I am very excited to be part of the Embers blog tour hosted by the lovely ladies, Jenny and Danny, of the Kismet Blog Touring. If you are a fan of angels and demons, then this book is right up your alley! There are several great giveaways accompanying this tour. One lucky winner will receive a $100 gift card, another will receive a signed Temptation Series book set, including Temptation, Belonging & Forever, and ten lucky winners will receive an eCopy of EMBERS! Don't forget to enter the giveaways below the review, and please make sure to visit the other tour stops as well. Many thanks to Jenny and Danny from Kismet for organizing this great tour.
Embers is an epic paranormal adventure about a seventeen year old girl who discovers that she's immune to fire and any other injury when she’s in a horrific car crash that kills her parents. Following a violent episode with her aunt's boyfriend, Ember flees Ohio to live with an old relative in the Smoky Mountains of Tennessee. Ember's exuberance at escaping a bad home life soon turns to trepidation when she finds out that she's a Watcher, a descendant of angels. While Ember learns about her heritage, and the powers that go along with it, she strikes up friendships with two teenagers who live in a frightening walled compound in the forest. Inexplicably drawn to one of the young men in particular, an impossible romance develops. But it is cut short when Ember discovers that her new friends are fighting on the opposite side of a war, one that’s been raging between two factions of Watchers for thousands of years. When the compound’s inhabitants threaten the townspeople, Ember takes action, sealing her fate in the ancient battle of good versus evil, and the grayness in between. Ember is up to the challenge, until she realizes that she isn’t only fighting for the lives of the locals and the souls of her new friends. She also might be one of the few champions who will make a stand for all of mankind as the rapture approaches and the end of days begin.
Review: When I began reading Embers, I anticipated finding all the tropes of your typical YA romance. While those tropes of a girl discovering she is not wholly human, a bad boy who may have a golden heart, and a pending war on the horizon that said girl and bad boy will participate in hopes of saving their loves ones exist, Embers has a refreshing take on the whole angels and demons concept that I found really refreshing and that's what propelled me to read it.
The world of Embers is large and strange, filled with creatures like shape shifters that are similar to what we encountered before and Watchers who we have not heard of until this book. Embers belongs to the latter, a young girl who is literally fueled by fire. Much to the awe of everyone she escaped unscathed from a horrible fiery crash that killed her parents. Ember is a likeable character from the start, who admirably is ready to fight for her beliefs and protect her loved ones at any cost. She is a leader with an immeasurable amount of power who is trying to understand her new role as a Watcher and a warrior in the End of Days. I really liked learning what powers that Embers possessed and I enjoyed watching her become more confident in her skills.
Besides Ember another intriguing albeit ambiguous character is Sawyer. I had a hard time trying to finalize my opinion of Sawyer. There were times when I sympathized with him when we learn of his long life and how he was forced to live his life as a Demon, but I was also irritated at his alpha male traits such as being possessive and obsessive about Ember. His struggle to keep a shred of his humanity was a constant source of tension, and his occasional slips into his dark nature, while rationalized and perhaps even necessary, was a bit hard to read and support.
There were also many interesting secondary characters such as Ivan, Aunt Ila, and Horas that I wish were flushed out a bit more. I'm sure we will get to see and hear from them in the future volumes. They all had great back stories and I'm sure lots of stories to uncover.
I was not a fan of the insta-romance between Ember and Sawyer. Though Ember did listen to the warning bells ringing in her head about Sawyer, I thought the progress of their relationship moved way too fast for my taste. I also wasn't really sure if Embers even wanted to be with Sawyer since her reasons to be with him were a bit unclear to me. I was really surprised that just after a few meetings with Sawyer, she was ready to take drastic steps for him. It was really hard for me to root for Ember and Sawyer, but luckily the romance didn't take away much from the story.
Overall Embers was an enjoyable read if you would like to escape to a supernatural world where things are not always clear and definite. The ending left me with lots of questions and wondering what would happen next. I would definitely recommend this book to paranormal/supernatural romance fans.
Rating: 3 stars
Words of Caution: There is some language, allusions to sex but no graphic details, some strong violence, and disturbing images. Recommended for Grades 9 and up.
If you like this book try: Angelfell by Susan Ee, Shadows by Paula Weston
Please enter via the Rafflecopter form. Giveaway is open internationally for the gift card and eCopies and US/Canada for the book set!
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Tour Schedule
Monday, October 20th Unabridged Bookshelf & Book Briefs
Tuesday, October 21st A Thousand Words A Million Books & Books and Things
Wednesday, October 22nd Sweet Southern Home & Tween 2 Teen Book Reviews
Thursday, October 23rd the unofficial addiction book fan club & Becoming Books
Friday, October 24th A Dream Within A Dream & Becoming Books
Monday, October 27th The Avid Reader & Lost in Ever After
Tuesday, October 28th Lose Time Reading & So Bookalicious
Wednesday, October 29th Such a Novel Idea & Reading Addict
Thursday, October 30th Curling Up With A Good Book & Coming at YA
Friday, October 31st Actin' Up with Books & To Each Their Own Reviews
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Monday, November 3rd GenGen's Book Blog & A Bookish Escape
Tuesday, November 4th Sassy Book Lovers & Bittersweet Enchantment
Wednesday, November 5th Nay's Pink Bookshelf & The Nocturnal Library
Thursday, November 6th The Book Faery Reviews & Bumbles and Fairy-Tales
Friday, November 7th Books in the Spotlight & Her Book Thoughts
Posts
The secondary characters and the worldbuilding definitely made this one worthwhile, but I felt pretty much the same way about Ember and Sawyer. I found Sawyer infinitely more interesting, but I still couldn't make up my mind about him.
The romance wasn't my fave part but that can be fixed as the series progresses. I do like the worldbuilding in this one. Brilly review!
I think that this is an awesome book and I can't wait to read it :-)
So excited to read it! :)
I enjoy angel novels but will probably pass on this one, Rummanah, since I prefer my stories to be clear and not have insta-love. Great review though!
Love the sound of this book and what a beautiful cover.