Embrace by Jessica Shirvington
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
One day Goodreads will decide to let people give half-star ratings. When that day comes, I’ll give this book 3.5 stars. Why this rating? Well, it wasn’t the writing, which wasn’t spectacular but did have a nice flow. It was the characters and the convoluted plot.
There’s something about writing negative things about a book that feels wrong somehow, but I promised myself and my fans that I would never change my review or ratings of a book because I felt pressured to do so due to my published status. I don’t know the author, and I purchased this book via Audible.com. I just wanted to say this before I continued my review.
Most of the characters in EMBRACE were well-thought out and thoroughly developed, though their motivations and behaviors sometimes didn’t match the character or were just random and/or creepy in my opinion. I didn’t relate much to Violet, but I did Lincoln. And Violet’s best friend? She seems to be an after thought in the book. I never understood Phoenix as one of the love interests, either. His actions were disturbing or overbearing, and I couldn’t understand his motivations. Ever. And I suppose that’s part of the plot. Which brings me to the plot.
I think part of my beliefs (or non-beliefs, as it were) got in the way of my not fully enjoying this book. The fact that Lilith was written as this dark, evil immortal upset me. Okay, that’s not right. It royally pissed me off. The only reason Lilith is thought of this way is because she wouldn’t lie beneath Adam. That doesn’t sound evil; it sounds intelligent. Since the author is female, it surprised me that Lilith was written this way. Besides that, there really wasn’t much of a conclusion in this book. There was only one question that was semi sort of answered about Phoenix, though we sill know nothing. On top of all of the non-answered plot points, not once did the author explain to the reader why Violet and Lincoln, partners in this war, could not have a romantic relationship. If this was explained, I must have missed it. And since this book was all about the angst and the love triangle, it shouldn’t have been a one sentence deal.
Since I already own the second book, I will continue with the series. However, if things carry on as I predict they will, I won’t finish this series. Especially if Lilith continues to be portrayed in such a negative light.
About the audio: The narrator of this book has a nice voice, but she didn’t distinguish between the male voices. They sounded the same to me, though that might be because of the Australian accent. However, I’ll give her another try with book two.
EDIT: I hate that so many readers are deciding to no longer read angel books because of the few they’ve read and didn’t care for. Seeing as how *I* write angel books, this upsets me all the more. Mainly because my books have nothing to do with God, Christianity, or the Bible. (And there is *no* love triangle.) I just wanted to point that out to all of the reviewers who are tired of angel books disappointing them. They aren’t all the same!
