About the book:

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.

I absolutely fell in love with the Weird Girls series by Cecy Robson last year.  The first book in the series, Sealed with a Curse, was such a winning debut for Ms. Robson that I was a little fearful of the dreaded “sophomore slump” that accompanies some second books in a series.  I can unequivocally (yes, I did have to look that word up) say that this book, A Cursed Embrace, at least for me, blows the first book out of the water, throws it down the hill, ties it up on the railroad tracks, waits for the train to go by, and then beats the ever-loving socks off the first book.  Okay, I over-exaggerate.  But I actually LOVED Embrace better than Sealed!!  Here’s why…

Characters

Let me start with the supporting characters first.  I love living, err, reading about these sisters!  I love Taran and her “I’m sex on a stick walking” -vibe she gives off.  Who wears high heels to track bad guys in the woods??  Shayna is the tomboy little sister that might have picked up a opossum on the way home from school and wanted to keep it as a pet because it was “fluffy and white”.  Emme is just so gosh darn cute and you know she’ll grow up to be an elementary school teacher.  Seriously, I know these girls – these characters are plenty fleshed out

And then there is Celia, one of my favorite tortured heroines of all time.  She’s been cursed to live with a tigress inside her that she can shapeshift into.  But her strong, fierce personality leaks out and scares off any potential friends or suitors of the human variety.  On the other side, to the supernatural Were community, she just isn’t good enough to be dating their potential leader.  Her and her sisters are considered freaks.  This affects Celia the worst out of all the sisters because if there’s any race that could relate to her, it’s the were community.  Either way, she’s been alone for a long time.  She’s spent her years looking out for her younger sisters without regard to her dating needs.

Aric, the object of her affection, is the alpha of all alphas (at least that’s what I think).  He happens to be one of the few pure-blood weres left in the world.  Unfortunately for him, the elders get cranky when he dates non-pure bloods and they really blow a gasket when he  takes an interest in Celia.  Aric is young, cocky, extremely alpha, and he is truly possessive and protective of what he deems is his.  He’s one of the few who can handle and respect Celia’s strength.

But there is another who respects and wants Celia.  Misha is the master vampire living in the Tahoe area whom Celia has helped in the past.  Of course he’s hot.  Of course he’s always there to protect Celia when she needs help and to get under Aric’s fur…. skin, whatever.

To say that there’s a love triangle in this book is not entirely accurate.  Celia knows who she wants.  And she makes it clear to everyone involved on several occasions.  I’d ruin the story if I discussed the non-triangle further (I’m such a tease, no?)

Story

Ms. Robson has written my personal favorite type of book: an urban fantasy with romance that is weighted 50/50 for each.  The urban fantasy genre, for me, is mystery, conflict, action, with a bit of supernatural gore thrown in for good measure.  But you have GOT to have good writing to make sure the reader understands what the author is trying to convey in the scene.  Bad writing, and this all ends up a hot mess of confusion.  Ms. Robson does an excellent job writing these scenes and putting the reader right there in the action and all the emotions.

Speaking of emotions…  it’s in the romance half of the story that my soul was utterly ripped to pieces.  I’ve read emotional love stories before; heck, I cried for a few of the Brothers in the Black Dagger Brotherhood series.  But something about this story really gets to me.  If I comment any more than that, I might be giving something away so I’ll just shut up now.  I’ll just say that I absolutely loved the ending (as a reader) and I don’t think you can get a better last sentence for a book than what Ms. Robson wrote.

Ms. Robson, you ROCK!  A Cursed Embrace is definitely on my list of Best/Favorite Reads of 2013, if not at the top.

Yup, I kind of liked this book.

Would you like to read the first chapter and see if you like Ms. Robson’s writing… uh, for free?!  Then check out Fresh Fiction’s website because the entire first chapter is there!!!  I love when authors do this!  It really is a great way to check out an author to see if they pull you in!!

Other Books in the Series



 

 

 

 

 

 

About the Author: 

Cecy (pronounced Sessy) Robson is an author with Penguin’s SIGNET ECLIPSE. She attributes her passion for story-telling back to the rough New Jersey neighborhood she was raised in. As a child, she was rarely allowed to leave the safety of her house and passed her time fantasizing about flying, fairies, and things that go bump in the night. Gifted and cursed with an overactive imagination, she began writing her Urban Fantasy Romance Series, Weird Girls, in May 2009. THE WEIRD GIRLS: A Novella and SEALED WITH A CURSE are now available.  A CURSED EMBRACE, releases July 2, 2013 followed by A CURSED MOON: An eSpecial Novella December 2013, and CURSED BY DESTINY, January 2014.

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Because I’m part of A Cursed Embrace‘s blog tour, I have an awesome giveaway to offer!!  You have a chance to win a SIGNED copy of A Cursed Embrace PLUS some great swag (check it out below) including a bookmark, a rack card, A Cursed Embrace magnet and lip balm, and a signed postcard.

This giveaway is open to US residents only (sorry, but postage is killer these days!) and if you won a “prize pack” on another blog, another winner will be chosen to be fair to other contestants.  Gotta spread the love!

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