(Website, , , )Published by Swoon Reads on May 12th 2015
Genres: Coming of Age, Dating & Relationships, Fairy Tales, Folk Tales, Legends & Mythology, Family, Love & Romance, paranormal, Romance, Young Adult, Young Adult Fiction
Pages: 392
Format: Paperback
After losing both her parents before age 17, aspiring designer Caitlin Holte feels like her whole world has been turned upside down, and that was before the terrifying encounter with a supernatural force. Then, she learns that her hot bad-boy neighbor, Adrian--who might have just saved her life--is actually a half-demon vampire.
Suddenly, Caitlin is stuck with a vampire bodyguard who feels that the best way to protect her is to become her pretend boyfriend. Trouble is, Caitlin is starting to fall in love for real, while Adrian can never love a human. Caitlin trusts Adrian to keep her safe from his demon father, but will he be able to protect her heart?
Reading this book is probably one of my best decisions of 2016. Seriously, I loved this book. I started it during finals (yeah, that would not be one of the best decisions that I’ve ever made) and would have rather had escaped back to Stony Creek than studied. I loved this world. I’m a huge fan of New York, but now even the small towns are appealing.
Caitlin Holte was an orphan. Four days after losing her mother, she’s forced to move in with an aunt and uncle that she had never met. The relationship she had with her newfound family was as important to the development of the story. Caitlin had a lot of deep-seated pain from the non-existent relationship she had with the little family that she had left. The underlying connections that she had to make with her aunt, uncle, and cousin weren’t at the forefront of the story but created an atmosphere around Caitlin. Under all the snark and sarcasm was a girl in pain, not just a girl that was mad about her circumstance.
She also loved to sew. The story was not centralized around Caitlin’s love of sewing, though the title is deep once it all ties together, but it added a little oomph to her character. She had purpose and a hobby, and even someone who has never touched a sewing machine will understand her love of fashion and art through a needle and thread.
These might be my favorite vampires. West did a wonderful job of creating a new and unique brand of vampires. Sure, I had some Twilight flashbacks here and there, story wise, but these vamps could not have been anymore different. There was a scientific slash paranormal explanation for why they even existed that confounded and intrigued me at the same time.
Adrian de la Mara…yes. Just so much yes. I loved him. I am in love with another male lead and do not even care. He was swoon times infinity, and even though I wanted to smack him a little (ehmm, a lot) toward the end, he made up for it. He was a vampire that blushed—blushed. I mean, come on. What’s not to love about that? Like I said, these are not the vampires that you’ve come to know, and it was one of Adrian’s charms. He was also a closet nerd with a sense of style and dreamy silver eyes that had the propensity to dance.
There were two side characters that particularly stole my heart: Lucien and Trish. Lucien, Adrian’s little brother, was adorable times ten. Sure, he was strange and not used to being a corporeal being, but it made him all the more interesting and huggable. Trish was the friend that wouldn’t let up. She was determined to be friends with Caitlin, and instead of pushing her away Caitlin let her. They didn’t have the most conventional friendship, and at first I didn’t expect it, but it worked out perfectly.
Why have I not read this book sooner? Part of me is beating myself up over not reading this book, like, a year ago because it’s been on my radar for a long time. The other part of me is thinking about how sensible it was to wait and read it until there was a definitive release date for book two. The ending had the closure of the first book in a series. It wasn’t a major cliffhanger, but it left a lot of loose ends. I have to know what’s in store for Adrian and Caitlin.
For all the vampire haters of the world, you obviously haven’t read Velvet.
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About Temple West
Temple West, debut author of the YA paranormal romance Velvet, is as nerdy in real life as she is on the Twitter. Armed with a very shiny English degree, she spent four months in Oxford holed up at the Radcliffe Camera amongst the hush of ancient books and the rich musk of academia. Returning to Los Angeles, she acquired a concurrent degree in film, mostly as an excuse to write essays about The Princess Bride and Hook. She can sew (poorly), drive stick (please fasten your seatbelt), and mostly lift her feet off the ground while stuttering into first gear on a very small motorcycle. She currently lives in Seattle and is the proud mother to a one-year-old laptop and a vintage Remington typewriter.
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