Sarah Mac’s Reviews > Velvet Shadows > Status Update

‘Sweat dripped from Victorine’s chin, ran freely from her temples. Her body swayed from side to side though her feet did not move. She was—the snake! Even her tongue flicked in & out, her head appeared to flatten, her eyes were set in a reptilian stare.’ ….🐍

‘I have met many women who have some claim to authority & position, but never before one who possessed such an assurance of certainty that what she desired would be, that there was nothing which could stand against her will.’

Alain is supposed to be this all-powerful guy who takes control of life, yet he seems more like a beta pussy. If you’re so concerned about the dangerous voodoo dude luring away & harming Victorine at any moment, why not STICK AROUND & DEAL WITH HIM YOURSELF instead of relying on a lone petite governess to somehow do all the watching, shepherding, & bodyguarding while you’re constantly away on business?

‘I disliked seeing those small birds killed to make dress ornaments. Their use so was a part of the same waste which assaulted something in me all through this house. Gold & yet more gold, red velvet, things which in restraint could be beautiful, but when in opulent parade disgusted rather than pleased.’

‘That thick mist appeared to muffle sound. In my chamber only the ticking of the clock broke the silence. And that quiet had a heavy, oppressive quality, smothering—pushing my thoughts into dark corners. I sought sleep which did not come, reading words without comprehending. Slowly I became aware that I was listening—though for what I did not know.’

‘Though there was much which was drab or unpleasing, there was a grandeur in the land itself. And there was a vigor in these rough men, akin to that of seamen. They were determined to bend the country, rugged & forbidding as it was, to their strong wills. Only, I thought, it was not a land which any woman could love with the same inarticulate passion.’

‘There was a quality which made me, in a rare flight of the fancy I seldom allowed myself to unleash, think of those classic beauties of history who we have held up before us as the epitome of dangerous & sometimes fatal charm. Yet her expression lacked animation, her eyelids drooped, she presented the appearance of one whose inner strength was small, leaving only this perfect shell of what might have been.’

Another gorgeous Harry Bennett cover. 💜 Even without the distinctive signature in the corner his gothics are always recognizable... those smudgy oil-crayon-like pastels + exaggerated Renaissance-style fabric & hair are unique to him.