Velvet by Mary Hooper
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Published: 2nd August 2012
Pages: 336
Main Characters: Velvet
Date Started: 16th August 2012
Date Finished: 20th August 2012
Rating Given: ***
Blurb from Goodreads:
Velvet is a laundress in a Victorian steam laundry. With both her mother and father dead, she is an orphan and has to rely upon her own wits to make a living. The laundry's work is back-breaking and Velvet is desperate to create a better life for herself. Then Velvet is noticed by Madame Savoya, a famed medium, who asks Velvet to come to work for her. Velvet is dazzled at first by the young yet beautifully dressed and bejewelled Madame. But soon Velvet realises that Madame Savoya is not all that she says she is, and Velvet's very life is in danger ...A romantic and thrillingly exciting new novel from an acclaimed and much loved historical writer for teens.
I was sent a email about this book from the publishers over at Bloomsbury which I am very grateful of. I had another one of Mary Hooper book so I thought I would give this one a try which I am glad I did as it's something different to what I usually read and I actually liked it.
The cover in a picture it doesn't look anything special but when I received a copy I loved it. I loved the colours as they really stand out and I also loved the flowers around the edges as it gave the book a more elegant look. What I loved the most was the texture of the book as it actually felt like velvet.
I may already have a Mary Hooper book but this is the first one that I have read which I did find an enjoyable read. This is also my first YA historical book which I thought Hooper did a great job of making me actually feel like I was in this time period which not a lot of books can do very successfully. What I also love is the way in which Hooper backs up her story with facts about the time which is found at the back.
What I did find a bit annoying was that in the blurb it stated that this book was 'A romantic and thrilling exciting' but I didn't find it to be any of these. There was some romance but not enough and none of it was believable. There was parts that had me guessing but most of it I guessed what would happen before it did. I did like a different take on the paranormal but that's all I will say on that as it will give too much of the story away. Even though at times I felt bored I still enjoyed it in most parts.
With the character Velvet I found she was a bit gullible and very naive. There was times I just wanted to shake her so she can actually open her eyes to what was going on around her. I am very gullible myself but even I knew what everyone was up to Velvet however didn't. Charlie was a sweet enough character but I thought he should have been in it a lot more than what he was.
Overall an enjoyable read but I just didn't find it grabbed my attention for too long.
