Review: My sweet Prince Evan...
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 09 29, 2013
4.5 stars for my dear, sweet Evan. Swoon. I'm so glad I waited to read Emerge until Embrace came out. This books picks up right where the first one left off. With me pissed because Evan was lied to and is now broken hearted and facing a new college with no friends, no best friend, no girlfriend. He gave up with football scholarship for Laney (who I do not like at this point) who chose Dane instead of her life long best friend (yet another love triangle that leaves me banging my head against a wall. Why do I always choose the underdog?)Can I mention again how perfect Evan is? He's Prince Eric meets Prince Charming meets good ole southern country boy.Embrace is also told from a three person POV (Evan, Laney and Dane) but it is mostly Evan.Now that he's started a new school, Evan is trying to pick up the pieces of his heart and find out where he fits in and if he can have a friendship at all with Laney. Luckily, Sawyer becomes a much more importance character in this book and he befriends Evan quickly.We quickly see who Evan's love interest will be... Whitley. A minor character from Emerge and very unlikeable. However, it is clear early on that her character was misjudged and she's actually a sweet girl. Whit and Evan are only friends for a lot of this book though you can tell how she feels about him and vice versa. Evan doesn't want to hurt her and ruin the friendship they have created so he decides to date. And that part is pretty funny. After a few disasterous dates, he finally gets up the nerve to kiss Whit and wham, bam, fireworks ensue.Luckily, at this point as a reader, I have gotten to know Laney's character a bit more and realize that her personality really is better suited to Dane's and Whit is better suited for Evan. I have now forgiven Laney for being so freaking stupid in Emerge. Whit is polite, a little shy and an unrelenting romantic... just like Evan. They really are a perfect match.I like that they took their time getting to know each other and date before jumping in bed. Of course, you should expect nothing less from our sweet Prince Evan.The side storylines (Laney and Dane) are almost unnecessary to the book but it does give a little more insight into their relationship and I finally was able to connect more with Dane's character (he really is pretty great, I was just still pouting after Emerge and didn't want to admit it). You will walk away in love with Sawyer as well and I cannot wait for his book to come out. I'm kind of hoping that Zach will get one too or that more of his story will be included in Sawyer's book. Zach definitely has a story to tell as well and deserves and HEA.Much like Emerge, this book is well written and very funny at times. The characters for me are more likeable and we get HEA's all around (except Sawyer and Zach).If I had one criticism it would be that the sweet, southern boy talk is a little overdone. Men in the south do not refer to their girls as 'sugar' or some of the other lovey dovey stuff that comes out of Evan's mouth. Now, I'm not really complaining because I freaking love Evan. It's just not realistic. Men/guys like him are also not going to make it to 20 as a virgin. None of this detracts from the story and maybe that is kind of the point. Evan is this perfect, ideal guy so why not play up a few of his finer qualities.I would highly recommend reading both Emerge and Embrace. Sawyer's epilogue is just a nice tease of what is to come.