Review: Rapture by Lauren Kate

Title: Rapture
Author: Lauren Kate
Publisher: Delacorte Press
Publish Date: June 12, 2012
Genre: YA, paranormal
Pages: 458
Source: NetGalley
Series: Fallen
1. Fallen (review)
2. Torment (review)
3. Passion (review)
4. Rapture

**WARNING: SPOILERS**

Synopsis:
RAPTURE, the fourth & final FALLEN novel, is the Lauren Kate book the world has been waiting for.

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?

The astonishing conclusion to the FALLEN series. Heaven can’t wait any longer.

From Goodreads

Honestly, I don’t even know where to begin. This book really wrapped up the series, and it did it in a great way. There were a few things I didn’t see coming, but also some I did. What I did really like about this book was how it jumped all around the world again. Yes, that happened in Passion, but this time Luce and Daniel were actually together.

I felt so much relief as Luce finally figured out her past lives and who she really was. It was such a fulfilling feeling to have everything come together and to get some honest-to-goodness answers. I felt like Luce, like finally knowing who she was just completed me. This book really makes you feel complete, whole, and gives great closure.

I was sad that there wasn’t more Cam in this novel. He played a much bigger part in the first and second books, and I feel like he should’ve had more of a part in Luce finally discovering who she was. He was there, but I think he should’ve had a bigger part. There aren’t many new characters in this book, with the exception of Dee, and she was a great character. She had such a huge role, but I don’t want to tell you exactly how. Bill/Lucifer kept making appearances in Luce’s memory. I liked how we were shown the kind of impact he had on Luce in the long run. His influence on her definitely made a difference to the way she acted in this book.

All in all, I’m sad that this series is over, but it was wrapped up very well. The ending was bittersweet, for sure. I wish that there was another way for it to end! Like the way it does in my head. But if I can’t have that, I’m glad it ended the way it did. I won’t be forgetting this series anytime soon. It will always hold a special place in my heart.

Thanks to NetGalley and Random House for the ebook review copy!

Teaser Tuesday (54)

Teaser Tuesday is a weekly meme, hosted by MizB of Should be Reading.

Here's what you do:
Grab your current read
Open to a random page
Share two sentences from somewhere on that page
Share the title and author
Try not to include spoilers!

Happy Book Birthday to Lauren Kate's Rapture!

I got an eARC of the final book in the Fallen series a couple of weeks ago, so I was lucky enough to start it early. Here's a teaser for you:

The memory was simple, joyful, and hers.

Lucifer couldn't have it. He could not take it - or any other memory - away. Not from Luce, not from the brilliant, surprising, imperfect world sprawling out below her.

Her body bristled with determination to defeat him, and with the rage from knowing that because of what he was doing, because she had rejected his wishes, all this might disappear.

Sorry for the long one! But I love how Luce is finally figuring out who she is, in this life and her past ones, and her determination to win. I'm sad this is the last book in the series, but also excited to see how Lauren ends it.

Feel free to share your teasers! I'd love to see what you're reading.

Waiting on Wednesday (55)

"Waiting on" Wednesday is a weekly meme, hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine, that showcases upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating!





This week I'm waiting on a few sequels due out this summer!

*WARNING: Since these are are sequels, the synopses HAVE SPOILERS!*

Dreamless (Starcrossed #2) by
Josephine Angelini
Publication Date: May 29, 2012

Synopsis:
As the only Scion that can enter Hades at will, Helen descends to the Underworld in search of a way to overcome the Furies and end the cycle of revenge that has cursed the Scions. But she’s running out of time. Each descent weakens her both in mind and spirit. A mysterious stranger might be her only salvation, but the price may be her love for Lucas Delos.

As an unforgettable love triangle emerges, Josephine Angelini’s compelling saga becomes ever more intricate and spellbinding. The eagerly awaited sequel to the internationally bestselling Starcrossed, Dreamless delivers with a huge emotional impact that will leave readers satisfied—and longing for more.

From Goodreads

Why I want it: Starcrossed was one of my favourite reads from last summer. I love the mythology that Josie weaves and can't wait to dive back into her world.

Rapture (Fallen #4) by Lauren Kate
Publication Date: June 14, 2012

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

Like sand in 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 will 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 will be the only one that truly matters.

In the fight for Luce, who will win?

The astonishing conclusion to the FALLEN series. Heaven can’t wait any longer.

From Goodreads

Why I want it: Last book in one of my favourite series. That's all there is to it.

Mirage (Winterhaven #2) by Kristi Cook
Publication Date: June 5, 2012

Synopsis:
Seventeen-year-old Violet McKenna is back for her senior year at Winterhaven, and thrilled to be with Aidan after a long summer apart. But when a violent and disturbing vision begins to haunt her, Violet suddenly feels unsure of everything: who to trust, if she is in danger, and—worst of all—whether she and Aidan are really meant to be together.

From Goodreads

Why I want it: I really, really enjoyed Haven and all the characters Kristi has created. Also, I'm looking forward to some of my questions being answered!

What upcoming releases are you looking forward to?

Cover Reveal: Rapture by Lauren Kate

I love love love Lauren Kate's Fallen series. If you don't believe me, feel free to visit my review archive and read my reviews for Fallen, Torment, and Passion. Next summer, the fourth and final book in the series, Rapture, will hit shelves. However, Lauren Kate shared with us this week the cover for Rapture along with a couple special little surprises!

To start things off, here's the cover for RAPTURE:

The big change with this one is the dress that Luce is wearing. It's white! Here's the previous covers:

My favourite is definitely Passion. I love the colours because they're so different. You can expect RAPTURE on your bookshelves on June 14, 2012.

Surprise number 1 from Lauren Kate, was this:

FALLEN IN LOVE is a collection of four love stories, and not all of them centre around Luce and Daniel! I think it'll be awesome, especially for hopeless romantics like myself. AND it comes out on January 24, 2012, so it'll give us some of Lauren Kate's awesome characters and writing while we wait (impatiently) for RAPTURE to hit shelves.

Surprise number 2 can be found at Lauren Kate's website. It's a sneak peak at FALLEN IN LOVE, and it doesn't feature Luce and Daniel. Want to know which couple stars in this particular short story? Check it out!

Let me know what you think of this news! Are you a fan of Lauren Kate? Of her Fallen series? What do you think of these covers and the collection of short stories?
Talk to me people!

Review: Passion by Lauren Kate

Title: Passion
Author: Lauren Kate
Publisher: Delacorte Press
Publish Date: June 14, 2011
Genre: YA, paranormal
Pages: 420
Series: Fallen
1. Fallen (review)
2. Torment (review)
3. Passion
4. Rapture (expected pub Spring 2012)

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

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.

From Goodreads

**Warning, SPOILERS if you haven’t read FALLEN and TORMENT yet!**

I loved the way this was written!! At the end of TORMENT, Luce runs off into the Announcers, and PASSION picks up right where that left off. The whole book takes place over several millennia as Luce jumps back, trying to piece together Daniel’s curse and their relationship. It was really awesome reading about all of the different lives and cultures of Luce’s past lives. My favourite part, though, was how it was written from both Luce AND Daniel’s points of view. Up until now, it’s always been Luce’s POV. Seeing things through Daniel’s eyes - his past, his feelings, Luce - was really awesome. It enables us to learn so much more about him and his and Luce’s relationship.

There aren’t many new characters in this book, excluding the minor ones in Luce’s past lives, other than Bill. I want you to find out for yourself who and what he is, but he spends a lot of the book with Luce, helping her on her journey. He was the comedic relief in a more-or-less very serious book. Although he pushed Luce hard, he also helped her. He was a fun character to get to know, even though we really didn’t get many details about him.

I’m really happy that I’m enjoying this series! I hate when I start a series and love the first book, then don’t like the second. ‘Cause then I’m disappointed, but I still want to read the next because I figure it has to be better since the first was good. But that’s not what’s happening with this series! I’ve loved each book more and more! I think I can actually classify this one as my favourite so far. I can’t wait to see what Lauren Kate has in store for us in book 4, Rapture!



Make sure to check back at the beginning of August. I'll be participating in the Summer Giveaway Hop hosted by Kathy at I Am A Read, Not A Writer, and you could win a copy of PASSION or another fabulous YA novel!

Teaser Tuesday (22)

Teaser Tuesday is a weekly meme, hosted by MizB of Should be Reading. Just do the following:

Grab your current read

Open to a random page

Share two "teaser" sentences from somewhere on that page

DO NOT INCLUDE SPOILERS (make sure that what you share doesn't give too much away, so that you don't ruin the book for others)

Share the title and author so that other participants can add the book to their TBR list is they like your teasers!

So, I'm really supposed to be reading A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith, since that's our current book club read, but I'm really not enjoying it very much. It's boring me. Definitely not my type of book. So on Friday (Canada Day!), I decided to relax and read what I've been dying to start: Passion by Lauren Kate! Now I'm here to share a teaser with you:

**SPOILERS if you haven't read TORMENT!!!**

In the end, when the Outcast had approached her, Daniel and the others had stared at Luce like she was the one who owed them something.
You are our entrance into Heaven, the Outcast had told her. The price. What had that meant?




It's sort of a recap of what happened at the end of TORMENT, but with insight. I had a lot of trouble choosing a teaser because of the way the characters jump through time. I don't know, it was hard to choose though! I hope you like what I decided on. I love the way this is written so far. It's told through both Luce and Daniel's POVs. I like how we get to see some of what Daniel feels as they travel back through Luce's previous lives. Can't wait to finish it!

Feel free to share your teasers with me! I'd love to see what you're reading.

Review: Torment by Lauren Kate

Title: Torment
Author: Lauren Kate
Publisher: Delacorte Press
Publish Date: September 28, 2010
Genre: YA, Paranormal
Pages: 452
Series: Fallen
1. Fallen (review)
2. Torment
3. Passion (June 14, 2011)

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? The second novel in the addictive FALLEN series . . . where love never dies.

From Goodreads

I was a little wary of being disappointed by Torment. I think that’s always a possibility with sequels. Also, I’d just read Crescendo (sequel to Hush, Hush) and I wasn’t as impressed with it as I had been with the first book in the series. Basically, I didn’t want the same thing to happen with Torment.

I really enjoyed Torment, just as much as I did the first. It took me longer to get through it than I had planned, but I didn’t end up finding the relaxing time around Christmas I was hoping for. I’m actually happy I didn’t just devour it so quickly because it gave me time to think about things that were happening throughout the book. Luce is stuck at Shoreline, a school attended by Nephilim kids who are being taught what they need to know to survive the inevitable war. Daniel is off protecting Luce, but Luce really doesn’t have much of an idea of what’s going on, she just feels like Daniel is treating her like a child (which is the way it seems). Daniel wants her to figure things out for herself which seems very vague and hard to do. With the help of the Nephilim friends she makes at Shoreline, Luce attempts to uncover information about her past lives and figure out what exactly it is that Daniel wants from her.

Luce is still the independent, tough young woman that we met in Fallen, which I love. Although she turns to jelly whenever Daniel is around and any frustrations she may have toward him dissipate, she is still independent of him and does what she wants. Granted, she probably shouldn’t always do what she wants because it gets her into trouble, but the point is she’s not afraid to do it. I know I can’t blame her for being upset with Daniel because he sometimes treats her like it’s another time period and that women are subordinate to men. It’s frustrating, so I see where Luce is coming from.

The new characters that were introduced in Torment are absolutely awesome. I really loved them all and think that they are great additions to Luce’s life. They help her fit in at Shoreline and help her discover things about her past lives. Shelby, her roommate, is a little bit like Arriane. She has this tough exterior, but is really just a softie on the inside that would do anything for her friends. I think she’s a great character. Miles is my other favourite. He’s the-boy-next-door material in the sweetest more kindest and cutest way. It’s great that him and Luce became such close friends.

All in all, Torment really answers a lot of questions about angels, demons, and Luce and Daniel’s past. If you thought questions were answered at the end of Fallen (like I did) then be prepared because there’s so much more to learn. The pace of Torment was great, I didn’t think it lagged or went too fast at any point. And, same as before, Lauren is amazing with words and knows how to string them together beautifully. Highly recommended.

Teaser Tuesday (5)

Teaser Tuesday is a weekly meme, hosted by MizB of Should be Reading. Just do the following:

Grab your current read

Open to a random page

Share two "teaser" sentences from somewhere on that page

DO NOT INCLUDE SPOILERS (make sure that what you share doesn't give too much away, so that you don't ruin the book for others)

Share the title and author so that other participants can add the book to their TBR list is they like your teasers!

My teaser this week comes from the second book from author Lauren Kate, Torment! It’s really a great sequel and I’m really, really enjoying it! Here’s my teaser:

Luce was certain Cam was not supposed to know that she was out here in California. Keeping her away from guys like him was the whole point of her relocation. Now she’d blown that.





Torment is the sequel to Fallen (see my review here), about angels, Luce, Daniel, and their cursed love. I honestly think this is a great sequel and that Lauren Kate’s writing is unbelievable. The story is a little bit slow because Luce has to find answers for herself, which isn’t that easy, but it works with the plot-line. I’m really enjoying all the new characters: Shelby, Dawn, Jasmine, Miles, Stephen, Francesca. I really think Miles is such a sweet guy, I hope he doesn’t turn out to be on the wrong side of the playing field (because of course one of Luce’s friends will end up being there). I’m just over halfway through and hope to finish it very soon so I can write a review and let you all know about it!

Feel free to share links to your teasers! I’d love to see what you’re reading.