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aperback, 447 pages
Published May 1st 2012 by HarperTeen
Source: LibrarySynopsis:
Embrace the Forbidden
What if there were teens whose lives literally depended on being bad influences?
This is the reality for sons and daughters of fallen angels.
Tenderhearted Southern girl Anna Whitt was born with the sixth sense to see and feel emotions of other people. She’s aware of a struggle within herself, an inexplicable pull toward danger, but Anna, the ultimate good girl, has always had the advantage of her angel side to balance the darkness within. It isn’t until she turns sixteen and meets the alluring Kaidan Rowe that she discovers her terrifying heritage and her willpower is put to the test. He’s the boy your daddy warned you about. If only someone had warned Anna.
Forced to face her destiny, will Anna embrace her halo or her horns?
Review:
I don’t know but when I began this book, I thought it was about vampires. No, really, I did. I don’t know why. Perhaps it is the red dress on the cover. As you may know, if you have read my other reviews, I am not an avid fan of angels in YA paranormal novels because…they really don’t do anything new with the mythology. I mean, okay, there are slight differences but at the end of it all, there are nephilim present. And mentions of Watchers, those lusty feathered fiends who have a thing for human women. Right then. The review.
There’s Anna Whit who is quite a readable character though annoyingly good at times though she fights her darker nature. And then there’s Kaidan Rowe who, despite everything, has a better nature. He is the resident bad boy. He and Anna meet, there are sparks and chemistry and tears and kisses though not necessarily in that order. There may also be a road trip and inexplicable changes of mind that I will blame on hormones and yeah. The romance portion is nothing new. It is quite intriguing and sparks do fly and I may have swooned once or twice but really nothing new. I wish the romance had been toned down in fact. I mean, I can only do heartbreak once in a novel. Twice is really pushing it. Seriously.
What I did like was the presence of the demons and the very very disturbing nature of the ‘work” that the Nephilim do for their “fathers.” Very disturbing. I mean, I didn’t like the work they do, I just thought it was an interesting variation from the norm. I also liked the presence of a caring father – may we all have a halleluiah? – okay, it was kind of…charming. Sweet. The ending is a copout. A deus ex machina that really deflated the climax rather effectively. Meh. And then there’s more romance. Oh and there was no point to the rather late love triangle. I really did not see any point in that. It just seemed, let’s give the girl some choices!
I don’t know. I really liked it while I was reading the novel. It’s very entertaining, pushes all the right buttons but once you are done reading and have a moment to sort of, parse through all the stuff you read, you see the holes. And um. Will I be reading the next one? I don’t know. I mean, if there’s going to be a lot of wibbling about broken hearts and other stuff, I will not. I shall read some reviews first. I recommend you do the same.
