my seat. I read late into the night because I couldn't put it down. The only good thing about finishing this book is knowing that another follows it. Valentine is the first book of a series and I can't wait to read the next. I highly recommend this book.

Valentine is fast paced and witty, at times confronting and sad, sprinkled with suspense and a touch of gory, and endearing characters. Fans of paranormal tales with a twist will enjoy this book and teens will appreciate the sassy, snappy dialogue and the protagonist's constant interiority. Pearl is an engaging, strong, brave female. There's also plenty of modern popular culture, social media references and paranormal powers and twists to keep this read current and relatable.

What can I say? That was a helluva ride! This is the first Urban Fantasy book I've ever read from an Australian young adult author, and I'm pleased to say that I thoroughly enjoy it! I spent the entire day reading this book and I was completely drawn in from the start.

Czech: Albatros