Fallen In Love - Lauren Kate

Began reading: 21.7.2017
Completed reading: 22.7.2017
Overall rating: 3 stars

Unexpected. Unrequited. Forbidden. Eternal. Everyone has their own love story.

And in a twist of fate, four extraordinary love stories intersect over the course of a romantic Valentine’s Day in medieval England.

Miles and Shelby find love where they least expect it. Roland learns a painful lesson about finding and losing love. Arianne pays the price for a love so fierce it burns. And for the first – and last – time, Daniel and Luce spend a night together like none other.

Fallen In Love by Lauren Kate is a fictional young adult novel that contains fantasy, paranormal and romance themes. When I picked this up at the library, I became super excited because I would be getting an insight into other characters’ love lives. I really enjoyed this book; perhaps more than the previous three.

When Luce jumped into an Announcer to learn more about her past lives and the curse she bears, Miles and Shelby didn’t think twice when they jumped into another Announcer to find her. After stumbling through several Announcers and being unsuccessful in finding Luce, Miles and Shelby decide to stay in medieval England to locate a fallen angel who can transport them back to present-day Shoreline. As the two friends become involved in the upcoming Valentine’s Day festivities, they begin to see things in each other that they’d never noticed before. While travelling back to the same time period as Miles and Shelby, Roland recalls a time when he had a romance to rival Luce’s and Daniel’s – Rosaline was everything to him, but Roland soon realises that all decisions have consequences. Wanting Rosaline back, Roland seeks her out only to find that she has moved on and is now happy with another man; but when Roland is given an opportunity to win Rosaline back, he will discover that his dark side has more of an influence over him than he first thought. Similarly, Arianne’s love life is also explored and we learn that she comes very close to losing her faith – through the influence of her true love; Arianne attempts to fight against the darkness but maintain her relationship with one of Lucifer’s most trusted demons. Given an ultimatum, Arianne will have to make one of the most heartbreaking choices of her life. The mysterious scars on her neck will always be a reminder of her decision. Daniel and Luce had never celebrated a Valentine’s Day together, until now; but with Daniel’s sudden disappearance, Luce is unsure of whether or not he will show during the Faire. As the night progresses, Luce believes that Daniel has refused to appear; however, with the help of the fallen angels and Nephilim, Luce and Daniel share a Valentine’s Day that they will never forget.

After having read the previous three novels in this series, I was expecting this book to be well-written; however, I did find numerous spelling and grammatical errors – the worst being two chapters in the same section were labelled ‘Chapter Two’, which was strange – was I the only one who noticed that? Anyway, the literary techniques used in this book were good for creating detail and imagery to the narrative. The use of tragedy, setting and mood were particularly noteworthy. There were also some great quotes scattered throughout the book, including:

They’d shared something rare and beautiful, and he’d learned that women felt deeply when it came to love. They felt love in ways Roland could never understand, as if their hearts had extra chambers, vast infinites where love could stay and never leave (p. 96).

Solitude was one thing, but it warped into ugly, wretched loneliness after the soul had tasted love (p. 103).

Sometimes love was not about winning, but about wise sacrifice and the reliability of friends like Arianne. Friendship, Roland realised, was its very own kind of love (p. 110).

Every story required a turning point, an element of surprise (p. 118).

Maybe Tess was right: When one lover suffered from a broken heart, no matter how badly the other wanted to help, she couldn’t be the one to heal it (p. 148).

Sometimes love needed a lift from its guardian angels, to get its feet off the ground. But once it made its first early beats toward flight, it had to be trusted to take wing on its own and soar past the highest conceivable heights, into the heavens – and beyond (p. 201).

More quotes from the book can be found here.

It’s always nice to take a break from following the main characters of a series, so I was pleased that this novel explored the love lives of some other characters. I wasn’t too surprised to find that I enjoyed Roland’s and Arianne’s stories more than the other two, but I was surprised about what happened within those sections. I really loved reading more about Roland and Arianne, and seeing their friendship was so heart-warming! I’m not gonna lie, I shipped Roland and Arianne together but I’m just as happy that they are so close. I need to read more about them in the next book! Their stories were refreshing, which was why I enjoyed the novel as much as I did.

Usually, I can tell if I’ll enjoy a story based on the plot, and I love when it’s focused on one event or takes place in one location. Although I enjoyed the previous book in the series, I found the constant moving around to be irritating. Luckily, this novella was solely focused on the Valentine’s Day Faire in medieval England, so I was able to form an image of the location based on my knowledge of that time period. Another positive point about this is that it allows writers to make the text more detailed, and this was evident in the book.

Going back to the characters, it would have been nice to see more of the other characters in the series. I know it’s a novella, but what about Gabbe, Cam and Molly? Yes, they made appearances in this novel, but I wanted to read more about their past. I know Cam’s is coming up in Unforgiven, but I am especially interested in reading about Gabbe – does she have someone she loves? Or is she crushing on someone? If she’s so beautiful, she should have at least one love interest. I’m hoping that this is mentioned in the upcoming books.

                    

The issue with reading novellas in a series is that they can sometimes make things confusing. This book comes after Passion, yet the plot takes place before Passion’s major plot twist. Maybe I’m just not used to reading novellas like this, but I think that it kind of messed up the order a little bit. I had to go back to Passion to try and figure out where this plot would have taken place in that book. Aside from giving readers a little insight into other characters’ lives, this book seemed pointless. The whole series is based around romance, so it didn’t feel like we needed a reminder of that.

I’m all for a little romance – not too much, but a well-written romance can build up my excitement about relationships between characters. I have a mini criterion when it comes to creating a good romance. Some of these points include: a realistic storyline, and needs to be predictable and unpredictable at the same time. These two points were not met in Miles’ and Shelby’s story – their relationship felt forced, and it wasn’t even hinted at in the previous two novels. It came out of nowhere and it didn’t fit in with what I already knew about these characters. They weren’t compatible – Miles is too nice, and Shelby came across as they type who would friendzone a guy like Miles. It was a bit messy, which turned me off their section of the book altogether.

                    

My favourite character in this book was Arianne, as she was loyal, protective, sweet and adventurous. I liked her story the most, closely followed by Roland’s, and it was quite the tragedy. I felt so sad for her, but I’m glad that the mystery of how she got the scars was answered. Roland is a notable character.

Like I said before, I wasn’t a fan of Miles’ and Shelby’s relationship because it felt forced and unrealistic. I wasn’t all that surprised to find that I wasn’t much of a fan of Luce’s and Daniel’s story, either. By now, I’m kind of over their storyline because it’s just so cliché and predictable.

My favourite part of the novel was Arianne’s story because it was so tragic. Although I already knew her side (of the good vs. evil war), I was still expecting her to change sides. The story varied from the monotonous plot lines of Luce and Daniel, and Miles and Shelby. I don’t usually say this, but I love a good heartbreak every now and then, and Arianne’s story did it for me.

                     

Recommendation time! If you like the Twilight series by Stephenie Meyer, The Hollow series by Jessica Verday, and the Hush, Hush series by Becca Fitzpatrick, you will love this book. Also, I recommend this book to anyone who likes Fallen, the Twilight series, Lucifer tv series, The Vampire Diaries tv series, and Tuck Everlasting.

I will also be reviewing the rest of the Fallen series, including Rapture and Unforgiven. Keep an eye out for those!

My reviews for Fallen, Torment, and Passion can be found by clicking on the titles.

Happy reading!

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Passion - Lauren Kate

Began reading: 15.7.2017
Completed reading: 21.7.2017
Overall rating: 3 stars

"Every single lifetime, I'll choose you. Just as you have always chosen me. Forever."

Before Luce and Daniel met at Sword & Cross, before they fought the Immortals, they had already lived many lives. And so Luce, desperate to unlock the curse that condemns their love, must revisit her past reincarnations in order to understand her fate. Each century, each life, holds a different clue.

But Daniel is chasing her throughout the centuries before she has a chance to rewrite history.

How many deaths can one true love endure?

And can Luce and Daniel unlock their past in order to change their future?

Passion by Lauren Kate is a fictional young adult novel that contains fantasy, paranormal and romance themes. I purchased this book at a pop-up book shop years ago but never got around to it, but I’m glad that I finally did. Although it wasn’t as eventful as I’d liked, it was still fairly enjoyable.

Feeling overwhelmed by all of the lies and secrets held from her by her friends, Luce jumps into an Announcer to gain a better understanding of the curse on her and Daniel. Along the way, Luce meets Bill – a gargoyle, in charge of patrolling who enters and leaves the Announcers. Luce doesn’t realise that Bill is hiding a sinister secret with an even more malevolent motive for getting close to her. As Luce travels back in time, she discovers how different she is from her past selves, and how her family structure changes. Her love for Daniel is something that Luce wants to have validated, but is Daniel’s love blind and brought about because of the curse? After seeing Luce disappear into an Announcer, Daniel dives in after her to prevent her from changing the course of history. But when he is always one step behind her, Daniel will be forced to seek help from a suspicious source who has the power to erase all of the major events throughout history. Can Daniel catch up to Luce in time, or will he be responsible for the removal of all significant world events as well as his relationship with Luce?

As expected, the novel was well-written with notable structure and flow of narration. The use of literary techniques is always something that I look forward to in Kate’s books, and this novel was no exception. The utilisation of literary techniques such as allusion, foreshadowing and setting helped to develop the story and its world. There were also some great quotes, including:

So much of Moscow was burning. So many homes were being levelled. Luce tried to fathom the other lives being destroyed across the city tonight, but they felt distant and unreachable, like something she’d read about in a history book (p. 26).

People only ran this fast when they were desperate. When something bigger than them spurred them on (p. 26).

Cam turned away. ‘All this time I’ve been trying to deny it, but love is impossible, Dani.’

‘It is not.’

‘It is. For souls like ours. You’ll see. You may hold out longer than I could, but you’ll see. Both of us will eventually have to choose’ (pp. 318-319).

More quotes from the book can be found here.

In the past couple of novels, I have found the plot to be cliché and uninspiring. However, this book managed to keep things interesting, especially as I wanted to read more about Luce’s past lives. I thought that the time-travelling theme was interesting, especially as it was something that hadn’t really played much of a role in the series yet. I loved that Luce’s past selves weren’t exactly the same, especially the different names that she has gone by. Maybe it’s because my name is uncommon, but I love when my name appears in a book – there was a whole section with my name in it, so I was pretty excited! Anyway, I thought that the interaction with past selves was pretty clever, which is why I enjoyed the book as much as I did.

A range of characters is a feature that I look out for in a book, and something I expect in a series. So far, there has been an adequate amount of characters introduced, so I was ok with this book focusing on the protagonist. I liked that even though Luce was the primary focus, the secondary characters made an appearance in the plot. Their presence helped the narrative progress, but also made things interesting for Luce. Now that I know the characters of the series, I feel comfortable with deciding which of them I like and which I dislike. Having them play a role in this book gave me a sense of relief, in that I could ‘take a break’ from Luce and her irritating personality.

                   

As much as I found the plot to be interesting, it quickly became repetitive. Like I said, I really enjoyed the time-travelling and Luce meeting her past selves, but after a couple of times it felt tedious. The plot became predictable after Luce figured out what she needed to know the first two times. Nothing makes a story duller than repetition and predictability. This, with the lack of any major events like a fight scene, made the story monotonous.

Speaking of a lack of events, there were no dramatic climaxes or a build up to something like a major conflict. Of course, there is quite a plot twist that could be seen as the significant turning point for the novel, but I don’t believe that that twist was enough. After finishing the novel, I feel that it resembled more of a novella rather than a novel. The book needed more action or something dramatic, as the past two novels do. The plot twist was great, but the lack of action influenced my average rating.

This is one of the biggest issues that I had, not only in this book but with this series, was the uninspiring and basically stupid protagonist. I find it amusing that Kate reiterates how smart Luce is – an example in this book is how well Luce did on a physics exam, yet something simple emphasises how dumb she really is. There was one instance where Bill hinted that Luce needed to touch her past self, and Luce stated that she had no idea what he was talking about. I’ve said it before, but I’ll say it again: HOW CAN SHE BE SO STUPID?!

                        

My favourite character is Bill – not because of his true identity, but because he was sassy, humorous, relatable and had ‘depth’. His appearances kept me turning the page, probably because I wanted to know more about him. The mystery that surrounded him, as well as his sassiness, had me wanting to know more and distracted me from the mess that is Luce. His honesty and the fact that he saw Luce and Daniel’s romance as boring made him relatable. My favourite part:

‘Regardless of how you two may look on the outside, you’ll always know each other’s souls.’

It hadn’t occurred to Luce until now how remarkable it was that she recognised Daniel in every life. Her soul found his. ‘That’s…beautiful.’

Bill scratched at a scab on his arm with a gnarly claw. ‘If you say so’ (p. 282).

Maybe I’m wrong, but after reading the previous two books in the series, I assumed that Daniel would be old enough, smart enough, and experienced enough to know when he’s being tricked. I won’t say who tricked him, but really Daniel? He’s spent so much time in Heaven and continued learning more after the Fall, yet he couldn’t recognise when someone was tricking him. I find that hard to believe, and also a little disappointing.

                                                        

My favourite parts of the book were Luce’s past lives in Milan and at Versailles. I believed that her life in Milan was fairly action-packed and her role as a nurse to soldiers was endearing. To be honest, I would have liked to see more of her and Giovanni – and they might even be my new ship. As for Versailles, they storyline for that was dramatic and full of suspense.

Recommendation time! If you like the Twilight series by Stephenie Meyer, The Hollow series by Jessica Verday, and the Hush, Hush series by Becca Fitzpatrick, you will love this book. Also, I recommend this book to anyone who likes Fallen, the Twilight series, Lucifer tv series, The Vampire Diaries tv series, and Tuck Everlasting.

I will also be reviewing the rest of the Fallen series, including Fallen in Love, Rapture and Unforgiven. Keep an eye out for those!

My reviews for Fallen and Torment can be found by clicking on the titles.

Happy reading!

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Torment - Lauren Kate

Began reading: 4.7.2017
Completed reading: 15.7.2017
Overall rating: 3 stars

Love never dies...

It took Lucinda an eternity to find her beloved angel, Daniel.

But he waited for her. Now they are forced apart again, to protect Luce from the Outcasts - immortals who want her dead. During their separation, Luce learns about her mysterious past lives. But the more she discovers, the more she suspects that Daniel is hiding something.

What if Daniel's version of the past isn't true?

Is it really their destiny to be together?

Or is Luce actually meant to be with somebody else?

Torment by Lauren Kate is a fictional young adult novel that contains fantasy, paranormal and romance themes. This is the second time that I have read this book, and I enjoyed it more this time around. There is still room for improvement, but we’ll discuss this as we go along.

Now that Luce has discovered that her life holds much more significance than she first believed, she has been re-located to a new school, filled with Nephilim – students with angel blood in them. Each student has a special talent, but Luce is left feeling out-of-place when she has nothing in common with her fellow students. Luce’s sense of belonging is further disrupted when Daniel decides to keep secrets from her, so Luce relies on her new friends to help her understand what she sees in the Announcers – footage that gives her insight into how her past lives have ended. As Luce explores her former selves, she begins to question why she has always chosen Daniel. Is she better off with another boy? It’s just another question to add to the list of unanswered ones, but the ultimate confusion is brought about when Luce encounters Outcasts – blinded angels that want her dead. With all of the secrets that are being kept from Luce, who can she trust? Is she really in as much danger as everyone says she’s in, or is it a trick to get her on a particular side of the growing war between good and evil?

The book was well-written, especially in terms of structure. Usually, I like when a plot has a major complication and the characters need to spend the rest of the book trying to resolve it. However, this didn’t apply to this novel, as there was more than one complication that needed to be solved. For some strange reason, I really liked that about this plot but I’ll explain it in more detail a little later. There were also various literary techniques that helped with emphasising a specific emotion, description or image, including imagery, setting and conflict. I found that these literary techniques enhanced my understanding of the narrative, which is why I enjoyed the overall plot. There were some great quotes thrown into the book, including:

Having fun wasn’t usually such a simple thing. For so long, laughter had usually been closely followed by guilt, some nagging feeling that she wasn’t supposed to be enjoying herself for one reason or another. But somehow tonight she felt lighter. Without even realising it, she’d been able to shrug off the darkness (p. 112).

His eyes burned violet – not with anger but with intense desire. The kind of look that made you love a person so much, you missed him even when he was standing right in front of you (p. 118).

‘When we summon Announcers, we’re making a sort of wish. Not a wish for anything material, but a wish to better understand the world, our role in it, and what’s to become of us’ (p. 200).

More quotes from the book can be found here.

Something that I always look out for in a book is the variety of characters. In a series like this one, we are given quite a few characters in the first book, then a whole new set are added as the series progresses. I loved that Kate introduced a range of new characters in this novel, but also some familiar faces from the first book were brought back. What made it even better was that some of the old characters got along with the new ones – it was just really interesting to see the old and new characters getting along with each other. Because of this, I’m excited to see how these characters will work together in the coming books. I can’t wait!

                    

In my review for the previous novel, I had a bit of a rant about how uninspiring Luce’s character was and how I hoped that she would grow a backbone. Well, I can see that she has undergone a bit of personal development and has become a little more independent (I mean, she kind of had to because Daniel is being aloof), and I hope that she continues to do things for herself rather than relying on Daniel for everything. I’m hoping that Luce’s decision to explore her past lives will mean that she’ll grow even more independent. There’s nothing more annoying than reading a series with a boring, predictable protagonist.

I mentioned at the beginning of the review that the structure of this book was something that I liked. The narrative was eventful, with not one but a few complications. Like I said, something like this would bother me, but this time it made the book far more interesting. I’m not entirely sure why, but the conflict just made everything more immersive and fascinating. Quite a lot happened and it all linked together, which could be a reason why it wasn’t irritating. It kept the plot from growing dull, and I’m hoping this continues in the next book!

In the previous book, I discussed how similar it was to Twilight, primarily because it was inspired by such a popular book and because it was such a successful text from the same genre. I was hoping that this book would veer away from such a stereotypical storyline, but I was disappointed by how much this plot continues to resemble Twilight. Because of this, I didn’t enjoy it as much as I could have – it was predictable and clichéd, cringey and unpleasant. The most off-putting thing was how it was meant to be romantic, but just came off as weird. It made the book’s main characters unappealing, which was disheartening.

Speaking of cringey, what was up with the love interests? I thought that having some competition between Daniel and the new guy would spice things up, but it just made things confusing. On the plane to California, Luce abruptly tells a guy (who was interested in her) that she had a boyfriend. YET SHE GOES AHEAD AND KISSES ANOTHER GUY!

                 

My favourite character was Francesca because she was the embodiment of an angel, really sweet and considerate. I don’t really know why I was so drawn to her because she was hardly a prominent character, but she was so interesting. I can’t wait to read more about her.

Daniel and Luce really irritated me – why so many secrets, lies and betrayals? Everything would be fine if Daniel wasn’t so patronising and Luce wasn’t so stubborn. Luce’s stupidity is the reason why so many bad things are happening. Why can’t she see that? How can such a “smart” girl, who claims to do so well at school, be so dumb? How does that even work?

                                               

My favourite parts of the novel are Luce’s introduction to Shoreline, and the Thanksgiving at her house. Luce’s introduction to Shoreline was fascinating because it was a stark contrast to Sword & Cross and because we were introduced to new characters. I also enjoyed the Thanksgiving chapter because the dinner with everyone was creative and fun.

Recommendation time! If you like the Twilight series by Stephenie Meyer, The Hollow series by Jessica Verday, and the Hush, Hush series by Becca Fitzpatrick, you will love this book. Also, I recommend this book to anyone who likes Fallen, the Twilight series, Lucifer tv series, The Vampire Diaries tv series, and Tuck Everlasting.

I will also be reviewing the rest of the Fallen series, including Passion, Fallen in Love, Rapture and Unforgiven. Keep an eye out for those!

My review for Fallen can be found by clicking on the title.

Happy reading!

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Fallen - Lauren Kate

Began reading: 28.6.2017
Completed reading: 4.7.2017
Overall rating: 3 stars

Some angels are destined to fall.

Instant. Intense. Weirdly familiar...

The moment Luce looks at Daniel she knows she has never felt like this before.

Except she can't shake the feeling that she has... and with him - a boy she doesn't remember ever setting eyes on.

Will her attempt to find out why enlighten her - or destroy her?

Fallen by Lauren Kate is a fictional young adult novel that contains fantasy, paranormal and romance themes. I decided to re-read this novel after 7 years, mainly because I haven’t been reading many paranormal novels and thought, why not? Overall, I enjoyed it but there were quite a few times where I noticed that it resembled Twilight and made me want to cringe.

After a tragic accident involving the death of a friend, Luce is transferred to Sword & Cross – a school for delinquents. Upon her arrival, Luce meets a group of students who share a secret that dates back to a war in Heaven, but one student in particular holds a deeper secret. As Luce struggles with adjusting to the new school system, she meets two boys with opposing personalities and finds that she is attracted to both of them for different reasons. As Luce gets to know them, she begins to experience flashbacks that explore past lives with one specific boy. Confused, Luce tries to confront him about these visions but he refuses to tell her anything. It’s up to Luce and her friend Penn to discover what it is that Luce’s love interest is hiding. As the weeks pass, a battle between good and evil erupts and Luce realises that not everyone at her school can be trusted. As she navigates a maelstrom of chaos, she will discover just how important these new people are in Luce’s life – and just how quickly someone can betray you when driven to desperation.

The book was well-written, especially in terms of structure. The introduction, complication, resolution and conclusion were clearly defined, emphasising Kate’s proficiency in writing. The use of literary techniques were also evident, especially metaphors, similes and setting. They were beneficial for creating a detailed plot, as well as in-depth characters. I was surprised to notice how the male characters were depicted and how this was reflected in the locations that Luce chose to meet them. For example, Cam was considered the dark, bad boy and he met Luce in the cemetery, whereas Daniel appeared to be pure and met her by the lake. I really enjoyed seeing how such elements of the novel contrasted. There were also a couple of great quotes throughout the book, including:

‘People who are chronically tardy never understand the many ways in which they screw up the schedules of people who are punctual and normal’ (p. 108).

[…]being in his arms made her feel like the sea finding its shore, like a traveller returning after a long, hard, distant trip – finally returning home (p. 389).

More quotes from the book can be found here.

A range of characters is really important for a novel because it allows readers to relate to one. This novel was successful in creating a variety of characters for Luce to associate with, and they were created with interesting back-stories to heighten intrigue. The reason why I liked the diverse group of characters most was because I enjoyed seeing how they interacted with each other and the relationships that they formed. I would have liked to have learned more about some of the other characters, like Molly, but I think that Kate did a pretty good job of creating detailed characters. I’m eager to see how the characters in this book will develop in the next one!

A protagonist in ANY story must be likeable, or at least tolerant, for readers to even begin enjoying the narrative. In my experience, I’ve read books that have likeable and unlikeable protagonists, and this has affected my outlook of the story. If a protagonist is irritating, the reader is stuck with them for the rest of the book (or series, which is worse!). Unfortunately, I did not like Luce as much as I’d hoped to because she was uninspiring, clingy, dumb, foolish and inconsistent – basically, the complete opposite of a badass heroine that is usually found in young adult fiction. I found Luce to be disagreeable, with the exception for her love of the library:

A warm feeling came over Luce as she looked around the library. She’d always loved the faintly sweet musty way that only a roomful of books smelled. She took comfort in the soft occasional sound of turning pages (p. 74).

I’m really hoping that Luce’s character develops more of a backbone in the next book because I don’t know if I can stick around if she continues like this.

                   

The theme of love is something that should worked up to as the novel progresses. This is something that didn’t happen in this book, which was disappointing. I can see why Kate tried the insta-love, but instead of making the relationship swoon-worthy, it appeared unrealistic and off-putting. I tried to accept Luce’s insta-love, but I just couldn’t – it was way too soon (pretty sure it took them two days from meeting to saying, ‘I love you’) and there was basically no romance at all, so what inspired Luce to declare her love so soon? Knowing that this insta-love has occurred has kind of put me off Luce’s relationship, but I’ll do my best to ignore it and continue on with the series.

Ok, let’s move on to something just as weird: stalking. Now, I’m not perfect – I went through my teenage years with Facebook and other forms of social media (no, Instagram wasn’t around at that time), so I admit that I cyber-stalked some of my crushes. This involved scrolling through their timeline or looking at a couple of their pictures. NOT ONCE did I cross the line by looking up their parents, grandparents or anyone besides the guy. With that out of the way, I want to ask Luce: what the hell were you thinking? Does she not once consider just how creepy she’s being by looking up Daniel’s ‘ancestors’. I understand that he was being mysterious and Luce wanted answers, but she definitely crossed the line.

                     

One of the most disappointing things about this book was how much it resembled Twilight. This book came out a little after Twilight, and many paranormal novelists used that book as a foundation for their books, hoping to ride on Twilight’s success. I would argue that this method might have worked at the time, but reading it seven years on has put things in perspective – it’s far too cliché for my liking. When I first began reading it, I thought that there would be one or two similarities but that wasn’t the case. I’m not happy, but I’m trying to remain positive for the remaining books in the series. Hopefully, the next book will begin to branch off from the stereotypical tropes that were found in this text.

My favourite character was Penn because she was loyal, sweet, non-judgmental and easygoing. She was a true friend to Luce from the beginning, and I could relate to her more than any of the other characters. I really did try to like Luce’s character by overlooking her flaws, but I guess there were too many so I couldn’t.

                          

I was surprised by the plot twist, despite having read the book once before. The betrayal was fairly unexpected, as I was growing on this character. I really don’t have anything negative to say about any of the characters, but I will say this: Penn deserved better.

My favourite parts of the book were Luce’s start at Sword & Cross, and when Daniel briefly told Luce about her past lives. First of all, I liked the beginning of the book because Sword & Cross sounds like an interesting place (a church converted to a gym with a pool? Hell yeah), and we were given some insight into some of the prominent characters. I enjoyed reading about Luce’s past lives because reincarnation has always fascinated me and I liked imagining Luce in different time periods, living a different life.

Recommendation time! If you like the Twilight series by Stephenie Meyer, The Hollow series by Jessica Verday, and the Hush, Hush series by Becca Fitzpatrick, you will love this book. Also, I recommend this book to anyone who likes Fallen, the Twilight series, Lucifer tv series, The Vampire Diaries tv series, and Tuck Everlasting.

I will also be reviewing the rest of the Fallen series, including Torment, Passion, Fallen in Love, Rapture and Unforgiven. Keep an eye out for those!

Happy reading!

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Lifeblood - Gena Showalter

Began reading: 22.6.2017
Completed reading: 28.6.2017
Overall rating: 4 stars

My Firstlife is over, but my Everlife is only now beginning.

With her last living breath, Tenley 'Ten' Lockwood made her choice and picked her realm in the Everlife. Now, as the war between Troika and Myriad rages, she must face the consequences.

Because Ten possesses a rare supernatural ability to absorb and share light, the Powers That Be have the highest expectations for her future - and the enemy wants her neutralised. Fighting to save her Secondlife, she must learn about her realm from the ground up while launching her first mission: convincing a select group of humans to join her side before they die. No pressure, right?

But Ten's competition is Killian, the boy she can't forget - the one who gave up everything for her happiness. He has only one shot at redemption: beating Ten at a game she's never even played. As their throw-downs heat up, so do their undeniable feelings, and soon, Ten will have to make another choice: Love...or victory.

Lifeblood by Gena Showalter is a fictional young adult novel that contains fantasy and romance. I have been waiting for so long to get into this book, and I’m glad that I finally knuckled down and read it! It was SO GOOD! I loved the book for the same reasons as Firstlife, but also found the same irritating things as in the first book. Let’s begin with the good stuff.

Tenley Lockwood has begun her Secondlife after pledging Troika, leaving Killian – the boy that she loves – in the rival realm. Upon her arrival in Troika, Ten discovers that she is a Conduit, the highest rank in the realm, with the power to attract light and wield it like a weapon; but with her lack of knowledge, Ten must train before she can fight for her new home. She joins her Troikan friends as they learn to fight and follow the kingdom’s laws; but can she trust them? When it is revealed that Troikan operations are being shared with Myriad, Ten discovers that there is a spy among her friends and grows increasingly determined to expose them. As Ten strengthens and sharpens her abilities, a dangerous disease has appeared in the Land of Harvest, forcing her to work on recruiting citizens as an amateur – a very risky task, with the two realms stepping up their war. Ten is going to have to work harder than ever to bring peace to the rival kingdoms, while trying to control her feelings for Killian. Despite Ten’s loyalty to Troika, she will begin to notice the down-side to equality, which will test her devotion – but is she strong enough to overcome all of these challenges, or will the betrayal of a friend push her over the edge?

The book was well-written, but I did spot a few spelling and grammatical errors. The structure was developed in a way that kept the plot interesting and made me continue to turn the page. There were literary techniques that added detail to the narrative, including sarcasm, tragedy and characterisation. These techniques allowed me to picture everything in my mind without difficulty, and added depth to the plot and characters. There were also some great quotes, including:

I’ve heard it said your entire life flashes before your eyes as you die. Those words comfort those who have loved and been loved but torment those who have failed and have been failed (p. 11).

‘What is explained is often forgotten. What is experienced is remembered forever’ (p. 131).

She hopes to ignite doubt. I have to be careful. Doubt is an insidious creature. It can creep in, set up a tent and ruin everything (p. 145).

Love is the single most essential part of our lives, a need we all share, and yet it’s always invisible to the naked eye (p. 264).

[…]our present will always be the sum total of decisions made in our past (p. 269).

More quotes from the book can be found here.

I really like a dramatic plot, even more so if it is unique – it makes everything unpredictable and exciting. I loved being able to explore Troika through Tenley’s eyes; more importantly, I loved the idea of the two realms fighting for possession of spirits, even fighting those who wanted to defect. It was creative and tense, which is something that I look for in a plot.

Showalter definitely knows how to play on her readers’ emotions, which makes me enjoy her novels so much more! Emotions are important for narratives because they add depth, encourage readers to feel something, and makes the story memorable. In Firstlife, there were a few character deaths that pulled on my feels, and I hoped that there would be more of that in this book. I wasn’t disappointed – I actually sobbed when one of the sweetest characters died! I’m still grieving, which demonstrates that Showalter knows how to build a character that readers can embrace, as well as make us feel the protagonist’s loss. I was surprised by how close I felt to this particular character because I didn’t even know that I had developed something akin to admiration for them until they passed away. Despite my broken heart, I want more emotion in the next novel!

                       

I never really noticed it before picking up Firstlife, but I’ve grown to like unique chapter headings. In this series, each chapter begins with a quote from a realm and they contradict each other’s beliefs, which is interesting. When I first began reading, I’d agree with one particular realm and think ‘yeah, I totally belong in this realm’, only to agree with some of the sayings from the other realm – for the record, I’m Team Troika. I also enjoyed the little numerical facts throughout the novel. Most of the time, they related to the situation; at other times, these facts acted as a distraction, which kinda bothered me. I could definitely see why some people saw them as annoying, but overall I liked them. I wonder, is it easy for Showalter to find these facts?

Plot twists are a great way for authors to keep their stories interesting for readers. There needs to be a balance of predictability and unpredictability to the twist, and it also needs to leave readers wanting more. Showalter’s novels always contain a good plot twist, so I wasn’t surprised to find at least two juicy plot twists thrown into this book. The main twist (who the spy was) was predictable but not really for the reasons that I suspected. This character had a different motive for their betrayal, which left me low-key shook. The biggest and most unpredictable twist was an accomplice to the antagonist – I did not suspect them at all, but their motive made sense. Showalter knows how to create a good plot twist, so I’ll be looking forward to more of these in Everlife.

Something that can really get on my nerves when reading a book is repetition. In Firstlife, I grew irritated by all of Ten’s ‘Zero!’ outbursts because they were so frequent. It was a much better alternative than swearing, but she said it so often that I just wanted to punch her in the face. It didn’t improve in this novel, as she said it even more frequently, AND it was accompanied by a new outburst: ‘Lockdown!’. Really? Please stop. That’s all I have to say.

                     

My favourite character is still Tenley because she is confident, courageous, ambitious and merciful. Overlooking her annoying outbursts, she’s a strong character and I can’t wait to see her fight for her man in the next book. Meredith is a notable character.

*WARNING: SPOILER* I ALWAYS SUSPECTED VICTOR! I knew that he had a real motive from the beginning! Of course, as I mentioned above, I thought his motives were going to be more honourable than they actually were. Even though I suspected his character from the beginning, I did doubt him every now and then but I was right all along! He should have been killed off when he faced off with Ten, but I’ll gladly wait for it to happen in the next book! Anyway, no matter how hard I try, I can’t like Killian – yes, he’s devoted to Ten but I’ll always see him as a ‘bad boy’ and Troika’s enemy. I don’t know why, but his character just doesn’t get me swooning.

                    

My favourite parts of the novel were Ten’s arrival in Troika and Dior’s court appearance. I enjoyed reading about Ten’s arrival in Troika because we were able to finally see that realm, but also because it displayed Showalter’s creativity and ability to world-build. I loved reading about the various places within Troika, and I hope we get more of that in the next book! I also enjoyed Dior’s court appearance because it was tense, foreboding and dramatic. It also contains the major emotional part that I mentioned above, which made it so memorable.

Recommendation time! If you like the Fallen series by Lauren Kate, the Dreamfall series by Amy Plum, the Dream Walker series by Kit Alloway, and the Twilight series by Stephenie Meyer, you will love this book. Also, I recommend this book to anyone who likes Flatliners, If I Stay, The Lovely Bones, After. Life, Astral City: A Spiritual Journey, and The Discovery.

I will be reviewing the rest of the Everlife series, including Everlife, when the book becomes available. Keep an eye out for that!

My review for Firstlife can be found by clicking on the title.

Happy reading!

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