Review: #teamevanforlife
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 10 22, 2013
Emerge was one of my FAVORITE books of 2013 (so far), so to say I have been "anxiously" awaiting the release of Embrace is about the equivalent of saying Miley Cyrus's VMA performance was a "little" strange. I have straight up been DYING for this book to come out so I can find out what happens to poor, sweet, HOT Evan!At the end of Emerge, Hall leaves us dangling with the dreaded cliffy of Evan showing up on Dane's doorstep, looking for Laney, so he can profess his undying love and to prove it to her by letting her know he has transferred schools AND given up a year of playing football because of the transfer. Of course he then finds out Laney has moved on and is in love with Dane.  Poor, poor Evan...my heart was broken for him...I am talking CRUSHED!Emerge was one of the best love triangles I have ever read...HANDS DOWN! I never hated Laney, as I do the female lead in most love triangles. It was also the first book where I could NOT pick a side no matter how hard I tried. I loved both Evan AND Dane...hard! I.Could.Not.Chose. After I finished and a few days of contemplating I did finally decide that while I know Laney belongs to Dane and that they are made for each other, I am Team Evan because I LOVE that boy!! He just has my heart <3So now we have Embrace and one heartbroken Evan Allen Mitchell. Poor Evan doesn't know what to do with himself and he is really struggling to forgive Laney."I've always been one-half of a whole, always known the girl in the room who was "mine" and now I'm lost."Bless his poor little heart! Luckily, Sawyer takes Evan under his wing and helps him out. Have I mentioned how in love I am with Sawyer Landon Beckett??? He is SA-WOON worthy...but I am getting distracted and need to focus here! At first Evan tries to drown his sorrows and find other girls to focus on but nothing is working until he meets one Miss Whitley...you remember her? The nasty parakeet from Emerge whom Laney hates. Of course this is who Evan decides to become friends with and I have to say...I ADORE Whitley...even more so than Laney...sorry, Laney :( These two are the PERFECT couple! We definitely all misunderstood Whitley in Emerge. She is not an annoying parakeet...she is a sweet, sassy, strong, and HYSTERICAL girl who can make you a sandwich all while kicking ass and takin' names!Unfortunately Evan spends a good deal of time fighting their relationship becoming romantic because he doesn't want to ruin their friendship. He even goes out on some dates with a few other girls and these dates will have you rolling on the floor laughing...one date may have even been questionable in the gender department..."I have had my fortune told by the crypt keeper, fed another man's fetus and I'm pretty sure gone out with a dude!"There were a couple of times I wanted to give Evan a smack upside the head for being so obtuse but he does eventually get it together and when he does....the sparks fly and it is WELL worth the wait!! I don't want to give away anymore but I will say this...you can't NOT love this book and it is a huge 5 plus star read for me!! AND we still have Entangled, a Dane and Laney novella, as well as Sawyer's book to look forward to...can't wait to read his story! I have a feeling his might be the best one of all!!