This book was an interesting read . I really liked the beginning and the end of the story. It had more action in it. The middle kinda dragged a little bit. Quinta and Twain’s relationship is one where they instantly liked/lived each other. I felt like the first chapter presented Twain as having a lot of grit in him, but was kinda lost along the way in the story. But as soon as he met Quinta he was all for just following what Quinta wants. But overall it was enjoyable read.

this book was just so much fun to read! i truly enjoyed my time reading this book. i am so thankful to netgalley for letting me read this book before the release date! please pick this up!!

Wow! This was such a passionate, rich, and formidable novel! The world is full of magic and whimsy that filled my heart.

The author juxtaposes an enduring romance between Quinta and Twain with a splash of jeopardy, creating this sweeping story and it's powerful characters as captivating and poignant. If anything though some of the descriptions, whilst beautifully written, lingered long and I found my attention slipping and fading at times.

Jamie Pacton's debut is nothing short of enchanting. Her vivid storytelling of hope and despair, light and dark, love and loss, shines brightly on every page, weaving a fresh and exciting tale of magic.

Thankyou to NetGalley and Peachtree Teen for this eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Jamie's breakout fantasy was delightfully sweet and magical. She has woven a delicious prose tangled with magic and romance. Cannot recommend it enough!

Thank you NetGalley for the eARC. This book was so fun. I really enjoyed it. This book kept me interested and i enjoyed the book and this genre

The Vermilion Emporium wasn't a bad book, it just was very much not for me. However, I know that the reasons I didn't care for it are going to be the reason some people fall in love with it.

Every paragraph paints beautiful depictions of the world, lingering on all of the charm and whimsy of magical objects, and describing them in great detail. I found myself having to skim through the paragraphs because if you give me that much description, I disengage with the story rather than get drawn into the magic.

Because of this, the pacing felt off, the first half was incredibly slow where not a whole lot happened--Quinta and Twain are just running around looking for starlight and exploring the city. And then in the last half when things take off, it fluctuates between being rushed and more drawn out. I suspect if I were more engaged with the story, I wouldn't have had these issues.

When Quinta and Twain met, they were instantly attracted to each other, but then she kept trying to keep him at arm's length and then within a few days she was falling in love with him, leading to a relationship that didn't read as super believable to me.

Thank you to NetGalley and Peachtree for the opportunity to read an ARC of this. I'm sad to say that it was a 2.5 star read that I'm rounding up to 3 stars.

The Vermillion Emporium is a wonderful read. Quinta, a girl who wears a vial of moonshadow around her neck and carries the words of her long-dead mother in her heart meets Twain, a boy reeling from the loss of his brother with a penchant for both danger and finding things. Their fates entwine when they discover a mysterious shop full of curiosities and realize—though reluctantly at first—that each needs the other to fulfill their destines.

Jamie Pacton weaves a story bright with starlight and lace, but also twinged with a darkness that underscores the characters’ reality—magic, though beautiful, has a cost. One that might indeed prove deadly.

Thank you to Netgalley and Peachtree for sending me an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This book should have worked for me (the blurb contains so many interesting things that I usually love) but something about the tone of this one felt off. For me, it felt like MG trying to be YA, like a young kid acting like an older sibling. It didn’t work. There were a few scenes that dragged on and some flat dialogue and overall, I didn’t enjoy this book as much as I wanted to.

The Vermilion Emporium

By Jamie Pacton

Netgalley give me a copy in exchange for my honest review

What’s it about?
On the cliffs outside of Severon, a lonely boy named Twain with a knack of danger who discovers a strand of starlight, a mysterious curiosity shop ‘The Vermilion Emporium’ appears meanwhile Quinta, the ordinary daughter of an extraordinary circus performer chasing rumours desperate for a way to live up to her mother’s magical legacy.

My Thoughts
I ended up dropping this one… it just didn’t hook me. I am not really into insta-love and Twain and Quinta felt a bit shallow and flat, which is not nessaery a deal blacker for me but… the other elements didn’t hook me, I do feel other readers will enjoy this book. Also I really like the look of the cover.

Rating

2 stars ⭐️⭐️

A girl who dreams about being great and a boy who just wants to finally succeed find their paths crossing when starlight, magic, a mysterious shop, and a bit of romance comes along. Twain is a survivor, after the deaths of his parents and his brother he has just been trying to survive and make enough money collecting rare bird feathers to sell to get the money to finally leave and go on an adventure. One morning during his hunt he finds a strand of starlight on the cliffs outside of Severon.... starlight that has been long gone and magic that has disappeared, this could get him all the money he could need to get out off the island and start a new life. Meanwhile Quinta, the daughter of a great magician who has died, dreams about finally living up to her mother’s saying that she was destined to be great, but with no money, magical training, or opportunities, she can’t see how... except she learns that the Vermillion Emporium is in town and that was the one place her mother told her to go to and now it is finally here and she is finally going to seize her destiny. Both Twain and Quinta run into each other outside of the mysterious magical shop and discover that together they can make magical lace.... something powerful and extinct. When the Queen of Severon sees their lace she commissions them to create her a starlight dress and she will reward them with enough money to make their dreams come true. Yet with this magical lace comes many dangers, and both Quinta and Twain will have to rely on one another to survive, This was such a lovely and beautiful fantasy romance story with touches of Howl’s Moving Castle and The Radium Girls. I thoroughly enjoyed reading it and the romance and adventure was fantastic!

*Thanks Netgalley and Peachtree, Peachtree Teen for sending me an arc in exchange for an honest review*

Okay! So first of all thankyou so much Netgalley and Jamie Pacton for an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.
This was a 4 star read for me! The Vermilion Emporium is a YA fantasy novel.. God! this book was amazing and magical! The story was very unique! it is a perfect treat for fans who love all these magical things with a little bit of romance. (and also STARLIGHT *wink*)
Also speaking about the characters, Twain and Quinta are protagonists here.. Dude! I seriously fell in love with Twain's character. A boy who lost so many things in his life, who love challenges and adventures. And Quinta - a girl who is magical and sweet but at the same time, bold enough to kill two boys for Twain (you'll get to know when you read the book). They are perfect bro! Also about other characters, they are perfectly written. I love her writing style so much. I'm not going to spoil the story here. Read it yourself. it's interesting There are certain quotes that I fell in love with.
"To love me is to sign your own death warrant a year later"
"There will always be magic between us"
Yeah! This book is sweet, fascinating, enchanting!

While I’m sure there is an audience for this book, unfortunately it was not for me. Honestly, I’m not sure what demographic it would be good for. There were times where the characters seemed about 14 years old, with the way they spoke and acted towards each other. But then there were also times that I would have believed you if you told me they were 14, especially listening to Quinta talk about living on her own for 7 years & being the kind of girl who has one night stands. I’m not sure I love reading that (over and over again) when it’s about a teenager.

I will say that the second half of the book moved really quickly for me. It did take me some time to get into the story, but once I understood it better, I didn’t want to put the book down until it was over. I was intrigued to find out what would happen next and it kept me guessing.

I hope that if you pick this up, it works better for you that it did for me. I’ve read Jamie Pacton’s previous two books and think she’s a wonderful author, and I’m bummed that this story didn’t work for me.

Thank you to Peachtree Teen & NetGalley for the opportunity to read an advanced copy of this book!

I really enjoyed this book. I hope the author continues to write more books in the future. I can't wait to see what the author releases in the future.

Maybe it’s the Harry Potter-obsessed kid in me that loves the concept of a magical store, and “The Vermillion Emporium” by Jamie Pacton is a mystical treat.

Set in the world of Severon, orphan violinist Twain stumbles upon a strand of starlight on the cliffs of Severon. Meanwhile, Quinta, the daughter of a circus performer, looks for answers and an opportunity in the form of a magical shop, the Vermillion Emporium. When the two meet outside the Emporium, sparks fly after they discover a book on weaving starlight into magical lace.

Their talents catch the eye of Severon’s ruler, and she commissions Twain and Quinta to weave her a starlight dress in exchange for all their dreams to come true. Yet, its origins have been lost for centuries, and they only have a few strands left. The only place that holds any answers is the Emporium. Still, as they dive further and further into the store, the secrets of starlight turn deadly and throw Quinta and Twain into danger.

The world of Severon felt like flying to Italy or the Mediterranean. Pacton’s magical starlight lace was an intriguing concept to incorporate into the novel. Although the magic system was basic, it worked well with Twain and Quinta’s journey.
Twain and Quinta are the epitome of teenage romance––falling in love hard and fast, without any care for the rest of the world. Although adorable and steamy, their relationship felt like Pacton didn’t have enough pages to write a half-decent build-up to their love story.

When the two were introduced, Quinta and Twain became entirely different characters from what we began with. I’m all for protagonists growing within their relationships––especially teenagers––but Twain and Quinta’s characterizations did a complete 180 to the point of being unrecognizable. Quinta is the “I-don’t-fall-in-love” girl with a heart of stone. Twain is the charming, sad boy running away from all of his problems. Right off the bat, these initial traits are thrown out the window––Quinta becomes the poster child for soft-heartedness everywhere, and Twain suddenly wants to put down roots. If they were warranted, I wouldn’t have as much of an issue with these changes, but the trait changes were too inconsistent for my liking.

“The Vermillion Emporium” also reads like a middle-grade book with some PG-13 themes. From the writing style as a whole, villains, love story, and the protagonist’s emotions, this novel read for a much younger group than intended. If this was marketed as middle grade and without the more PG-13 themes, “The Vermillion Emporium” would’ve worked well.

The Vermilion Emporium is a YA fantasy novel pitched as "the Radium Girls meets the enchanting world of Howl’s Moving Castle." This book is filled with romance, adventure, action, and a lot of magic!

The book promised a whimsical and enchanting atmosphere, and it delivered on that promise. The worldbuilding was wonderfully written! I especially loved discovering the city's grand universities, fascinating history, and beautiful coastline. Not to mention The Vermilion Emporium!

Twain and Quinta, the two protagonists, were interesting and well-written characters. Despite their difficult backgrounds, they were brave, determined, and dreamers of a better future. I enjoyed learning about these two individuals and watching them make their way through life. However, despite all their potential, I felt they were buried beneath the romance that quickly took over the story. I was conflicted over the romance. The romance was essentially an insta-love (a trope I’m not really a fan of). But the author wrote it in such a way that it wasn't really off-putting, and once you got past it, the main love interests were pretty awesome. However, I felt there was a bit too much focus on their love in their minds for two individuals who had just met.

Overall, the premise is interesting, as are the world and its characters. If you’re looking for a light romantic fantasy story that leans toward the younger end of the YA spectrum and is filled with hope, magic, and fun characters, I would recommend checking it out.

[Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for the e-copy in exchange for an honest review!]

4.5 STARS

Thank you to NetGalley and Peachtree for providing an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

This book was delightful and a delightful read. It's whimsical and heartwarming and magical.

The world-building was excellent, particularly with the Vermilion Emporium. Outside of that shop, additional detail could have been helpful, but it made sense based on Twain and Quinta's limited experience outside of Severon.

Twain and Quinta were well-developed characters with detailed backstories. You could understand their motivations and character flaws based on their backgrounds. The romance in the book isn't spicy or dramatic but rather sweet and steady, growing until it reaches a crescendo.

I took away half a star (and considered a 4-star review) because a couple of areas started to drag for me. However, I only felt that way for a short while before the book picked back up again.

As I read this book, I loved the symbolism of weaving magic with heartache though the use of starlight.. The world-building was very unique, especially the Vermilion Emporium itself--a place I'd definitely want to visit (as long as I could find my way out!). While as a reader I would have liked the characters to be a bit more active in their unfolding narratives, this was still a lovely escapist read.

***I received an arc in exchange for an honest review
This book was right up my alley. There was love , magic , adventure, plot twists, and a cliff hanger at the end. The writing really sucked you in and the characters were really likeable

The comp titles alone made The Vermilion Emporium one of my most anticipated reads for 2022. The idea of a Howl's Moving Castle mixed with the Radium Girls was so incredibly compelling I jumped on the chance to request it on NetGalley as soon as I could. However, the book did not meet my expectations, and I was left disappointed.

Firstly, the positives: the whimsical fantasy vibes. TVE felt very reminiscent of The Night Circus in the best way. The atmosphere was enchanting and cozy, which I loved. That's really where my enjoyment ends.

This book reads as a MG read trying to pose as a YA book. I am not a fan of insta-love, and this book was chock full of it. Perhaps if it were intended for a younger audience and focused on 'first love' it could've been effective, but it was for YA, and I was bored. The two protagonists are flat and didn't captivate me. The elements that warranted the Radium Girls comp, which I was most excited for, didn't appear for a long while. The villains and politics were flat and surface level.

Overall--an effective MG book, but as a YA, it was not my favorite.

What did I just read?

I am really sorry to say I did not enjoy this book overall. Maybe it was the book, maybe it was me, maybe it was moon - who knows?

I want to start with the description of the book - because that had me hooked. "The heart-wrenching story of The Radium Girls meets the enchanting world of Howl’s Moving Castle." Yes please! Unfortunately, for a book compared The Radium Girls, that comparison was only present from about the 70% mark. Prior to that point, you get some vague mystery about the cost of magic, which obviously if you know about Radium Girls you can make some guesses to, but it isn't overwhelming in the book until far down the line. Second Unfortunately, for a book that's described as Howl's Moving Castle, the actual Emporium plays a pretty minor role. It's again not until the very end of the book that you learn about the emporium moving through cities, traveling here and there and get to see what it can do.

I'm going to keep going through the blurb before I complain about the other issues I had with this book. "Meanwhile, Quinta, the ordinary daughter of an extraordinary circus performer, " we only know her mother was extraordinary cause they say it. There's no real explanation about her abilities and she died collecting magic so you have to wonder about that. I would have loved more info about this circus other than "It was a big deal and then they all broke up" and if there was that detail it wasn't memorable enough to note it.

"When Quinta meets Twain outside the Emporium, two things happen: One, Quinta starts to fall for this starlight boy, " - She does but like immediately. The ML and FL meet and are literally holding hands like a paragraph later. Then after a month of knowing each other and a month away from each other are proclaiming their love for each other and ready to spend their lives together. Two months! I've had outfits for years longer than that and I'm still not sure I like them!

Onto the actual book content. The characters were obviously intended to be YA, as evidenced Quinta's apparent reputation as a one-night girl. The text literally says "She was not a girl who stayed longer than one night, and she made a point to avoid anyone who might want more than that". In case you forget this fact about her, you're remind a little later with the line "Quinta never held hands with boys (that was not how a one-night only girl worked)" and a third time where it says "She wasn't sure about friends forever - even if she wanted to know this boy more, she was a one-night girl -" Phew, I was worried I'd forget she was a one-night girl. At least she's self aware because she tells Twain "You don't understand. I always leave the people I sleep with. I'm a one-night girl." And if that isn't clear about who she is, I don't know how else to make it clearer. However I do know that it is the cringiest dialogue I've read in sometime. (But just to REALLY drive the point home, "She was a one-night girl" appears another time later in the book.) Also I have to bring attention to the quote "Stop being a creep, and help me," because that cemented these are absolutely teenagers doing fellow kid things.

Despite being labelled YA, the writing felt a mix of MG and also entirely unnecessary sentences. Two scenes and their come to mind:
1) "Now who wants a cup of coffee? I need one if I'm going to make it through any more studying." Both Quinta and Damian agreed to that, and they set off to get the strongest cup of coffee they could find. - The last bit of that sentence wholly reminded me of when your family member goes on for ten minutes and you're begging them to get to the point before your soul leaves your body.
2) 2-3 pages of getting ice cream. The dialogue in the scene itself is mostly fine but "Damian took a huge lick of his strawberry cone." "She took a small bite of her lemon and lavender ice cream" "Twain had ordered a chocolate and toffee ice cream and most of it was already gone." Who. cares?! Now if the sexcapades of Quinta and the teen lingo didn't solidify this as YA, the recurrent appearances of two bullies really give us rich-kid-jerks vibes from the most quality of teen high school dramas. They really did not need to be there.

I had real issues with some of the descriptions in the book. I cannot for the life of me picture what Quinta or Twain actually look like. We know she's a one night girl but that's hard to paint a visual to. There were a few points in the book where the author made reference to a character's ethnicity: a tall, broad white woman; showed a beautiful white woman wearing a flowing dress and sitting; young white men came stumbling down the stairs; belonging to a very pretty Black girl nearly; a white girl with a long braid hanging past her shoulders. She gripped the hand of the Black girl. These skin tone references do not add to anything! Literally nothing other than we know Black and white people exist in this world, which I would have assumed they did anyway. So what was the purpose of this? In most books I've read, when the author makes obvious reference to something particular about a character, skin colour, hair colour, tattoos etc etc it's because there is some relevance to that in the world building. Like characters from magic using community having white hair or something. This wasn't the case so again, why really bring attention to it?
Even beyond characters, the world description was really lacking. We know this small island has problems keeping itself protected and that's kind of that. We know there is the Casorina, the ruler of Severon and within Severon are these districts but that's kind of it. Nothing about the world, the politics, the societal hierarchy is really delved into and it's left feeling a flat as a result.

It's the author's fantasy debut and I hope their next book goes well. For me this particular book was a flat world where the most interesting aspects of the book, which nod to The Radium Girls and Howl's Moving Castle, don't appear until 70% and even later % in the book but throughout is riddled with unnecessary text and cringy dialogue.

(I couldn't find where to put this in above but this made me laugh so hard. *Spoiler warning*
Twain covered Sorchia - his grandmother (he was till having a hard time seeing her as that) - with a blue silk shawl and rested her on a settee near the bookshelf door. "We will have to bury her, but I'm not sure where." Quinta went to him, taking his hand. "We'll figure that out soon. First, let's eat, bandage out wounds and make some of this starlight tea." - You have a literal body in the house! Sort it out first! Don't put the dead body out the way and then say "right, how about some food?" What is wrong with these two!?)