Embrace

PUBLISHERS WEEKLY 19/03/2012

Book four of this series is about to be published in Australia, so Shirvington is hardly a newcomer despite this being her first U.S. publication. It's a solid entry in a well-established paranormal niche: the angels who live among us aren't nice, and it takes a small cadre of gutsy humans to maintain order. In this case, those protectors are the Grigori, mortals infused with angelic essence, who come into their powers on their 17th birthdays. Violet Eden is turning 17 and wrestling with an infatuation with her personal trainer, Lincoln, who's in his 20s and perfect. Violet discovers that Lincoln is a Grigori and that she is one, too. Yet, feeling betrayed by Lincoln's concealment of their true identities, Violet turns to a second love interest Phoenix, who represents the darker side of the angelic continuum and further complicates her understanding of herself and her destiny. While Shirvington's world-building reflects the conventions of the genre, the book's strength is in its persuasive evocation of Violet's emotional turmoil as she copes with human adolescence in the midst of her discovery that she has a fate beyond even Lincoln's power to explain. Ages 12 up.