Review - Velvet by Mary Hooper

Title: Velvet

Author: Mary Hooper

Series: Stand Alone

Pages: 336

Published: November 13th 2012 by Bloomsbury USA Childrens 

ISBN:  9781599909127

Source: Publisher via Netgalley

 

Description: 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 ..

I Give This ....

I really have to be honest and say that I must not have read the book description accurately when I requested this book.  I think I saw the name Mary Hooper (who I've wanted to read) and Victorian age and just jumped.  I'm sure if I had really noticed that this focuses around spiritualism, I might not have been so eager to read it.

The only thing that kept me reading once I realized what this book was about was Velvet.  Her background was intriguing.  I admired her strength to survive because it couldn't have been easy to go from being provided for to having to get by on your own.  I was surprised at her own actions when her father died.  It may have made her feel incredibly guilty, but he made it easy to walk away.  The only flaw was that she was so eager to step up in the world she completely turned a blind eye to Madame Savoya and to George (her partner).   I know in this time period, it was far to easy to believe that mediums were real.  But, I kept wanting her to see the truth.  And that is why I kept reading.

So my dislike of this book completely lies in the spiritualism aspect.  Which really does not make it fair to this book.  I liked the style, the writing, and our lead character.  But for some reason, spiritualism just rubs me the wrong way.  I hate the idea that they were tricking people out of their money, especially when it came to lonely rich widows.   I dislike that each medium came up with new tricks to outdo their competitors.   I especially disliked some of the tactics that Madame Savoya pulls in this book.  She's a downright nasty women.

That being said, I will still read another book by Mary Hooper.  I have my eye on another series of hers.  I will however, try to stay as far away from books were spiritualism is the focus from now on.  

  

We Hear The Dead by Dianne Salerni

Title: We Hear The Dead

Author: Diane Salerni
Published: May 2010 by Sourcebooks Fire
Pages: 368
ISBN: 9781402230929
 Source: ARC provided by publisher for honest review

Description: It started out as a harmless prank. But soon enough, spiritualism was the fastest growing movement of the nineteenth century, and Maggie Fox was trapped in a life of deceit.
Meticulously researched by the author, We Hear the Dead reveals the secret of how the Fox sisters faked their rapping sounds and their motives for inventing the séance and founding spiritualism.

I Give This ...

 I'm a little frustrated in writing this review because it's the second time I've done it.  I had one all written out and went to insert the pictures and the whole post disappeared!  
I liked this book for the most part.  I feel the description is a little misleading though.  I got the impression it has more to do with the actual spiritualism movement and the Fox sister's involvement.  It's there, but it feels more like the background story.  The story is more personal than that.  It's told from both Maggie's and Kate's point of view.  But, the story seems to focus more on Maggie.  I think she had issues deceiving people from the very beginning.  The book is more about her inner struggle with that.  She liked the fame in brought her.  Especially when it introduced her to Elisha Kent.  That's when the story becomes more of a romance.  Maggie has to choose between her family and spiritualism and her new found feelings for him.  I have to say I didn't like Elisha much.  I don't know if he truly cared for Maggie.  It seemed like he was more interested in molding her to be what he thought she should be.  In the end, I felt sorry for Maggie and all she had to endure at the hands of Elisha and his family.
The story was interesting and well written.  I just wanted more of the spiritualism and seances.  I thought it was interesting that Maggie played along while in the end I think Kate really truly believed she was being guided by the dead.