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A review by lochnessvhs
Embrace by Jessica Shirvington
5.0
[2022 Review]
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.
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.
---------------------------------------------------
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.