Passion
By Lauren Kate
Kindle Book description:
“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.”
****
I loved Fallen. The gorgeous cover grabbed me right off, and this crazy story about a girl sentenced to reform school for killing a boy in a fire — I couldn’t put it down. (But did the author ever explain why the boy burned up instead of Luce? Did I miss something?) With subsequent books, I felt like the author made the same mistake a lot of authors make: She jettisoned the one thing that really set her character apart. The reform school, no one believing she was innocent, the shadows stalking her — very awesome. So Torment was a little disappointing. It took all the questions I had and answered them too easily and too quickly. The shadows? No big deal, they’re friendly shadows, windows into the past. They just want to help. The main character, Luce, leaves the creepy reform school and ends up in some Beverly Hills version instead. It was interesting meeting the half-angels, the kids of the fallen, but altogether it was too pat, too packaged. Still, the big fight at the end was great. And the author has a way of making you feel the emotions of the characters. Her stories can be an emotional rollercoaster, in a good way.
With Passion, it started off with a bang. First we get this scene with what you can only guess is Lucifer. His characterization was really fresh, and it was definitely a goosebump-inducing scene. Then we have Luce running from all the angels, even Daniel, into these windows into her past. All great stuff. Then we hit the middle, where Luce travels from past life to past life, eavesdropping on her earlier selves and Daniel. Parts of this middle section were great, seeing how she had changed over the years and how her circumstances could make her think and behave so differently. (Though I’ve never understood why reincarnation stories have the girl looking exactly the same in past lives. Why would that happen? It’s totally illogical. And sometimes people would think she actually was her former self, but other people wouldn’t recognize her, sometimes in the same scene. Even her former selves didn’t recognize her, yet she recognized them. Did she look exactly the same or didn’t she? This inconsistency was a huge problem for me.) She is trying to find the answer to one question: … which I was a little unclear about. I guess it was, “Does Daniel really love me?” She gradually comes to realize that he does, in life after life. She’s finally satisfied, ready to commit to him wholly.
But the question I kept asking was, “Why does Daniel love Luce?” In life after life, he knew her a couple of days, maybe even a couple of minutes, and then — poof! — she’s toast. What was it about this girl that captivated him? When did he first fall in love with her? I was expecting this long love affair that would explain his continued devotion, some past life in which she did something amazing, some Mother-Teresa moment that caught his attention, but we never got that. And honestly, how much do you love someone if you continue intruding on her life, knowing that she will burst into flames as soon as you do? Why didn’t he leave her alone?
But the end again was good. This book is like so many others — it starts off strong, drags through the middle, and picks back up in the end. I hope the next in the series, Rapture, has a strong enough plot to keep me intrigued through the middle.
I’ll still read it, though, because I like the characters, and I like the premise. Come on, Ms. Kate — knock my socks off next time! I can’t wait.
alisaacarter
Alisa A. Carter 