Book Review: Rapture

Author: Lauren Kate
Series: Fallen #4
Publisher: Delacorte Press
Release Date: June 12, 2012
Pages: 448
Source: The library
Read it in: 3 days

Summary: The sky is dark with wings....

Like sand through an hourglass, time is running out for Luce and Daniel. To stop Lucifer from erasing the past, they must find the place where the angels fell to earth.

Dark forces are after them, and Daniel doesn’t know if he can do this — live only to lose Luce again and again. Yet together they face an epic battle that will end with lifeless bodies...and angel dust. Great sacrifices are made. Hearts are destroyed.

And suddenly Luce knows what must happen. For she was meant to be with someone other than Daniel. The curse they’ve borne has always and only been about her — and the love she cast aside. The choice she makes now is the only one that truly matters.

In the fight for Luce, who will win?

Rapture is the astonishing conclusion to the Fallen series. Heaven can’t wait any longer.

 LC's Take:

The epic conclusion to the Fallen series by Lauren Kate.  

And by epic, I mean the following:

1.) Totally ridiculous
2.) Painfully cliche
3.) LOL hilarious for all the wrong reasons
4.) Convoluted beyond all human reasoning
5.) Inexplicably addicting in a *slightly* unsettling yet delightful kind of way

Yep, it's been a looooooong time coming for this one guys. Fallen was the first book I ever read and reviewed on LC's Adventures in Libraryland so you might say I have a bit of a soft spot for it-- but that doesn't mean I won't respectfully rip it to shreds where needs be. 

OK, so let's just get right into it. Now, after three ranting reviews for the previous 3 books where I gripe at length about this series, a lot of you are probably wondering why the heck I even bothered with the last one. Well, my relationship with Fallen is complicated. I love it and hate it at the same time. The main characters are beyond aggravating, the dialogue is so cheesy you have to wonder what planet they're from where people actually talk like that, the romance is completely dysfunctional, and I lost track of the plot about 800 pages ago. 

So. My reasons for reading this book? 

A.) Figure out what the flying fig newton all of this has been leading up to 

B.) See if Luce becomes less of a brain-dead idiot and Daniel becomes less of an ass-hat, and 

C.) Find out if the entire series could be redeemed by some miracle in the last installment. 

~Brief Summary~

I'm going to try and not give away any spoilers for those of you who are just dying to read this series or haven't finished it yet, but here is the gist of things: Luce and Daniel have been falling in love, over and over again in every lifetime, for thousands of years. Daniel is a fallen angel and Luce is just a normal girl-- except for the fact that in every lifetime she ends up bursting into flames the minute Daniel and she kiss. Bummer, right? So in the last book, Luce went back in time through a bunch of her past lives to figure out why she and Daniel are cursed and try to fix things. Along the way, she met this little gargoyle named "Bill" who was shady as f*** and who turned out to be the devil in disguise [Note: This really wasn't that big of a surprise-- it was actually pretty predictable-- so I don't feel bad about giving that much away]. And now good ol' Lucifer has plans to basically wipe out the last 7,000 years of human history because Luce didn't destroy her soul at the end of Book 3. (Why does the Father-of-All-Evil have it out against Luce and Daniel? Beats the crap out of me-- none of this was explained until about the last half of the final book...) So, in Rapture,  Luce, Daniel, and their other angel friends have NINE DAYS to find out where the original Fall of angels took place when God threw them out of Heaven, effectively stopping Lucifer from carrying out his diabolical plans to destroy life as we know it. 

Confused yet? Join the club.

~Three Things I Liked (sort of)~

So first off, I have to say, there were aspects to Rapture that pleasantly surprised me; even impressed me in how well they were done--you know, compared to the craptastic first three books. So let's start off with the positives:

1.) The descriptive language was good. Like, really good. For all the ick I find in these books, I have to hand it to LK, she is pretty talented when it comes to providing readers with rich, vivid descriptions of the scenes playing out-- and Rapture more than any other book in this series is a testament to her ability to do this. Kudos on the scene-setting Lauren, it really was beautiful.

2.) There was FINALLY a sense of urgency in the plot that was completely missing from the last three books. Fallen, Torment, and Passion were not only painfully slow but they seemed to be going absolutely nowhere. By the end of the third book, I was so flipping confused I had a headache. But Rapture managed to capture my attention because it had a direction-- things happened and things were explained. Was it a water-tight plot? Not so much, but thank the Good Lord Almighty, there was at least action!

3.) I can't rave too much about this because it was only a slight improvement, but both Daniel and Luce were *marginally* more likable in this book than in any of the previous ones. What I could NOT stand about these books was the totally unbelievable and dysfunctional relationship between Luce, the desperately-clingy and dumb-as-a-rock female character, and Daniel, the chauvinistic jerk-wad who constantly belittles and pushes her around. This was ever-so-minutely improved in this book, BUT I still have plenty to say about how sucky the two of them are overall, so stay tuned.

OK so those are the good things about Rapture-- three things that resulted in my three-star rating. Now onto the fun part!

~Ten Things That Sucked~

So what didn't I like about Rapture? I've already elaborated at length about the many aspects of this series that made me want to knock my head against a wall-- repeatedly-- so I'll spare you and say that if you're really that interested, go check out my past three reviews. But more specific to this book and how the entire series wrapped up, here are my thoughts on the parts that seriously blew:

1.) According to this story, Luce and Daniel's love is the most epic, mind-blowing, knock-your-socks-off love ever to exist. The very beginning of good and evil all originated because of their love. The fate of Earth and all human history basically comes down to them. BUT FOR THE LOVE OF GOD WHY??? I still have no idea. WHY is the love between Luce and Daniel so stinking profound that everyone and everything hangs in the balance because of it, and legions of angels are willing to fight and die over it? There is absolutely NOTHING exceptional about either Luce or Daniel-- they are in fact pretty darned boring-- and their relationship is beyond mundane. In the entire length of this series, not ONCE have I found anything remotely grand or real about Luce and Daniel's "love." Not once did I go, "Aww they're so cute!" or "Shucks, I hope I find someone that dreamy someday." On the contrary, they're both hopelessly self-absorbed and their relationship is at the best of times awkward, bland and generic, and at the worst of times abusive, dysfunctional, and in dire need of Dr. Phil. 

2.) Luce was the same pathetically useless, boring, and wimpy lump of oatmeal that she has been throughout the whole series-- I could see where LK was trying for some character development in this last book where Luce finally gained a backbone-- but honestly it just didn't happen. There were parts in this book where Luce was so freaking pathetic that I wanted to slap her across the face and scream, "What is WRONG with you?!" Here are some examples that nearly sent me up in flames of rage:

SCENE #1: Luce and Daniel are going after one of the ancient relics they need to find out the location of the Fall from Heaven, and Luce has to swim under water to get to it because it's in a sunken cathedral. Well Daniel can't go into the cathedral because it's sacred ground and he's a fallen angel, so he stands guard outside of it to make sure Luce is OK. But THEN he swims away and just leaves her there. Sh-yeah!  LEAVES HER THERE UNDER WATER IN A FLIPPING CATHEDRAL TO DROWN. So Luce-- the girl Daniel supposedly would risk Heaven and Earth for-- nearly dies because Ass-hat Daniel abandons her. And when she makes it back up to the surface and tries to ask where the heck he went, this is how it goes down:

"What happened to you?" [Luce] cried. "I almost--"

"Luce," he [Daniel] warned. "shhh."
                                                                                                                                     ~p.91

Whoa, whoa, hold the phone. Are you freaking kidding me? The girl is trying to find out why her boyfriend almost let her drown and he's telling her to "shhhh"?!? 

I'm pretty sure that makes him the biggest butt-face known to man, but of course, Luce being Luce, she let's it slide and doesn't seem to be at all miffed by the fact that Daniel abandoned her underwater to fend for herself and almost die. No biggie right?

SCENE #2: Near the end of the book, Cam (who happens to be one of the only likable characters in this series) goes to talk to Luce and sort of smooth over their rocky past. All Luce can do is practically have a brain aneurysm because she's freaked that Daniel is going to see another guy talking to her. Heaven flipping forbid.

"She wanted to leave. What if Daniel looked over and saw her in this dim cave with Cam? They were arguing, but Daniel wouldn't be able to tell that from a distance. What did they look like, she and Cam?"                                                                                                      ~p.319
                                                                                                                                      

Now, let me make this clear-- there was nothing shady going on between Luce and Cam, this was a totally platonic conversation they're having-- and Luce is scared to death that her psycho-jealous angel bf is going to flip a crap if he sees her with Cam. There's something majorly wrong with this, no?  

SCENE #3: This was my favorite-- I was reading this and just wanted to set the book down and start a slow-clap for Luce after this:

"Now, tell me who you are." [Daniel speaking]

"Well... I'm Lucinda Price. I'm the girl you fell in love with."

Daniel's violet eyes filled with tears. He whispered: "More."

"Isn't that enough?"                                                                                                   ~p.327

Really Luce? Really? Isn't that enough? Why are you such a pathetic loser? How is it that after this entire time you still have about as much self-confidence and identity as a ball of lint? The fact is that up to the last few pages of this series, Lucinda Price is still absolutely nothing without a guy to fawn over, and she sees herself as having no value beyond what that guy thinks of her. It's just sad. And makes me want to wring her neck to be quite honest. "Isn't that enough..." GAWD!!

3.) While we're on the subject of how cray-cray Luce and Daniel's "relationship" is, another thing that really bothered me was the fact that there was absolutely no true feeling or passion between them. Nada. Which is nuts, considering that one of the books was titled "PASSION" and their love for each other is supposedly off the charts. But no-- the heat-factor was somewhere between tepid and 1950's-style frigid. There is one point where Luce is embarrassed to tears just standing in front of Daniel in her underwear. What the crap?! This is the guy you've been madly in love with over and over again for thousands of years, who you're willing to lose everything for, and very well might, you potentially have nine days left to be together-- and you don't do anything. I'm pretty sure that any normal human being with blood pumping through their veins in the same situation would be getting it on like bunny rabbits, but the only thing we get out of Luce and Daniel are a few totally lame kisses that were about as sexy as a lima bean casserole and dialogue that was so awkward, I felt embarrassed for them. Their relationship was completely artificial and I was not once convinced that they truly loved one another. End of story.

4.) There is pretty much no continuity in the writing, or the plot, or the characters. In anything. Seriously. Go back to Fallen where we started out in a reform school in rural Georgia, and I have no idea how we got from Point A to Point B. It's like they aren't even in the same series. Yes Luce and Daniel were slight improvements in this book, but they acted nothing like they have throughout the rest of the books. This makes me think that the author really had no idea where the story was going so she had to fudge everything as she went. Maybe that's a jerky thing of me to say, but that's just how it came across.

5.) LK killed off one of the only likable and semi-intelligent characters in the book. I won't say who, but dude really?! Couldn't you have killed off Luce instead lol.... just kidding. Kind of.  

6.) The ASPARTAME.... in diet soda..... was created by GOD..... and it has magical properties to HEAL ANGELS. 

I-- my God, I have no words. 

I swear I'm not making this up.

7.) When you get right down to it, the plot still made absolute ZERO sense. Lucifer, the Creator of Evil, is planning to re-create the Original Fall, so that he can effectively wipe out 7,000 years of human history, and it all boils down to the love between Luce and Daniel. OK, um... what?? How, why, and what the hell does this have to do with anything? I'm sorry but I. Just. Didn't. Get. It. I mean at times I thought I was catching on, but to be perfectly honest with you, I could not explain the course of action and how it unfolded or why it unfolded the way it did to save my life, probably because it was EFFING CONFUSING AS HELL. And nothing was ever clearly explained. The whole thing about a "key angel" tipping the scales between Heaven and Hell, the reasoning behind Luce and Daniel's "romance" and how it set everything in motion, just everything was so convoluted and off-the-wall nuts. I don't know, maybe I'm just a total idiot, so please, if you are a semi-intelligent person who actually understood what the hell was going on from Book 1 to Book 4, please leave me a point-by-point explanation in the comments-- I would greatly appreciate it.

8.) I cannot tell you how many times the other supporting characters talk about Luce as though she's freaking Daenerys Targaryen on steroids. And I, of course, just couldn't help but shake my head and laugh, because they're all like, "Oh Luce, you are such a strong person! So tough, so brave!" And I'm thinking, did you see Luce in the last three books? Are we talking about the same person?? Are you guys drunk? She's a total idiot! There is absolutely nothing about her that is strong or brave and if I ever came to be as pathetically attached to an a-hole boyfriend as she is, I would probably go jump off a cliff. Luce brave, yeah OK Lauren, nice try. It doesn't matter how many times you have your cast singing praises about Luce being Wonder Woman, you can't take a totally bland and unexceptional character who has "Mary Sue" written all over her and try to make her sound like a Mensa-acing Navy Seal just by having everyone else say that she is. Her actions were not smart or brave, just clueless and sad.

9.) The dialogue. Holy crap, it was painful. Like, I don't know how the book went through to publishing with some of this hockey dialogue. Cheesy is the understatement of the century, it was just that bad. Half the time the (teenage) characters talk like they're straight out of 1842 and the other half is soppy back-and-forths between Luce and Daniel that were so stinking awkward I was cringing. The villain dialogue was equally hilarious, and while it provided me with a few laughs, it did nothing for the rest of the story.

10.) OMG the ending. It was so unbelievable cheesy and sooooo lame and anticlimactic, I don't even know where to begin. But here was what I loved most about it-- remember how I said that the plot was insanely confusing and I had no idea how LK was going to wrap things up? Well get this, because I have to admit it was totally brilliant: GOD Himself comes onto the scene and yells, "ENOUGH!" and all major action stops, and then we get about 25 more pages to quietly explain away any other major complications. I swear to you, I am not making this up, THAT is how the whole series and all its conflicts and convoluted loose ends were neatly tied. Well played, LK, well played. That was quite the crafty move to wrap up this humdinger of a series.

So, final verdict? Well, believe it or not after all this ranting, it actually wasn't as bad as it could've been. I'm glad I finished the books and got to see where everything ended up, even though I still have no idea how or why anything happened the way it did. There were parts to this book and the series overall that were good, but in the end it just didn't deliver. Entertaining, yes. Good writing with good story and interesting characters, hell to the freaking no.

**Final note-- and THIS IS HIGHLY IMPORTANT!! Also, highly immature and inappropriate. You have been warned. I need to throw out a big thanks to SKB on Goodreads, who is a total girl genius, for her invaluable tip on reading these books-- and I'm going to pass her secret on to you guys so that you can enjoy them infinitely more as well, because it is flipping brilliant and I love you: Every time you read the word "wings" in this series, replace it with "balls."  I promise you, it will have you rolling on the ground in tears laughing. 

You're welcome :)

~Cover Talk~

I definitely love the final cover in this series. It's dark and ominous, but very beautiful at the same time. I love how the softness of Luce's dress stands out against the jagged rocks, and even though the colors are mainly gray and black, it still catches your eye. I think it also goes back to the super dramatic and Gothic cover of the first book-- Fallen's cover will still remain my absolute favorite.  I only wish I could take the actual story inside as seriously as I do these gorgeous book covers!

LC's Rating:

Its been a long and bumpy road with the Fallen series, but Rapture managed to pull it off and end things on a fairly positive note. Yes, there were nearly a dozen things that really annoyed me, but overall Rapture made for a good ending to an otherwise very confusing and frustrating series.

 

ARC Book Review: Embrace

Author: Jessica Shirvington
Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire
Series: The Violet Eden Chapters #1
Release Date: March 6, 2012
Pages: 367
Read it in: 2 days

Summary: It starts with a whisper: “It’s time for you to know who you are…”

Violet Eden dreads her seventeenth birthday. After all, it’s hard to get too excited about the day that marks the anniversary of your mother’s death. As if that wasn’t enough, disturbing dreams haunt her sleep and leave her with very real injuries. There’s a dark tattoo weaving its way up her arms that wasn’t there before.

Violet is determined to get some answers, but nothing could have prepared her for the truth. The guy she thought she could fall in love with has been keeping his identity a secret: he’s only half-human—oh, and same goes for her.

A centuries-old battle between fallen angels and the protectors of humanity has chosen its new warrior. It’s a fight Violet doesn’t want, but she lives her life by two rules: don’t run and don’t quit. When angels seek vengeance and humans are the warriors, you could do a lot worse than betting on Violet Eden…

LC's Take:

This book was total love for me. From the very first chapter, I was hooked and could not put it down until I had finished! I know, I know, you might be a little hesitant because it's in the infamous "fallen angel" genre, but really this one stands out from the rest-- and in fact, Embrace is hands-down one of the best YA angel books I have read so far.

Violet Eden is about to turn 17, and the biggest thing on her mind is figuring out how to tell Lincoln, her hunky trainer, that she has feelings for him. Unfortunately, things are about to get seriously complicated, because on her 17th birthday Violet finds out she is Grigori-- half angel, half human. Added to this, exiled angels are roaming the earth, trying to gain complete control over humanity to do their will, and it's up to the Grigori to stop them. Now Violet has to make the ultimate choice to embrace her role as a Grigori-- knowing that to do so means both saving and losing Lincoln-- and leaving behind life as she knows it forever.

I really loved Violet-- not because she was a perfect character, but because she was so perfectly imperfect. She made some major mistakes but she knew when she had screwed up and wasn't afraid to admit it. She was also incredibly strong-willed and had the ability to stand up for herself when need be. And best of all? She wasn't weak or whiny! I also thought that her emotions were incredibly real, and the author described them in such a way that you can actually feel all of Violet's conflict and struggle-- over figuring out who her mother really was, whether to become Grigori or hold on to a normal life, whether to fall for Lincoln or Pheonix, whether to stay true to herself or wander in a different direction-- The girl had some serious decision-making to do in this book! Altogether, Violet was the type of character that I love to read about.

As far as the romance goes, I actually liked the love triangle in Embrace. I usually find all the triangle drama to be annoying or tedious, but in this case, I was right with Violet and could not for the life of me choose between dreamy Lincoln who has been her friend for so long, or Pheonix, the sexy and dangerous angel exile who is both alluring and a bit creepy at the same time.

Added to the steamy romance, action-packed plot, and awesome characters was vivid imagery that quickly transported me into Violet's world-- a dangerous yet brightly-lit urban setting filled with nightclubs and shadowed alleyways, mysterious Grigori and dark angels. The world-building definitely pulled me into a whole other world, and provided the perfect backdrop for all the romance and crazy celestial showdowns.

Probably my favorite part about this book was that the plot was action-packed AND well-thought out. Many of the scenes left me biting my nails to see what would happen next, and much of the narrative was filled with unexpected twists, turns and surprises. I guess the only thing that was a bit of a draw-back for me was that some of the angel lore was hard to follow. (Example: the explanations of the different ranks of angels got to be a little confusing.) Still, Embrace was fun and entertaining, and it centers around a smart and strong-willed heroine. I would say that it was even good enough to overcome the bias against fallen angel books-- in my opinion, I think readers will really enjoy this one, even if they haven't had luck with angel books in the past!

~Cover Talk~

The US cover of Embrace is definitely beautiful, no doubt about it. I love the purple-y background and the smoked-out, whispy wings on the girl who represents Violet. I actually don't have this specific cover because the ARC cover art is much different-- much simpler. And then there is the original Australian cover, pictured to the right. This is probably my favorite out of the three. I'm not sure why but I just find it to be so eye-catching, and I love the colors, the girl's dark hair against the white and purple, and how you can just barely make out the suggestions of wings in the background.

Both are gorgeous I think! Do you have a favorite?

LC's Rating:

Smart, edgy and completely addicting, this book was absolutely impossible to put down! Embrace will totally change everything you've come to think about the fallen angel genre.

Book Review: City of Ashes

Author: Cassandra Clare
Series: The Mortal Instruments #2
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Release Date: March 25, 2008
Pages: 453
Read it in: 3 days

Summary: Clary Fray just wishes that her life would go back to normal. But what's normal when you're a demon-slaying Shadowhunter, your mother is in a magically induced coma, and you can suddenly see Downworlders like werewolves, vampires, and faeries? If Clary left the world of the Shadowhunters behind, it would mean more time with her best friend, Simon, who's becoming more than a friend. But the Shadowhunting world isn't ready to let her go — especially her handsome, infuriating, newfound brother, Jace. And Clary's only chance to help her mother is to track down rogue Shadowhunter Valentine, who is probably insane, certainly evil — and also her father.

To complicate matters, someone in New York City is murdering Downworlder children. Is Valentine behind the killings — and if he is, what is he trying to do? When the second of the Mortal Instruments, the Soul-Sword, is stolen, the terrifying Inquisitor arrives to investigate and zooms right in on Jace. How can Clary stop Valentine if Jace is willing to betray everything he believes in to help their father?

In this breath-taking sequel to City of Bones, Cassandra Clare lures her readers back into the dark grip of New York City's Downworld, where love is never safe and power becomes the deadliest temptation.

LC's Take:

Holy crap-- seriously guys-- you NEED to drop everything you're doing and GO READ this series like, pronto! No pressure or anything. I'm just saying. It is totally rocking my socks off-- I really enjoyed City of Bones, the first in The Mortal Instruments series, and City of Ashes has just sucked me in even more. From the world-building to the characters to the storyline, I am so hooked into these books!

One of the things I love most about this series so far is that it keeps you on the edge of your seat, not knowing what to expect next. In City of Bones, we were thrown an absolutely crazy plot twist towards the end, so I knew going into City of Ashes ANYTHING could happen. And Cassandra gives just enough info away that you're begging for more, but not quite enough that you ever stop guessing as to what will come next. For this reason, City of Ashes was definitely a page-turner!

So this second book continues the story of Clary, Jace, Alec, Isabelle, and Simon warring against the evil Valentine, to save the powerful Mortal Instruments and make sure Valentine doesn't gain ultimate power to destroy all Downworlders-- vampires, werewolves, faeries and warlocks. Along the way, they team up with Magnus Bane again, Chief Warlock of NYC, the Queen of the Fairy Realm, and others to battle against the demons that Valentine has summoned to wipe out anyone he thinks is "impure" and ruin the Clave of Shadowhunters who live to keep a balance between everyone. In the last book, Valentine was after the Mortal Cup which gave him the power to turn humans into zombie-like Shadowhunters who would kill at his will. In this second book, Valentine is now after the Mortal Sword, which he can turn evil with the blood of 4 Downworlder children and then raise a demon army to follow his command.

I don't want to give too much away because it's really something you need to read and discover for yourself, but there were lots more surprises in store for the reader-- for example, the Faerie Queen makes mention that Valentine had used Clary and Jace as science experiments long ago. Now Clary is discovering that she can write out new and powerful runes that no one else even knows, and Jace can fly off buildings completely unharmed and fight off more demons than any other Shadowhunter. It's almost like Valentine tried to turn them into powerful weapons, and they are only now finding out what they are capable of...

I really love how Clary's character develops in this one, and the dynamics that play out between her and Simon, and her and Jace. Yes, it's a love triangle, but it's totally different than any other love triangle out there-- sometimes in disturbing ways, if you know what happened in the first book! But I am like 99% positive that Clary and Jace's "relationship" is going to turn out to be completely different than what it seems to be right now. (Otherwise, um... eeww. Haha.)

If I could change ONE thing about this book, it would be that more took place in the other worlds, like Idris. We hear about them all the time, and I am dying to actually GO there and see what these worlds are like! I do love the Institute but I think the story should move away from New York City for a change and go out into new places-- just a personal thought!

So I am all ready to get into City of Glass now, and can't wait to continue this crazy ride that Cassandra Clare has begun. If you love action and adventure and plot twists that keep you guessing, I would definitely recommend starting this series. Trust me, there is a reason they are so popular!

~Cover Talk~

I love this cover. I think I like it even more than the first-- the colors are just so awesome, I love how Clary's bright red hair stands out against the dark blue backdrop of the city sky, and I just love Clary's pose-- she looks like such a bad-ass Shadowhunter, and this is just the way I would picture her being-- really strong, defiant, and brave. So yes, really fantastic job on this cover!

LC's Rating:

Total awesomeness and totally entertaining. City of Ashes had everything that makes you want to keep reading a book-- action, adventure, crazy plot twists, characters you connect with and a romance you can't help but get caught up in!

Book Review: City of Bones

Author: Cassandra Clare
Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry Books
Series: The Mortal Instruments #1
Release Date: January 1, 2007
Pages: 485
Read it in: 4 days

Summary: When fifteen-year-old Clary Fray heads out to the Pandemonium Club in New York City, she hardly expects to witness a murder -- much less a murder committed by three teenagers covered with strange tattoos and brandishing bizarre weapons. Then the body disappears into thin air. It's hard to call the police when the murderers are invisible to everyone else and when there is nothing -- not even a smear of blood -- to show that a boy has died. Or was he a boy?

This is Clary's first meeting with the Shadowhunters, warriors dedicated to ridding the earth of demons. It's also her first encounter with Jace, a Shadowhunter who looks a little like an angel and acts a lot like a jerk. Within twenty-four hours Clary is pulled into Jace's world with a vengeance, when her mother disappears and Clary herself is attacked by a demon. But why would demons be interested in ordinary mundanes like Clary and her mother? And how did Clary suddenly get the Sight? The Shadowhunters would like to know. . . .

Exotic and gritty, exhilarating and utterly gripping, Cassandra Clare's ferociously entertaining fantasy takes readers on a wild ride that they will never want to end.

LC's Take:

Wow. I just need a minute here.

**Whew!** OK, I think I'm good.

Yup, that is pretty much my reaction to this book. So much happened and the ending was so crazy that I don't even know where to begin, but basically, City of Bones rocked! It wasn't perfect, but it had that energy and "special something" that just leaves you craving more.

So I can't really explain much of the plot since I don't want to give anything away, but the story starts out with Clary and her friend Simon who are at a club one night. Clary witnesses a murder that no one else can see and before she knows it, she is being pulled into a paranormal world of "Shadowhunters" who kill demons. Along the way she also finds out there are vampires, werewolves, faeries, and all kinds of other creatures-- and that the darkest and most dangerous of these has kidnapped her mother.

I absolutely loved Clary because she actually had a **gasp!** personality and wasn't afraid to speak her mind. She was strong, witty, honest and down-to-earth. While she was vulnerable, she could also stand on her own two feet and defend herself in a fight. No wimpy, wishy-washy character, Clary was also not "too" overdone to the point of being annoying or mean. And as the story went on? I only liked her more and more!

The other characters had just as much of a unique personality as Clary and this made all of them memorable-- they all had their own stories and struggles. Isabelle is the stuck-up and snotty beautiful vixen who turns out to have a sweet side. Her brother Alec was extremely stand-offish to the point of being violent, but then you learn that he is in a really desperate situation. Simon, Clary's best friend since childhood, has a dorky sense of humor but has secret feelings for a certain somebody. And Jace? Oh Jace, where to begin... I didn't like him at all but I think I'm going to as the story goes on! And even though I thought he was a mean, self-centered, egotistical jerk who treats Clary like crap, I thought he was a really well-developed and complex character. I am looking forward to seeing how he changes in the next books.

I also really loved the interactions between Clary and Jace. Why? Because they couldn't stand each other. But then they also had this crush thing going on. And then something ABSOLUTELY CRAZY happens towards the end, and I was totally thrown for a loop-- you're just going to have to read the book to find out what happens! But anyways yeah, it was so entertaining to listen to them argue and squabble back and forth.

I think what impressed me most about this book was that the plot was so intricate and encompassed so many different things-- demon hunters, vampires, werewolves, faeries, different worlds-- but it was told in a simple and uncomplicated way. There were maybe a few isolated parts that got me a little confused, but considering how detailed this story was, it ended up coming across as intriguing, not convoluted. This makes me think that Cassandra Clare is a really awesome storyteller.

And oh my gosh the ENDING!! I won't say anything but seriously guys?! This was one of the CRAZIEST plot twists I have read in a long time! I'm still getting over it, not sure I believe it. I guess I am just going to have to high-tail it to the library really soon to pick up the next book in this series! Cassandra Clare has successfully sucked me into the Mortal Instruments world, and I am dying to find out what happens next. I think this is going to be a dangerously addictive series!!

~Cover Talk~

Well funny story about this book and it's cover-- first of all, yes I do think it is pretty awesome. But... at the same time, I felt kind of awkward carrying it around in public because it has a gigantic picture of a half-naked guy on it! No I'm not a prude, but I guess I was just self conscious that people would think I was reading some paperback romance novel... or worse haha. So when I was at Delta Sonic getting an oil change the other day, I was very covertly trying to read it and not let any of the guys at the garage see the cover! But yeah, I guess it's still pretty bad-ass, and I'm in love with the other series covers too.

LC's Rating:

Non-stop adventure and plot twists, City of Bones was one crazy book! Not to mention the characters were awesome-- not all of them were likable, but regardless they were all done extremely well. I am definitely looking forward to reading the next book in the Mortal Instruments series!

Book Review: Silence

Author: Becca Fitzpatrick
Series: Hush, Hush #3
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Release Date: October 4, 2011
Pages: 438
Read it in: 4 days

Summary: The noise between Patch and Nora is gone. They've overcome the secrets riddled in Patch's dark past...bridged two irreconcilable worlds...faced heart-wrenching tests of betrayal, loyalty and trust...and all for a love that will transcend the boundary between heaven and earth. Armed with nothing but their absolute faith in one another, Patch and Nora enter a desperate fight to stop a villain who holds the power to shatter everything they've worked for—and their love—forever.

LC's Take:

So I definitely enjoyed Silence, the third book in Becca Fitzpatrick's Hush Hush series, much more than I did the second one. I think that what really made this book better was that the characters all had so much more depth and dimension to them, and I felt like they acted more realistically too.

The main plot twist in Silence is that Nora is suffering from amnesia-- she wakes up in a graveyard and has absolutely no recollection of the past five months, when she met Patch her fallen angel boyfriend and fell in love with him, or learned about the battle going on between the angels and Nephilim. Throughout the book, she struggles to remember what has happened, and then has to fight against the evil that is trying to destroy everything and everyone she loves.

I loved Nora Grey in this book. Honestly, I didn't feel connected to her at all in Crescendo, she came across as very immature and whiny, but I loved how in this book she becomes more responsible and take-charge. She refused to settle for being kept in the dark, and she was determined to get revenge on Hank at almost any cost. I guess you could say that her character went from being sort of wishy-washy to being pretty bad-ass! I think that this new, strong side of her builds up for when we find out what her destiny is at the end-- which I'm not going to reveal here, you'll just have to read it for yourself!

Patch, who we now know as Jev, could still be slightly irritating, just because he acts so mysterious and tries to keep things secret from Nora, but you can really see his desire to protect Nora and keep her out of harms way for as long as he can. My only complaint is that there wasn't enough of Patch in this book! I think this is why Hush, Hush is still my favorite book in the series, because it was all about Patch and Nora's relationship, whereas in the second and third books it becomes more of a sub-plot.

I guess the only thing that threw me off about this book was that I'm still not totally clear on where the main conflict lies between the three sides-- we have the Arch Angels, the Fallen Angels, and the Nephilim, who are the offspring of both humans and fallen angels. Now, as far as I can tell, the Nephilim are sort of like servants to the fallen angels, and they want to rebel against them. The fallen angels rebel against the arch angels. It's all a little complicated! I have to say what a lot of other readers have said, which is that aside from the relationship between Nora and Patch, it's difficult to become really invested in this story because it comes across as so convoluted. However, I still love these characters and the love story, so I am definitely looking forward to the last book in this series when it comes out!

~Cover Talk~

Love it! First of all, both models for Patch and Nora are gorgeous, and the scene is very romantic and dramatic at the same time. Personally, I like that these covers were done in black and white because it makes them unique and stand out from all the other YA book covers out there. Altogether, I think it's really breath-taking!

LC's Rating:

We're really able to see some new sides to the characters in this installment of the Hush, Hush series, and the motives behind their actions are revealed. I think that the depth given to the characters along with an exciting and suspenseful plot are what made Silence such a great book!

Book Review: A Beautiful Dark

Author: Jocelyn Davies
Series: A Beautiful Dark #1
Publisher: HarperTeen
Release date: September 27, 2011
Pages: 390
Read it in: 3 days

Summary: On the night of Skye's seventeenth birthday, she meets two enigmatic strangers. Complete opposites;like fire and ice;Asher is dark and wild, while Devin is fair and aloof. Their sudden appearance sends Skye's life into a tailspin. She has no idea what they want, or why they seem to follow her every move only that their presence coincides with a flurry of strange events. Soon she begins to doubt not just the identity of the two boys, but also the truth about her own past.

In the dead of a bitingly cold Colorado winter, Skye finds herself coming to terms with the impossible secret that threatens to shatter her world. Torn between Asher, who she can't help falling for, and Devin, who she can't stay away from, the consequences of Skye's choice will reach further than the three of them could ever imagine.

LC's Take:

To be perfectly honest, this book was just OK for me; I just really wasn't a huge fan. I'm not sure if it's the genre, but sometimes I feel like if you've read one fallen angel book you've pretty much read them all. Now yes, there are some that are better than others, for example I loved Hush, Hush by Becca Fitzpatrick but then I wanted to hurl Fallen by Lauren Kate against a wall. A Beautiful Dark falls somewhere in between those two extremes for me.

The biggest let-down in this book for me was the characters. The plot was good, the pacing worked well, the suspense built up, and some of the writing was really good. But unfortunately, I thought that the character development was extremely lacking.

So, let's talk about the characters first since this is where I had the biggest issue. The main character is Skye Parker, who just turned seventeen. Skye's favorite food to get in the school cafeteria is a turkey sandwich and an apple. Why do I mention this, you ask? Well, because I think it sums her up in a nutshell-- she's sort of unremarkable and bland-- nice and appealing, but not terribly awesome or interesting. Like a turkey sandwich.

I know, I'm a freaking genius with the analogies.

So anyways, Skye is also good at skiing, she wants to go to Columbia or some Ivy League school, and she predictably becomes obsessed with the two new boys that move to her Colorado town, Asher and Devin. The one trait that I was not a fan of with Skye was that she was also extremely self-centered to the point of me wanting someone in the story to give her a nice swift kick in the pants.

(Oh yes, and sometimes her eyes turn into molten silver-- now that part? Not gonna lie, that was pretty freaking sweet.)

Then we have the two hunky boy interests, Asher and Devin, who are both very mysterious and apparently yum-a-licious. Asher is supposed to be the dark, brooding bad boy and Devin is the quiet, nice one. Once again, it's not that I didn't like these two characters but they just weren't very memorable. And what's more, even though we are told over and over again how completely different the two of them are, how they are polar opposites, there really wasn't anything that distinguished the one from the other in my opinion. Physically they looked different, but they were pretty much the same otherwise. Asher was more of a jerk I guess, but that's about it. And really, I wasn't buying Skye's relationship with either of them.

Cassie is Skye's best friend and holy crap, was she annoying. OK so this is the part where I take a moment to rant about an irritating YA cliche known as "The Annoying Best Friend/Sidekick." I really get tired of air-headed BFFs in YA books who get all their wisdom from Cosmo and can't walk 5 five steps without drooling over some guy. And Cassie was no exception-- she was incredibly ditzy, boy-crazy and did I mention annoying? It's almost as though we're supposed to compare the main character to this chick and think, "Wow! Skye is like so much smarter! Skye wants to go to an Ivy League school and Cassie is a brain-dead idiot!" Yep, not buying it. Skye wasn't much of a smartypants either, so unfortunately, making the main character's best friend dumb as dirt really doesn't make the main character look like an Einstein in comparison.

Finally, Dan and Ian were sort of just thrown into the mix as Skye and Cassie's guy friends to bring in some more romance and drama.They were more of a side-note than anything else it seemed.

So onto the wonderful Love Quadrangle-- oh yes, you heard me right! There is not ONE, not TWO, but THREE guys all hopelessly vying for the lovely Skye's attention in this novel. We've got Asher and Devin, two otherworldly celestial beings, and then there was poor Ian who pretty much doesn't stand a chance with Skye because-- well, because he's ordinary. And honestly, this kind of bugged me. (Oh crap here comes another rant, watch out.) Skye was completely obsessed with both Asher and Devin, going back and forth ad nauseum about who she liked more, even though she just met them and knows almost nothing about either of them. And then with Ian-- who by the way has been her best friend since forever and really cares about her-- she completely ignores him and is just like, "Oh good for him for finally finding a nice girl who actually gives him the time of day!" Aaaand... that's the last we hear about him. I really felt bad for Ian.

Fortunately, the plot and the ending are what made this book work for me. Joceleyn Davies is one serious story-teller, that is for darned sure! I don't want to give anything away, but I really did love the overall story about who Skye really is and what her powers are, and who is good and bad-- I could have done without all the high school drama, but honestly, the last 4-5 chapters totally had me on the edge of my seat, and the ending was a major cliff hanger that just had me dying to get my hands on the sequel!

The book did a fabulous job of building up the mystery and suspense to the plot-- pretty much nothing major is revealed about who Asher and Devin are until around page 175, and since I had not read any reviews about this book before picking it up, I had no clue what was going to happen. I won't give too much away here, but I personally liked the slower build up before revealing the main plot twist. While some aspects of this book were a bit predictable, I really enjoyed not knowing right away what was going to happen.

In the end-- even though the characters really did nothing for me and I thought that some parts were slightly cliche-- I did enjoy reading A Beautiful Dark. If there had been some greater character development, I would say that this was actually a really good book. Unfortunately, some things did fall flat. I would recommend this one to any angel book lovers out there, and to anyone who loves those tricky love triangles, because this one has tons!

~Cover Talk~

This cover is absolutely stunning, I am just in love with it! The model's pose is very graceful and I love how the white of the dress stands out against the dark, stormy sky behind her. This scene is actually depicted in the book too, which I thought was pretty cool. I also love the title font-- the hardcover edition is in a beautiful, raised print that is silvery iridescent-- another major part that comes into play in the book! Finally, I really liked the chapter numbers, which laid one font on top of another and had angel wings on either side. This was a beautiful and interesting detail that just adds to the overall gorgeous design of the book!

LC's Rating:

I enjoyed the mystery and suspense of A Beautiful Dark. Unfortunately, where I thought this book fell a little flat was in the characters-- even though we are told repeatedly things about them, we're never shown those things in their dialogue or actions. More showing and less telling would have made this book stand out more for me! 

Book Review: Crescendo

Author: Becca Fitzpatrick
Series: Hush, Hush #2
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Release date: October 19, 2010
Pages: 427
Read it in: 5 days

Summary: Nora Grey's life is still far from perfect. Surviving an attempt on her life wasn't pleasant, but at least she got a guardian angel out of it: a mysterious, magnetic, gorgeous guardian angel. But, despite his role in her life, Patch has been acting anything but angelic. He's more elusive than ever and even worse, he's started spending time with Nora's arch-enemy, Marcie Millar.

Nora would have hardly noticed Scott Parnell, an old family friend who has moved back to town, if Patch hadnt been acting so distant. Even with Scott's totally infuriating attitude Nora finds herself drawn to him - despite her lingering feeling that he's hiding something.

Haunted by images of her murdered father, and questioning whether her nephilim bloodline has anything to do with his death, Nora puts herself increasingly in dangerous situations as she desperately searches for answers. But maybe some things are better left buried, because the truth could destroy everything - and everyone - she trusts.

LC's Take:

Let me start off by saying that I loved Hush, Hush. Like I couldn't even believe how much I enjoyed it, because it isn't the typical kind of book that I fall in love with. I was definitely hooked by the end, so I had to read the second. But Crescendo? Well, I was not quite as big a fan.

The main reason that Crescendo was sort of (really) difficult to get through was because I didn't like the characters nearly as much as I had in the first book-- especially Patch. Also, I didn't think that the plot was paced well at all. About 90% of the action and explanation for what was going on took place within the last 2-3 chapters of the book, and the other 300 pages were basically a bunch of angsty, drama-filled fluff, full of Nora running around aimlessly in circles and making stupid decisions. By the end, I was left more confused as to what was going on than I was at the beginning!

Crescendo basically picks up where Hush, Hush left off. Nora now has a super-sexy personal guardian angel who also happens to be her boyfriend and things are going great until Nora's arch-nemesis Marcie Millar steps into the picture. Around this time, Nora also realizes that someone is possibly trying to kill her, but she's not sure who. Soon she has no idea whom she can and can't trust anymore, while the story behind her dad's death comes back to haunt her.

As I said, I really couldn't stand any of the characters in this book-- and Patch was at the top of my poop list. First, he starts hanging around with Marcie, completely ignoring Nora and treating her like she's five years old. I mean granted, half the time she does act like she's five years old, but still! He remains cold and aloof, keeping her in the dark about pretty much everything and acting like an ass the rest of the time for no apparent reason-- jeez, no wonder the girl was going crazy running around in circles for 400 pages! But then Nora also drove me insane-- it's like she was destined to do everything in the very dumbest way possible. Like, give her the pick of what to do next, and guaranteed she picked the very worst option every freaking time. This got to be extremely annoying.

Then, enter the new character, Scott Parnell. I wasn't much a fan of Scott either, as he was kind of a jerk and definitely a creeper. By the end of the book we do have some important information revealed about Scott, which sort of redeems him, but he still wasn't a very likable character in my opinion. Which is too bad, because with all the annoying behavior coming from Patch and Nora, it would have been refreshing to have a likable new character enter the scene.

And man oh man, then there was the ending. Really? I mean, really?? Here are just a few things that I couldn't stand about the ending, without giving too much away:

• At a certain point, a certain someone is physically grabbing Nora and dragging her away with him. Now, both of them are out in public in the middle of an amusement park. Nora is screaming for someone to help her. They are in a CROWD of people. And no one does anything! Like, the whole time they're arguing and Nora is telling him repeatedly to leave her alone, and she's crying out for help and NO ONE moves. Somebody actually laughs. What?! The girl is being physically assaulted!! And no one does anything?? I'm sorry, but this is so freaking unrealistic. In real life somebody would have come to her rescue! I'm sorry, but you can't conveniently leave a big plot hole like that just to move on to the next part of the story and expect me to overlook it or forget about it.
• After about 300 pages of aimless and unexplained plot, we have the classic case of the Big Bad Guy standing around with a long-winded, point by point explanation of who did what and how it was all done. In like, 2 pages, we get a blow-by-blow that gives you a freaking headache by the time it's done. I HATE when books end like this-- it's so cheesy and not at all believable, not to mention it makes my brain feel like it's about to explode from the information overload. Also, the villain ceases to be remotely scary or intimidating when he's sitting there explaining in excessive detail all his genius plans-- especially when his success or failure hinges on bumping off the main character as soon as possible! He's not going to spend 20 minutes explaining how he did everything! ARGH!!
• Going back to that last point, I have to reiterate just how much I dislike having to read through an entire book, aimlessly following the main character who uselessly runs around trying to figure things out with hardly any explanation for what is going on, and then having a ton of information dumped on me in the last 30 pages. I was royally confused. I still don't completely understand the connection between the Archangels, the Fallen Angels and the Nephilim, or who is good or bad, or what exactly happened between Nora's dad and Hank Millar, or what the heck was going on between Patch and Marcie (WHY didn't Nora read the dang diary?!), or what exactly the Black Hand's motive is... The plot holes and loose ends had me positively reeling.
• What reward do we get after slogging our way through over 400 agonizing pages of drama, angst, stupid choices, unanswered questions and confusing plot? A freaking cliff-hanger. Thank you, Becca. Thank you oh so much.
• The fallen angels built the amusement park. HUH??? Why people? Just why??

So anyways, overall I guess you could say I didn't like this sequel nearly as much as I liked Hush, Hush. The reason that I ended up giving it three stars instead of less is because overall I still like the story-- if Cresendo was a stand alone book however, it would not have gotten such a generous rating. I am still planning on reading Silence, since I've heard from other readers that the third book is much better than the second. I really want to see this series get better. And even though Crescendo was pretty much a flop for me, I still feel invested enough in the story at this point to continue with it. My fingers are crossed!

~Cover Talk~

I really like the cover for Crescendo, although not quite as much as I like the one for Hush, Hush. I think that this is a great portrait of Nora, very romantic. Once again, I really like the black and white with the touches of red, I think it creates some pretty intense drama!

LC's Rating:

I didn't like this one as much as I liked Hush, Hush. First of all, the characters were not nearly as likable, and also, I didn't like how all the action and plot was shoved into the last 20 pages of the book! Definitely hoping that the next in this series is better...

Book Review: Hush, Hush

Author: Becca Fitzpatrick
Publisher:Simon & Schuster
Series: Hush, Hush #1
Release Date: October 13, 2009
Pages: 391
Read it in: 2 days
Source: The Library

Summary: For Nora Grey, romance was not part of the plan. She's never been particularly attracted to the boys at her school, no matter how much her best friend, Vee, pushes them at her...until Patch comes along.
With his easy smile and eyes that seem to see inside her, Nora is drawn to him against her better judgment, but after a series of terrifying encounters, Nora's not sure whom to trust. Patch seems to be everywhere she is, and to know more about her than her closest friends. She can't decide whether she should fall into his arms or run and hide. And when she tries to seek some answers, she finds herself near a truth that is far more unsettling than anything Patch makes her feel.
For Nora is right in the middle of an ancient battle between the immortal and those that have fallen - and when it comes to choosing sides, the wrong choice will cost her life.

LC's Take:

Oh. My. Gosh. Seriously?? I LOVED this book!! I almost feel guilty for how much I loved this book, because I honestly thought I would hate it. But here I am, could not put it down, read it in about 2 sittings, and am dying to get my hands on the next in the series. Now, this was unexpected!

I know, I know. This is one of those controversial books that everyone has drawn a line on, and then taken love or hate sides. And honestly, I went into this book *slightly* biased (Lauren Kate's Fallen series sort of turned my stomach against the fallen angel genre) but then lo and behold, it totally suckered me in and didn't let me go until the last pages-- I loved it.

What's more, I loved pretty much all of the characters, and was absolutely on Nora's side the entire way through the story. Some people have said that Nora Gray is worse than Bella Swan. I beg to differ-- I thought she had an intelligent voice, she had courage and vulnerability, and she had an interesting point of view to read the story through. I didn't even find her internal struggle about her feelings for Patch to be annoying, in fact, I completely sympathized with her. Finally, I loved the fact that she was just your regular, everyday girl but she wasn't flat or boring. I really liked Nora.

And obviously, I need to spend a few minutes talking about Patch Cipriano. Holy Moly. I cannot even describe how freaking hott Patch was. And trust me, I am not one to go all gaga-eyed fan girl on  lots of boy love interests, but I make an exception for Patch. Ah, Patch... He's so wrong, he's right. (Wow, that was cheesy lol). He's the quintessential mysterious bad boy who you just can't help but swoon over. And boy, did I ever. Loved Patch!

The story itself had me so that I literally could not put this book down until I finished-- I started it yesterday, got about three quarters through last night, and finished it first thing this morning. The whole thing took a few hours to read, and I loved every minute of it. There was steamy romance, mystery and suspense, action, drama and pretty much every other amazing thing you could cram into a YA novel. It wasn't Shakespeare by any means, but there was never a dull moment and like I said, I really loved the characters. Hush, Hush totally took me by surprise and was definitely one big guilty pleasure from start to finish!

~Cover Talk~

Seriously, how hott is this cover? Cannot even stop staring at it. Like you needed to give me yet another reason to be head over heels in love with Patch, right?! I think the black and white effect with the traces of blood red was a good choice too, since it just amps up the drama even more. Definitely cover love with this one!

LC's Rating:

Absolute love. I was a total sucker for this book. I almost feel guilty for liking it so much, especially since I sort of understand other people's caveats with it. In the end though? I could not put it down and I want more-- now!

Book Review: Passion

Author: Lauren Kate
Release Date: June 14, 2011
Pages: 432
Read it in: 3 days

Summary: Luce would die for Daniel.

And she has. Over and over again. Throughout time, Luce and Daniel have found each other, only to be painfully torn apart: Luce dead, Daniel left broken and alone. But perhaps it doesn’t need to be that way...

Luce is certain that something-- or someone-- in a past life can help her in her present one. So she begins the most important journey of this lifetime... going back eternities to witness firsthand her romances with Daniel... and finally unlock the key to making their love last.

Cam and the legions of angels and Outcasts are desperate to catch Luce, but none are as frantic as Daniel. He chases Luce through their shared pasts, terrified of what might happen if she rewrites history. Because their romance for the ages could go up in flames... forever.

Sweeping across centuries, PASSION is the third novel in the unforgettably epic FALLEN series.

LC's Take: 

Sigh... OK, ready for this? So, as you may know, the Fallen series is definitely not one of my favorites-- but I am inexplicably drawn to them like a moth to a flame and I keep reading, in the vain hope that someday, somehow I will finally understand what was going through LK's head when she wrote these books... so, here we go:

~Brief Synopsis~

At the end of the last book, Luce had had enough of absolutely no one telling her what the heck was going on with the curse between her and Daniel (OK, we were ALL fed up with not knowing what was going on) so at the last moment she peaced-out by stepping into an Announcer and back into her past lives to figure things out on her own. Passion follows Luce's "Quest" to find out why she and Daniel are cursed, so that she can break it. Along the way, she meets her new little Disney-sidekick Bill, who helps her while adding comic relief throughout. Luce and Bill travel from Moscow during WWII to England in the mid-1800's, to Versailles, to the Globe Theater during Shakespeare's time, to the Mayan civilization, all the way back to ancient Egypt. Meanwhile, Daniel goes back in time to try and find Luce and make sure she doesn't alter things permanently...

~Thoughts~

When I started getting into Passion, I was thinking, hey! So far, this isn't so bad! Not nearly as painful and cringe-inducing as Torment! The plot was moving along, there was a fun, new secondary character, we finally got to see Daniel's point of view and he wasn't such a tremendous butt-face, and even 2-D, cardboard Luce seemed to take on some life... and THEN there was the ending.

Oh good lord, the ending.

But before I get all down on the Fallen books again, let me say what I did like about Passion. And also, let me just state for the record, that this is definitely the best book in the series so far. Alrighty, let's do this in good old-fashioned bullet points, shall we?

• First, the prologue was mysterious and downright creepy. We realize that the Elders still exist (even though they fell out of the plot in the second book and then disappear again for the rest of this book) and they are now teaming up with the Outcasts to get their hands on Luce.
• Second, LK has FINALLY picked up the pace. The story line, while not heart-stoppingly amazing, was at least not as painfully slllllooooowww as the first two books.
• Third, we finally get to see things from Daniel's point of view. Up to this point he's been a self-centered, irritating, nasty, chauvinistic jerk-wad who you want to give a nice, swift kick in the crotch. Here we get to see another side of him-- awesome! Now he has two sides XD
• I personally liked snarky, fun, quirky, potentially gay, admittedly cheesy Bill-- um, that is, until the end. Don't worry-- that's not really a spoiler-- if you have half a teaspoon of brains, you have a pretty good idea from the get-go who "Bill" actually is... unless you're Luce Price. Let's just say she's definitely not the brightest crayon in the box...

But let's not get TOO carried away: there were definitely things about this book that left me with an unpleasant eye-twitch and something reminiscent of a bad hangover-- such as:

• We are still no closer to understanding WHY Luce and Daniel "love" each other, or WHY they ever even fell in love in the first place. Classic case here of telling and not showing-- we're told a bazillion times that Luce loves Daniel and Daniel loves Luce, but gosh darn it, we sure haven't seen anything yet beyond a bunch of goo-goo eyed stares and passionate lip-locking. Sorry, but if you want Me the Reader to believe in this magical, eternal bond of love between the two main characters, you need to give me something more to base it on than teenage sighs and making out. FAIL #1.
• To elaborate on my last point, when a "CERTAIN SOMEONE" asks Luce exactly why she loves Daniel so much, here is the response we get: "A million reasons. I just do." (p. 388) I just do?? REALLY?? So... you're telling me that after 1200+ PAGES this is the best explanation we get for why Luce loves Daniel?? She just does? So basically... they love each other-- because they love each other. **slaps forehead in TOTAL frustration** I am reeling from the inconceivable shallowness of this statement.  FAIL #2.
• As if this series wasn't confusing enough, now we have TIME TRAVEL thrown into the mix. And multiple versions of the main characters. AND other major characters and plot elements that have just completely disappeared altogether with no explanation for why they're no longer there. But the time travel was the worst-- it was just one big, inconsistent mess that leaves you staring blankly into the space-time continuum. Now, I'm no Stephen Hawking, but I'm pretty darned sure this isn't how time travel goes down. Seriously, by the last few chapters I was so freaking confused I had to pop a couple Tylenol PM just so that I wasn't up all night racking my brains over what the hell had just happened. And considering that this series already has more plot holes than I can count on fingers and toes, time travel just didn't seem like a really smart move to me. FAIL #3.
• Let's talk about Luce for a minute. Will poor Luce EVER learn that she has zero instinct or ability to read people? How many times now has her gullible butt been duped because she blindly skips after the bad guy like he's the freaking Pied Piper? She can pass quantum physics but she thinks following a creepy gargoyle who won't let anyone but her see him is a GOOD idea?? EARTH TO LUCE!! Stay away from the strangers trying to lure you to your death! They're bad-news bears, K?? Really, if she's going to be THIS stupid over and over again, do I really even care at this point what happens to her? Not to mention that, up to this point, Luce's sole existence is based on being head-over-heels in love with Daniel. That's it. End of story. The girl has no other purpose. Luce Price= FAIL #4.
• The writing style, while somewhat better, is still pretty sloppy, confusing, and all over the place. (I SWEAR I'm trying to not be a total jerk here! It IS better than the first two! There IS improvement!!) But still, the transitions between each chapter and each new time period visited are about as graceful as falling down a flight of stairs. Also, maybe an OUTLINE would have helped before just taking the write-as-you-go approach and then conveniently taking the easy way out with pretty much EVERY aspect of the plot. I'm not expecting this to be Shakespeare, but I would appreciate at least being able to follow some remotely logical series of events... FAIL #5.
• Speaking of which! Did you know that Luce knew SHAKESPEARE in another lifetime and SHE'S the reason why the Globe Theater burned down?? Hey! Neither did I!! Oh Lord, the history re-writing in this book just cracks me up... FAIL #6.
• Back to that "CERTAIN SOMEONE," all I can say is-- Wow. Congrats LK, on managing to take the evilest being of all time and turn him into a cliche villain about as scary and intimidating as one of those 1920's silent-film guys-- you know, the one with the monocle and top hat? He's all, MUAHAHAHA!!! Then cue a lot of eeveell pacing back and forth as he explains his eeveell plans... (which, by the by, ALSO make NO SENSE.) Are you kidding me? FAIL #7.  
• At the end of this book-- guess what? We STILL have NO IDEA what the EFF is going on. No joke! NOTHING is ever explained, and the ending contained about 297 plot holes. NO ONE has a motive in this series, NOTHING is ever given a logical explanation, and everything is all chalked up to DESTINY. Isn't this what we call a cop-out? Why yes, yes it is! The worst of it is, the book was set up to make it sound like we would FINALLY get some answers to major questions, and then the last few chapters just made no sense at all. Is this some kind of joke Ms. Kate?? Because after a thousand plus pages it just isn't funny anymore. What exactly was the POINT of Luce's "Quest"? What was she trying to find? So far, the whole plot is completely meaningless to the reader. I went back and tried to re-read whole sections thinking I must have missed something, and I'm STILL totally lost. I honestly want to believe that there is more to this plot and these characters than meets the eye-- but at this point, I'm not holding my breath. FAIL #8.
• This was literally my favorite line in the whole book: "Finally, things were beginning to make sense." (p. 400) Really? They ARE?? Could've fooled me! I'm seriously going to have an aneurism if I spend one more minute trying to make sense of this story. This is honest-to-goodness THE most convoluted mess of a plot I have ever read! Does the author even know what's going on here?? But I LOVED that line. It made me chuckle.  FAIL #9.
• Random question: Does the kiss you've been dreaming about your whole life include knocking your teeth into somebody else's? No? Huh, me neither. Just wondering. FAIL #10.
• We honestly can't get though a Fallen book without someone "waggling" or "wagging" their eyebrows-- seriously LK, why? What does it mean to "waggle" your eyebrows? Is this even physically possible? Are people going to look at me all crazy if I attempt this? I am so confused. FAIL #11.

*****

Please know that I'm not trying to offend anyone with my silly rants, and I totally respect people who love these books. And even though I like to poke fun, keep in mind that if these books really were beyond sucky, I WOULDN'T EVEN BOTHER READING THEM. But they are good enough and entertaining enough that I continue on! Don't take this review too seriously, I am not trying to discourage people from reading the Fallen series, I'm just stating my personal opinion. 

I read books for all kinds of reasons-- to inform me and make me smarter, because the writing is phenomenal, because they are classics, and because I just want some cheap, easy entertainment. Consider this series to be in the latter category of the previous statement :) So with that being said...

LC's Rating: 

Altogether, another utterly confusing masterpiece! Maybe it's just me, but there is precious little that makes sense in this series. If you have read these books and have figured out what the heck is going on, please let me know. I would greatly appreciate it. Otherwise, I'm still entertained. AND this book was, despite everything, still better than the first two. Unfortunately, Passion is "unforgettably epic" for all the wrong reasons. That's all I've got.