A Cursed Embrace by Cecy Robson

Book stats:
Reading level: Adult
Trade paperback: 368 pages
Genre: Urban fantasy
Publisher: Signet
Release date: July 2, 2013

Series: Weird Girls #2

Source: eARC from publisher

Reviewed by: Jenn

Purchase: Amazon | Book Depository

Celia Wird and her three sisters are just like other twentysomething girls—with one tiny exception: They are the products of a curse that backfired and gave each of them unique powers that made them, well, a little weird.…

After Celia Wird and her sisters help master vampire Misha save his family, their powers are exposed to the supernatural community of the Lake Tahoe region. But fame comes at a price, and being “weird” isn’t always welcome.

To make matters worse, Celia desires the love of Alpha werewolf Aric, but his pack is bent on destroying their relationship to preserve his pureblood status. And once weres start turning up dead—with evidence pointing to the vampires—she must face the prospect of losing Aric forever. But the chaos only masks a new threat. An evil known as the Tribe has risen—and their sights are set on Celia and her sisters.

Cecy Robson won me over with her debut, SEALED WITH A CURSE, and so I was thrilled to have the opportunity to read A CURSED EMBRACE early. This novel really put the Wird sisters through the wringer and is full of action, romance, and danger. The girls never seem to have much luck with staying out of trouble but they definitely come off as major trouble magnets this time around as they face off against demons, vampires, and prejudice.

As always, my favourite part of the book is the relationships between the sisters. They're all such great characters and I love their interactions with each other and with other people. Celia, Taran, Emme, and Shayna have such wonderful dynamics and they're just a lot of fun, even when facing grave peril. Of course, the romantic relationships are nothing to sneeze at either. Each of the sisters was paired off with a werewolf at the end of SEALED WITH A CURSE, though some are more successul than others. Emme and Shayna have pretty straightforward dealings with their wolves, especially when compared to Taran and Gemini. Celia has settled into a relationship with Aric but it also has hiccups since he's werewolf royalty and is expected to mate with another pureblood, not a cursed human. Plus, Celia is relatively inexperienced so she has a lot of new relationship jitters, which are complicated by the fact that she's also being pursued by Misha, a sexy and powerful vampire that she shares a magical connection with. But fear not, love triangle haters, Celia has chosen Aric, though Misha is still interested, so it's not one of those love triangles for the sake of love triangles.

If you read urban fantasy for the action and adventure, you'll find ample helpings of both in A CURSED EMBRACE. Robson does a great job of writing well-paced and exciting fight sequences and you never know what might pop up next to threaten the girls and Tahoe. There are some nice twists in the plot of A CURSED EMBRACE and I think you'll really enjoy it. There are moments of mortal peril and the end result is a truly gripping story.

There's also a lot of humour in A CURSED EMBRACE, which is something I really appreciate. I love it when authors inject a bit of levity into their stories, even if it's only a few great one-liners. It makes for a welcome change of pace and really keeps the emotions rolling. Books that are 100% heavy aren't always my thing, though I do love a good, dark story, so it's great to have some lighter moments in a novel filled with danger and death.

I devoured A CURSED EMBRACE in a single reading and suspect you will, too. Factor that into your reading plans since you won't want to stop once you open Robson's latest work!

Read an excerpt

Posted by jenn at 06:47

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Born and raised in the Toronto area, Jenn moved to St. John's, Newfoundland, eight years ago for school. She's still in school (thankfully on another degree!), now trapped in her dissertation. When she's not dissertating, which happens more often than it should, Jenn spends her time reading, watching movies, playing volleyball, travelling, and enjoying the local music scene. Her latest addictions: yoga and Almond Crunch cereal.