Embrace
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4.5 • 189 Ratings
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- $10.99
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- $10.99
Publisher Description
Two Choices: Angel or Exile. Lincoln or Phoenix. The wrong choice could cost not only her life, but her eternity.
It starts with a whisper: "It's time for you to know who you are..."
On her 17th birthday, everything will change for Violet Eden. The boy she loves will betray her. Her enemy will save her. She will have to decide just how much she's willing to sacrifice.
A centuries old war between fallen angels and the protectors of humanity chooses a new fighter. It's a battle Violet doesn't want, but she lives her life by two rules: don't run and don't quit. If angels seek vengeance and humans are the warriors, you could do a lot worse than betting on Violet Eden.
LINCOLN: He's been Violet's one anchor, her running partner and kickboxing trainer. Only he never told her he's Grigori—part human, part angel—and that he was training her for an ancient battle between Angels and Exiles.
PHOENIX: No one knows where his loyalties lie, yet he's the only one there to pick up the pieces and protect her after Lincoln's lies. In a world of dark and light, he is all shades of gray.
The Embrace Series:
•Embrace (Book 1)
•Entice (Book 2)
•Emblaze (Book 3)
•Endless (Book 4)
•Empower (Book 5)
Praise for Embrace:
In her YA paranormal romance debut, Jessica Shirvington combines "the badass-action of Vampire Academy, the complex love triangles of Twilight, and the angel mythology of Fallen, taken one step further." —Book Couture
"Shirvington's debut is smart, edgy and addictive—and sure to leave readers clamoring for the rest of the series."— Kirkus Reviews, STARRED
"One of the best YA novels we've seen in a while. Get ready for a confident, kick-butt, well-defined heroine." — RT Book Reviews
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Book four of this series is about to be published in Australia, so Shirvington is hardly a newcomer despite this being her first U.S. publication. It's a solid entry in a well-established paranormal niche: the angels who live among us aren't nice, and it takes a small cadre of gutsy humans to maintain order. In this case, those protectors are the Grigori, mortals infused with angelic essence, who come into their powers on their 17th birthdays. Violet Eden is turning 17 and wrestling with an infatuation with her personal trainer, Lincoln, who's in his 20s and perfect. Violet discovers that Lincoln is a Grigori and that she is one, too. Yet, feeling betrayed by Lincoln's concealment of their true identities, Violet turns to a second love interest Phoenix, who represents the darker side of the angelic continuum and further complicates her understanding of herself and her destiny. While Shirvington's world-building reflects the conventions of the genre, the book's strength is in its persuasive evocation of Violet's emotional turmoil as she copes with human adolescence in the midst of her discovery that she has a fate beyond even Lincoln's power to explain. Ages 12 up.
Customer Reviews
Wonderful
This review is for the entire Embrace series (no spoilers) and I'm putting here with Book 1 to motivate others to invest in the whole series. Embrace has such beautifully motivated characters—the reluctant heroine, the strong and silent hero, the conflicted antihero, and a whole motley crew fills in the rest. The author takes such care with bringing a whole world to life—the locations, the ranks, the powers, the politics, the history, and all the extended characters filled with bold idyllic youth. Violet and Linc didn’t have my vote initially—it took at least to Book 3. I don’t mind that their relationship took a while to develop—it let me focus on Violet’s personal development outside of the romantic plot. Linc was relatively flat for me until the last two books—then he came alive and the pages ran away with his presence. Phoenix was my sentimental favorite—what a complex character! I’m really glad the author never threw him under the bus—she really could have and just left him in the dust but she didn’t. Thank god! I loved the side characters—Steph, Spence, and Onyx in particular. They kept everybody grounded! The absolute standout moment in the series came at the end of Book 4. What Violet did was so poignant and powerful and it is one of the grandest gestures I have ever read in a book and I felt it so viscerally as if it were happening to me—I had tears running down my face—that’s good writing! I was panicking as I came to the end of the last book because I didn’t want to leave this world. I love when strong characters drive the story—the story’s not happening to the them, they ARE the story. This is supernatural YA fiction at its best.
Bleh
Nothing remarkable about this book. The characters are bland and annoying, not much character development or good story building. Main love interest is so wishy washy and you know she’s going back to him eventually but it doesn’t feel right. Her reasons for being mad at him are childish and extreme. The secondary love interest had potential but he was outright manipulating her and didn’t hide it and then she’s all surprised to find he was doing it more then she realized. Lots of pointless boy drama without a good story to back it. All the other side characters are fairly blank or cliche. Won’t be reading the further books
READ IT!!!
Amazing. Really easy to get into if you like this kind of thing.