Velvet by Temple West

Velvet by Temple West

Publication Date: May 12, 2015 by Swoon Reads

Genre: Young Adult Paranormal

[Special thanks to the publisher for the review copy!]

Goodreads Summary:

First rule of dealing with hot vampire bodyguards? Don’t fall in love.

After losing both her parents before age seventeen, 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?

BY USING A VERY LARGE FONT SIZE, I AM TELLING YOU THAT THE MOMENT YOU CLICKED Read More, #TempleTakeover ALREADY HAPPENED AND YOU ARE NOW DESTINED TO READ THIS BOOK BY THE QUEEN.

Temple West predicted this world domination a long time ago. AND IT’S HAPPENING RIGHT NOW. FOR REAL.

If you watch her videos on YouTube (YOU TOTALLY SHOULD), you’ll know what I mean. And you’ll probably hit Subscribe and all of her videos.

I am telling you, her videos are totally cool.

TOTALLY.

So why am I talking about her instead of the book?

BECAUSE VELVET IS AS AWESOME AS THE WOMAN WHO WROTE IT.

Aaaand if you know how awesome The Queen is, you’ll have an idea of how awesome Velvet is.

I am totally not following my format in writing book reviews. Because #TempleTakeover is happening. And everything I say here is because of #TempleTakeover. Whenever you try to ask me why, the answer will always be: Because #TempleTakeover is happening.

Okay, let me talk about Adrian Velvet.

Velvet is NOT your usual vampire story. Sure, there are scenes similar to other vampire stories, but The Queen wrote Velvet her way. It was mentioned in one of her videos that her vampires don’t sparkle, and that’s true.

I don’t think I got bored while reading Velvet. Why? You know the answer. That, plus this: BECAUSE IT’S THAT AWESOME.

Caitlin is a girl wanting to make her dreams come true, and I admire her passion for what she does. She’s not a damsel in distress. She’s just a girl struggling to stand up again after a great loss. She needed some help, and that’s when my Adrian comes in.

Adrian is book boyfriend material. Really. Remember the book boyfriend that I always talk about? Kian from Mortal Danger? Adrian reminded me of Kian a lot. Adrian is next to Kian in my list of book boyfriends. ❤

And did I mention that Adrian is a bibliophile? I REPEAT. ADRIAN IS A BIBLIOPHILE. He even made a Harry Potter reference, and his house has a SUPER COOL LIBRARY. ❤

But what I love the most about Velvet is the way The Queen wrote it. I can almost hear her telling the whole story. The writing is so Temple. So natural.

The story also has a healthy dose of humor, and I like that very much. Imagine encountering a word like, PENGUIN-Y. How cool is that?

Velvet is the kind of book that I really love, but I can’t really enumerate the reasons why I love it because it’s that awesome. It’s like, when you see me in a bookstore and you hold up a copy of Velvet and ask me if you should read it (although would you really do that if you haven’t seen me in person yet?), I’d say “YES. YES YOU SHOULD. AND YOU SHOULD READ IT NOW.”

Look. It’s supposed to be my super busy month but how was I able to finish reading Velvet and writing this review?

You know the answer.

That, and because Velvet is a perfect example of an escape. I never felt that I was forced to read it. I felt free while reading it because it was the book that took me somewhere where I can be myself. I ended up feeling forced to finish some of the books that I actually wanted to read because they simply didn’t get my full attention. But Velvet?

Velvet had me, right from the moment that Adrian showed up (and made everything extra awesome) up until Caitlin’s last words.

Don’t get me wrong in that. I meant to say, Caitlin’s last words for the first book.

BECAUSE VELVET WILL HAVE A SEQUEL!!!

AND THAT SEQUEL WILL HAVE A SEQUEL!!!

Yep. The Queen confirmed it.

VELVET IS ❤

The title. When I thought about how the title relates to the story, I just nodded to myself because WOW. That was deep. (Or did I see something that you didn’t?)

The Queen told a story with vampires in her own words, added super cool stuff (like PENGUIN-Y), and turned her story into an instrument of world domination.

WHY READ VELVET?

YOU KNOW THE ANSWER. 😉

THAT, PLUS WHY NOT?

I mean, why try stopping #TempleTakeover when you can join The Queen? ❤

THE VELVET QUOTE ROUNDUP WILL BE POSTED SOON.

***

Initial Rating: 4.875/5

Bonuses: 1.5

Demerits: None

***

Final Rating: 6.38/5

Never trust a vampire who isn’t Adrian de la Mara.

Giveaway! ❤

Win a finished copy of Velvet courtesy of Macmillan International!

The giveaway is affiliated with Erin of Celestial Pages.