Velveteen by Daniel Marks

book cover of Velveteen by Daniel MArks

Title: Velveteen
Author: Daniel Marks
Release date: October 9, 2012
Publisher: Delacorte
Pages: 464
Source: Publisher
Reading level: YA

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.

Velveteen, Daniel Marks debut novel, is a fresh new YA that will appeal to tons of readers! It’s a dark, gritty story of a world where people aren’t quite ready to move on after death. This was one story unlike any I have read and it was completely impossible to put down.

Velveteen Monroe is one unhappy dead girl. She was brutally murdered and she’d be okay with that if her killer wasn’t still on the loose and continuing his reign of terror. Haunting is not allowed in purgatory but that doesn’t stop Velveteen. She was never one to follow rules when she was alive, why do so now that she’s dead? She’s determined to stop Bonesaw from hurting any more innocent girls and she is willing to risk her afterlife to do so. But is she willing to risk the afterlife of Nick, a new boy in purgatory who seems like maybe he’d be worth giving up her grudge for?

Velveteen is one cynical, bad mouthed, always cranky ghost. She gets along with very few people in purgatory and even the people she gets along with think she’s a pretty big bitch. She didn’t have the greatest life and she definitely didn’t have a good death. What she was trying to do with Bonesaw and the other girls was actually a very noble thing. It was easy to see that she was actually a very good person but she was unwilling to show that side to others. All that changed when Nick entered the picture. Nick was the complete opposite of Velveteen. He had a pretty good life and while his death sucked, he wasn’t nearly as traumatized by it as Velveteen was by hers. He didn’t let it change his sunny outlook and his fun personality. His and Velveteen’s relationship was definitely a case of opposites attracting and they really did good things for each other. Nick brought out Velveteen’s less bitchy side and Velveteen helped Nick through some tough times in purgatory. They were both fantastically well-developed characters that were impossible not to love.

The other characters sadly just didn’t do it for me. Luisa and Logan were fun but they both had their darker sides. Quentin seemed like a good guy and a good friend but his role was very small and he seemed to only have one purpose in the book. As for the villain, Bonesaw was sufficiently creeptastic but I would have liked more of him. From the summary it seemed like he would have a pretty big role in the story but that was not the case at all. It just seemed like most of the minor characters were lacking in depth and I really would have liked to know more about them.

The writing had to be my favorite part of Velveteen. Sure I loved Velveteen and her bad-assness but the writing is what made this book so wonderful. Daniel Marks has a way with words, whether they be super sweet or super gory. He did not shy away from the disgustingly gory descriptions (they are body parts falling off and a couple points) but he wasn’t unnecessarily gory. The writing was descriptive but it was never weighty and it never detracted from the story. The writing is what made purgatory come alive (haha) and the characters (at least the main ones) really stick with you.

Overall, Velveteen is one that I highly recommend and it’s coming out just in time for Halloween so add this one to your list of creepy books to read in October. You won’t be disappointed.

Looking for more reviews of Velveteen?
Bibliophilic Monologues’ review
My Bookish Ways’ review

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9 comments

  1. This is my next read so I’m glad to see your positive review. I love the sound of Velvet-although I usually like the “nice” girl, I’ve been finding that I love female MCs with loads of attitude and Velvet should fit the bill!

  2. I’m happy to see all the positive reviews for this lately! I think the first few reviewers were expecting something different but readers now seem to be into it a lot more! Great review – thanks for sharing! 🙂

    <3 Goldilox

  3. Luisa was actually one of my favorite characters. I’d like to read a short story all about her.
    I couldn’t quite get into the romance, though because I was waiting around for a guy that matched the description of the guy on the cover…

  4. I completely loved this one. I think I was so awestruck by Velveteen that I didn’t really care about the other people. :-p

    Since I don’t read blurbs, I wasn’t too upset by Bonesaw’s portion being minimal.

  5. This was a wonderful horror book! Loved the world!

    They were supposed to do a sequel but didn’t. They should!!