Review: Team Evan!!!
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 09 28, 2013
I've never been a huge fan of love triangles, mostly because the constant back-and-forth between the characters involved stresses me out, but also because someone inevitably gets hurt. Even though I thoroughly enjoyed the book, reading S.E. Hall's Emerge (Evolve Series #1) was particularly nerve-racking because protagonist Laney Walker was caught in the middle of two near-perfect guys, Dane Kendrick and Evan Allen. If there was ever a character that got the raw end of the real, it would be Evan, a.k.a. the odd man out, a.k.a. one of the sweetest and most romantic fictional heroes ever to be imagined. Luckily, Evan gets another chance at happiness in book two of the Evolve Series, Embrace, with an unexpected new love interest.I was resolutely Team Evan while reading Emerge, so I was happy to spend more time getting to know him. While the love triangle may have been resolved, the aftereffects are still resonating with the trio. Embrace is about Evan reevaluating his relationship with Laney and figuring out how to move on with Laney being a constant presence in his life. I loved the multi-narrator format, which interwove Laney and Dane's narratives with Evan's story. S.E. Hall is as comfortable writing from a male perspective as she is writing a female point-of-view, voicing both the romantic hero and unabashed womanizer with the same level of genuineness and conviction.As much as I love the romantic connections between the different couples, it's the friendships between the core group of characters fondly referred to as "the Crew" that's the heart of the series. There's a certain level of comfort and familiarity with all of the characters and, as a reader, I enjoyed getting drawn in to the endlessly entertaining and close-knit pack of friends. Each character is memorable in his/her way, with distinct personalities that energize the narrative. Without the fierce loyalty and camaraderie between the Crew, the story wouldn't be the same, because the characters are such a vital part of each other's lives.Embrace is my favorite type of book - a good amount of romance, and only mild amount of angst. It seems like all the books I've read lately have been incredibly intense and gut-wrenching, so it was refreshing to read a story that was charming and emotionally satisfying, without being overwhelming. Aside from a bit of drama every now and then, Embrace is a light-hearted, fun, and shamelessly sweet romance. The absolute best part of the book, though, was reading Sawyer's epilogue. I had plenty of reasons to smile while reading Embrace, but I was absolutely ecstatic by the prospect of Sawyer getting his own book and being able to spend more time with these characters in the third book in the Evolve series.