Book Review: Velveteen by Daniel Marks + Giveaway


Velveteen
Velveteen #1
Author: Daniel Marks
Reading Level: YA
Genre: Paranormal/Ghost
Released: October 9th 2012
Review Source: Delacorte Books for Young Readers
Available: Amazon

Summary: (from goodreads) 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.


When this book arrived in my mailbox, I was excited just by the cover. The dark, gothic-looking models gave off an eerie vibe. I figured with characters as funky looking as these, it would probably be a good story. And good it was, but it fell short of great pretty quickly for me.

Once I got started, I was grasped by the world of Bonesaw, the serial killer who murdered 16-year-old Velveteen. While the first chapter was intriguing, the rest of them slowed down ridiculously until nearly halfway through the book. Velvet is trapped in purgatory and all she can think of is the revenge her killer deserves. Since she’s dead, all she’s really left with is haunting Bonesaw. Haunting those still living is breaking a big rule for the souls in purgatory, but Velvet is just determined to find a way of destroying Bonesaw and saving new victims.

As the characters are introduced, I felt for one, that Velvet’s thoughts were shifting constantly. She has a way of expressing herself that seems incomplete and random at times. It was one thing I felt was poorly written. As for Velvet’s love interest, Nick, he wasn’t really a character with much depth. He was just present in the story, but didn’t offer much to it. I was glad the romance between them wasn’t kept front and center throughout the book.

I will say that although the story dragged in the beginning and many parts were kind of wordy, I enjoyed the purgatory idea the author created. He was very detailed about that world and it was quite imaginative. The characters within purgatory, ironically, brought a lot of life to the story. I enjoyed them so much, especially the twin poltergeists. Daniel Marks’ attention to detail in this story was mind-boggling. There were some graphic, gory descriptions in various scenes that made my stomach turn a little. I thought those parts were extremely well written though.

For those of you that are fans of the paranormal, I think Velveteen may be one to pick up. The story had its pros and cons, but was an entertaining, dark read. After finding out the series is meant to be a trilogy, I can say I would probably like to pick up the sequel as well and revisit Velvet.



a Rafflecopter giveaway

36 comments:

  1. Thanks for bringing this one to my attention. I'll definitely have to pick it up and check it out.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I love both! I'm very big into the paranormal!

    ReplyDelete
  3. I am obsessed with ghost and zombie TV shows but haven't found many great books!

    ReplyDelete
  4. I love zombie books - my favorite so far is the Newsflesh trilogy by Mira Grant!

    Thanks,
    Leanne

    ReplyDelete
  5. I love both! Thanks for the chance to win! I've heard a lot about this one:)

    ReplyDelete
  6. I love both mostly because I love paranormal reads and willing to try new. Very excited for this giveaway <3 been wanting to read this book, so thank you for a chance!
    Happy Holidays!

    ReplyDelete
  7. They're not my absolute favorite subjects, but I'll definitely read them (and love them to pieces if they're good)

    ReplyDelete
  8. I do like stories with paranormal elements so I like ghost stories....

    ReplyDelete
  9. That pretty much sums up my thoughts. I really loved the creepy elements but it was kind of up & down for me as well.

    ReplyDelete
  10. I love both. Thanks for the giveaway. Tore923@aol.com

    ReplyDelete
  11. I love both zombie and ghost stories. I hadn't actually heard of this book before but I'm adding it to my TBR list immediately. : )

    ReplyDelete
  12. I love both. I'm really into all kinds of paranormal stories. Thanks for the chance to win.

    ReplyDelete
  13. I prefer ghosts, Thanks for the chance at this great giveaway!!

    ReplyDelete
  14. I love them both! Zombie stories might be my favorite though!

    ReplyDelete
  15. I like both, but I love zombie books : )

    ReplyDelete
  16. It's unfortunate when a book drags in the beginning. I'm glad you enjoyed some of it though. I am very curious myself.

    I do not usually care for zombie stories but I do love ghosts! Thanks for the giveaway! :)

    ReplyDelete
  17. I was super disappointed by the synopsis which led me to expect more about Bonesaw and less about Purgatory; if the summary had reflected that more, I think I would have been happier.

    ReplyDelete
  18. Great review, I'm still waiting to read this one but for me it sounds like my type of book :)
    -Kimberly @ Turning the Pages

    ReplyDelete
  19. I haven't read a lot of ghost or zombie books. I read Warm Bodies after seeing the trailer and LOVED it! Also, I read the EIT series by Karina Halle and LOVE LOVE LOVED times a million those books!!! I recommend Karina Halle's books to EVERYONE!!!

    ReplyDelete
  20. GHOST all the way~~~ zombies shed limbs and eat brains... *eew...*

    ReplyDelete
  21. I like both, but zombies are my favorite.

    ReplyDelete
  22. Thanks for the giveaway! I love ghost and zombie stories. Shade is probably my favorite ghost book, not sure about my fav zombie book, but there are some good ones. :)

    ReplyDelete
  23. I enjoy both, but I love a good zombie story.

    ReplyDelete
  24. I usually love ghost stories more, but lately I've had huge cravings for zombies, like with Rot & Ruin and Alice in Zombielandl

    ReplyDelete
  25. I'm kind of torn about them. I have read some really good Zombie books and some that are horrible.

    ReplyDelete
  26. I'm a HUGE fan of ghost stories! That was my favorite subgenre growing up and I've never quite outgrown it.

    ReplyDelete
  27. I love ghost stories! It depends on the zombie story though sometimes they give me the jeebies. lol

    ReplyDelete
  28. I'm definitely more of a zombie fan! I don't really read books about ghost. It will give me nightmares.

    ReplyDelete
  29. Absolutely! I've read Anna Dressed in Blood and Rot&Ruin and I love both of them :)) And can't wait to read this one too.

    ReplyDelete
  30. It depends on how it's done. Some ghost stories are sweet, but zombies can be awesome, too.

    ReplyDelete
  31. Ghost stories legitimately freak me out, so I'll have to say zombie :)

    ReplyDelete
  32. OOOO!!! I have been waiting for this book for like a year!!!! and TOUGH CHOICE!!! i love both but there is so much zombie going around right now, so i'ma go GHOST!!

    ReplyDelete

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...