Jessica Shirvington

I first read this book 9 years ago, not knowing that it was the beginning of discovering my favorite series of all time. I've spent the interviening years calling is that, but this is the first time I've gone back to it. I have to admit, I was nervous. I am not the same person I was 9 year ago. Would I still enjoy it? Would Violet Eden still resonate as a character with me now that I'm in my 40s? Would certain parts be...problematic?

I needent of worried. I cracked Embrace open around noon today and didn't stop until it was finished. I COULDN'T stop. Returning to this world, returning to Violet and Lincoln, it truly felt like coming home. Yes she's 17 and I'm very far removed from that age, but there is an agelessness that Violet Eden carries even before she embraces. She is a hero even before she accepts that's what she needs to be. There are very deep echoes of Buffy Summers in her at the core of her story, and I see that now. I'm not sure I saw that originally. It all connects for me in a way it hadn't when I was freshly out of my 20s.

I leave the below as my original review from 2013 for posterity.

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I have the first book in 4 different series that seem to be all the same thing - Hush, Hush & Embrace & Fallen & Fated. When I finally picked up Embrace, after having read the entire Hush, Hush series, I was sure there would be no way I could like it more.

And I don't. But I kind of do? Oh I am so undecided.

Violet Eden is much stronger, much smarter, and much more self-determined than Nora Grey. Lincoln is way less creepy than Patch (but Phoenix might be more creepy?) The Hush, Hush series seems like the mythology was much LESS fleshed out than in Embrace, and I kind of liked that. But I missed the amusement park. But...but...but...

Okay, maybe it's completely unfair to be comparing the two. Maybe if I would have read this first, it would have changed my perception?

I'm just very distraught that these two stories exist and now they are forever embedded in my brain. And I REALLY DESPERATELY want magical angel tattoos on my arms.

*The preceding has not been a review but a word!vomit.… (meer)

Having witnessed the opening of the gates of hell, and almost falling through, Violet is now dealing with the aftermath of that event, namely the return of her mother. But in this she is not alone, her father is also getting used to her mothers return, taking it a lot better then she is, and is also learning about her Grigori status. But to become a full Grigori Violet must travel to New York where's she will be tested, assessed and if successful accepted as one of their own.

Meanwhile Lilith has plans of her own for Violet and her mother, the woman responsible for sending her to hell in the first place. With the lives of innocents held in the balance Violet can hardly refuse Lilith’s wishes and with her mother watching on, she will suffer as she has never suffered before. But she will not suffer alone; turning what was an act of love into a strategic move against an inevitable attack from the enemy that will have dire consequences for them all.

Endless was how Violet and Lincoln had described their love for each other, beautiful, impossible, painful and endless. But Violet and Lincoln are learning the hard way that sometimes love is not enough. After having faced countless exiles, witnessing the gates of hell open and suffered at Lilith’s hands, in the end will they be torn apart by their own love for each other? A page turning romance that improves with every new chapter.… (meer)