Although I was a huge fan of "Mexican Gothic", this book was very different. It still has the mystery aspect, but nothing outlandish happens in this story. For me, I kept waiting for something fantastic to happen.

I found this book and characters hard to connect with. Unfortunately it is one of the few books I did not finish. I have enjoyed her writing and will continue to recommend her to patrons but this book just didn't click with me.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing this arc in exchange for an honest review

Silvia Moreno-Garcia is a force to be reckoned with. Her writing constantly blows me out of the water. However, I don’t think this particular story was for me. I expected this to be more like Mexican Gothic, which it wasn’t. No horror, no paranormal aspects. Noir fiction just doesn’t interest me as much as I thought it would. So no shame to the story or the writing, just a personal preference.

One of the things I loved about Velvet Was the Night, was the characters. I have always loved the way Silvia Moreno-Garcia writes her characters. They are always so well written that I feel like I know them. And the characters in this were no exception. While these characters were unlikeable for the most part, I was still fascinated with them and their story. Maite was something else but weirdly kind of relatable. She is not a perfect main character and I appreciate that.

Now onto the actual plot, some things were easy to guess. The book leaves you enough clues to guess what is going to happen. But I will admit some plot points did throw me for a loop. That is the other thing I love about Silvia Moreno-Garcia, she really knows how to throw out a good twist.

While this book may not have been for me, I think a lot of people would enjoy it. Just don’t do what I did. Don’t go into this thinking it will be like her previous books, it's something completely new and stands on its own. I will not be making that mistake again when I read her next book.

While I liked the overall premise and tone of this story, unfortunately the way the plot was executed did not keep me engaged and the characters felt one-dimensional and lackluster.

I think part of the issue with the plot is it never felt like there were any major stakes involved. I felt no sense of suspense surrounding the mystery, so never felt fully invested into the plot nor an edge-of-my-seat need to know what happens next. This, paired with the slow pace and lack of momentum made the book feel like it was dragging. If the book had allowed more of the political climate of the setting come into play, I think it would’ve made for a much more engaging and interesting read. I will say the tone and writing were consistently strong throughout, but unfortunately that wasn’t enough to make up for the plot and pacing.

As for the characters: Maite is an unlikable character, which I don’t have a problem with in general, but she was written almost to an extreme caricature of a self-centered, annoying, vapid, superficial, boy-obsessed teen—despite being thirty. If this had been toned down a bit, I wouldn’t have found her so insufferable, and it may have made me more interested in her character arc. Elvis was a bit more dimensional, but their two storylines felt so disconnected and incongruous—despite their shared goal of finding Leonora—that it didn’t work for me.

This might very well be a book that works for fans of noir fiction. However, I don’t have much experience with that genre, so can’t speak to how successfully it accomplishes what it set out to do.

I enjoyed the historical backdrop and the actual plot, but I found Maite’s character incredibly annoying. It could just have been the mood I was in when I was reading it but her constant complaining about being old and not wanting to get married like her mother expects her to while simultaneously imagining herself in a grand romantic adventure just made me dread when the narrative would switch back to her POV.

Velvet Was the Night was an interesting read about some of the atrocities that have taken place in Mexico in the 1970s. Although fictional, this book felt like it could've had similarities to real life. Well done.

another slam-dunk from this author. the cover makes me long for a cigarette. I cannot wait for more twisty tales from this talented author.

I enjoyed this but wasn’t fully enthralled. I like historical fiction and I like Silvia Moreno-Garcia’s writing. I couldn’t find myself liking any of the characters in this book, though. So it was hard to keep my attention on it when I wasn’t fully invested in what was happening.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for this copy to read and review.

Set in Mexico during the 1970s with its dangerous political climate, two very different people go through life in parallel. Things become more complicated for Maite after her next door neighbor goes missing, and Elvis has to further navigate his way as a mobster.

A typical noir type novel with the added setting of Mexico and the cultural aspects applied, I think this very well could be a better movie or miniseries than a novel. The ease of which I got through it was great, although I kept getting confused as to what exactly was going on and became lost. And times where I couldn't tell if or how things were tied together. So it was a bit messy to me at times to keep up with what was going on.

Maite, although a touch annoying, she happened to be surprisingly realistic in her daydreaming and somewhat vapid ways. Which added to the noir atmosphere, it fit and felt right. And the same with Elvis.

The author does a fantastic job in creating atmosphere, as I've learned from a previous novel of hers, and I continued to be amazed by this and her characters. The nuance brought out hits all the right points of the genre she's writing in. I'll continue to read anything she puts out that interests me. Also I must add the afterword is a must to read.

content warnings for politics, gun violence, violence, sexual harassment.

This author really knows how to create an atmosphere.
Just like with her previous release, it’s very easy to slip right into the setting of this release.
This novel is a mix between a domestic suspense and a crime novel it was not exactly what I was expecting but in a good way,
The type of character our main narrator is, isn’t typically one I enjoy but the author did a great job of still making this character likable and relatable to me.
I also love a morally grey character which we definitely got in this book,
So all in all. Pretty fun read

This was a historical mystery set in 1970s Mexico. The novel started off well. However, I could not relate to Maine. She was very selfish. The romance was very dull. The story moved at a slow pace. The best feature of this book was the setting. 1970s Mexico seemed to come alive. Still, I recommend this for fans of Elizabeth Acevedo, Isabel Allende, and Chanel Cleeton!

Moreno=Garcia's work never misses. Tense and sprawling, Velvet Was the Night places you into the world of 1960s Mexico City and invites you to actively solve the mystery of the plot alongside Maite. I love that she is an older protaganist going through a main character, coming of age moment at a time in her life where she never expected it to occur.

Silva Moreno-Garcia knows how to write, from Mexican Gothic to this just proves that this was something she was meant to do. from the world that they're in, to the amazing plot and cast of characters I'll never stop recommending this book.

3.5

Short enough that I didn't get bored and the plot was mostly relevant.
The character views did jump around a bit and sometimes I was confused which person was working for who and watching who.

I'll admit I don't always like books set in other places (or worlds) because of all the words I have to use context clues for, listening to audio does seem to help with this so it doesn't interfere with the pace I have.

Thank you Netgalley for the advance reader copy of Velvet Was the Night by Silvia Moreno-Garcia in exchange for an honest review. I love how there is always a thread of truth and history in Silvia Moreno-Garcia's books. The history we are taught in school is so limited and centered around the country we live in and who is in charge. Wouldn't it be nice to get the real facts about atrocities that have happened and to know that the perpetrators were prosecuted fully, instead of given high level positions? I like how her books shine the light on little corners and show a snippet through different eyes. Wonderful story as always.

I had such a good time with this book - one chapter in sweet Elvis's narration and I was happily along for the ride. It's so delightfully atmospheric, like a film noir that's taking place under a disco ball, almost, mixing some classic tropes with the ambiance of Mexico in the 1970s. If this were a movie from that decade, it'd be a cult classic now. What fun.

VELVET WAS THE NIGHT by Silvia Moreno-Garcia is a Historical Noir; as a fan of Historical Fiction, I was immediately intrigued by the synopsis.

The novel is set in Mexico and opens on June 10, 1971, the day of the Corpus Christi Massacre. The story is told from the perspective of Elvis (No, not the King), who is a member of Los Halcones, and Maite, a secretary who works for a law firm and spends her free time submerged in romance comics—though aware of the protests going on around her—Maite deems politics as dull and chooses to ignore them.

Charged with watching her next-door neighbor Leonora’s cat for a couple of days and owed much-needed money for the deed, Maite has no choice but to search for Leonora when she never returns.

‘Swirling in parallel trajectories, Maite and Elvis attempt to discover the truth behind Leonora’s disappearance, encountering hitmen, government agents, and Russian spies. Because Mexico in the 1970s is a noir, where life is cheap, and the price of truth is high.’

As much as I am intrigued by the book's storyline, my need to know what happened to Leonora and one other character driving me forward, it was hard to stay invested in this slow burn. This one is a DNF for me at seventy-two percent.

Thank you, NetGalley and Del Rey Publishing (Penguin Random House LLC.), for providing me with an eBook of VELVET WAS THE NIGHT at the request of an honest review.

I generally really like Moreno-Garcia's books and this is not exception. I do wish that they came in more formats so that they were accessible for book club!

A pretty quick and enjoyable book. SMG's writing is as atmospheric as always, and I liked most of the plot (especially the ending) despite thinking the middle dragged at times. Though I wouldn't say I loved either of the main characters, they were still compelling and realistic enough to keep me interested. Sadly, I wasn't particularly attached to them and expected more interactions between them than there were in the actual book, which I think ended up affecting my overall enjoyment. Still, Velvet Was the Night is a solid read, and I would recommend it to fans of this author and noir in general. I just don't have much to say about it.

A gorgeous atmospheric historical noir set in the time of Dirty War, when the Mexican government used the Brigada Blanca to abduct, incarcerate, torture, and murder activists in the 70s . A secretary named Maite gets caught up in the disappearance of her beautiful neighbor and meets Elvis, a thug who’s also trying to find her. They discover that Leonora, the missing woman, kept dangerous secrets that those in power are willing to kill for. Gorgeously written, deeply psychological, at turns violent and sexy, Velvet Was the Night lives up to the stupendous cover and the high expectations I always have for her stories.

ARC provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.