Embolden is a continuation of the first book ‘Forbidden.’ This one is far more intense compared to the first book. Lots of messy situations; family feud, broken friendship, relationship drama, angels won’t rest their case, and enemies who doesn’t want to back down. I got a headache for real, it was a huge mess. I was like “what did everyone got themselves into?” If this were real life, I would definitely avoid it. I have no time for such situations.
Alec and Helena was helping Claire and her mother Lynn finding her missing father. Then when they finally found his location, Claire had other things to do, which is practicing for a school play with Alec along with their friends Erica and Brian. Both Alec and Claire also got in a serious trouble with the Fallen, and it didn’t end well. Things got rough between Alec and Claire due to what the Fallen’s leader (Malcolm) told Claire. Alec also had his own problem with him gone AWOL, a Watcher named Zachariah has been looking for him, but thanks to Claire and her newfound ability for helping Alec. The meeting with her father also didn’t go as they plan, but trust and determination are strong enough to make it right.
Welcome to the life of Claire Brennan. Full of drama, hurt, pain, and chaos. Being a half-blood is totally so exhausting. She was being a bit irritating and dramatic in this one. It was like the world can’t go right without her drama. Everything about her in this story was so unbearable. I kind of dislike her a bit for most of the story except for like the few final chapters. Girl been complaining about being lied to while she also lied to literally everyone and still kept the secret. Her dramatic self can go, I want the old Claire back.
She has a strong determination, but she also acted without thinking first for most of the times and that always lead her to a lot of messy and terrible situations. She has been using her newfound ability secretly, practicing on how to use it without anyone’s guidance, and basically the end result wasn’t pretty. I was just hoping she realize it as soon as possible and know that by using her newfound gift, there’s gonna be consequences. At least she can defend herself now, and doesn’t need rescuing most of the times.
Alec MacKenzie once again being so protective without thinking that he was in danger too and if he took a wrong step, then he’ll be dead. I know Claire’s life is important, but boy your life is important too. If you can’t defend yourself first, then what makes you think you can defend someone? I feel sorry for him, he truly didn’t sign up for Claire’s drama but since he is her boyfriend, he got pulled into a messy situations and his life turned upside down. I hate the idea of him being weak in this one, not literally weak, but weak as in if he fight with the Fallen members who drink a Turbo, he’ll be gone in a second. Well, the Fallen totally cheating, they’re weak but drinking a Turbo made them strong as hell.
Alec’s life is the most saddest one, losing his parents when he was 10, living with a godfather who turned out to be an evil man, and then living alone on his own while trying to pretend to be part of the human beings. I truly care for his happiness because he deserves better. Alec is like a Batman, being a high school student during the day then spying and fighting criminals during the night. He was so much better now, in the first book he was all awkward, but in this one he finally found comfort being around humans. He’s not irritating or annoying, he’s till being his old self which I really-really like a lot. At least he doesn’t change for anyone.
Erica totally changed in this one. She was quiet, not as sassy as before, avoided Claire at all costs due to the school play part that they both got, and hanging out with popular girls who wan’t in the same league as her. I know that sister is jealous but at least just say a simple “hi” to Claire is already enough, it won’t hurt anybody. Accusing Claire of doing something while she doesn’t do anything at all was not cool. That false accusation did hurt a lot. But what she said about Claire being dramatic was right. I understood that Erica needed break from all the supernatural stuff that has been happening, but at least just straight up tell Claire, said a word or two if she doesn’t plan on having a long conversation with Claire. Their broken friendship was so unbearable to read. It hurts a lot.
Brian just as usual, being all happy without caring about the drama and the messy thing that got into everyone’s lives. I really admired his detective skills. Without his proper plan, they won’t be able to rescue Claire’s father. He tried so hard to bring everyone together again like they used to be, even though there wasn’t much success but his effort was there. Well, let’s just say that at least he tried.
Neil was not so bad in this one. I disliked him back in the first book, but he was just so great here. At least he doesn’t try to go after Claire. He was just basically minding his own business, and then when he found out about the paranormal stuffs, he was so weirded out. There wasn’t much about him in this one, he only appeared a lot once he were welcome by Claire, Alec, Brian, Erica, Lynn, and Helena since  he got to know their secrets. Thankful he didn’t turn out to be an irritating character tho.
Celeste, Javed and Rico are the unbreakable trio. When will they had enough and leave Alec and Claire alone? These three always bring trouble when they were around. Along with their boss Malcolm, that man wasn’t as bad as I thought but I couldn’t stand him. Tried to recruit Claire even though she told him “no,” like dude NO MEANS NO! I wouldn’t consider them as the villain in this one since they doesn’t have a villainous traits. These four are so irritating to the point where I couldn’t stand them. Malcolm doesn’t even have any development in this story, which made his character so poorly written.
The romance part was so heartbreakingly sad. It was sweet but it got real bad once Alec and Claire couldn’t trust one another after their individual secret activity came to light. Trust is one of the important key in a relationship. Without trust, your relationship would be broken and it takes a long time to gain back the trust that you lost. Thankful that there’s no love triangle drama in this one since Neil has been out of the picture from the beginning.
I like it even though not as much as I wanted it to be. It wasn’t as best as the first book, and the writing was just alright but the development for each characters are basically poor. Only Neil has a good character development, and Brian along with Alec was just fine being so consistent and doesn’t change much. The fight scenes was great, I really like the writing for those parts and it was delivered so well. As for broken trust, broken friendship, and broken relationship, it was written so well even though the characters was unbearable to read at times. What makes the story more beautiful was the part where everyone got together again, earned each other’s trust back because even though their trust for Claire has been tested in the story, but it had held.

Rating 4/5

This was a fun teenage drama filled read with a touch of paranormal! I really enjoyed the theatrics with it and especially liked the characters - even the villains were enjoyable! It was very entertaining and I hope there's not a huge gap like this one if there is another book :)

This second book follows FORBIDDEN (2012). Claire has learned that she is half angel and her boyfriend Alec has left the ranks of the Grigori who track down Fallen and is trying to be an ordinary teenage boy. 

The main problem that Claire is facing is trying to find her father who disappeared when she was a baby. Her own visions and her grandmother's visions have indicated that he's still alive but they can't track him down. Claire has a number of questions about her life and her gifts, including one that is just manifesting. Her grandmother has told her that it is a dangerous gift and that she shouldn't use it. Nothing could make it more tempting for Claire.

Her new gift has made her particularly attractive to the Fallen who will do anything to try to recruit her, even telling her that they know where her father is. They also threaten to let the Guardians know where Alec is and Claire will do anything to protect him.

Alec and Claire both try out for the school musical. Claire winning the part in Guinevere almost ruins her friendship with her best friend Erica who also wants the part of Guinevere and has wanted it for much longer than Claire. Claire tries out for the musical mostly so that she can spend more time with her friends who are involved in the production. With Alec cast as Arthur, things should be good. But Claire's former boyfriend Neal has been cast as Lancelot which is making Alec jealous. With Erica mad at her and Alec jealous and Brian dating a new girl, Claire's circle of friends is disintegrating. 

Alec is also feeling some regrets about leaving the Guardians to spend time with Claire. He still feels the need to stop the bad guys but doesn't have the authority to do so. He and Claire begin keeping secrets from each other; Claire has been experimenting with her new power; and Alec is trying to track down a Fallen plot. That puts even more pressure on their relationship. 

This story was entertaining. It was filled with teenage drama, scary but charming villains, friendships tested, paranormal powers, and romance.

There are tons of werewolf, vampire, etc. love stories out there, but this is the first angel love story I have read. I really enjoyed it. It has a hint of an X-men vibe, I really liked seeing glimpses of the angels individual powers. I can’t wait for the next book!

It's been a long time since I remember reading the first book to this series and from what I could remember I liked the book. However, reading it again and then this one I found that while the plot was good that I did not like the protagonist at all. I found Claire to be annoying, judgmental, and petty.  This came from her treatment of her family and friends. I honestly could not enjoy the novel even though I wanted to.  When I read a story I want to fall in love with the characters and go on the journey with them not feel that the character should just disappear. This novel did not do that for me. Regardless, of my feelings about Claire I found the voice and tone of the novel to be good along with the punctuation and grammar. If you enjoy young adult fiction about angels then you will want to give this series a try. The only problem I had is with my dislike of the main character.

My biggest issue with the book was the main character Claire. She was very selfish, arrogant, and I didn't like her at all. She lied to her friends and family constantly, used her powers on them behind their back, and was an awful friend to Erica. Erica calls her out for it in the book but then goes back to being her friend with no changes, which I didn't get. I liked the idea of the story and the fact that the mom and grandma were helping with their own powers but the romance was a fail, the big bad was a fail, and the overall book just didn't work for me.

I did not realise that this was the second instalment which is why it took me a while to review as I needed to read the one before. I found the main character difficult to side with as she was a little self-centred but a flawed character is better than a perfect one!

Embolden follows Forbidden as the second in a YA fantasy series written by Syrie and Ryan M. James. In the 1st episode, Claire Brennan learned that she's a Halfblood (half angel) with awakening powers.

Embolden focuses on Claire's search for her father, missing for 16 years. Events develop into an action-packed, and successful, crescendo in Taipei. However, Claire made a deal with the devil to find her dad, which will lead nicely into whatever comes next.

I Read Forbidden And Embolden in Three Days. Absolutely Loved Them Both. I love Syrie James So As Soon As I Saw Her Name I Had To Read It. 

Can't Wait For The Third Installment, And Definitely Hope It's Soon And Not In A Ton Of Time.

A fairly typical supernatural romance. Unfortunately for me, I think my cynicism has turned into a lack of imagination as I just can’t buy into someone aged in their hundreds who falls for a teenager. And rather a silly one at that. I did not enjoy the character of Claire and had to agree with Erica that she was rather self obsessed. I enjoyed the first novel more than this one.

I may have come in at the wrong time since this appears to be a sequel in a series, but there was way too much terminology being thrown around that I didn't get. I can usually get into any YA you throw at me, but I think I'm past the age of loving books about boy angels.

I'm the author of this book and downloaded it just to make sure the site is working. Naturally I think it's a 5 star novel!