Book Review: Embrace by Jessica Shirvington

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Violet Eden is the main character in Embrace by Jessica Shirvinton. I had difficulty with the names of some characters at first (a little too saccharine for my taste) but Ms. Shirvington explains the main character's name genesis later in the book and I was cool with it, eventually. Embrace is the first book in What Shirvington calls the Violet Eden Chapters...I call it a series but the author does have some authority here.

Anyhow...Violet Eden is about to turn seventeen. She has a crush on her mentor and good friend, Lincoln but she is afraid to make the first move. Her best friend Steph convinces Violet to finally let the cat out of the bag or move on. Violet hates celebrating her birthday since it just reminds her that on this day x amount of years ago her mother gave her life so that Violet could live hers. She feels wrong celebrating her mother's death. However, this year she hopes an intimate party with just her father, her best friend, and Lincoln might be a good place to see if Lincoln wants to move their relationship out of the friend zone. Unfortunately, the birthday is a bigger deal than Violet knows and its significance will irrevocably change her life and her relationships.   

As her plans for the big night crash around her, Violet will have to deal with the aftermath of being betrayed by the man she desires, the realization that she is different and has some major choices to make. Choices that will either bring her into the center of a battle between light and dark forces that has been going on for eons or leave her a walking, talking target for those who wish to use her...or worse. On top of everything else, Violet has to choose between her friendship with Lincoln (and possible romantic relationship, if she can ever bring herself to forgive him, that is) and developing a romance with the enigmatic Phoenix, who has the eerie talent of being around when Violet needs him the most.

Violet has only two rules she lives her life by, don't run and don't quit. Will she be able to live by those rules?

I really liked the darkness of Embrace's storyline. You get a very real feeling that happy endings are not guaranteed in this world. Violet is a teenage girl who has had more than her fair share of brushes with the darker side of life. She is not the bubbly naive character you encounter in most YA books. She is not without flaw either, Violet is definitely not a Mary Jane though she does have powers that no one else has been granted. Unlike most YA paranormal I read, this series deals with more Judeo-Christian religious supernatural elements but it does not get preachy. I liked the not getting preachy part, since bible thumping of any sort tends to strike the wrong cord with me. I also liked the different perspective on Angel mythology. I don't want to ruin too much of the story but how many books do you read where Guardian Angels are not only real but they are bad ass? I thought this book was an excellent start to a series. I will be reading the other chapters to Violet Edens tale soon. Very soon.