Alice's Review: The Violet Eden Chapters

Released: 2010 
Genre: Paranormal romance, young adult
Series: Violet Eden Chapters
Series Order:
1. Embrace
2. Enticed
3. Emblaze
4. Endless

My Rating:

My Opinion: The Violet Eden Chapters (by Aussie author Jessica Shirvington) are about angels and kicking butt. Featuring Violet, who didn't know she was half-angel, or grigori as they're called in the book, until her 17th birthday. Her workout partner/mentor/best guy friend/crush Lincoln (I personally picture Lincoln Lewis, which is totally fine by me) is her grigori partner - they're a kickass team - and that means that they can never be together romantically. Violet & Lincoln's job is to control all the exiled angels (those who were kicked out of heaven or wanted to be human and feel, since angels have no form). The books have been recently published in America but have been out in Australia for two years.

I'm totally proud of Jessica because these books are proving to be a hit in America (the US covers are so much nicer than ours!) and I found out that the rights have been bought by CW & Amblin TV to make a TV show adaptation! I'm not sure where it will be set but I'm really hoping they have some Aussie actors in it because whilst the books are set in a not-named-city-in-a-not-named-place, I like to think Violet lives somewhere in Sydney. :) That's actually something that annoys me - does everything have to be set in America or if not in the US, then a not-specified place? Australia can have some pretty cool angel heroes, too! I really wish Jessica had named where the Chapters are set because it would have made it more real for me and I reckon Australia needs to have more books set in it because we're always being left out of everything and forgotten. Must be the 14 hour-long flight it takes to get in or out of this place...

Anyways, the series (I finished the 3rd book and need to get the 4th book ASAP) is about Violet and Lincoln working together with the city's very own angel kickass squad to get rid of the bad guys - there are always bad guys - and it turns into Violet meeting a guy called Phoenix who turns out to be very-evil-and-not-trustworthy (aka an exiled angel) and basically turns Vi's world upside down by introducing a whole big mess for Violet & co to solve. This mess may or may not include there being a list of all the future grigori to ever be born that the bad guys may or may not have gotten to before the good guys have. Uh oh... There is also a love triangle between Violet, Lincoln & Phoenix, which I really dislike! I think some of the things Violet did were stupid and silly and she ends up regretting them, as she should.

The plot is thick and I got sucked right it. It will take too much time to explain all the intricacies so I will just say that the plot and angel concept are my favourite parts of this series. It's full of action, intrigue, mystery and the characters all have great depth and actually feel real and not like cardboard cut-outs of clichés. Despite me disliking some of Violet's actions & the love triangle, Jessica has done an excellent job with this series. I especially like Lincoln. I think he's one of the greatest heroes I've read about and he's very down to earth, loyal, protective and beyond brave. He also cares about Violet so, so much and she hurts him very deeply. Out of the YA I've read, Lincoln has to be my favourite hero.

My verdict: Of course I don't have enough room to tell you guys about all the great things in this series but I will say that it is a must-read and I am sure all of you will get obsessed! With such a great plot, a unique angel concept and some amazing characters, these books are something I will keep recommending to everyone I know!

Okay, I have a question for you: do you guys like these series reviews? I just don't want to spend heaps of time reviewing separate books out of a series that I've finished or read almost entirely (it takes time to re-read!) and doing an overview of the entire series allows me to point out all the good & bad points. Please leave a comment with your opinion so I have a better idea of what you guys want in the future! :)