Review: <3 My Evan!
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 10 22, 2013
You may remember that I adored the first book in this series, Emerge. So I was beyond thrilled that I would be participating in this blog tour. Evan was my choice from the first book and I was absolutely heartbroken for him. Thankfully, S.E. Hall knew we all needed his HEA and she wrote it!Embrace picks up right where Emerge left us. Evan had just had his poor heart stomped on after giving up his football scholarship to transfer schools to be with Laney. Sad face. Thankfully my other favorite guy, Sawyer, has his back.I admit to being a bit excited when I read the Table of Contents. I know everyone was swooning over Dane, but I was one of few who didn't fall madly in love with him. So when it looked like there might be trouble between Laney and him, I may or may not have smiled and jumped for joy a little. But don't worry, Kendrickers, all is well in paradise. From early on, it's clear who Evan will end up with. And I can't deny that I was pretty pissed at first. I despised this person (and if you've read the first book, I'm sure you can guess who I mean) in Emerge and did NOT want her around my guy. AT ALL. Call me judgmental, but hey, it is what it is. However, I grew to love her - more than Laney! It's crazy, I know, but she's sweet and I share a lot of traits with her. Evan and mystery girl's relationship was downright adorable but it took awhile to develop. This was a nice change from the typical "insta-love" stories that are swamping NA these days.And now for my absolute FAVORITE thing about Embrace - SAWYER. Yep. I've completely switched teams. I'm a sucker for those bad boy, player types and he fits that mold. Plus, he's hot and hilarious. The epilogue made me so happy! I can't wait for the next book!Overall, I thought Embrace was a pretty good follow-up to Emerge. Some parts I wasn't a fan of, I felt there was maybe too much from Laney's and Dane's points of view when I'd liked to have had more focus on Evan, perhaps even a few chapters into the head of mystery girl. I realize that Laney and Dane had more things going on, but when their chapters broke in, it was almost awkward at times, since they weren't always around Evan. And it also felt as if Evan's character had changed slightly. Not in any crazy or huge way, but there was just something I felt that had shifted. He is still absolutely adorable and gorgeous, though, and definitely deserved the happiness he received. I was happy that this book wasn't as emotional as Emerge. I felt it was all-around a happy book, even though Evan was still miserable in the beginning.I'll leave you with one of my favorite quotes, which came from an unexpected source:"It's so you never lose your way again."