Embrace

Written by Jessica Shirvington

Goodreads Synopsis: It starts with a whisper: "It's time for you to know who you are."
Violet Eden dreads her seventeenth birthday. After all, it's hard to get too excited about the day that marks the anniversary of your mother's death. As if that wasn't enough, disturbing dreams haunt her sleep and leave her with very real injuries. There's a dark tattoo weaving its way up her arms that wasn't there before.
Violet is determined to get some answers, but nothing could have prepared her for the truth. The guy she thought she could fall in love with has been keeping his identity a secret: he's only half-human--oh, and same goes for her.
A centuries-old battle between fallen angels and the protectors of humanity has chosen its new warrior. It's a fight Violet doesn't want, but she lives her life by two rules: don't run and don't quit. When angels seek vengeance and humans are the warriors, you could do a lot worse than betting on Violet Eden...

My Confession: This was my very first ARC (advance reader copy, for those of you not schooled in publishing terms). It appeared in my mailbox at work as if by magic, a puffy manila envelope of promise, come to bring me the slightest of smiles on a Monday afternoon.  The bundle of joy contained an uncorrected proof for a new YA series, the first of which is Embrace, a story of fallen angels and a love triangle-gone-very-wrong. It's a three-book series that has already been published (and made quite a splash in) Australia, so the final two books in the series will be released in six-month increments. Given the usual year (at least) between series that are written a book at a time, the pacing for these novels could prove influential in how the story is embraced (whoa, no pun intended there) by American YA readers.

And, all in all, I think people will like these books. First of all, the cover art is brilliant. I'm a big fan of bright, bold colors, and the purple used here is undeniably eye-catching. Second, people still love paranormal romances. Why this trend hasn't died out yet still muddles my mind a bit, but there is a market for books like these, especially when they're done well, which is definitely the case here. The story is complicated and varies greatly from other fallen angel stories out there. Violet is a pretty strong heroine, with a background in martial arts and a complicated, estranged relationship with her father. She seems to have been forced to fend for herself, which leaves her a bit callused and abrasive.

But she falls for Lincoln, a much-older martial arts instructor who takes a special interest in Violet. The two become close friends when he offers to teach her one-on-one. You immediately get the impression that Lincoln is the only stable thing in Violet's life, her trust and confidence in him so physically tangible. So when she finds out that he is hiding his true nature from her, she's shattered. His interest in her begins to look like obligation, and as she grapples with his betrayal, she falls under the spell of another guy, a fallen angel named Phoenix, whose influence on her life proves detrimental to not just her relationship with Lincoln, but the bigger angel battle currently being waged around her.

Recommendation: You're going to get sucked in, so get ready. The story is very addictive, and while the numerous twists and turns will leave you a bit whiplashed at times, it's a pretty inventive rollercoaster. I really like these characters. I like Lincoln, and I like Violet. This isn't so much a love story as it is a story about forgiveness: forgiveness of others and forgiveness of yourself. And then it's a battle. A giant, psychological and physical battle that's pretty awesome. But the one thing I have to harp on, because I just have to, is the barrier that keeps Lincoln and Violet apart. Because they're destined "angel partners," a physical relationship between the two is impossible. In other words, just like a famous vampire novel phenom, sex can kill them.

Oh, please.

Rating: 4/5

367 pages, published by Sourcebooks Fire (March 6, 2012)

*I received this book free from YPG*