Lauren Kate Archive

Torment by Lauren Kate

Posted March 9, 2012 By dorolerium

Title: Torment
Author: Lauren Kate
Publisher: Random House
Genre: Paranormal
Pages: 452
How I Read It: Hard cover purchased by me.

Synopsis: Hell on earth.

That’s what it’s like for Luce to be apart from her fallen angel boyfriend, Daniel.

It took them an eternity to find one another, but now he has told her he must go away.  Just long enough to hunt down the Outcasts – immortals who want to kill Luce.  Daniel hides Luce at Shoreline, a school on the rocky California coast with unusually gifted students: Nephilim, the offspring of fallen angels and humans.

At Shoreline, Luce learns what the Shadows are, and how she can use them as windows to her previous lives.  Yet the more Luce learns, the more she suspects that Daniel hasn’t told her everything.  He’s hiding something – something dangerous.

What if Daniel’s version of the past isn’t actually true?  What if Luce is really meant to be with someone else?

My Review: A couple of days before I finished this book, I had this idea in my head that I was going to write a heartfelt letter to Lucinda Price as my review, because she is just crazy and…she needs some guidance!  Fortunately, it’s as though I did write that letter and Luce read it before the end of the book.  Unfortunately, it took until the very last chapter for her to even start coming to her senses.

Luce embodies something I hate in a lot of fiction that covers romance – everything in her world is about the guys in her life.  She still feels totally drawn to Daniel, only now she knows why.  From nearly the first chapter, he tells her he’s got to deposit her at Shoreline for her protection while he takes care of some things.  Luce takes the opportunity to get mad and immediately starts crushing on Miles, one of the Nephilim guys at her new school.

I completely understand Luce getting mad at Daniel for being deliberately vague with her about pretty much everything, my frustration starts with her seeming obsession with these guys and not trying to learn more about her past lives.  Her entire life has changed in a matter of weeks, which would freak anyone out, and I just don’t understand her complete disregard for the instructions of everyone around her.  I mean, if I had a group of angels all telling me the same thing, I hope I’d do more listening to them.

This guy obsession is such a bad message for the target audience of this book.  It’s not just her interest, it’s this whole “omg I’m in love with Daniel for NO REASON I CAN THINK OF”, getting mad at him, but then continuing to be drawn to him and still not trying to learn more.  I was likewise super interested in guys when I was in my teens, but it didn’t dominate my existence, and it shouldn’t for characters in YA books either.

The pacing in this book is good, but I didn’t really feel compelled to pick it up either.  Like, I half wanted to finish it, but mostly because I wanted to just get it over with.  This isn’t the worst book I’ve ever read, it just wasn’t the best either.  I feel disappointed and somewhat let down by this one, and can only hope the next book is a huge improvement.

Read this book if: If you read the first one, and are curious about continuing, you might as well.  If you’re a parent and your kid wants to read this, you might want to read it first in case you disagree with the message like I do.

My Rating: 3/5 – Two thumbs up, fine holiday fun! (this one was almost a 2.5, I debated hard with myself)

Filed in 2012, Lauren Kate | Tagged:

Fallen by Lauren Kate

Posted February 10, 2010 By dorolerium

Synopsis: Daniel’s gaze caught hers, and her breath caught in her throat.  She recognized him from somewhere.  But she would have remembered meeting someone like him.  She would have remembered feeling as absolutely shaken up as she did right now.

They were still locking eyes when Daniel flashed her a smile.  A jet of warmth shot through her…but then he raised his hand in the air.  And flipped her off.  Luce gasped and dropped her eyes.  Her momentary delirium vanished.  What was that guy’s problem?

Just before she ducked into her first class, she dared to glance back.  His face was blank, but there was no mistaking it – he was watching her go.

Review: I’m going to say ahead of time that this review is probably going to make it seem like I didn’t like this book, which is not actually the case.  I did like it.  But I also have some criticisms, so I apologize ahead of time.

First, I love the cover.  Mine was an ARC, so I don’t actually have this cover, but I love the cover.  It’s a good rendition of Luce and the positions she finds herself in.

I hate to sound like other people who have reviewed the book, but it just felt a little like Twilight crossed with Hush, Hush to me.  I liked it better than Twilight, because I think my like/hate relationship with that series isn’t a secret.  I did not like this book as well as I liked Hush, Hush.

I was really looking forward to this book, although you’d never guess by the timeframe in which I read it as compared to when it appeared on my doorstep.  I wouldn’t say I was disappointed, that’s a little strong, but maybe I felt let down?  Sometimes you read a YA novel and it’s just fantastic – I point to my review of Legacy as an example.  I can definitely fall in love with YA literature, and I’m a fan of Sarah Dessen’s.

But other times, you read a YA novel and kind of feel like it was not written for you.  I found several of the plot points and characters to be extremely obvious, and the climax of the book was really not a huge surprise to me.  I was only surprised by the true identity of one character, and I would even say surprised is too much to describe it.  Because nothing in this book was a *surprise* in the truest sense of the word.  More like “That one too…huh.” when the big reveal happened.

That being said, I loved the shadows and the threat Luce felt she was constantly under.  While the character development wasn’t surprising, there were still scenes that excited me and made me wish I was there.  I didn’t feel totally pulled in, like I couldn’t put it down, but I definitely wanted to finish and see how everything would wrap up…

But I don’t think it’s a spoiler to anyone that there’s a sequel to this book coming out later this year.  So we’re left with a definite cliff hanger as to what’s going to happen next.  I, personally, will still read the rest of the series, and I’m sure I’ll enjoy it, even cross my fingers that I get another ARC despite my review.  Since this is basically a debut novel, my guess is things will get better as the series goes on.  If nothing else, at least it’s not as far fetched as vampires that sparkle in the sun and can go in a house uninvited.  Yes, I’m still bitter about that.

Read this book if: You’re looking for a nice page turner that’s quick to read.  It’s not a bad book for the genre, but keep in mind when reading it that it’s designed for readers 12 & up, so it’s not going to be totally adult oriented.

Filed in 2010, ARC, Lauren Kate | Tagged: