⭐⭐⭐.5
Velvet Was the Night
Silvia Moreno-Garcia
304 pages
Published August 17, 2021 by Del Ray
Get your copy at Goodreads | Amazon
It’s the 1970’s in Mexico City and all around her students are protesting and political violence runs rampant in the city but Maite only cares about her romance novels. She loses herself and escapes reality to get away from the evil and the dangers of the world she lives in.
All of a sudden her next door neighbor, Leonora, asks her to watch her cat for a few days while she goes out of town. One day turns into two, turns into three, etc… and now no one knows where Leonora has gone and no one can finds her. In the hunt to find her neighbor, get paid and return her cat she finds out a whole world she knew nothing about and it’s nothing like the novels she reads… Unfortunately, she’s not the only one looking for Leonora.
First off I want to say that the writing of this book was absolutely wonderful. The story flowed really well and the character development was great. Unfortunately, I don’t think I was the right target audience for this. I loooooove a good mystery and this technically is a mystery in the “what happened to Leonora” sense. However, it’s a VERY slow burn. I think I personally prefer more of the thriller style mysteries that keep you on your toes and have a lot more action. This was my first historical noir genre book so I had no expectations here but I don’t think the noir scene was for me. If you’re a fan of noir genre type books then you will absolutely love this book. I personally just didn’t relate to any of the characters and the genre style wasn’t really my style so I struggled staying interested. Overall the book is good and is a 3.5/5 for me but again, not the right target audience. Definitely still give it a chance!
-Kendra
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