Quando ho letto la trama di questo libro sembrava davvero interessante. Peccato che questo libro mi abbia fatto quasi perdere la voglia di leggere. L'ho dovuto mettere da parte più volte per leggere altro, perchè seriamente ogni volta che lo riprendevo in mano mi arrabbiavo per ogni minima cosa c'era scritta.
Però non è ovviamente tutto tremendo. Questo libro ha sicuramente degli spunti originali e che se sviluppati meglio potevano diventare davvero un bel libro. A partire dal negozio che compare e scompare dove gli pare, la magia delle stelle e la loro tessitura, le infinite stanze all'interno dell'emporio e la città di Severon che sicuramente sarebbe stato bello esplorare maggiormente.
Invece ci siamo ritrovati nel giro di una manciata di capitoli i due protagonisti già persi e innamorati l'uno dell'altra dopo essersi conosciuti per puro caso davanti all'emporio. Non sono sempre contraria all'instalove, ma questo è stato veramente scritto male e mi ha dato la nausea. Non puoi fidarti ciecamente e affidare la tua vita all'altro, o addirittura pensare di non lasciarsi mai più dopo poche ore che vi siete incontrati! E' assolutamente poco credibile.
Per non parlare della noia infinita della prima parte. Non succede assolutamente nulla. Solo loro due che sono nel panico perchè non sanno come fare a creare questo dannato vestito per la reggente della città.
La seconda parte del libro invece è il caos più totale. Se un personaggio poteva fare una cattiva scelta, ne farà una ancora peggiore!
In questa parte però ci sono anche alcuni degli elementi che mi sembravano più interessanti, che però continuavano a essere buttati li, inserendo sempre altre cose nuove e interessanti dal punto di vista del sistema magico, ma a cui non veniva dato quasi mai una spiegazione.
E' una lettura che mette ansia e stress e che non mi ha trasmesso alcuna emozione. E' una lettura apatica e senza sentimento. Non mi sono affezzionata a nessun personaggio, se non forse alla propietaria dell'emporio, che mi ricordava in qualche modo una bibliotecaria.
Non gli ho dato il voto più basso, solo perchè ha qualche elemento interessante, ma altrimenti è una lettura da bocciare a parer mio, perchè non ti coinvolge in alcun modo.

Grazie Netgalley per avermi permesso di leggerlo in anteprima.

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When I read the plot of this book it seemed really interesting. Too bad this book almost made me lose the desire to read. I had to put it aside several times to read other books, because seriously every time I picked it up again I got angry at every little thing written there.
But of course it's not all terrible. This book certainly has some original ideas and if developed better they could become a really good book. Starting from the shop that appears and disappears where it pleases, the magic of the stars and their weaving, the infinite rooms inside the emporium and the city of Severon that surely would have been nice to explore more.
Instead we found ourselves within a handful of chapters with the two protagonists already lost and in love with each other after meeting by pure chance in front of the emporium. I'm not always against instalove, but this was really badly written and made me nauseous. You can't blindly trust and entrust your life to another person like this, or even think of never leaving each other again after a few hours of meeting! It is absolutely not beliavable.
Not to mention the endless boredom of the first part. Absolutely nothing happens. Just the two of them panicking because they don't know how to make this damned dress for the regent of the city.
The second part of the book, on the other hand, is total chaos. If a character could have made a bad choice, he will make an even worse one!
In this part, however, there are also some of the elements that seemed more interesting to me, which however continued to be put in like they weren't important, always inserting something new and interesting like from the point of view of the magical system, but with no explanation at all.
It's a reading that puts anxiety and stress and that didn't give me any emotion. It is a dull and heartless read. I didn't get attached to any character, except perhaps the owner of the store, who somehow reminded me of a librarian.
I didn't give it the lowest rating, just because it has some interesting elements, but otherwise it's a fail read in my opinion, because it doesn't involve you in any way.

Thanks Netgalley for letting me read the preview of the book.

#TheVermilionEmporium #NetGalley Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review this novel. I encourage you to check this one out! Really solid read.

The heart-wrenching story of The Radium Girls meets the enchanting world of Howl’s Moving Castle in a story of timeless love and deadly consequences.

It was a day for finding things...

On the morning Twain, a lonely boy with a knack for danger, discovers a strand of starlight on the cliffs outside of Severon, a mysterious curiosity shop appears in town. Meanwhile, Quinta, the ordinary daughter of an extraordinary circus performer, chases rumors of the shop, the Vermilion Emporium, desperate for a way to live up to her mother’s magical legacy.

When Quinta meets Twain outside of the Emporium, two things happen: One, Quinta is sure she’s infatuated with this starlight boy, who uses his charm to hide his scars. Two, they enter the store and discover a book that teaches them how to weave starlight into lace.

Soon, their lace catches the eye of the Casorina, the ruler of Severon. She commissions Quinta and Twain to make her a starlight dress and will reward them handsomely enough to make their dreams come true. However, they can’t sew a dress without more material, and the secret to starlight’s origins has been lost for decades. As Quinta and Twain search the Emporium for answers, though, they discover the secret might not have actually been lost—but destroyed. And likely, for good reason.

A powerful and romantic adventure set in a whimsically magical world. The Vermilion Emporium shines a light into the darkest spaces. It’s about healing in a world shrouded with despair and discovering a spark of magic when you need it most.

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Thanks Netgalley and the publisher for this book!
A well-written YA book. Not really the type of book that I like but it's still worth reading and mentioning. If you like the blurbs and fantasy YA, you'll like this book.

I will be forever grateful to the author for passing my name along to the publisher for an advance copy. I can't stop thinking about this book. My favorite parts were in the Emporium itself. I want a store that just knows what I need and offers rooms accordingly. That's the part I keep thinking about. It was just so fun and now I really want to read/watch Howl's Moving Castle.

Quinta and Twain were great together and I enjoyed their relationship. I actually loved all the friendships in this book and how the author brought everyone together. I read this book from start to finish without stopping, inhaling the world and the characters as I went. The world building was truly excellent and I think anyone who enjoys YA fantasy should give this one a try.

On the morning that The Vermilion Emporium appeared, Twain found a strand of starlight. While searching for the shop, Quinta finds Twain waiting outside of it. They enter it together and discover the secrets of how to weave the starlight into lace. However, no one knows how to find more starlight. They take on a job to create a starlight gown for the ruler of Severon, even though it seems like an impossible task. Quinta and Twain have to search for the way to find starlight, but it could have deadly consequences.

This was a fabulous fantasy debut! Quinta and Twain were lovable characters who had overcome many struggles in their young lives. There was a lot of mystery that kept me guessing, but everything was explained at the end. I loved the way everything came together at the end.

I thought the ending would be sad with the way it was going, but there was a happy ending. This story was inspired by The Radium Girls, which I didn’t know anything about before reading this one, but is a heartbreaking story. I was happy with how this story ended though.

I highly recommend The Vermilion Emporium!

Thank you Peachtree Teen for providing a digital copy of this book.

Where should I begin? I absolutely loved The Vermilion Emporium, and I cannot wait until the world can read it as well. The magic, the world and the characters are all so deeply intertwined, and the story pulls you in from the first page.

With nods to Howl’s Moving Castle and the historical Radium Girls, this is a novel for anyone who needs a little more magic in their life. Jamie Pacton has created a lush world, with sharp turns and enemies behind friendly faces. I had to read TVE twice before I could properly put my thoughts to paper, and I will happily read it again and again. I look forward to seeing what other magical worlds Pacton comes up with, though this will always be a favourite.

Thank you to NetGalley, Peachtree Teen and the author for allowing me to read an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

The Vermillion Emporium was a bit inconsistent for me. When it was fun, it was really fun. When it wasn’t, it sort of dragged. I very much enjoyed the two main characters. Quinta and Twain are sweet, brave, and both learn some hard and good lessons about community and relationship and magic. And their love story is so, well, lovely. It happens fast, but within the context of the story it seemed quite fitting. Usually instalove bothers me, but this didn’t feel like instalove since the characters were also highly skeptical of their quick feelings, and they go through several life-changing experiences together. Those circumstances seemed to set a realistic stage for their quick fall.

The magic and world were whimsical and lovely. Pacton writes in her author’s note that she wanted to capture the magic of Erin Morgenstern’s The Night Circus, and from very early on I could tell that she must have been inspired by something along those lines. More often that not, she accomplishes this task, creating a lovely magic system of starlight and lacemaking that hints at big power opportunities and big risks but for most of the book stays in a cozy arena of two adventurers learning to create together.

One weak point of the novel was the villains. That descriptor may seem trite (I usually prefer the term antagonist), but these characters were truly villainous. We never get much hint into the internal workings of the various villains—they are mostly careless, cruel, and abusive, with little to no explanation as to why they are the way that they are. If it were just one who was treated this way, it may have bothered me less (though honestly it still would have bothered me). But every villain in the story lacked complexity or logical motive. If that had been set up better, this story would have been radically improved.

In all, I enjoyed reading it, but I wasn’t over-the-moon about it. I had to really motivate myself to pick the book back up and read, which is a pretty good sign that it missed some marks.

The author wrote an incredibly lovely note and acknowledgements at the end that I must mention. She credited Erin Morgenstern’s The Night Circus for inspiring the book, as well as the book Radium Girls. She thanked Alix E. Harrow for her friendship, and I felt great satisfaction knowing Morgenstern’s and Harrow are among her friends and inspirations. This book very easily could be shelved next to those authors and fit right in. And I feel lucky to have read about the tremendous loss she experienced while writing this book: the death of her 13-year-old. Her end-of-book author’s note and acknowledgements are among the best I’ve read. I so greatly appreciate her vulnerability and courage in sharing her love and loss with the reader.

One of the best YA fantasies I've read recently, this book had so much charm! It's about two people who find each other unexpectedly through a magic/curiosities shop, connect almost immediately, and go through a wonderful magic-discovery adventure together.

This book was really swoony, really wholesome, and really magical, and I had so much fun reading it. If you like YA fantasy, you should def check this out!

Thank you to the author, the publisher and Netgalley for an ARC!

Story: D+
Prose: C-
Characters: C-
World: C
Theme(s): C
Enjoyment: D

In The Vermilion Emporium, a magical book briefly appears, called A Book of Very Dangerous Magic. Whoever opens the book becomes trapped inside it, stuck in a boring and tedious story.

That's what reading the first half of The Vermilion the felt like.


The Good:
The second half is readable. Some of the reveals/answers in the second half are interesting and the author even remembers to add stakes to the plot!
Whimsical concepts: although the starlight lace is more unique than the magical emporium, both are fun and whimsical.


The Bad:
What is this plot??? Excuse me, have you ever heard of a PLOT BEAT?
Horrible execution. Bad plotting, bad storytelling, mediocre prose. Pacton's plotting, particularly in the beginning half, is abominable. Her storytelling is sloppy, and graceless. Pacton has barely grasped how to write a scene; her focus is all over the place. The writing… to be honest would be tolerable if not paired with such dire storytelling. There's too much effort in trying to describe magical things and write pretty sentences, but none of the knowledge or experience behind the execution of them. It's painful and awkward to read.
RAZORBILLS AREN'T RAPTORS. In fact, raptors are one of their natural enemies. "What if these razorbills are different?"
Idiot MCs: What if we just make the worst decisions, ever? I'm not talking about the fun, dramatic bad decisions. I'm not talking about the typical kind of bad decisions Young Adult protagonists make because they're young.
Flat characters. Particularly the antagonists. They're all the same one-note brand of evil, half-assed characters.
How does no one know anything about the shop with red and blue sails? This is the dumbest plot point ever. Is there no port authority? Does literally no one know that the sails match another country's military uniforms? Twain sits around for an entire month waiting for more answers to fall in his lap. Why doesn't he just ask the Casorina for help?

Honestly can't recommend this one. It's not bad in the fun way, it's bad in the boring, exhausting way

The Vermilion Emporium is a lovely story full of mystery, magic, and lots of love. I really enjoyed the connection between Twain and Quinta, as well as the magic system, However, the true standout of the story is the world-building. The maze of the city, the clothing, and the descriptions of the setting were so rich and full of life. If I had one issue, I'd say that the insta-love trope isn't for everyone and it was a major plot point of the story. I also felt the character descriptions needed a bit more creativity, as they were kind of jarring at times. Other than that, the story was solid, the characters were great, and I think if you're a fan of the Caraval series you'll probably really enjoy this book! 3/5 stars

Whimsical, light, and atmospheric!

I'm a sucker for anything Howl's Moving Castle inspired, and The Night Circus is one of my fave books, so reading this was a no-brainer. It is firmly in the YA category, and though at times I wished for a deeper exploration of plot and character, I feel this will be an entertaining read for our fantasy lovers!

I may be biased here as I’ve read and LOVED both of Jamie Pacton’s previous books. This book was absolutely magical (pun very much intended!). I absolutely loved following Quinta and Twain through their adventure and the characters were so likable and I felt myself rooting for them throughout. This book really had that magical, enchanted feeling from start to finish and would make an absolutely great movie! I was invested and felt like the environment and characters built by the author were just so much fun.

I would like to thank Netgalley and Holiday House Publishers for sending me this E-arc in exchange for an honest review.

I was really excited for this book, especially as they said it had Howl's Moving Castle similarities, and that is one of my favourite books and movies. I think going into the book with that expectation is what caused me to not enjoy it as much.
I found the characters hard to enjoy reading about, and shallowly built. And the writing style I had a hard time reading. The idea of the world, the story were all intriguing to me, and I think partly if I had not gone in with thinking it would be similar to Howl's Moving Castle, I would have enjoyed it slightly more.

The Vermilion Emporium has everything you would ever want or need. You just need to find it.
This is where Quinta and Twain meet. Both are searching for their place in the world and both are connected through the magical starlight, which once had been used to create enchanted fabric. This technique has been lost for years now but Quinta, who was prophecied a great destiny, learns to weave the strands of starlight and her and Twain form a team.
What follows is an absolutely lovely story about finding youself, falling in love and that everything comes with a cost. The parallels to Howls moving Castle are clear (and well done) and I personally enjoyed it.
The story is well written, the characters are rounded and I really wished, I could ha e stayed longer in this world.

I enjoyed the storyline of this book but I do have to downgrade it a bit because the formatting made it very difficult to read and honestly unenjoyable. I did like the story and the characters were okay but predictable.

It's official: I love this book. Honestly, I began the year with a book quite like this one and it's only fair that I end the year with something that reminds me of it.
But whereas Hotel Magnifique had, in fact, a wandering hotel, in this case we have a shop, and my, what a magical shop it is.
I loved the author's imagination behind the emporium, but not only that, behind all the lore of the starlight and moonshine. The magical system is as simple as it is intriguing, giving the lace woven with starlight power behind measure.
I absolutely adore the two protagonists, Quinta with her walls coming down and Twain breaking them (okay, okay, this is my Captain Swan shipper coming out but hey, if the shoe fits!). But in all honesty, Quinta is amazing, the kind of person who's dealt with magic all her life but is down on earth. On the other side, Twain is more of an adventurer, one ridden with guilt, with the kindest of souls. And of course, he says the most swoon worthy things!
The twists, although quite predictable, gave me a very good reading experience. What I didn't expect was the gore!
Another note must be made: the writing! The writing of this book is actually fantastic, the kind of writing I love, so poetic and magical, as if it was woven starlight!

I really liked this book. At first I wasn’t sure what to make of it but the prickly female MC, Quinta, grew on me immediately and I liked the way she and Twain interacted. Reading about starlight and the magical store kept me hooked. The way they are sorta given a task felt like it came out of nowhere but I enjoyed the flow of the book. I wish we learned a little more about both the MC’s. We know they are both orphans but it would have be nice to see more of their lives before they meet or more of their differing interests. (Outside of things focused on their plan.) I was definitely on the edge of my seat as I read. I thought it was a great read and would recommend others check it out if you enjoy fantasy and romance tales. I’m gonna keep my eyes open for any more books by this author.

Thanks to NetGalley and the Publisher for the ARC.

The Vermilion Emporium is a haunting and fantastical story. Strangers Quinta and Twain discover a curious shop called The Vermilion Emporium, where behind every door is a magical mystery. This adventure quickly binds them together and they realize that together they can create a precious commodity- starlight lace. But starlight lace is extremely dangerous. And unbeknownst to them, a powerful figure has taken notice and is determined to take all their lace. Quinta and Twain must race to find each other and escape before the starlight lace takes a toll- for magic always comes with a price.

The Vermilion Emporium is an extraordinary story with real-life influences. Pacton says she draws inspiration from the Radium Girls and Erin Morgenstern; I thought both influences resonated. I also think aspects of Howl’s Moving Castle are present in some of the more magical scenes with the Emporium. The creeping danger from the starlight, Twain and Quinta’s budding romance, and the urgency to craft the lace make this a very well-paced and unputdownable adventure. I was spellbound and couldn’t look away! For fans of Howl’s Moving Castle and The Radium Girls- check out The Vermilion Emporium. Looking forward to seeing what Jamie Pacton writes next! Thank you to Jamie Pacton, Peachtree Teen, and Netgalley for a free ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I absolutely adored the world and characters in this book, especially Twain and Quinta. It was so much fun reading about their adventure and romance. Also, the magic system with the starlight was intriguing, and I loved how we discovered more about it as the story continued. What interested me in this book were the comp titles and the little bit of the description that I read months ago when I requested it. I have been waiting for the right moment to read it, which happened this week. This book was beautiful, and I could not get enough of it.

Also, please make sure if you pick this up to read the author’s note at the end. Some people don’t read anything in a book after the story, but I highly recommend reading Jamie’s note. It was beautiful, and I loved reading about her inspiration for this story.

This book is a highly entertaining read that I adored from Twain’s first perspective. I liked seeing the story from both his and Quinta’s point of view. The Vermilion Emporium was such an excellent idea with a shop that moves from place to place. I won’t spoil anything about the inside, but I know that I would love to be able to go into a shop like that. Such a neat idea! This fantasy world was a favorite that I know I will return to again and again. I am buying my own copy of it, and I cannot wait for it to come to add to my collection. Also, I hope that Jamie continues on with this world. I would love to see more adventures with Twain, Quinta, and the Vermilion Emporium.

*Thank you to the publisher for my ARC of the book. All opinions are my own.*

⭐️3.5/5 stars.
I absolutely loved the world of this story. It was full of whimsy and magic and had the most beautiful descriptions that reminded me of Caraval, Once Upon A Broken Heart, The Night Circus, and even a little of Stardust by Neil Geiman, but with a Rumplestiltskin-like tale. I could’ve spent more time in that world because it felt like there was so much more wonder we could’ve continued to explore in the Emporium and learning more about weaving starlight. I just didn’t love the characters. I think for me, I would’ve liked a little more separation between the narrators/characters and me, the reader. I could’ve used less of time in their inner thoughts because it felt at times juvenile? And many of the thoughts were repeated often. However, once again, the world building was amazing. The world building is what made me give it a higher rating.
Overall, I would still recommend this book to people. It definitely was a fun, light-hearted, whimsical read.
Thank you to NetGalley & Peachtree Teen for providing the ARC for my honest review.