Slice of Cherry

Slice of Cherry by Dia Reeves
published by Simon Pulse, 2011
512 pages
approximate age range: 15+

Two teenage sisters growing into young women, learning about themselves and each other, discovering love -- it seems like a story told a thousand times before. But, now add in a serial killer father in prison, magic, the ability to transport themselves and others to another dimension, torture, and death -- lots of death -- and you'll find Slice of Cherry is like nothing you've ever read. Sisters Kit and Fancy are outsiders in the town of Portero, a crazy magical place full of portals to other worlds and fearsome monsters. Their father is the notorious Bonesaw Killer who was finally convicted and sentenced after the multiple murders he committed stunned the town. Shunned by their community, Kit and Fancy create their own world, one in which they begin to follow in their father's bloody footsteps, but unlike daddy dearest, they decide to choose victims who are not innocent, people they feel are worthy of death. The sisters also discover that with a special gadget they find in their basement, they can create their own dimension, a place where they are queens and can change anything just by wishing it -- a perfect place to hide the corpses of their victims. Kit and Fancy are an unstoppable team, but when Kit falls hard for a local boy with his own secrets and Fancy feels abandoned, can they survive each other?

Slice of Cherry is not for the faint of heart -- or faint of stomach. Kit and Fancy really learned a lot from their serial killer dad, and Reeves has no problem describing just how much the apples fall near the tree. Their kills are rendered in detail, and not all victims are really worthy of their gruesome deaths. Consequently, Kit and Fancy are not exactly likeable heroines. Though they are interesting, their psychology, especially why they feel inclined to kill, is touched on, but not explored in-depth, and we remain on the surface of their lives rather than inside their heads. The excerpts from Fancy's dream diary that begin each chapter do let us see a little of Fancy's motivations, but it is not a thorough picture and we never get in Kit's head at all. Though Reeves sets high expectations with her unique premise, she does not quite deliver as we never really connect with or understand Fancy and Kit and they continue to feel foreign.

Moreover, there are lots of wonky and disturbing scenes that keep the reader's interest, but many seem to come out of nowhere are are not explained beyond the assertion that anything can happen in Portero (Reeves fans may remember Portero as it is also the setting to her first novel Bleeding Violet). Moreover, though Kit and Fancy grow as characters, their change is tied almost solely to their relationships with boys, which seems like a dubious message to send to young girls.

However, though it has faults, Slice of Cherry is still a fun and intriguing read. Full of humorous moments, in addition to the gore, readers oscillate between gags and laughs. All the Portero weirdness also makes it impossible to guess what will happen next, and ensures Slice of Cherry will be painful to put down. When recommending, note that both sisters engage in sexual relationships that are treated positively and as natural for teenagers, as in Bleeding Violet.


Read-alike suggestions:

Bleeding Violet by Dia Reeves

Hold Me Closer, Necromancer by Lish McBride

Zombies vs. Unicorns edited by Holly Black and Justine Larbalestier

Lips Touch: Three Times edited by Laini Taylor and Jim DiBartolo

Wicked Lovely by Melissa Marr