Review: Entice by Jessica Shirvington

Entice

Jessica Shirvington

(The Violet Eden Chapters #2)

Publication Date: September 4, 2012

Hardcover, 438 pages, Sourcebooks Fire

Genres: YA, Paranormal, Urban Fantasy

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Every day Violet Eden wonders whether she made the right choice.

She still doesn't fully understand the powers she's been granted as a half-angel Grigori. And worse, isn't even sure she's capable of using them. Stab someone through the heart? Really?

No matter how bad things get, though, Voilet doesn't run and she doesn't quit. Even if it means she can never allow herself to love the guy she longs for. Even if it means asking her enemy for help. Even if no one is telling her the truth.

The war between Exiles and Angels is on - and she's wanted by both sides.

My Review

Remember when angels were the YA trend? Yeah, I’m totally back into that gimmick. I’ve been re-watching Supernatural lately, and I just finished some other urban fantasy books that seriously remind me how much I miss angel stories. The Violet Eden series, while not the best angel books I’ve ever read, are still pretty good.

Entice is the second book in the five-book series, and it starts fairly soon after where book two left off. Violet’s become a bit more comfortable with the idea that she’s a half-angel Grigori, but she’s still a bit of an immature character. Not always, but at times she just makes strange decisions for irrational reasons. She’s definitely a teenage character. Also, sometimes her inner voice narration simply isn’t good at explaining WHY things are shocking or dire. This makes the stakes sub-par. The same happened with the emotional scenes. It could be confusing.

Despite my confusion, I still love the idea of this world. Half-angels who have to hunt down fallen dark and light angels is a fantastic concept, and I think Shirvington does a good job of balancing powers and world-building. However, she needed to explain the powers and world-building a little more than she did.

As for the side characters, I genuinely liked most of them. Violet’s bff, Steph, is cool. She has her own problems that I’m hoping get explored in book three, and her relationship with Violet seemed a lot healthier in this installment than in the first book. Additionally, Spence was a great inclusion to the storyline. He really added some much-needed fun to the plot. Lincoln, the love interest for the series, also got more page-time, which I was super happy about. (Note: During my first read of Embrace, book one, I was Team Phoenix. Now, I’m Team Lincoln.) I do wish we’d had more time for Lincoln to actually express his feelings, versus his tendency to bottle things up. And finally, there was one side character who was as cliché as possible: the mean girl. I’m not going to spoil anything, but boy, did I roll my eyes.

All in all, you can tell Entice was written in the early 2000s. The world-building, while unique, isn’t explained very well, and there’s more focus on teenage angst than delving deep into the storyline. However, it’s a fun series if you want to pick up book one, just don’t expect too much out of it.

*Note: I purchased a copy of this book myself. This in no way affected my opinion/review.