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Thursday, November 15, 2012

Blog Tour: "Embrace" by Stacey Rourke (Review)


Welcome to our Virtual Book Tour stop of "Embrace" by Stacey Rourke.  Brought to you by YANR Blog Tour.

Embrace
(Gryphon Series #2)
by: Stacey Rourke
Publishing Date: 5/10/12
Publisher: Anchor Group
Genre: Young Adult Fantasy (Paranormal)
Source:  Provided by YANR Tours (from Author)

Description:
Whether she likes it or not, eighteen year old Celeste Garrett has come to terms with being the Chosen One. She knew having a “normal life” would be tricky, between intense training sessions and epic demonic battles, but she didn’t know at what cost it would come. That is, until a dear friend is harmed by the malicious forces hunting her. 

Now, she’d like nothing more than to retreat into a hermit lifestyle to prevent anyone else from getting hurt. But startling revelations, amazing new abilities, and mortifying moments in front of insanely hot guys won’t allow time for that. Soon, Celeste finds herself surrounded by darkness and wondering who she can trust—if anyone.
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My Review:
Excuse me while I contemplate how I'm going to get over the ending of "Embrace" and write this review.  Stacey Rourke left me hanging again.  I love cliff hangers, but the ending of "Embrace" was just mind boggling for me since I want to know who that is that made Celeste scream.  Ahhh!!!
The torture of waiting since I will not be able to read the third book until I am done with my other review books that I need to read.  I will be finding out though....very soon!

Celeste and her siblings our back and they are still dealing with the darkness.  At the ending of "The Conduit" Celeste found out some disturbing news about one her friends who she was about to pour her heart out too...instead she had to break up their friendship.  
Now Celeste is determined more than ever to kill who is out there to get her.  She is the chosen one and she has to keep her self from being killed.  Still being hunted...but now from a new enemy that is hiding in the dark.  
Celeste ends up quitting school, causing a ruckus at home with her siblings and even gets herself in danger several times where she has find away out without her siblings.  Celeste has decided to focus on her job at the cafe and focus on her training sessions with her guide and her siblings.  
She never imagined a guy would come into her life so soon after Alec...and she also never imagined a second guy who appeared out of thin air, warning her about the new enemy.  
Now she has two guys that she cannot keep out her head...well three if you count worrying about Alec still.
But can she trust the guys that meets and whatever happened to Alec.  
Well...Celeste will find out in "Embrace" and she will have to decide what has to do after she sees him for the first time in months.  
She also has to decide if she trust the guy who keeps telling her about her enemy and also trust the gang of demons who say they are sent to kill her, but cannot.  Instead they want to be her ally.  
What is she supposed to do...she's keeping her new demon friends a secret from her brother and sister and she's also keeping another secret from them.  
Does she trust her new friends or trust what she's destine to do.

First off, let me just say, "Embrace" was a very hard to put down book.  Every time I had to step away from the book to take care of something around the house, I would find myself itching to get back to reading "Embrace".  
Celeste had so many inner and outer demons to work out in this book and I felt terrible for her.  There were several times I wanted to slap her brother and sister for her, for being so cold towards their sister.  I also wanted to slap Celeste around sometimes too because she could not judge who was the bad guy and who was the good guy.  She also tended to not think, but act too quickly.  She should have told her brother and sister from the beginning on what was happening around her.  
So many new characters were introduced in this book and may I just say I cannot choose who I love more now...Caleb or Rowan (you'll have to find out about them by reading the book)...and I still have mixed feelings for Alec after this book.  What the heck is wrong with him and WHY?!!  

Stacey Rourke definitely kept me on the edge of my seat in this book and this by far is the best book...probably until I read the next one.  I just loved the action in this one and of course the secrets that came out.  (Mainly about Gabe...and his new love interest...LOL)  Poor Celeste...had no clue.  

I recommend this book to anyone who loves reading young adult and loves a little bit of paranormal and fantasy.  You'll definitely enjoy the Garrett siblings even more in "Embrace".  You'll also fall in love with some of the male characters.  *sigh*  

Oh...just remember...Stacey will leave you hanging at the end of the book.  At least I know "Sacrifice" released on Smashwords and I can go buy it and read when I have a chance after I am done reading other books.  It's going to take a miracle to hold me back from reading it though.  I need to know what is going to happen next.  
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Goodreads | Anchor Publishing | Book trailer
Writing is something I have always done.  I can remember in elementary school creating stories that I would stand up and read aloud to my classmates…whether they liked it or not.   As I grew older I didn’t flaunt my writing as freely.  It became something I did just for me  to vent my teenage angst, or chronicle my journey to adulthood.  I never thought about becoming a writer because that title prompted the visual of a grey-haired man in a tweed smoking jacket with suede elbow patches, slaving over an old fashion typewriter while puffing away on a pipe.  No way was that stuffy kind of life for me.  (Plus tweed is itchy.)  Instead I wanted to be in the spotlight!  I wanted to be–pause for dramatic effect–an actress!  I gave it my best shot, too.  Got about as far as any aspiring actress can get in Flint, Michigan.  Which is exactly no where.  But I did get two great things out of my time delving into the theatrical world; I gained the ability to act out the scenes I write to make sure they’re believable (yes, I really do that and no, you can’t watch) and I met my amazing husband.

My theater ambitions behind me, I decided to do the “mature,” “grown up” thing and went back to college.  As I worked toward my Bachelor’s degree in marketing I did a lot of writing.   Essays, research papers, PowerPoint presentations.  All of it mandatory, none of it what I would ever call fun.  Even then, becoming a writer never entered my mind.  No, then I was going to be a business tycoon…or somethin’.

Truth be told, I never picked writing.  It picked me.  During my time as a stay at home mom I needed an outlet to give me a mental break from diapers, formula and midnight feedings.  That’s when my hands found their way back to the keyboard.  Story ideas began coming at such an incessant rate that my rapidly clicking fingers couldn’t keep up.  Post-It notes and scrapes of paper with story ideas decorated every inch of our house.  In mid-conversation with my husband I would dart off to jot down things that would come to me.  Sweet guy my hubby is, he would just shake his head at my obvious rudeness and hold my place in the conversation.

My first book was completed for an entire year before I told anyone about it.  I outed myself as an author and then sent out my first round of query letters to literary agents.  Surely, it would be picked up immediately and become an overnight success!  Yeah, not so much.  For two years I got rejection, after rejection, after rejection, after rejection…you get the idea.  Thankfully with the ever increasing pile of rejections came feedback.  I digested all the suggestions and applied the usable ones to my manuscript.  Little by little, the rough edges were chipped away and the diamond shone through.  The work paid off when I received an email from a publisher offering me a contract on The Conduit.

It’s been a long road, and it ain’t over yet.  But now, at thirty-mumble, mumble years old I finally know what I wanna be when I grow up–-a writer.

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