4 Stars!

Even people who aren't noir fans will enjoy VELVET WAS THE NIGHT. It has all the noir/pulpy trappings, but Moreno-Garcia cracks the genre open.

I loved the contrast of our two protagonists. From the beginning you can see them as similar souls, but externally they couldn't be more different. Maite lives an unassuming life, she struggles to make ends meet, she dislikes her job, but she doesn't see any real opportunity to make her life better. What she has is a secret passion for romance comic books and surreptitious stealing. Meanwhile Elvis's life is about as dramatic as it gets, his current iteration just the latest twist of a hardscrabble existence. He is a gangster and a criminal, happy to take orders, hoping to eventually move up the ranks into a more glamorous life. Both of them love books and records, both of them protect their secret selves. And, of course, both of them will be drawn into the plot.

The plot takes place during the Mexican political upheaval of the early 70's, where the government began to crack down on activists. (If you saw the film ROMA, it's around the same time and revolves around the same gang, The Hawks.) There is a lot to work with and Moreno-Garcia sinks her teeth right in. Getting to see the outside view from Maite, who doesn't really follow along with politics, and Elvis, who is in the thick of it but who only gets information on a need-to-know basis, we get to slowly dive deeper and deeper as both of them hunt for Leonora. Maite is just looking for the girl in her building she's cat sitting for, mostly so she can get rid of the cat. But Elvis knows his both has darker visions for Leonora.

A setting like this isn't enough to make it work, but what Moreno-Garcia brings to it are two real lonely-hearts characters, the kinds of protagonists that were common in pulp novels, but she breathes them really full of life.

I listenned to the audio and enjoyed it!

My second book by Silvia Moreno-Garcia, and absolutely not my last! I loved this, although wow - it was SO different from Mexican Gothic, which was the other book by her I'd read. Obviously I didn't expect this to be the same plot-wise or anything, but it's wild to me how different the vibes are from one book to the next -- definitely shows the author's skill as a writer.

Maite isn't exactly a "likable" main character, but she's a super compelling one - enough so that I was on the edge of my seat, flipping quickly through the pages while reading to discover what would happen next with her and Ruben. In addition to mystery-like, this felt more thriller-y, almost fantasy-like with its writing -- loved it.

It took a while for me to really get into this, but when I did, it took off and didn’t stop!! Maite was such an interesting character that I didn’t really relate to her until she started looking into Leonora’s disappearance with Rúben. And he wasn’t that interesting for a long time too. In fact, Maite annoyed the crud out of me cause while her life is boring, she’s not the best person.

El Elvis, on the other hand, was fairly interesting from the start. He had such an unconventional background that I couldn’t help but be curious of how his story was going to go. I really liked him once we learn of his history.

A lot of political drama and action that doesn’t stop.

I was excited to read this after semi liking Mexican Gothic but I was super let down by this book. I skimmed through most of the book mainly because of how bad the dialogue delivery was but also I was just bored and not enjoying the writing at all. And do we really need to use that many curse words? I understand the context they were used for but holy moly it was a lot.

I ADORED Mexican Gothic and, usually, Moreno-Garcia's writing really hits for me. Velvet Was the Night was okay and the story itself decent; I loved the noir feel of it all and the settings, etc. Perhaps it was the pacing that felt off for me, which could definitely just be my preference. I will continue to read books from this author and have already recommended this one to a few friends who like slow-burn, noir style books.

I struggled with this so much. I wanted to like this Moreno-Garcia book but it was just so long. It dragged quite a bit, it was just too slow.

I didn't like Maite, and maybe that was the point? She was supposed to be unlikeable, but there's unlikeable and then there's not compelling and I just didn't find her compelling or her story line to be interesting at all. Elvis interspersed was better but because we were looking at their stories intersecting some it just wasn't enough to keep me going. The writing was fine, but I just wish more had happened, or that the story was more interesting. Ultimately neither the characters nor the plot were compelling enough.

Silvia Moreno-Garcia can write, successfully, in any genre she desires and produce a best seller that satisfies audiences. Velvet Was the Night is a sultry, seductive crime-noir set in the 1970s.
The premise is immediately compelling and the book starts off with a great hook but over time, the story gets bogged down. The pacing slows to a crawl and nothing happens by the end of each chapter to keep the pages flying. I really had to muscle through it. I kept putting it down in favor of other new releases and then coming back to it.
I couldn't invest in Maite. I don't have a problem with unlikable characters, but Maite is self-centered and vain. Her worldview is unrelatable so I struggled with her POV. But I enjoyed the dual narrative and invested in the other character, Elvis a bit more.
Silvia Moreno-Garcia is an auto-buy author for me so I will continue reading everything she releases.

Silvia Moreno-Garcia is a hit or miss author for me. I really liked Mexican Gothic, but didn’t love Gods of Jade and Shadow. This sadly was also not for me. I had to DNF because it wasn’t holding my attention, which possibly just means I tried to read it at the wrong time. I would pick this one up again at another time and see if it holds my interest more.

Unfortunately, this book was not for me. I made it about 50% of the way through and was unable to continue. The characters didn't speak to me and with no driving force in the storyline I had to put it down.

I'm still a fan of Silvia Moreno-Garcia and will continue to read each new book!

I truly enjoyed this book, and I recommended it to several of my friends when it was published. I think the contents are a bit too violent for my students. The mystery was interesting and I really love this author’s work.

I liked how this book takes place in a moment is history that is not very well known (outside of Mexico), and not many fiction books write about it. The author does a great job with atmospheric writing, the setting descriptions and feelings. My issue was not being able to connect with the main character, I found her somewhat unlikeable.

Silvia's talent transcends genre labels--I will read anything she writes, forever. She is a master of fantasy and horror, and this noir novel shows she's the master of any style. I'm more than happy to shelve Silvia's books in any and every section of my library. This novel is full of mystery, history, and thrills with flawed but fascinating characters. Recommend this book for library patrons who love dark thrillers and need a new voice in their reading habits.

This book didn't end up being something I like. I thought the writing was fantastic, the plot just didn't work for me. I'm still interested in reading more from the author in the future though!

Enjoyed the history aspect of this book, especially not knowing much about Mexico in the 1970s.

The rest of the book was meh. I don’t mind an unlikable main character, but I found Maite to be insufferable and childish. She was thrown into an adult situation and had no capacity to handle her surroundings, which made for a frustrating reading experience.

I worship at the church of Saint Silvia Moreno-Garcia and will always and forever read whatever she writes. You never know where she's going to take you from book to book so when I saw this was a historical political noir book, I couldn't wait. It's fantastic. Lush writing. Elegant storyline. Three dimensional characters. Another banger from SMG!

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.