NICOLE'S REVIEW: Velveteen by Daniel Marks

Title: Velveteen
Author: Daniel Marks
Format Acquired: Hardcover

Publication Date: October 9 2012

Publishing House: Delacorte Books for Young Readers

ISBN: 9780385742245
Source of Copy: Purchased from Fully Booked

Summary:

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

The problem is she landed in the city of the dead. 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 in 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 could actually crack the foundation of her new world, not to mention jeopardize her very soul. A risk she's willing to take - except fate has just given her a reason to stick around: an unreasonably hot 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. 

(Image and information courtesy of Goodreads; Summary lifted from actual book)

Review:

Velveteen's interesting, I have to give it that. It's got ghosts hell bent on revenge, an interesting concept that involves souls stuck in purgatory; bleary, dull and dark purgatory, and it's imminent demise.

Velvet's a tough heroine, getting killed by a nefarious serial killer is bound to leave scars on a person's psyche. She heads her own Salvage team, retrieving souls and saving Purgatory from shadowquakes - sort of like earthquakes but with shadows that seep out of cracks that hold on to people and force them to relive their nightmares. But Velvet has secrets and those secrets might just be the downfall of Purgatory. Kind of a bummer since she just met Nick, a soul who makes her feel things she's never felt before.

Velvet's an entertaining character. She's smart and sassy and while she can be a bit mean sometimes it doesn't mean she lack empathy, it's all part of the job. What I could not really wrap my mind around was the blooming romance between her and Nick. It seemed far too rushed and happened so quickly that it seemed more like lust than love. Velvet's teammates were a fun bunch and I wished we could have gotten to know them better. Logan and Luisa for example, two crazy twins who just happen to be poltergeists. 

I loved the whole concept of souls stuck in purgatory and the morbid way Velvet and her team retrieved souls. It involves flies and zombies and possession, quite entertaining. The whole world Marks built was interesting, since purgatory is sort of an in-between state, it was built up to be gray and depressing, where souls shuffle around covered in ash on a daily basis doing their jobs and such.

While I did enjoy the story I will admit that the summary was a tad bit misleading. It made Velvet sound angrier and more vengeful than she really was but it was overall a decent read despite the rushed romance and all that. For those who're interested in ghost stories - if you could call this a ghost story- that aren't too morbid or scary, give this one a go. 

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