Sunday, August 18, 2013

BOOK REVIEW - ENTICE by JESSICA SHIRVINGTON - THE VIOLET EDEN CHAPTERS # 2 - HACHETTE AUST - SOURCEBOOKS

By: Jessica Shirvington
Published By: Hachette, Sourcebooks
Released : Available Now
Details: Paperback from Library, 

RATING : 4.25 LINCOLN, PHOENIX & SIDEKICK SPENCE STARS!

Blurb: Goodreads

CONSEQUENCE HAUNTS EVERY CHOICE

Violet Eden is Grigori - part angel, part human.

Her destiny is to protect humans from the vengeance of exiled angels.

Knowing who to trust is key but, when Grigori reinforcements arrive, it becomes clear everyone is hiding something. Even Lincoln. The only thing Violet does know: Phoenix's hold over her is more dangerous than ever.


The race to find the one thing that could tilt the balance of power brings them all to the sacred mountains of Jordan, where Violet's power will be pushed to the extreme. And the ultimate betrayal exposed.


Enticed (now retitled ENTICE) is the second compelling book in The Violet Eden Chapters.


BOOK REVIEW by Michelle:

Lordy the shiz has hit the fan in Entice. Violet has angered the wrong guy. Oh boy, has she angered the wrong person. This does not bode well for her.

Villain’s and minions are doing what villains and minions do well.

There are sad moments and humorous moments.

O.M.G. I was standing there in front of my soul mate in my green Incredible Hulk undies!


Lincoln, now I thought you said no more secrets, then what do you start off doing....??? You know it is only going to get Violet wanting to know what your secret is which will make her go all stalker on you.

I am Team Lincoln but after seeing Phoenix’s better side, I can’t help still having a slice of my heart for Phoenix. I know he is not the good guy...it is Jessica’s fault I feel like this. J  

I just feel a bit sad for him.

Jessica introduces us to the bad boy before we really get to know Lincoln, so we are left with sore hearts. Now she is putting ‘bad’ in bad boy in a big way.

Violet and Linc have this thing where they can’t admit what they are feeling. It is not allowed. It is a rule breaker. It is very hard on them.

When things were at their worst, when I have needed someone to be there for me - it has always been Lincoln. Until recently, it didn’t matter what it was - training, protection, hell ... even a balanced diet - he had been the person I’d talked to, who’d backed me up. He was everything to me.

Some great new characters come into the story. Salvatore the Italian stallion is a sweety and Zoe is a pocket rocket who can, as the saying goes, ‘move mountains’, to help you. Pun intended. She is a cool chick.

‘So to sum up,’ Zoe said, rolling her eyes and pointing at Spence, ‘Glamour.’ To herself, ‘Nature.’ Then to Salvatore, ‘Lie detector.’

Nyla and Rudyard really bring home a few truths for Violet and Lincoln.

Spence, how I love thee. He is a brilliant side kick and I love how he is always breaking the rules. Where there is a will there is a way with Spence.

‘Hi! My name is Spencer and I am an angel carrier.’

Zoe wacked him on the arm so hard it would have broken if he weren’t Grigori. Spence rubbed his shoulder and looked at her ruefully. ‘You know I do bruise and I am still breakable until I have a partner, as everyone keeps reminding me, so careful with the merchandise.’

Zoe motioned as if she were about to hit him again.

‘Okay, okay,’ Spence said, smiling but also shifting away from Zoe. ‘I’m from a Dominations Angel. I’m lacking in the parent department since they gave me up when I was born so I don’t know which one died, not that it matters. ‘



‘Jesus Christ!’ I yelled, jumping up and down to shake out the fear as I opened the sliding door, frowning when I realized it wasn’t locked.

‘Nope, but you’re not the first to make that mistake,’ Spence said, grinning mischievously. 


‘It’s okay. I get it. It wasn’t exactly my choice either, you know. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not feeling violated or anything. You kiss like a maniac - no guy in his right mind would be disappointed after that- I mean - ‘


It’s hard for me to cover up innate hotness, no matter what form I’m in.’

Steph made a gagging motion. ‘You could have stayed male,’ she said.

Spence took a huge bite of his sandwich. ‘True, but then it wouldn’t have been easy to stop by the girl’s change room on the way here.’ He shrugged.



Spence came up beside me. ‘Da da da dah-dah, da da da dah-dahh, da da da dah, da da da dah, da da da-dahh.’

‘Star wars?’

‘Crap. I was going for Indiana Jones,’ he said. ‘This place is wicked.’



What can I say, the lad has some great lines.

Phoenix, I still hold out hope for you. You show me glimmers of emotion that you are trying to shut out. I know you are hurting, but whahhh! you really are going to be a hard one to fight. Talk about having the upper hand. That really isn’t playing fair in the sandbox.

Magda, you are such a great mean girl. We are not supposed to like you. You are all possessive and spiteful and catty and beautiful. Why are boys so dumb around the mean girl ? I still want to give her a stinky dead fish slap, but she plays the part well.

Steph, I LOVE STEPH! She makes genius look stunning. The girl is full of brains and beauty and loyalty. She is the side kick super sleuth.

‘Christ Vi, you better watch out who you tell this stuff to. Even the God Squad might find some of your bag weird.’

Dapper, the cranky seer, he is a little mysterious, very neutral when it comes to making a buck in his club but always manages to lend a hand when needed.

Onyx, you are growing on me. Can I trust you? No! But, if there is such a thing as evil rehabilitation, then you may have started to learn a few things from being human. I am interested to see how Onyx’s character pans out.

A story where villains and minions are fighting for the greater evil and Phoenix wants to be the greater evil over Violet. He is hurting and he wants Violet to hurt. He is playing dirty and a little low considering who he is and what he can do. I am sure Violet will be able to catch up eventually to him and give a smackdown for us readers to watch play out.

I did see quite early on who the traitor was. I thought it was rather a red flag with ..... well, I won’t list them as that is a spoiler. 

But!!

What I liked was I didn’t work out the whole reason. In my notes I wrote my prediction down and got it two thirds right. I like it when an author can still give me that twist that I hunger for in books.

I have this thing where I am not a lover of the repeatedly crying female lead. I gave Violet a ‘cry ‘ pass in Embrace because everything was new to her and a bit overwhelming and she had a lot of emotion running through her. Entice didn’t seem to slow the tears. I am hoping Emblaze will have them dried up a lot more. I think there are definite moments for genuine tears and then there are the moments where I can’t help but roll my eyes and want to shake the chick. Tears for me are for ‘real’ emotional scenes, not for just bawling all the time. Violet can have a case of the over used water works and I don’t really get sometimes why she has to fall apart. She is a strong girl. She can kick ass. She can use that misty stuff and bring down multiple baddies.

Lincoln and Violet take three steps forward and four steps back in their attempt to be happy. Love sometimes is not fair and it can play with your heart repeatedly. 


In Lincoln and Violet's case their hearts take a hammering. There is only a lose lose situation.

Whether it be angels or fellow Grigori, most like to talk in riddles or in what can feel like unhelpful advice to Violet.


‘Violet,’ he put his gigantic hand on my shoulder, ‘I don’t have your answers. I can see you are haunted by this. Choices often reveal consequences in many ways. But what you are looking for I cannot give you.’

I can't see Violet's love issues going away in a hurry and Phoenix is carrying around a whole pile of anger issues . Lincoln has his own agenda and Steph and Spence are the awesome side kicks who will do anything for Violet. Both are very cool friends who know how to get Violet answers.

Entice has me very intrigued to see this series to the end. I think Jessica is going to hurt my heart with some of her characters and I want to get me a HEA.

But will Violet get hers?

Michelle

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