Embrace

Title: Embrace

Author: Jessica Shirvington


Rating: 1 star

Summary: 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.
Two sides: Angel or Exile.
Two guys: Lincoln or Phoenix.
The wrong choice could cost not only her life, but her eternity... 

Review: Many YA books being published nowadays seem to all be about the same thing: secret world (or people with special powers in our world), female main character who doesn't know anything, and two hot guys she has to choose between. Some authors can take this and turn it on its head, but that's not the case here.

 The Characters

(The 3 important ones)

Violet:  She's annoying and whiny. She continually makes stupid decisions. She finds out she's Grigori, and completely overreacts to the fact that Lincoln lied to her. Exiled angels want to kill Violet, and she's pretty much a giant neon sign alerting them to fact that she's easy prey, yet she refuses to have Lincoln train her. That's incredibly idiotic because that makes her utterly vulnerable, but of course she has a hot guy to protect her. Not the hot guy who Violet is in love with and is trustworthy, but the hot guy who she just met and is, oh wait, HER ENEMY WHO WANTS TO KILL HER. No big.

 Phoenix: This guy is creepy. This is a guy that you should run away screaming bloody murder from if you ever see him. He stalks Violet, showing up at her apartment and using his powers to change her emotions. It takes two days for Violet to think that him showing up in her apartment while she's sleeping is romantic.

 Lincoln: He doesn't do anything. The main point of Lincoln is so there can be a love triangle.

Things That Annoyed Me

Violet's dad is never around. When he is, he's completely fine with Violet being alone in the apartment with a guy she just met and he has never met. He doesn't seem to care about anything except his work.

 After knowing him for only two weeks, Violet sleeps with Phoenix on a mountain in this fancy bed Phoenix just magically made appear. It was so convenient that he brought two beds but just didn't set the other one up.  Violet was almost raped by a teacher a few years ago and she makes this big thing about how there is no God and how that guy messed with her head, though after learning that Phoenix got her to sleep with him by messing with her emotions she's just, "Whatevs."

 In the summary it says "The boy she loves will betray her." I'm pretty sure that boy is Lincoln, and he never actually betrayed her. Did he wait until she was seventeen and began changing before telling her that she was Grigori? Yes, but it makes sense to tell her when she knows that you're telling the truth, and won't run off thinking you're crazy and end up being killed by an Exile.