Saturday 6 February 2016

REVIEW; Embrace (Evolve #2), by S.E. Hall

Rating: 

Genre: New Adult, Romance

Recommend: Yes

SPOILERS (If haven't read book #1)

Summary:

Evan Allen left his university to be with Laney... but he was too little too late. Now at her uni, seeing her with Dane is killing him. Knowing nobody doesn't help him either. 

But Sawyer and the others kindly take him in and help him to meet other people. Evan soon begins to find his feet again and get back on the scene, and realises his situation isn't as bad as he thinks. 

Losing Laney may have been the wake-up call he needed to embrace his new life.


My Thoughts:




I really loved the first book in this series and was so excited to continue the drama. But part of my was a little let down with this one...

Evan: Gah, I felt SO bad for him at the end of Emerge and was eager to see how his chance at luck went. The only negative for me was that it was obvious this was written by a female. There were times where his reactions and thoughts were definitely not male characteristics and had the typical traits of a "perfect guy" created by countless authors. Now, he's meant to be the die-hard romantic "good guy" but it was a little too much at times. Maybe he was just too cutesy for my liking but I fell a little out of love with him in this and his double standards with Whitley got quite frustrating considering how much she cared for him. 

Format: Quick little point out - kindle edition needs format editing. Nearly every "texting" conversation is all over the page and a there are numerous sentences where it stops mid line and continues on the next one. Just interrupts the overall flow for the reader. 

POV: Mostly portrayed from the POV of Evan, I enjoyed how it swapped over so we still got the insight into Laney and Dane's life and it wasn't a strong cut off to Book 2. They were still included as integral characters, although slightly sidelined as this was Evan's story. It was all executed quite smoothly and the writing style appropriately adapted per character. 

Whitley: Ah, bless her! Even I nearly fell for her. Like probably most readers, I wasn't a fan of her in Emerge, but we aren't meant to be. We only see the bitch side of her and immediately dislike her meddling nature, but we ~should~ know we women are bitches usually when we're hurting or defensive over something and this is exactly her situation. She is such a great person underneath her defensive nature and persona she plays and I loved reading more about her person. Her unconditional love and affection for Evan from the start was so endearing and even her warming to Laney showed how mature and kind-hearted she really is. 

Character Development: There was great development of the characters in this. Evan changed dramatically through the story and in fairness, so did Laney. I felt sorry for her position as she wasn't really to blame for the whole "love triangle" as such. (Read Emerge review for further dissection of that mess!) I could understand how awkward and guilty she felt at the beginning but then she also got mad as Evan was only trying to move on and live his life accepting he'd lost Laney. As she woke up to realising how he must have felt etc, she matured greatly and even welcoming Whitley into her group despite everything. 

Love/Romance: Mehhh... this is where this book fell down for me. I couldn't connect with the romance in this AT ALL. I don't know why seeing as I loved it in Emerge. It all just seemed like the same scenes retold and possibly with different characters at times but it was just dull. I'm so tired of reading the "baby" in every romantic scene in every book now too... just major cringe. 




Overall: 


It may have let me down a little, but I still loved the journey this book took and how the overall story continued and grew. I cannot wait for book 3 being focused on Sawyer - I bet this will be the best one yet!!


Goodreads 
Amazon

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