Embrace (Embrace, #1)

by Jessica Shirvington

[Cocktails and Books]

I wasn't sure what to expect when I started reading this series, especially since the blurb did't really say a lot. What I got to the last page, I found I had been gut punched by a seventeen year old girl who had the rug pulled out from beneath her by betrayal and half truths.

Violet Eden thought she had finally put all the bad things behind her. She had a wonderful best friend and the guy she had an enormous crush on was the best man she knew. But the night of her seventeenth birthday changes everything and Violet starts to question just who has her best interest at heart....Lincoln, the guy she loves but can no longer trust or Phoenix, the guy who likes who for who she and has been there for her.

I'll admit for a YA book, this was pretty edgy. The emotional drama and turmoil that Violet suffers feels real as we follow her through the story. You want to cry with her as she wallows in the tears for the betrayal she feels with Lincoln. When she's with Phoenix, you want her to smile and feel good about something, no matter how badly she's hurt. And you want her to understand just what is happening to her and make the right choice.

The author does a fantastic job of creating a believably complex characters in Violet, Lincoln and Phoenix. While the story is told from Violet's perspective, she manages to ensure readers can get a feeling for exactly what it is Lincoln and Phoenix are thinking and feeling through their interactions with Violet. Both of them want her happy and safe, even if they think they are the best ones to provide that to her. For Violet, that means being incredibly torn between the two, which gives us a fantastic love triangle.

This is definitely a book worth picking up. I'm not a big reader of Angel stories, but this is so much more than just and angel (or half angel) and their battle for good and evil. It's action packed with emotional drama that will have you running to grab the next book in the series.