Review: Violet Grenade by Victoria Scott

Violet Grenade
by Victoria Scott
Publisher: Entangled Teen
Publication Date: May 16, 2017
Genre: Young Adult
Rating:

Her name is Domino Ray.
But the voice inside her head has a different name.

When Madam Karina finds Domino in an alleyway, she offers her a position at her girls’ home in secluded West Texas. With no alternatives and an agenda of her own, Domino accepts. It isn’t long before she is fighting her way up the ranks to gain the madam’s approval…and falling for Cain, the mysterious boy living in the basement.

But the madam has horrible secrets. So do the girls in the house. So does Cain. Escaping is harder than Domino expects, though, because the madam doesn’t like to lose inventory. But then, Madam Karina doesn’t know about the danger living inside Domino’s mind.

Madam Karina doesn’t know about Wilson.

My thoughts…

Ooooh buddy! I mean, what can I say about this awesomely awesome story without giving anything away. Seriously, Victoria Scott has written one creepy, chilling, young adult novel that will leave you on the edge of your seat right up until the last page. Sadly, everything that is awesome about this book are all things that you find out within the story. So I don’t want to ruin it because you will get goosebumps and hold your breath when these moments come, and I would never ruin that moment for you. What I can say is that no one is innocent and a lot of people have blood on their hands in this story. I suppose what I can also say is that the house that Madam Karina takes Domino to is sort of a group home for homeless girls, girls who won’t be missed. Unfortunately, that’s where I get tight-lipped because it’s so much more than that.

I loved how complicated the author made her characters. Like I said before, none of them seem to be angels. They all have a past, a past they’d like to keep hidden for one reason or another. However, with that being said, you can’t help but become comfortable with them and start to care for them. Obviously, Domino also makes this same mistake time and time again with the other girls in the hosue and it leads to some rather dark scenes in the story. While you know where Domino is ultimately heading in the story, and what that will really mean for her, you still hold your breath in fear for her the moment that time comes. And the one thing I loved about Domino was that she’s not this perfect person, and she’s also not a bad-ass. She’s just this scared homeless girl who got picked up by a nice lady and taken to a huge house to live with other girls. I really liked the fact that no one in this story was perfect and yet I loved all of them. I liked Cane, the silent servant boy in the house who’s eyes show a darker and deadlier side, the silly girl that Domino befriends who lives in her own little happy bubble completely oblivious as to what’s going on around her, and Domino was imperfectly perfect as a heroine… or anti-heroine depending how you look at it. This was an amazing cast of people who were crazy, dangerous, and yet would lay down their life for the other.

Seriously, I really wish my review wasn’t so vague but you have to go into this completely blind to fully appreciate its awesomeness. I won’t lie, I’ve been holding onto this book for months because the synopsis just didn’t grab my attention. I thought it was going to be another fantasy type novel about a girl named Violet who’s perfect, everyone either wants to be her or date her, she has it “oh so rough” but is secretly the apple of everyone’s eye, and they all live happily every after once the love triangle is all figured out. But that’s not this book at all! What I got was some dark, keep you on the edge of your seat and give you goosebumps, contemporary YA that has so many twists and turns that will leave you with your mouth gaping open at one point or another. And as for who my favorite character was, hands down Wilson. That crazy guy was insane, and when he came into a room you knew that it just got real and stuff was going to go down. Okay, I’m going to stop it with this vague review of how awesome this book is and I’m just going to tell you to read it.

Favorite quote…

So there’s this part in the book where Wilson is strangling someone to death with a pillowcase who tried to attack Domino. I told you this is a dark and creepy YA.

“What’s wrong, Jack? […] Do I take your breath away?”