Began reading: 1.8.2017
Completed reading: 6.8.2017
Overall rating: 3 stars
Cam made a bet with Lucifer: he has fifteen days to make Lilith fall in love with him again. Three millennia ago he broke her heart and she's been serving a punishment for his crimes ever since. Now she can't stand the sight of him.
With the deadline looming and Lilith's high school prom just round the corner, Cam has everything to play for. If he succeeds, Lilith will finally be free and they can be reunited in their love for one another. If he fails, there's a special place in Hell just for him.
Heaven is being with the one you love.
Hell is being kept apart.
Where will Cam fall?
Trigger warning: this book contains suicide.
Unforgiven by Lauren Kate is a fictional young adult novel that contains fantasy, paranormal and romance themes. This novel was bittersweet for me: it was great to see someone else find romance, but it is the last book in the series. Overall, I really enjoyed the book but there were some things that I didn’t like. We’ll discuss those things a little later.
If an angel can find love, why can’t a demon do the same? During a time when Daniel and Luce were still fighting their curse, Cam was surprised to discover that he was drawn to Lilith – a girl with a passion for music. Arranging their marriage, Cam withheld his past from Lilith and refused to marry her in a church, leaving Lilith heartbroken and full of hatred for him. Back to the present, seeing Daniel and Luce choose love over immortality made Cam think that he could win Lilith back. Shocked to realise that Lilith lives in Hell, Cam makes a deal with Lucifer – get Lilith to fall in love with Cam within fifteen days, or become Lucifer’s personal slave for eternity. Cam’s task is difficult enough with Lilith’s trust issues, but becomes close to impossible when Lucifer decides to interfere and sow doubt into Lilith’s mind. Cam learns that the best way to win Lilith over is through music, but will Cam earn Lilith’s love and trust before the fifteen days are up?
I noticed a few spelling and grammatical errors as I progressed through the novel, but I could also see how Kate’s writing style has improved since Fallen. I could tell that she focused more on what was important to the plot, rather than going on about something that seemed insubstantial. It was also interesting to see how plot lines have changed since 2009/2010 – Twilight-style romance had given way to independent and feisty female characters. As seen in the previous books, the use of literary techniques to add detail and emotion to the storyline. There were also some great quotes, including:
‘Existence is never so miserable as when you have a taste of something beautiful,’ Lucifer said. ‘It serves to remind you of everything you can never have’ (pp. 32-33).
The only thing Lilith had ever known was disappointment. Nothing in her life ever worked out. Which, for the most part, was okay, because she never let herself expect anything, so she never really cared (p. 93).
More quotes from the book can be found here.
Like I said earlier, I liked the way in which Kate linked Luce and Daniel’s story to Cam’s. It felt like a smooth transition, as it picked up a little before Luce and Daniel’s story ended and it felt relevant to the series. I have had mixed feelings about some of the plots from the previous books, but there have been some stand-out storylines that I enjoyed. I found this novel’s plot to be interesting because it added suspense and unpredictability to something that could have turned out horrible if not done right. The mention of Cam and Lilith’s almost-wedding intrigued me, so I thought that it was great to read it again with Kate’s expansion and Cam’s perspective. A good plot means that I’ll enjoy the story, so I wasn’t surprised to find that I liked this novel.
When we think of a narrative, we usually imagine its structure to be beginning, middle and end. In my experience, it’s uncommon to find a book that has a different discourse (the way a story is told). In this particular book, the discourse features numerous interludes or flashbacks to provide the reader with an insight into Cam and Lilith’s past. I thought that this structure provided a bit of a refresher or a break from the primary plot line. It was clever and well-done, as it was smooth and appropriate for the overall story.
Now, we move on to things that irritated me or I thought could have been improved. It was only a short novel, and I liked that it didn’t drag on. At the same time, the novel felt rushed. It contained insta-love – call me a skeptic or whatever, but who falls in love within fifteen days? It seemed unrealistic, despite Cam and Lilith’s history. Aside from the romance, there were also some unanswered questions that I felt should have been resolved. It annoyed me, but it’s important to remember that this series is similar to Twilight, so I suppose that I shouldn’t have expected a change.
Another issue that I’ve come across while reading this series is the combination of predictable and unpredictable plot twists. Ordinarily, I liked my plot twists as both predictable and unpredictable, but in this case all of the twists were predictable. This made the narrative tedious because I would be reading and it was easy to assume what was going to happen next. I love a good shock, but this never happened in the book, which was disappointing.
When I’m reading, I hope that I’ll feel a connection with at least one character, particularly the protagonist. There’s nothing that I can think of that’s worse than being stuck with characters that you can’t tolerate. Unfortunately, I didn’t connect with Cam nor Lilith. I felt that both of these characters were shallow and dull, and I couldn’t relate to either of them. I felt the same with Luce and Daniel, but I’m not sure what other readers’ thoughts are. I wanted to like Cam and Lilith, but they weren’t interesting.
My favourite character was Arianne because she was friendly, sweet, compassionate, funny and talented. I’ve loved seeing her character throughout this series, and I’m glad she played a bigger role in this book.
Like I said, I didn’t enjoy Lilith or Cam’s characters because I didn’t click with them. They were predictable, and didn’t have any real depth. I didn’t understand why there were ‘nice’ characters in Hell, but I suppose that it’s an unanswered question that I will always wonder about. I didn’t like Lilith’s mum, but I thought that Chloe’s relationship with Lilith was surprising.
My favourite parts of this novel were the moments between Arianne and Roland, especially towards the end of the book. Throughout the series, I have been shipping them (that kinda decreased after reading Fallen In Love) and Kate had me hoping that they would end up together! Here are my favourite excerpts of these two characters in this book:
‘No one’s ever given me a corsage,’ Arianne said longingly.
Then something landed at her feet with a thump. Arianne jumped back in alarm, then looked down and saw a small white box identical to the one Cam had given Lilith. She smiled.
‘You’re welcome,’ Roland called from the driver’s seat (p. 312).
Arianne strung an arm around Roland. ‘Ro, will you marry me?’ Then blinked and shook her head quickly. ‘Don’t answer that. It was the thrill of victory talking. Forget I said anything’ (p. 355).
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.
My reviews for Fallen, Torment, Passion, Fallen In Love and Rapture can be found by clicking on the titles.
Happy reading!
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