Shadow Embraced by Cheree Smith

Title: Shadow Embraced

Author: Cheree Smith

Published: April 24, 2013

Series?: Haven #1

Format Read/Pages: ebook/234 pgs. 

How/When I Acquired It: NetGalley/April 2013
Date Finished: Dec. 6, 2013

No escape.

Those words haunt Scar's dreams. She thinks the creature that terrorises her while asleep isn't real, but when she's abducted and taken to a reform school meant to contain creatures too dangerous to function in society, she starts to wonder whether she isn't some monster.

She turns to an underground fight club full of vampires, werewolves and witches established by the students to control her urges, and who is she kidding, she loves to fight.

When fighters begin to disappear, turning Scar into the prime suspect, she must race to prove her innocence before her true nature is exposed.

The only problem is that she's not entirely sure she's innocent.

~

I really wanted to like this book. To be honest I did not go in with high expectations and I am glad I didn’t. The beginning started off with a bang, so that made me think that things were looking up, but ultimately I was disappointed.

The characters were one dimensional and there was not much development to be had with them. I don’t even think Scarlett, our main character, made any major developments, that in reality, she needed. Something early on that really bothered me was the fact that after she was taken she did not even think to ask about her parents and if they knew where she is or if she is okay.

I feel like when she gets to school we meet a lot of minor characters that really play no part in the actually story. The relationship she has with Daemon was laughable; it actually made me cringe at times to read it. I also start all my first dates with the guy attacking me in a way to “find out about me”. And don’t forget the kiss to make it all better and rip a shirt for good measure.

Getting into the whole supernatural fight club aspect if the book, I thought it was a weak way to connect all the victims to Scar. It was a bit unbelievable how she got contracted into this underground fighting ring. There was no choice, she had to accept her position in this club or “suffer the consequences”.

Something that I wish was explored more or better explained was the Romanian background that gave the characters their supernatural abilities. In all, the story was just disappointing and was not well edited, making it an even harder read. I will not be reading further into the series. 

1.5 Stars