Pubished October 9, 2012 by Delacorte
egalley for review from netgalley
5 stars
DAC 2012
Goodreads Review
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.
Review: You guys. Velveteen is freaking AWESOME. FOR REALZ. This is probably my #1 most anticipated book of 2012, and I know this book doesn't come out until October, and of course I have it already pre-ordered, but I could not resist reading it as soon as it landed in my Kindle (thanks netgalley!!!!). And Velveteen does not disappoint. If you guys watch Danny's youtube channel (and you should, shame on you if you don't!) you know he is sarcastic, intelligent, eclectic, and a little bit creepy (and I mean that in the most admiration filled way possible) and this is exactly what you get with Velveteen.
The very best thing about this book is the main character, Velvet. She is fan-freaking-tastic. Of course I love her snarky and rude attitude that's wrapped in a bad ass goth exterior, but Velvet is SO MUCH MORE than that. This character is deep, yo. She's gone through some hardcore trauma and even though she acts all tough, I think she's a lot more wounded than she wants to admit (and you would be too if some sadist tortured you to death!).
I wanted to mention the world building too. I absolutely LOVED this interpretation of purgatory. The descriptions of purgatory aren't just descriptions, they're brush strokes. Seriously, Marks has one of the best vocabularies in YA literature. His writing is SO creative and descriptive. I found myself googling a lot of stuff just so I could get a clearer visual in my head, and I almost never bother to do that.
This is a nutmeg grater. You're welcome for that visual.
There are a few things I wanted to change about the story. I really wanted more Bonesaw! I really liked that character and I liked how Velvet reacted to him and I wanted more. It honestly felt like two books were being shoved together, and sadly my preferred story got neglected. (side note, when I read this back in April the synopsis made it seem a lot darker and a lot more of a revenge story, it has since changed to better reflect the actual story within which I think was a really smart move. The original synopsis would disappoint people who were looking for a horror book and got PNR and scare away people looking for an urban fantasy or paranormal story.)
I also could have done without Nick all together to be honest. I guess he was there to help bring out Velvet's soft nougat center or whatever, but he felt very one dimensional and kind of a crutch. I would have rather seen Velvet deal with her demons on her own.
All in all I really loved this book, but more so I really loved Danny's writing. I am extremely excited for whatever project he puts out next, be it another Velveteen book or something completely new. You KNOW I will be reading it!
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