Temple West

Thank you to the publishers for sending me an ARC of this book through NetGalley.

This post is spoiler free.

I'm glad this story progressed from being Twilight-esque in the first novel to a very interesting storyline in the sequel.

Still, I found the novel too convoluted with information about making dresses, going to dances, scenes on replay in her dreams. I know some of this information is important for the storyline but I often just skimmed these bits to get to the interesting parts.

Ms West left us with a cliffhanger and I want to know how the story ends, so I will certainly (skim) read the third book in the trilogy, but I'm not sitting on the edge of my seat waiting impatiently for its release.


As with the first novel, I wish the copy-editing had been better, there were still a lot of missing words, grammar errors and wrong words in the text - but (!) I read an ARC, so the final version might be different.… (altro)

True rating: 3.5 stars

Did I like this book? Yes. Did I love this book? Well, no, but I also didn't hate it. Velvet had a lot of good qualities. The writing was excellent, the characters were likeable, and the story was very unique. Overall, it was 100% (and I really do mean 100%, as in no twists or surprises) predictable and lackluster. I kept waiting on something... ANYTHING to happen, but I was really let down when the big climax I was anticipating never came. The ending leaves you with more questions than answers. I get this is the first of a series, but I needed a little something to hang on to so I could look forward to the next book. It kind of reminded me of the Shadow Falls series by CC Hunter where it took freaking five books for any real progress to be made. There is also a LOT of extra characters that are pretty unnecessary. They are there to keep you guessing about a key part of the story. It just added filler that was pretty pointless.

I was really rooting for Caitlin and Adrian for most of the book, but when I was over halfway deep and realized that nothing really was going to happen I kind of stopped caring. The back of the book describes Velvet as being "steamy," but (and this is coming from someone who really doesn't even read scandy books) I don't think kissing and a shower scene WITH CLOTHES constitutes as steamy. By the end of the book, Lucian was hands down my favorite character because he really was the only thing unique going on.

I'll probably read the rest of the series, but I really hope it makes up from what this book lacked. Temple West has a really cool writing style and I really think I would love her work given another chance.

… (altro)

My interest in this book began with the simple elegant cover. It was illusive and mysterious while at the same time it drew me in. I knew it had to be some kind of paranormal type book, but when I read the back cover, I knew I had to have it.

Caitlin’s initial interaction with Adrian was unconventional and that immediately grabbed my interest. As a character, I find Adrian to be more unique to the typical doom and gloom vampire type. Actually, upon reading the school’s gossip about him, I almost laughed out loud at the unexpectedness of it. (No spoilers, but the book is worth reading just for the comedic aspect)

Caitlin seems to be the typical good girl trying to get out of her shell. She stumbles upon this bad-boy type and is almost immediately enamored. This part might have been a little cliché but this is typical across YA vampire books. The part that does irk me is that the title of bad-boy doesn’t really fit Adrian’s description. Adrian seems to caring and sensitive to Caitlin’s emotions to even come remotely close to the bad-boy type.

In that aspect, that is one of the reasons I gave this book a 4/5 stars. On my original Goodreads rating I gave it 5/5 but as the summary is a little skewed, I had to lower the rating. The only other problem I had with the book is that it honestly seemed to0 short. Maybe it was the fact that the climax of the book seemed a little rushed, but I felt like the story ended abruptly. I understand the idea of a cliffhanger, however the ending left a little to be desired.

Overall the book was well written and it had some really cute scenes as well as a few hints a proactive teen romance, but in a well-balanced way that wasn’t above age recommendation. My overall favorite parts were definitely the snarky back-and-forth arguments between Caitlin and Adrian.

My Favorite Quote, which hints at the adorable humor within the book:
“EVERY INSTINCT I HAVE IS TELLING ME TO USE POLYSYLLABIC WORDS TO IMPRESS YOU.” – Adrian, Velvet by Temple West


Like this review? Check this out and more at my book review blog: teenlythings.net… (altro)