TWO 5 Star, ONE 4.5 Star, and ONE 4 Star Reviews for Embracing the Dawn by Jeannie Levig #FF #Romance

I have no hesitation in giving this book 5 stars as it is one I’ll remember for a long time. This is the touching and beautiful story of two very different women who find they can’t live without each other. Jinx and E.J. are, on the surface, complete opposites who should have nothing in common but their attraction is so strong that neither can fight it. Jinx is an ex-con with a very scary past and I wondered whether E.J. could ever get past that. E.J. seemingly has it all – a great career, beautiful apartment, perfect family. That may be true on the surface but she has serious issues to get past; the most important being telling her kids she is gay. Both women have great friends they can rely on and with their help they begin to see that they have a future together. The two main characters are well fleshed out and I especially liked Jinx. She was a strong woman who spent her life looking after others. There is so much depth to the book and the backstories of Jinx and E.J.are especially well done. I felt myself really caring what happened to them. The love scenes are tender and beautifully written and totally believable. Jeannie Levig has the gift of drawing the reader completely into her world and making them want to stay there. An exceptional story.
Kitty Kat

I really enjoyed this book. This made me really think about how society treats ex-convicts, and the limited choices they have once they’ve paid their debt to society. It’s hard to imagine that when faced with this type of prejudice after they get out, that they keep trying to stay clean. Without her friends, Reggie and Sparkle, I think Jinx would have found her turnaround even harder to do, and that’s kind of depressing, because she really has paid for her mistakes. This doesn’t even touch on E.J. and her issues. E.J. hasn’t really been living for quite some time, her fears getting in the way of her becoming the person she truly is. She’s never lived as herself, always becoming someone acceptable to the people in her life who are supposed to be the ones who love her unconditionally. These fears interfere with her having a relationship with Jinx, even though she’s unable to stay away from her. I’m not sure that anybody but Jinx would have put up with being jerked around like that, and Jinx perhaps puts up with it because she hasn’t ever really had an adult relationship. I liked Sparkle’s take on it, and the way she treated E.J. the second time they met. There are just so many, many relationships in this story that are awesome. I don’t think I’ve ever met someone like Jinx, but boy would I like to. I loved the evolution of the relationship between E.J. and Jinx, and how it gave each of them the strength to change and face things honestly, because what they had together was worth it. Definitely a recommend.

AmyP

Opposites attract in this lovely story that follows ex-con Jinx and successful business woman E.J. Things are super heated and their chemistry is depicted so well it is almost visible to the eyes. However, once the secrets of the past are out, will things remain the same? And then there is the matter of E.J.’s children having no idea she prefers women. The greatest rewards are never easy to obtain, and things aren’t easy for these ladies either.

I liked meeting E.J. and Jinx; the author did a beautiful job depicting them. I enjoyed watching their story unfold and ended up liking the book more than expected.

The story had good pacing and was well written. Lovely novel, a lot of sweet as well as some spice. And boy was it spicy. Certain parts of the book were definitely not read-in-public safe. However, they were tastefully written and erotic to read. Great mix of sugar and spice.

Tori