Book Review for Embrace by E.K. Robbins

Embrace, by E.V. Robbins, is a paranormal romance about fighting against a nightmarish creature hell-bent on murdering the world, while searching for the edge between salvation and damnation.

Racy is a young woman who lives a simplistic life, dealing with her insufferable boss while contentedly spending time with her friends. However, that changes when she stumbles across a body in a co-worker’s house, then finds the same woman alive and well. When her friend, Cynthia, disappears one night, Racy is determined to find her, but meets the mysterious Stephen instead, a vampire who introduces her to the horrifying war between the Iscariots and the Kindred. With the body count slowly rising, Racy decides to learn how to fight against the Kindred in order to protect herself.

While making out with a vampire you just met might not seem like the best idea, I liked watching Racy in action. She’s a sensible character who wises up fast and learns how to become a bigger threat to the Kindred. She also cares for her friends, so much so she is willing to put herself at risk for their sakes. Stephen, meanwhile, is a bit more isolated than Racy is. Although he appears to be more mature than her, I have to say I wasn’t really interested reading about him as I was reading about the world surrounding him. Personally, I didn’t think the relationship between the two was necessarily bad, but I did feel like it was rushed. Nonetheless, they were enjoyable to read about.

I especially loved the idea of the Iscariots and the Kindred fighting. The two introduce a certain sanctity that I haven’t read in any other book. The concept of seeking out redemption when you don’t know if it’s possible is also interesting. In real life, a lot of people kept saying how humanity is evil, that we keep screwing things over if it would benefit our needs. However, clearly the monsters think differently; no matter what, human life is sacred, both adult and child.

That said, the book did have its detractors. There were errors littered throughout the novel, and as I’ve said before, I felt the relationship between Stephen and Racy was a bit rushed. I also would’ve liked to know more about the war between the Iscariots and the Kindred. However, because of the characters, as well as the idea of redemption, I liked the book. Thus, I would give this book a rating of a 3.9 out of 5 stars and would recommend it to fans of The Twilight Saga and Vampire Diaries.