Review: Velveteen by Daniel Marks

Title: Velveteen

Novella: Vermillion in the anthology Kiss Me Deadly: 13 Tales of Paranormal Love

Author: Daniel Marks

Genre: YA, paranormal, fantasy

Publication date: October 2012

Published by: Delacorte Press/Random House

Source: Gift!

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Synopsis:

Velveteen Monroe is dead. At 16, she was kidnapped and murdered by a madman named Bonesaw. But that’s not the problem.

The problem is she landed in purgatory. And while it’s not a fiery inferno, it’s certainly no heaven. It’s gray, ashen, and crumbling more and more by the day, and everyone has a job to do. Which doesn’t leave Velveteen much time to do anything about what’s really on her mind.

Bonesaw.

Velveteen aches to deliver the bloody punishment her killer deserves. And she’s figured out just how to do it. She’ll haunt him for the rest of his days.

It’ll be brutal... and awesome.

But crossing the divide between the living and the dead has devastating consequences. Velveteen’s obsessive haunting cracks the foundations of purgatory and jeopardizes her very soul. A risk she’s willing to take—except fate has just given her reason to stick around: an unreasonably hot and completely off-limits coworker.

Velveteen can’t help herself when it comes to breaking rules... or getting revenge. And she just might be angry enough to take everyone down with her.

My rating: ★★★★☆

A very Supernatural Purgatory ;)
(That reminded me a lot of the shadowquake tentacle things!)

Velveteen Monroe was murdered by a psychopathic serial killer (not that there's any other kind of serial killer, I suppose, lol). Unfortunately for her, she didn't make the cut for Heaven. Fortunately, she didn't go to Hell, either. She is stuck in what is known as Purgatory, which is very gray, dreary, and deteriorating with every passing shadowquake. Shadowquakes are as they sound: they are basically earthquakes, but in Purgatory. They are caused when the dead cross into the living world, which is a big No-No! Bad Ghostie! The bigger ones happening when Bad, Bad Magic is done on said plane, especially when using enslaved souls. I guess it's sort of an action-reaction sort of deal, with Purgatory getting the bad end of things. And by bad I mean giant, scary, tentacle-like things coming from the sky and snatching up the souls and... well, I'm not sure. But horrors happen when those things touch you!

Not only is Velvet dealing with finding a way to put stop her murderer from going after more girls, but also these shadowquakes are happening more often and destroying the town and endangering the lives (are they lives? I mean, they're already dead, so... sort of, I guess??) of the residents. These shadowquakes are being caused intentionally by a group of terrorists/rebels wanting to be free of Purgatory for good. It is up to Velvet and the rest of her team to stop these guys before they tear down the whole Purgatory plane.

Bobby doesn't like Purgatory, but I did! :D

After finishing this book, I had very mixed feelings about this book, but overall I think the good outweighed the bad and I really ended up liking it! I love ghost stories, to begin with, so I loved the idea of this one taking place in Purgatory. I thought that was very interesting. I really loved the setting, it was very eerie and all sorts of creepy! That descriptions were stunning, if not a little extensive at times. I found myself skimming some of the descriptions every so often because I just wanted to get to the action!

Also, because of the blurb, I thought the main plot of the story was Velvet going after her murderer and getting her revenge. Turns out, it was more of a secondary plot line! The main plot of the story was about the Revolutionaries, or whatever they are, that I mentioned earlier. I didn't even realize this was the whole plot of the book till we were way, way into the story! Like, towards the end. So, yeah. While the pacing was fast, getting to the real plot of it all was kinda slow going. And to be honest, I had NO idea who these people  really were, what they wanted, or why they were doing it! Not up until, again, the very ending of the book!! Not good! But I just sort of went along with it. Curiosity and all... ;)

The whole thing with Bonesaw, Velvet's killer... wow. He is seriously deranged! Call me morbid, but this is what intrigued me about the story! I almost wish we had spent more time on that plot line. I really liked that this brought out a more vulnerable side of Velvet, and I loved seeing that side of her and knowing that she wasn't all tough like she wants people to believe. There's a human being under that touch chick exterior that has suffered and is trying to deal as best she can.

Speaking of, I really loved the cast of characters: Velvet was very tough (although sometimes kind of bitchy), the very sweet and swoon-worthy Nick (adore him!), Quentin who was a lot of fun, and the firecracker twins, Luisa and Logan! I also gotta emphasize on the romance going on between Velvet and Nick because, guys, it was sizzling hot! I loved it!!

Another thing I gotta mention... you guys know that Supernatural is my most recent obsession and that I love it way too much for my own good, right?

A Jared Padalecki reference! :D He plays one of the main characters in the show, so I thought that was very cool! Okay fangirling over... ;)

Overall, even though I found myself slightly confused every now and then with the whole Departurist thing, I really enjoyed this read! I loved that this book had a different take on the very popular ghost genre, I more than loved the romance, and, well, it was just a lot of fun! Highly recommend this one to anyone who is a fan of paranormal romance, 'cause Nick... *swoon*

Pssst. Guess what! I also did a nail art design inspired by this book! Check it out here! :D

Have you read this book? If so, what did you think about it? If not, what do you think? Does it sound like something you might want to read? Leave me a link to your review or comment below! :)