Early Review: Velveteen by Daniel Marks

Title: Velveteen
Series: Velveteen, #1
Author: Daniel Marks
Release Date: October 9, 2012
Pages: 464
Genre: Paranormal YA
Source: NetGalley
Publisher: Dellacorte Books for Young Readers
Rating: B-
Reviewed by: Ellie

Favorite quote: "And no for something completely different.”

“So, wait. That’s it? We make out and it was awesome and you make me feel things I never have with any other girl, and then you run? I gotta say, I’m feeling a little slutty here.”

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.

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Ellie's thoughts:
We first meet Velveteen in the daylight or “land of the living” as the dead like to call it, while she is visiting the man who murdered her Bonesaw. Velveteen is not allowed to haunt her killer but knowing that he is torturing and killing other young girls like herself makes it impossible for Velveteen to stop especially when she’s helped a few of the girls escape. But Velveteen can’t stay in the daylight, not only since it’s illegal but also because she heads the most successful salvage team in Purgatory history. Her team is responsible for retrieving lost souls, capturing dark souls or banshees and keeping her sector of Purgatory safe. Keeping things safe is getting harder and harder as talks of revolution and departure arise and its up to Velveteen and her team to find out who is behind the talks and how to stop them.

Velveteen blew my mind for the first thirty pages but then it seemed to go into a completely different story and I got kinda lost in transition. I was fascinated with Velvet, as she goes by, and her stalking of her killer. The whole book is very dark but the beginning takes dark young adult fiction to a whole new level but when we get to Purgatory and meet Velvet's salvage team the darkness that I had liked so much goes away. I put this book down at least three times because I just couldn’t get into the Purgatory/salvage part but for some reason I kept coming back. I was just on the verge of DNFing Velveteen when we meet Nick,

Nick, Nick, Nick. This character single handedly saved this book and kept me from making the mistake of not finishing it. Nick was a much needed breath of fresh air into a YA novel that was drowning in gloom. We see a whole new side of Velvet with Nick and they have some great banter. With the introduction of Nick the story had a new feel and got much better to the point that I was eager to get back and see what happened next. He also provides a lot of the much needed humor that was lacking from one of the darkest YA books I’ve ever read.

I really enjoyed Velveteen and I’m so happy that I went back and gave it a couple more chances. I did have a few problems with it which is why I gave it a B-. First problem is that it is long, 464 pages long and there are three or four parts that drag. If it had been a hundred pages less, which I think it could have without losing the plot or characters, it would have been much better. My other problem comes back to how dark of a book it is and that fact that it’s supposed to be for young adults. Maybe I’m just getting old but this book deals with some heavy issues death, murder, sex and drugs which I know kids are exposed to early but it just seemed a little too adult for a YA book. If I had a twelve year old I don’t think I would want them reading about serial killers but again I may just be old fashioned and not in tune with kids now that I’m thirty.

I am very happy with this book and very glad that I went back and continued reading. I loved the characters and the plot and I think a lot of people will really like it if they can get to Nick. I don’t read a ton of YA books but Velveteen will be a series that I will make an effort to read.