Series: Violet Eden Chapters – Book 3
Author: Jessica Shirvington
No of Pages: 409
Release Date: 11 October 2011
The games are over. Now, the battle begins.
Violet Eden knows her life will never be as it was. Phoenix, the exiled angel who betrayed her, is back and he’s willing to do anything to get what she has.
With the help of surprising new allies, an ancient Scripture is deciphered and a destination set. All that is certain – a brutal battle looms. With innocent lives at stake, Lincoln and Violet must work together, denying their soul-crunching desire for one another.
Seemingly holding all the power, Phoenix is always one step ahead. And when he puts the pieces of the terrifying prophecy together, he realises exactly who he needs in order to open the gates of Hell.
My Thoughts:
Can this series get any better?
Violet has some huge choices to make in this book. Where she stands with Phoenix, how much she should be telling her father who is getting increasingly nosy, how she can better protect the friends who know about her life as a Grigori, and probably the most important one, how does she stop Phoenix from freeing one of the most evil people ever known to walk the earth.
Violet once again stuns with her depth and emotion. She feels so alone after she figures out that Lincoln, her soul mate, his not only distancing himself from her because of their connection, but is shielding himself from her as well. They are growing ever apart and it hurts Violet more and more each day she sees him and it’s driven home once again that she can’t have him.
Shirvington has done such a good job in building this story that one can completely see where Violet is coming from. Usually when teenage girls feel that they have no choice but to do something stupid if they had just talked to someone about it everything would have been solved in the first ten pages, and I am normally so frustrated I want to slap them or throw the book across the room. But Violet really doesn’t have anyone she can talk to when it comes to the crunch in this book. Lincoln has for all intents and purposes rejected her, Griffin her leader and mentor is in a different country and if she doesn’t make a decision people she loves and who are helpless, will get hurt.
The one thing that did start to grind on me though towards the end was her continuous mentioning of her soul hurting. Yes, we know Lincoln is your soul mate. Yes, we know you can’t be together. Stop whining about your stomach ache because you have a broken heart and get on with it. It was mentioned just a few too many times for me especially towards the end. It probably grinded a little more because I am still on team Phoenix and still don’t like Lincoln that much.
I will admit, Lincoln grew on me a bit in Emblaze, but only in the “oh, so he is a person with feelings” way. Lincoln is too aloof for my tastes whereas Phoenix shows his vulnerability and his bad boy charm for Violet to see. Phoenix also has his heart in the right place, he may eventually kill Violet, but he does still care in the fact that only he is allowed to kill her, and he will kill anyone else who tries, I like that in a man.
Once again I loved the history woven into this story. The integration of Lilith and historical events that Shivington has linked back to the Angels, everything is so seamless and seems so effortlessly part of the story that it makes everything about the world she has created that much more believable and grounded.
I really can’t say too much more about Emblaze without falling into squee territory, it is absolutely fantastic. Shirvington once again drew me in with her incredibly emotional yet action packed writing. She once again left me with a two day book hangover because I just can’t get this series out of my mind. October 2012 is far too long to wait for Endless but I will still be waiting with eagerness.
Embrace
Enticed
