Passion

Fallen #3

by Lauren Kate, Elisabeth Luc (Translator)

Bien avant qu'ils se soient rencontrés à Sword & Cross, avant même qu'ils aient à lutter contre les Bannis, Luce et Daniel avaient déjà vécu mille vies. C'est pourquoi Luce, cherchant désespérément à trouver comment déjouer la malédiction qui condamne son amour, doit à tout prix revisiter ses différentes réincarnations. Et lorsqu'elle plonge à l'aveugle dans un Annonciateur, elle ignore totalement où cela la conduira. Sa seule certitude est qu'elle doit le faire. La jeune fille part donc sur les traces de ses vies passées, traversant cinq mille ans d'histoire et autant de lieux différents, afin de comprendre ce qui préside à son destin. Au fil de ses pérégrinations, elle parvient à recueillir des éléments qui pourraient enfin l'aider à modifier le cours de sa vie. Mais Daniel la poursuit et l'empêche à chaque fois de réécrire son histoire.
Combien de fois devra-t-elle mourir sans mettre cette passion à l'épreuve ? Lancé dans une course-poursuite flamboyante et romantique, le couple réussira-t-il à trouver dans le passé les clés qui lui permettront de modifier son avenir ?

Genres: Young Adult, Fantasy, Romance, Angels, Paranormal, Paranormal Romance, Supernatural

394 pages, Paperback

First published June 14, 2011

About the author

Lauren Kate is the author of novels 15 novels including the FALLEN series, now an Emmy-winning television series on AMC+. Her forthcoming angel-focused romantasy trilogy, WHITE LIGHTS, will publish in June 2026. She lives in Laurel Canyon with her family.

Reviews

[Cait · Rating 2 out of 5]

This review can also be found on my blog, Cait's Corner!

Shhhh! Do you hear that? It's the horrible screams of your money, doomed to spend the rest of their lives with the shame of having been used to purchase this book, and my poor ten dollars are among them. In order to keep your money from the same sad fate, I have quite a few reasons why you should not buy this book, which turned out to be a huge disappointment:

1. The Writing

Throughout the whole novel her writing is extremely choppy and awkward; to me, it felt like Kate was having a veryyy hard time keeping her train of thought. And sadly, it's like that through the whole novel; Kate starts writing about one of Luce's time traveling experiences and has me mildly interested, but then she decides to shift gears because she feels like she needs to move on with the story, and does so with no literary grace. I put the book down several times and didn't read it again for hours because I just couldn't muddle through when she did that. Then to make things worse, I had to push myself just to get through the last half which I had hoped would be better, and that's never a good thing; it just really crawled along unbearably slowly for me. It was like finally getting to what you thought was the top of the mountain to find out that you aren't even a quarter of the way there yet. Then, there were quotes like this, that don't make any sense at all ( I also used this quote later on, that's how badly I got annoyed)
" at last" he breathed into her, finding her lips
"you found me"
"Always"
There are several problems with this; for one, Kate never says that they are still not totally lip-locked, so, apparently, they are talking to each other without ever removing their lips from one another.

Just like this, except people, frozen in that position, talking .

I, for one, think that that's very weird and in real life probably would sound like: "ee ls" "oo foond e" "als". I don't know about you, but that's not exactly light-the-candles-turn-down-the-lights romantic. Secondly, the whole breathing into her bit. Just try it, breathing out the words, "at last" (which is stupid sounding enough), and hell, if you're with your girl or your man try it while finding one another's lips and simultaneously breathing it down their throat, which I am going to assume is the only rational way you can breathe into somebody without being naked, and if you don't find any of that awkward, then, well, I don't know what to say to that. Get some help, maybe? I hope you can see though just ONE quote that a scene that was supposed to be romantic is actually a total fail when you break it down and really think about it. Don't get me wrong, this book is a nice improvement compared to her first two, but it's still too much purple prose and she has a lot sentences like: Luce did this. Then this. Then they made out here. The only really well-written scenes that I could find were the first and second time traveling scenes and actually had me going and interested, but then it just never really came back fully. Definitely not something I should have spent my money on.

2. The Time Travel

Oh, God. This was literally so confusing. We don't even have an explanation about why she travels to the places she does until...oh...... halfway through the freaking book . That is way too long to keep your readers in the dark about something that is an integral part of the novel. I felt like Kate threw the time travel in there because it HAD to be, not because she wanted it there, which resulted in time travel that hurt my head and quite painfully, too. Then, to add to the already massive time-travel migraine, Daniel would randomly pop in some random fact about how it's her destiny to do this, to create the loop, and that he doesn't know what his destiny is, and yet, he does (which made the book okay for about two seconds, because he's having an ACTUAL struggle, albeit slightly confusing, but a struggle, nonetheless). But then Kate would be like that's enough of that, and have Daniel go skipping away in a field of roses and daises while I'm screaming, WHAT DESTINY?! WHAT'S GOING ON! I kind of understand why Luce can't know, but we're the readers for Pete's sake, and I think it would have made the book a lot better if at least I knew what was happening. It would have added the suspense that was sorely needed. But then, destiny took a really dangerous, and seriously annoying turn. Whenever Daniel would get somewhere conveniently right after Luce left, or he would only remember meeting himself in the past at the stupidest moments, he just chalked it up to destiny!

No. It doesn't make sense. Give us a reason and don't take the easy way out!

Now, I would like to present some real life cases of where having an excuse like destiny never works.


Case #1: What?! Your baby sister got run over by the insane ice cream man?! Why didn't you help her?



; It was my destiny not to!

*gets bitchslapped*


Case #2: * I walk downstairs* " mom, I'm not going to school today; I'm actually going to go to a party and get drunk because it's my destiny!


*gets bitchslapped*

The worse case; case #3: Girlfriend: "I love you sooo much baby, you're my everything! Happy two year anniversary!"
Boyfriend: " hey, girl, I'm sorry, but we just can't be together anymore"
Girlfriend: "WHAAATTT?!? WHY!"
Boyfriend: "It's not you, or me, it's destiny!"
* gets bitch-slapped and maybe shot*





Do you see my point? Just because you're an angel doesn't mean you can just leave it to destiny! If you want to read a good book about time travel, you should check out Timeless. It's pretty much everything good about time travel that Passion isn't.



3: What would amount to what I guess could be called a plot



When I said plot, I lied. There is no plot. No suspense, no action, no nothing. This is how the book goes in a nutshell.



Luce: I can't! But I must! But I can't!

Other characters: Yes, you cant! Just leave it alone, Luce!

Luce: But I must!

Other characters: *groan*

Daniel: I must find MY Luce! But, oh, look, there's a different Luce! I can't fall in love with that one! I can't! But I want to! But I can't! *paces for apparently weeks, months, days, he doesn't really know*

Cam: 'sup

Luce: hey, I just befriended a weird gargoyle named Bill! I'm going to not trust my instincts and let him come with me!

Bill: heh heh I have a big secret, but Luce doesn't know that so shhhhhh.



Luce: oh...wow....look at all of these me's. I'm a bitch. ( I actually clap). But it's whatevs, I'm going to take control of their bodies and make out with Daniel! (I groan)

Daniel: Yum


Bill: I'M GAY! Ohh...wait....wrong secret. Nevermind.

Luce: I'm going to kill my spirit! I must!

Bill: Yes you must!

Luce: But I can't!

Me and Bill: *groan*

Cam: *makes the book interesting for three pages*

Bill: I'm Satan! Muahahahaha! *hack*

Luce: I'll never give in to you! Ever!

* I actually start getting interested for a couple pages* until.....

" at last" he breathed into her, finding her lips

"you found me"

"Always"

Me: AHHHHHH EAHROEIA;REUIARHOWEI NOOOO!

*epilogue giving Kate an excuse to write another book and jack millions more dollars off of people*



May I just say, that Always is kind of like her always using the word "destiny". IT'S NOT THE ANSWER! She used that God-forsaken word about 15 times in the las couple of chapters as the answer for their love, and I just couldn't stand it!



4. The characters

Long, unbearable story short, Luce and Daniel suck. Luce is as self absorbed as ever and just goes galavanting through time, wreaking who knows what kind of havoc, and decides to take control of her past selves' bodies so she can watch them burst into flames and know what it "feels like". Which, might I add, is advice from a gargoyle that hides from the angels who are the supposed good guys in the novel, which doesn't strike Luce as strange at all. If a gargoyle went up to me and said, "hey, you've never met me before, but I'm a good guy, and I want you to go to the empire state building and jump off! Don't worry, you'll be fine!" I would run away as fast as my legs could carry me, but not our Luce, because she's such a keeper. And by keep, I mean throw into a dumpster. She's a TSTL heroine at its finest. Then for a little, I felt like she was actually getting somewhere trying to find her answers, which included defying Daniel! *gasp!* But then Kate takes the easy way out and just falls back on "destiny" and "eternal love" *gag* (for any future writers out there, don't you dare do this. It will kill any sort of action and suspense you've built with one fell blow). Also, I didn't like some of her past selves and how different they were to her present self. Sure, they were born in different times, but I thought at least their personalities would be the same as the current Luce's. Sadly, most of them were even more pathetic and dumb like her chinese past; some don't even look like Luce at all. ugh. Coming back to her chinese past, I just don't understand how on earth she could have gotten away with killing the emperor; even with her wearing his clothes! I can't believe that they took such a second grade excuse as "I'm sick so my voice sounds funky but I'm totes him" It's not like I could go into the white house, stuff Obama in a closet, wear his suit, and get away with it! People just aren't that dumb, so don't make them sound that way. Luce also gets the top prize for most controlling, obsessive girlfriend I've ever read. In one scene, she is literally jealous of the very ground that a past Daniel is walking on . Oh my God, Luce! If you're that jealous just go lick Daniel's toes or something! Will really show that dirt!





Here you go, Luce! Maybe you can use it to scoop up some of that dirt!

And Daniel is the worst tortured soul character I've ever had the pain of reading. Sure, there were some points that might have slightly poked at my heart-strings, but those were very few and far between. He kept important things from us and from Luce, which made me dislike him even more than I already did. I really wanted to be let in on some things that he wouldn't say from Luce's perspective, but he never does. I know Luce would burst into flames if she knew, but it's not like if I read it I'm going to spontaneously combust, and neither is Daniel. It's always just Luce, Luce, Luce, death, Luce, Luce, jumping off cliffs, Luce, Luce. There's rarely any real development going on with him, which made his chapters the hardest to read. I know Luce's an idiot, but at least she's doing something, unlike Daniel, who seems to be only capable of watching himself. Can I just say, narcissist much? And the part in Heaven where Daniel goes up to God and says hey, I'll let you have Luce die and die and die for thousands of years because out love is just so true! Woah woah woah, Daniel, hold on a second. Did you ever ASK the first-ever Luce if that's what she would have wanted? To have excruciatingly painful deaths for the rest of her reincarnated existence? No. The douchebag. You don't make a decision like that without asking the person it's going to effect! Let me teach Daniel a lesson that he should have learned a loooong time ago. In life, people that you love most whether they're you're husband/wife, family, or friend, and that you can't possibly live without are going to die, no matter how much you don't want them to. And then to not have the guts to go " I just need to let her go because I love her" makes him look like a pussy. To add onto that he makes Luce suffer through not just the pain of death with his choice, but all of the family and friends that cared for her for however long she lived and now have to live with that ache of losing a loved one for the rest of their lives is just.... totally selfish, uncaring, and so centered on himself with the boo hoo I want Luce I can't live without her that I seriously, if I ever saw him, would punch him in the face. That is such a big no-no that I don't know how God didn't smite him where he stood for being so selfish.

Did anyone else find it, oh....I don't know..... strange that Daniel was magically able to change his body form to look asian, mexican and white? Unless angels are the best plastic surgeons around and were somehow able to change his eye shape and color, skin color, height, and just general body form when we have only developed the technology for any kind of body-altering plastic surgery within the last 60 or so years, I don't see how any of it was remotely possible. And if it somehow was, I'm pretty sure one thing didn't change from its small size, and if you can guess what it is; you get a silver star. Hint, hint, it rhymes with chick. And if you still can't guess then either you're slow or I've got a dirty mind..

Probably the latter ;)



I was very upset by something else, as well. Cam was only in about twenty pages of the book! He was the best character for me in this whole novel and he only ever made very short, cameo, appearances. Even then, Daniel was trying to avoid him at all costs when he did pop up, so he barely talks at all in this novel. She essentially destroys his character and turns him into this:



Hey, I'm Cam, I'm cool. Look at me! I'm leaning against a tree!

Hey look I'm leaning against a house!

Hey, I'm getting married! But awwww, I didn't!

Hey, guess what I'm doing again? Leaning against a house!



And it's kind of sad, because he was still my favorite character in the whole book even with the character degradation. He was the only one, when he did sparsely talk, that actually made a slight amount of sense.

Oh, and the whole twist about him being Daniel's brother? What the hell was that? Kate never really even explained it well! She just said; hey, they're brothers, and left us readers to fend for ourselves. When she did try to explain she used about three teeny tiny paragraphs on the whole brotherhood reveal and then had two really short scenes where they were still all lovey dovey bromance with each other, thinking that that would be enough, but it wasn't. It definitely wasn't. She also doesn't spend any time with their backstory, how they were together in heaven, zilch, zero, nada. Come on, Kate! If you're not going to spend time on something that's as big of a deal as you're trying to make it (even though ALL angels are related but whatever), don't even try it!

And Bill! I know some people say that they liked him and he was a good surprise, but, again, she never explained any of his behavior: the turning into other people, only being visible to Luce, etc. Luce never questions him or his motives, which made him very frustrating especially when we find out that he's satan! I mean what?! His attitude, especially being a seamstress doesn't match what I thought of him at all! He's like a gay satan! "Hey, while I'm saying all of my evil plans to you, you should totally not go with that outfit at all, it soooo clashes" No. I know he's not supposed to reveal his full personality to Luce, but Kate doesn't even give us any hints to who he is, so it's such a 360 turnaround that I couldn't fully get into it. I knew he was a bad guy that much was obvious, but did she have to make that big of a jump? And his "big reaveal?" gah. The only thing big about that was the enormity in the fail of describing him. It didn't make me scared, or give me any kind of shivers, I actually giggled a little bit. Poor guy probably became who he was because nobody up in heaven would produce his newest line of togas/robes because of how butt-ugly he was. You know those fashion types, always holding a grudge.

I kind of agree with God, it IS a little much.




And all of the other smaller characters in each of her past lives? They were very cookie-cutter characters. They didn't make me feel anything, they were never memorable; she didn't describe them well at all. If anything, they detracted from Luce's past lives. I know that she didn't spend a lot of time in each past, but if she has made those small characters better, I think I would have gotten more involved in the novel than I actually did. They just weren't good character foils due to, again, the lack of description. And don't even get me started on Miles. I can see that "lurve" triangle coming from a mile away, even though he was only in about two pages of the book. And Lilith? I say to her," go , girl!" Yes, Kate screwed up how Lilith ACTUALLY I guess you could say "broke up with Adam", but she was the only one with enough of a spine to actually defy the angels. Do I actually see a little bit of feminism, here? Honestly, that's what I think Luce should have done with Daniel in the first place; just curse his ass! But we all know that that didn't happen and now we're stuck with lots more lust. *sigh*





Oh, and I thought that it was just hilarious that we pretty much read over four-hundred pages of "love", but we still never get any answers! Really I was just giggling because nothing is ever explained, ever. The whole reason I stuck around the last hundred pages was to see the scene when Daniel and Luce first met but we never get to see that! Luce would repeatedly complain talk about how she didn't know why Daniel loved her so much. I mean, what is the more obvious solution to that then just go back to the freaking beginning! All of this makes me wonder the million-dollar question: what exactly was the point of this book? All we read is her running around time with no real sense. Whoop-de-doo, Kate. I really needed to know about fashionistas, spontaneous combustion, and depressed people. Just get to the meat of the story and stop skirting around the edges!

But I digress.

So anyways, in the end, I was really hoping that this book would be better than it was, but it turned out to be a disappointment for me.



Why did I rate it two stars instead of one? I guess there were still moments that were cute and touching like the funeral and cliff scenes, but you had to dig so hard for them through the rest of the crap that when they did finally pop up, they weren't as heartfelt anymore. Whether or not you believe me, this was my favorite of the whole series; I was honestly hoping that it would turn out better than it did. I am going to read Rapture because of the big difference between her first and third book; who knows, maybe I will even rate the next one three stars since it IS the last book and she will, whether she wants to or not, have to give us all of the answers I've been waiting for.


Imagine the huge dude as Kate and the the guy with the rain as me, the book buyer who got her money stolen. Poor me. Stupid Kate.

[Zemira Warner]

I want Luce to be with Cam!
I kind of think that this whole "love" between Luce and Daniel is just like the one with Elena and Stefan. I´m so sick of it. In my opinion Elena should be with Damon and Luce should be with Cam.

[kari · Rating 1 out of 5]

Three books. Count them. Three. And yet in all those many many MANY pages, there is still no foundation for Daniel and Luce’s love. None. Not one. Oh, unless you consider his chiseled nose, his violet eyes, his firm chest, his rippling abs or his whatever to be a basis for it. This isn’t love. It’s lust. Lust, not pure, beautiful, eternal love that we’re supposed to believe in, but lust. One of the seven deadly, no wonder these two were cursed for it.
We’ve traveled back to the first place when the curse was placed in the first place and I still don’t understand it. Luce was in heaven, but she wasn’t an angel or he was in love with her soul? What in tha name of heaven/hell/wherever is/was Luce? Come the heck on.
Luce is truly too stupid to ever be a heroine. Really, listen to this. She leaps into these Announcers without actually knowing where she’ll end up, but it doesn't really matter because she doesn't stay in any of these long agos long enough for them to actually be interesting or engage you in the story.
But she does lust after Daniel in every single one so that’s consistent I guess, other than that she’s jealous of herself when her other self gets up close and personal with Daniel. She is supposedly trying to find out what's between them and if it's real, but let me say it again, there never is anything to their relationship other than they love each other because they love each other because they love each other because they love each other. Okay, moving on.
Then she comes across a gargoyle and he tells her what to do and so she does it because she is the most stupid 4.0 AP student ever. In her near past, in this lifetime, just a few weeks ago, she was betrayed by someone she trusted, actually several people she trusted, but has she learned anything from this? Oh, heck no. Why should she actually get any smarter? Or even stop and think. Just stop and think, once. I could actually give this book one whole star more if she had stopped to think even one time. But nope.
She even gets a huge hint about this creature.
Pg 348: “Is it Daniel?” she asked. “He'd be able to see you, wouldn’t he? And there’s some reason you don’t want him to know that you're helping me.”
And he answers that his purposes are his own and not all about her. But does this make her (say it with me) stop and think? Why would she? She's only been told that her meager little self is somehow linked to the fate of the entire world, no, I’m wrong, it's heaven and earth and hell as well, I guess, but can she spare one single solitary minute to use her brain?
Pg 385 he finally tells her who he is. She never figures it out.
So, back to the sort of plot. Guess who the gargoyle is, you'll never guess, really it's such a huge shock. I was surprised, I was stunned, I was floored, I was flabbergasted! Yeah, um, I was clued in on page 82 when he first showed up and didn't doubt for one minute that I was wrong in my assumption. I wasn't.
Let's think about this for just a second. Let's think about this for just one second longer than Luce thought about it. Angels. Fallen angels. He never shows up when any of the other angels are around. Still need a hint. The great deceiver. Yeah, he's in this book. Big whoop.
So he tries to get her to give up her soul because oh, who knows? It would change something in some way that would make something different, I suppose. Anyway, what kind of total idiot would think parting from your soul, your immortal soul, could possibly make anything better? And this is on the word of this skeevy gargoyle (who is the devil), no back-up to this idea, nothing to support that this would help, but she just thinks she'll do it anyway because she loves Daniel so much. Blah-blah-blabbety-blah.
So, Luce is told several times that she must not interfere in her past lives. Super big no-no. What do you think she does?
Of course, she tries to intervene because she always does exactly the opposite of what she’s told by anyone who has a clue about anything. Even when she tells her past self not to do something, do you think she listens?
Of course not, because she’s her self-centered self and she does the opposite. Knowing she won’t do what she should then her present self should have insisted her past self do the opposite of what she wanted her to do and her stubbornness would have fixed the problem. Does she have no self-awareness at all? Is she totally incapable of any kind of personal growth?
Luce travels through her past lives and, of course, she isn't just some lowly peasant girl, living some mundane life. Nope, she was almost chosen to marry Louis XV, almost married a Shang dynasty king, knew Shakespeare, was in Tahiti at the time of the HMS Bounty, some rich spoiled Victorian girl. In fairness she is a slave in one and is almost a human sacrifice in another, but mostly she is someone super-duper-special.
Pg 340 “Every life had taught her something so far. Surely this life must hold its own key. If only she knew what to search for.”
I love this sentence because it’s just so silly. In every lifetime these two turn each other on. That’s it, there isn’t anything to learn because there isn’t anything to their love. It. Just. Is. *sigh* (and not in a good way)
What I have waited three books to find out is why she bursts into flame and dies. And I’m still waiting. Why did the guy she was with that got her sent to Sword & Cross to begin with, why did he burst into flame? Does anyone care, other than me? Luce doesn’t seem to. It never even crosses her mind. Wow, how shallow.
I didn’t much enjoy the first book of this series and the second was just as bad, but I wanted to give a fair try, wanted to see if the plot and characters and writing could improve, if there could even be a foundation for this love that is so timeless and beautiful and yeah, yeah, whatever.
But after three books and 1336 pages I am done. The one and only good thing I can say about this one is that it’s twenty pages shorter than the last one. That’s it.
Last but not least about this book, white peonies are mentioned several times so why the heck is the front cover showing a big old red rose? Makes no sense.
However, I want to give a big shout out to all the authors of these truly painful series. I’m looking at you, Lauren Kate, Kami Garcia, Margaret Stohl and Becca Fitzpatrick (Lauren Oliver, I'm making a brief glance in your direction but I've still got hope for your series). You have cured me. You have saved me from uncountable hours spent reading drivel, reading books that aren't worth my time and, sad to say, aren't worth the dollars that I've spent on them. From here on out, I will never continue a series that I don't love or like well enough to give another chance as first impressions do seem to count. I've managed to stop myself reading a book I didn't like; I’ve done it twice now. So these series are finished for me whether they are actually complete or not. I no longer care about any of these characters or plots. If, in the future, one of you writes a single book, with a beginning, middle and reasonable, satisfying ending that doesn't just leave everything hanging until the next book comes out, I might and that's a very tiny might, but I might take a chance on it.
This is the last time I will have Fallen for the Passion of your Beautiful Creatures and I must Hush. Hush the Crescendo of my Torment, leaving me alone and bereft in the Beautiful Darkness.

[Lea · Rating 2 out of 5]

**SOME SPOILERS**

Sigh... OK, ready for this?

So, as you may know, the Fallen series is definitely not one of my favorites-- but I am inexplicably drawn to them like a moth to a flame, or a fat guy to a doughnut-- and I keep reading, in the vain hope that someday, somehow I will finally understand what was going through LK's head when she wrote these books...

so, here we go:

~Brief Summary~


At the end of the last book, Luce had had enough of absolutely no one telling her what the heck was going on with the curse between her and Daniel (OK, we were ALL fed up with not knowing what was going on) so at the last moment she peaced-out by stepping into an Announcer and back into her past lives to figure things out on her own. Passion follows Luce's "Quest" to find out why she and Daniel are cursed, so that she can break it. Along the way, she meets her new little Disney-sidekick Bill, who helps her while adding comic relief throughout. Luce and Bill travel from Moscow during WWII to England in the mid-1800's, to Versailles, to the Globe Theater during Shakespeare's time, to the Mayan civilization, all the way back to ancient Egypt. Meanwhile, Daniel goes back in time to try and find Luce and make sure she doesn't eff things up alter things permanently...


~Review~


When I started getting into Passion, I was thinking, hey! So far, this isn't so bad! Not nearly as painful and cringe-inducing as Torment! The plot was moving along, there was a fun, new secondary character, we finally got to see Daniel's point of view and he wasn't such a tremendous butt-face, and even 2-D, cardboard Luce seemed to take on some life... and THEN there was the ending.


Oh good lord, the ending.


But before I get all down on the Fallen books again, let me say what I did like about Passion. And also, let me just state for the record, that this is definitely the best book in the series so far. (Not sure that's saying much, but whatevs.)

Alrighty, let's do this in good old-fashioned bullet points, shall we?


* First, the prologue was mysterious and downright creepy. We realize that the Elders still exist (even though they fell out of the plot in the second book and then disappear again for the rest of this book) and they are now teaming up with the Outcasts to get their hands on Luce.

* Second, LK has FINALLY picked up the pace. The story line, while not heart-stoppingly amazing, was at least not as painfully put-you-in-a-coma slow as the first two books.

* Third, we finally get to see things from Daniel's point of view. Up to this point he's been a self-centered, irritating, nasty, chauvinistic jerk-wad who you want to give a nice, swift kick in the crotch. Here we get to see another side of him-- awesome! Now he has two sides ;)

* I personally liked snarky, fun, quirky, potentially gay, admittedly cheesy Bill-- um, that is, until the end. Don't worry-- that's not really a spoiler-- if you have half a teaspoon of brains, you have a pretty good idea from the get-go who "Bill" actually is... unless you're Luce Price. Yeeeah, she's definitely not known for her ability to put two and two together...


But let's not get TOO carried away: there were definitely things about this book that left me with an unpleasant eye-twitch and something reminiscent of a bad hangover-- such as:


* We are still no closer to understanding WHY Luce and Daniel "love" each other-- or WHY they fell in love in the first place. Classic case here of telling and not showing-- we're told a bazillion times that Luce loves Daniel and Daniel loves Luce, but gosh darn it, we sure haven't seen anything yet beyond a bunch of goo-goo eyed stares and passionate lip-locking. Sorry, but if you want Me the Reader to believe in this magical, eternal bond of love between the two main characters, you need to give me something more to base it on than teenage sighs and making out. FAIL #1.

* To elaborate on my last point, when a "CERTAIN SOMEONE" asks Luce exactly why she loves Daniel so much, here is the response we get: "A million reasons. I just do." (p. 388) I just do?? REALLY?? So... you're telling me that after 1200+ PAGES this is the best explanation we get for why Luce loves Daniel?? She just does? So basically... they love each other-- because they love each other. **slaps forehead in TOTAL frustration** FAIL #2.

* As if the plot wasn't confusing enough, now we have TIME TRAVEL thrown into the mix. And multiple versions of the main characters. AND other major characters and plot elements that have just completely disappeared altogether with no explanation for why they're no longer there. But the time travel was the worst-- it was just one big, inconsistent mess that leaves you staring blankly into the space-time continuum. Now, I'm no Stephen Hawking, but I'm pretty darned sure this isn't how time travel goes down. Seriously, by the last few chapters I was so freaking confused I had to pop a couple Tylenol PM just so that I wasn't up all night racking my brains over what the hell had just happened. And considering that this series already has more plot holes than I can count on fingers and toes, time travel just didn't seem like a really smart move to me. FAIL #3.

* Let's talk about Luce Price for a minute. Will Luce EVER learn that she has zero instinct or ability to read people? How many times now has her gullible butt been duped because she blindly skips after the bad guy like he's the freaking Pied Piper? She can pass quantum physics but she thinks following a creepy gargoyle who won't let anyone but her see him is a GOOD idea?? EARTH TO LUCE!! Stay away from strangers trying to lure you to your death! They're bad-news bears, K?? Really, if she's going to be THIS stupid over and over again, do I really even care at this point what happens to her? Not to mention that, up to this point, Luce's sole existence is based on being head-over-heels in love with Daniel. That's it. End of story. The girl has no other purpose. Luce Price= FAIL #4.

* The writing style, while somewhat better, is still pretty sloppy, confusing, and all over the place. (I SWEAR I'm trying to not be a total jerk here! It IS better than the first two! There IS improvement!!) But still, the transitions between each chapter and each new time period visited are about as graceful as falling down a flight of stairs. Also, maybe an OUTLINE would have helped before just taking the "write-as-you-go" approach and then conveniently taking the easy way out with pretty much EVERY aspect of the plot. I'm not expecting this to be Shakespeare, but I would appreciate at least being able to follow some remotely logical series of events... FAIL #5.

* Speaking of which! Did you know that Luce knew SHAKESPEARE in another lifetime and SHE'S the reason why the Globe Theater burned down?? Hey! Neither did I!! Oh Lord, the history re-writing in this book just cracks me up... Slightly Amusing FAIL #6.

* Back to that "CERTAIN SOMEONE," all I can say is-- Wow. Congrats LK, on managing to take the evilest being of all time and turn him into a cliche villain about as scary and intimidating as one of those 1920's silent-film guys-- you know, the one with the monocle and top hat? He's all, MUAHAHAHA!!! Then cue a lot of eeveell pacing back and forth as he info dumps explains his eeveell plans... (which, by the by, ALSO make NO SENSE.) Are you kidding me? FAIL #7.

* At the end of this book-- guess what? We STILL have NO IDEA what the EFF is going on. No joke! NOTHING is ever explained, and the ending contained about 297 plot holes. NO ONE has a motive in this series, NOTHING is ever given a logical explanation, and everything is all chalked up to DESTINY. Isn't this what we call a cop-out? Why yes, yes it is! The worst of it is, the book was set up to make it sound like we would FINALLY get some answers to major questions, and then the last few chapters just made no sense at all. Is this some kind of joke Ms. Kate?? Because after a thousand plus pages it just isn't funny anymore. What exactly was the POINT of Luce's "Quest"? What was she trying to find? So far, the whole plot is completely meaningless to the reader. I went back and tried to re-read whole sections thinking I must have missed something, and I'm STILL totally lost. I honestly want to believe that there is more to this plot and these characters than meets the eye-- but at this point, I'm not holding my breath. FAIL #8.

* This was literally my favorite line in the whole book: "Finally, things were beginning to make sense." (p. 400) Really? They ARE?? Could've fooled me! I'm seriously going to have a brain aneurism if I spend one more minute trying to make sense of this story. This is honest-to-goodness THE most convoluted mess of a plot I have ever read! Does the author even know what's going on here?? But yeah, I LOVED that line. It made me chuckle. FAIL #9.

* Random question: Does the kiss you've been dreaming about your whole life include knocking your teeth into somebody else's? No? Huh, me neither. Just wondering. FAIL #10.

* We honestly can't get though a Fallen book without someone "waggling" or "wagging" their eyebrows-- seriously LK, why? How many people actually "waggle" their eyebrows on a regular basis? Are people going to look at me all crazy if I attempt this? Why is eyebrow-waggling so necessary to this story? I am so dang confused. FAIL #11.

* What the hell happened to Trevor? Remember, the poor sap who spontaneously-combusted thanks to Luce back in Book 1? Like, shouldn't someone in the story sort of, you know, care that some kid ended up as a human tiki torch?? If LK thought we were all just going to conveniently forget about Trevor's tragic demise as quickly as brain-dead Luce just because heart-throb Daniel steps onto the scene, she was sorely mistaken. Way to totally ignore the fact that your main character caused someone to burst into flames Lauren, might've been a good idea to tie up loose ends with that unfortunate event instead of conveniently dropping it out of the plot altogether... FAIL #12


So, all in all, another utterly confusing masterpiece! Maybe it's just me, but there is precious little that makes sense in this series. If you have read these books and have figured out what the heck is going on, please let me know. I would greatly appreciate it. Otherwise, I'm still entertained. AND this book was, despite everything, still better than the first two. Sorry, that's all I've got.

**LIKE THIS REVIEW??**

See more excessive ranting for Rapture , the finale to the Fallen series! :D

~Lea @ LC's Adventures in Libraryland

[MischaS_ · Rating 2 out of 5]

[P · Rating 3 out of 5]

“I’ll love you with all my heart, in every life, through every death. I will not be bound by anything but my love for you.”

Passion follows after Luce stepped into the Announcer. She wants to pursue her past and what she gets from it will lead her to the end game this time. I did enjoy this book when I read the first half, it's full of adventues, heart-wreching moments, and historical settings. Lauren Kate successfully delievered the story in Passion, she not only tried to present their undying love, but also got us through the most desperate time when Daniel and Luce have no way out of this torment and Daniel's always left to be alone.

“There is only hope. One day, you will live through it. That absolute truth is the only thing that keeps me going. I will never give up on you. Even if it takes forever.”

I adore the time-travelling part for it represents how this series should have been since Fallen, emotional, heartbreaking, and deep. I've got so many answers from Passion, though. About how did the Fallen start ? Why is Luce still alive after she kissed Daniel ? Yes, the author put me out of misery by giving me the answers I have been searching for centuries. My heart's broken when Daniel wants to kill himself by plunging himself off of the cliff. I totally understood what he feels for Luce is beyond my imagination. His love is everything, larger than his life.

“Love is the only thing worth fighting for.”

Well, if it's not for Luce, this book might get four stars from me. Even though I've known her since Fallen, I still can't get past her logic. She changes her mind so fast I can't even catch up what she's gonna do next. Ewwww, I think she doesn't deserve Daniel because she can stop and find her way out to end this journey and be with him, but she hasn't. She keeps pushing to acknowledge what happened between her and Daniel, though she finds nothing at the end. It'll be easier if she just asks him and Daniel tells her. Ummm, that I-can't-tell-her-unless-I-want-to-lose-her-again thing is a big problem in the story, though.



By the way, the ending of Passion got me to Rapture to find out whether Daniel and Luce will get their HEA and everything they have done is worth thier effort and exertion or not. It nearly ends and the war is coming. I'm dying to know.

“I'll always choose you." Yes that was the word. "Every single lifetime, I'll choose you. Just as you have always chosen me. Forever.”

This song popped out of nowhere while I was reading this : https://youtu.be/rtOvBOTyX00

https://goo.gl/Mlh52q

[₊ ˚ ale ࿓ ♡ ⋆｡˚ · Rating 1 out of 5]

I said I was going to finish this book, but I've already self-inflicted so much pain on myself for so long that is enough. Like I said: this is the last book in this series that I will read. Nothing can convince me anymore that this will get better or that there will be good plot twists; I can even guess what will happen in some chapters.

In this book, Mary Sue (Luce) travels back in time through the Annunciators, to learn more about her ✨incredible love story with the oh-so-irresistible-and-gorgeous-Daniel,✨ who is ✨the love of her life.✨ And Daniel follows her, though she doesn't know it.

The very idea of time travel is great... Sadly, Lauren Kate developed it lousy, and confusingly too. This is more like a cat and mouse game, but it's two idiots playing it. Daniel arrives just as Luce is gone and has screwed up the timeline and her past self.

This time, we have two points of view: Luce's and Daniel's, which is quite ridiculous and Daniel having a point of view adds nothing to the plot. You might as well remove his parts and it wouldn't affect the book. Why? Because Daniel is supposed to be reliving his memories (not past lives because let's remember he's an old immortal of over two thousand years of miserable living) and wants to find Luce. For the first time in centuries, there is a hope of breaking the curse that prevents Luce and Daniel from having a lasting love. The most ridiculous thing about all this is that Daniel raises certain doubts in the reader, but does not resolve them, but attributes them to fate, and that's as far as it goes. He does not go deeper into the subject and leaves the reader with more doubts than at the beginning.

Luce's past selves are just as imbecilic as the Luce of the present. The one from the Victorian era is the one that stands out for being a bitch. But nonetheless, they all fall in love with Daniel and my question is, how, does Daniel seek her out in every life? And if so, how does he know where she'll be now? Does this mean he's a stalker like Edward Cullen? I wouldn't be surprised if it does. This series already proved to be a Twilight 2.0.

I find it morbid to think that Daniel has met Luce when she was little and they've even interacted (in the Russian version of Luce's past life, the first one she meets), and he immediately knows who she is and that she's going to fall in love with him. It's disappointing that they know they are ✨destined✨to✨be✨together✨, because I was expecting more development on the part of their "relationship" or "love", but no: since we already know they are destined, and that they are "soul mates", we just expect them to love each other and promise to be together once and for all.
Luce brags about how her love is true, but we don't have the scenes where she meets Daniel once and already assumes that her love is true; and then, when she dies burned by that same love... Cookie, get yourself a love that doesn't make you explode like fireworks and isn't toxic. You will be doing us all, and yourself most of all, a huge favor if you leave Daniel Grigori and live a full and long life, not just 16/17 years. Re-evaluate your life and ask yourself if Daniel and his love are really worth burning you alive after a real kiss. I don't think so.

I still don't understand what the exact point of this book is, there are too many questions that are raised, but not answered; and to some extent, that's annoying. Also, it's predictable who Bill might be and what his purpose is in the book. Definitely lame.

So, this is a big nope from me. I'm truly disappointed.

Edit: oH, WAIT A MINUTE. I FORGOT SOMETHING.

There's a part where it says that Daniel (a +2000 y/o man, please, NEVER forget it) used to watch Luce sleep. Edward Cullen?? Anyone?? THIS IS CREEPY AS FUCK!

[Nurlely · Rating 5 out of 5]

Luce stepped into the Announcer, leaving her Daniel behind, trying to understand everything, and to destroy the curse. From Moscow to Milan, she travelled alone, had no idea of Daniel following her. Daniel was always a step late. In Moscow, Luce found out that all the angels, Cam, Gabbe, Arriane, Roland and Molly were also there. They had good knowledge of her fearful fate.

In Helston, England, 1854 she met Bill, a tiny gargoyle inside her announcer. Bill helped her adjusted herself with the current situation, with outfits and bits of information. But Bill hid himself when the angel was around. One thing that was confusing. Roland seemed to sense Bill while Arriane did not. Luce continued with her journey to Tahiti and Prusia. In Prusia, she witnessed Daniel’s pain. Daniel ignored the whole world and fell to sleep after Luce’s death.

In Lhasa, Tibet, Luce was devastated watching Daniel tried to kill himself after Luce’s demise. It was the worst experience for Daniel, to watch Luce met her demise by only talking to him. Daniel ‘s agony made him jumped from a cliff, broke all his bones and stayed motionless until Gabbe found him, made him vowed to never lose hope, to never destroy himself again.

Daniel was arrested in Paris, France, for ‘killing’ Luce, Louis XV future mistress. He did not want to free himself but stayed in misery at The Bastile, waiting for a new Luce to arise. In England, playing Anne Boleyn, Luce burnt the Globe, the famous theatre. Luce Also realised that Daniel’s curse has been worse than her.

After losing Luce in so many places, Daniel stepped into Central Greenland, year 1100. At that time, he felt suffocated, and was so weaken by his broken heart. Both sides of angels were pleading him to join them. Gabbe was for heaven and Roland for Hell. He was so devastated and his future self had come to save him, to reaffirm his choice, to choose Lucinda over everything.

In Chichěn, ITZÁ, Luce found out that she will always know Daniel, know his soul, although Daniel’s appearance was different from his usual self. It never matters since their love will find each other, regardless their physical forms. Luce witnessed Daniel true self for the first time.

Daniel arrived in Bethlehem, Israel, where Cam had his heart broken by Lilith. That was when Cam crossed to Hell’ side. Daniel befriended Miles and Shelby there when he realised that regardless their recklessly idiotic way, Miles and Shelby had only tried to help. In his announcer, Daniel met Scale, the angel who sides Heaven Scale showed Daniel the place where Luce stepped out.

Luce was in Memphis, Egypt, 3100 BC. She was Layla, who fell in love with Daniel, the army commander, her princess’ fiancée. Bill told her to kill her soul with a starshot, to free Daniel from his misery, for their cursed fate. The starshot will kill her immortal soul and will return her into her old self. But Daniel’s love has prevented her from doing so. Daniel’s love made her believed that one day they would be freed from the curse. Bill was furious with that and was changed into something bigger. His true self was Lucifer and he was so furious of Luce’s failure.

Daniel came to the Heaven Gate, where the angels were gathering, where the roll call was conducted. That was a very important time when the angels had to choose their side, Heaven or Hell with Lucifer, when Daniel old self had chosen Lucinda. He was punished for that. Lucinda, his love will never meet her adolescence, will die again and again.
Daniel then begged for clemency, saying that some millennium had passed and he now asked for mercy. The Throne granted his plea and Lucifer was so mad with that.

Will Daniel able to save Lucinda? What will Lucifer do? What will happen to all the angels?

-------------------------------------------------------------------
I love the story. The only thing that annoys me that there was Sophia in the beginning and that was all. Nothing more about the outcasts through the whole story. It was confusing. But Ms Kate had done an excellent job with the series. Fallen is the introduction where we can meet Daniel, Luce fallen angel. Torment is where everything went into a mess, where Luce doubted their love and cursed fate. Torment is what it is named. A torment for its readers.
Passion is where we can understand things
Rapture will be fantastic with its ending.

Previous:
This is the book that I am dying to read. Torment left me with sadness. I can understand why Luce needs her 'alone' moment to understand more about who she was. But it's still heart breaking....to have Daniel left behind that way...I could feel his pain, sadness and loneliness. It's good to know that he will not stop and will fight their terrible fate. I just love love love Daniel Grigori.

[Andrea · Rating 3 out of 5]

Review Below :)

Ooooo, the cover is out. It's... different.

Ok, this is definitely sounding like a prequel type book guys.

It might be the third in the series, but it goes backwards and covers 5000+ years....
But perhaps it covers those years as she travels, so it is them looking back, rather than a true prequel? So a hybrid prequel?!

REVIEW TIME!

Finished Passion in about 4 hours, so a nice quick read.

Three and a half stars!

Not to sure how to really review this book, as it was so very different to the previous two, and as such had different accomplishments and faults.

The overall story fills in the missing aspects from the first two books and helps to fill in the back-story from both Fallen and Torment, which is something that needed to be done. The origin of the curse is also fleshed out and explained so that the readers now have an understanding of why and how it started. It was also important to figure out how and why all the past incarnations of Luce spontaneously combusted. But it needs to be pointed out that this book can be so complex and confusing.

The good points were that Luce finally got to see what happened in her past, and how it affected both Daniel and herself. She also needed to grow up a little bit, and I think travelling with Bill made her do so, even if he was a little obvious. But taking Luce away from her friends probably gave her the time to contemplate things without their sometimes overbearing interference, and that shows.

Seeing her past selves also allowed her to live parts of their lives, but she kinda stole bits also :) Also seeing the different personalities was an eye opener, kinda assumed she would be the same in all previous lives. Apparently not. Plus, it would seem that we did not get to see their original meeting? But then there was something different about the Chinese Daniel, or was he just more unguarded than the later versions?

However, this book also has its flaws. The main one that bugged me through out the whole story was that Daniel 'forgot' all of his past encounters with himself. It was so convenient and really just annoyed me, as it seemed important in this book that he talk to his past self. Also the lack of the other characters, definitely detracted from the story as they give the readers a break from Luce and Daniel. But they were all there at the end, but why did Cam hug Luce and Daniel? Bit strange, and would have loved more of a back story on Cam but the little bit that was there was good!

Bill. Way too obvious and way too annoying.

The final chapter definitely sets things clearly in motion for the book, Rapture.

Any-who, good book, good story and very much looking forward to the last instalment!

[Zero vi Britannia]

If you read this book,
Hope it gives you hell
Hope it gives you hell.
If you bought this book,
Hope it gives you hell
Hope it gives you hell
If you find a review
More than two stars
And you agree,
Then you're a fool
And them as well
Hope it gives you hell!

OK, this is harsh. But fun.

[Saniya]

Why do I have a feeling that this book is gonna be worse than the last book? *Sigh* Life of a reader is hard.

[◆✦✧ Jemz ✧✦◆ · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oh gosh I wish I was Luce!!!

[Stacia (the 2010 club) · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 stars. The Fallen series has always been sort of a hit and miss with me. The first book was fairly boring and emo, with the only redeeming factors being an interesting ending and an intriguing character (Cam). Sorry to piss off all the rabid fans of book 1, but nothing really happened in that book until the end. It was a lot of mooning and pining and boring conversations. For me, the second book was more interesting story-wise with less filler, but also featured less of Cam and more of new characters that I didn't care much about getting to know.

Which brings us to book 3 - the bridge book. This book, I presume, will be connecting the premise of the first two books with the next part of the series, which appears to be heading in a completely different direction from the boarding school setting into a darker time of war and conflict.

I noticed that some people found this book boring, and I didn't. However, I enjoy reading historical fiction, and this mirrored a HF book. For those who don't read the genre, it might be a little slower to them. But, even though I found the story interesting, I did not like this format being plopped down into the middle of a series. It was too drastically different from the previous two books. I feel this story would have been better handled through flashbacks, or gradual time travel, maybe a few instances over each book instead of it being thrown together in one book.

Was this bridge successful? It accomplished its goal, but not without some loss of cohesion. For most of book 1, there was some sort of hinting at a love triangle between Daniel/Luce/Cam. In book 2, Cam was pushed to the background, but it was also made quite clear that Cam was still there, ready to defend Luce at all costs. In book 3? He wasn't even there, and when he was, Luce was never a focus for him. The introduction of the Lillith character (and her bloodline) brought about new questions. Is she the one who Cam truly wanted, and if so, how does he feel about her offspring? How is she tied to Luce (or is she even tied to Luce)? Is it possible she is a form of Luce or a relative of hers? But if Luce is part of Lillith, then how was Luce able to interact with one of her offspring? By the way...if anyone has read my spoiler and has any theories on this, please feel free to drop a comment. I read so fast, that I could have missed an important detail here.

Then there was the whole Bill thing. I completely saw that coming.

Then we come to Luce/Lucifer. Is Luce related to Lucifer, was she a previous love, or is she a pawn in his game?

Is this the time where I tug at my beard and say, "the plot thickens?" Well, I would if I was capable of growing a beard.

At least Luce didn't do anything too stupid in this installment (big shock considering her past record), so I'll be moving on to book 4.

[Dora610]

so...,a prequel.i don't know how i feel 'bout it.,i'm mostly sad cuz there won't be much Cam,he's the best part of the series.i fear i will have to read about 5000+ years of the "great love" between daniel and Luce.

[Scarlet · Rating 2 out of 5]

THANK YOU GOD, I FINISHED IT!!!
This book sucks terribly.
Fallen and Torment were both really good books and I found the series got a little boring, predictable and disappointing.

Everything in this book got so confusing:
1. It has no plot at all!
2. Time traveling was literally so confusing.
3. Luce is dumbass: what on earth is she searching for?
4. How does Daniel keep changing his appearance in almost each past life? He´s immortal after all. He doesn´t die!
5. Why do all the other fallen angels always hang around Daniel and Luce in each life?
6. All the characters are doing nothing except wandering from one era to other.
7. My biggest disappointment (both with this book and the last) was the lack of Cam.

Passion was 420 pages of torture . I don't know anything more about Luce and Daniel than I did in the last book.

[Iyah]

***Cover Review***

This is the cover?

Are they serious?

Every year the book cover for the series gets a little more unlikable.

The Brown (eeew) clouds seems out of place.

The girl looks so fake. Her shoulder blades are very disproportional to her torso.

The hair looks filthy and her face looks creepy. Not the face that belongs to a heroine. It's not the face Daniel Gregory would fall for.

If there's one thing that I liked about the cover it would be the lower half of it. Just starting from the word PASSION to the bottom. That's it, nothing else.

It's an Emo art gone bad.

But I know what they say about not judging the book by it's cover. I'm still excited for this book.

[Lazaros · Rating 4 out of 5]

“I'll always choose you." Yes that was the word. "Every single lifetime, I'll choose you. Just as you have always chosen me. Forever.”

I was hanging on with my mouth open for most the time I was reading that book because of the time-travelling experience which was breath-taking and just constantly kept me on the edge. It's just what I wanted.

From the beginning of this series I've wanted to go back in time and experience every single life-time Daniel and Luce have been together and this book realized my dream and I couldn't have asked for something better as a sequel to the second book which kind of downed my opinion for this series.

It also solidified the relationship between Daniel and Luce though they weren't almost at all together. But just seeing, just reading about what the Luce of Now thought about her past-selves, her past lives with Daniel, and now no one can deny, not even Luce, that she and Daniel are one true pairing.

I liked Bill and the vibe he permeated to that book. Bill is a weird this, you'll find him weird too at first but as the time goes by he'll grown on to you and you'll find him amusing and nice-to-be-around-with, especially for Luce who's experiencing that kind of emotionals up-and-downs because she is looking into her past so thoroughly, reliving memories she didn't even know she had. Bill is a big twist, I will tell you that and I gotta admit that I didn't see it coming, you're a big mind Lauren Kate.

I love Daniel so much because he is the embodiment of the love I adore the most. He would never let Luce go no matter what. He'd rather have her for just a short period of time than not at all.. Even if it wrecks him when she dies he wouldn't change a thing if it meant that he wouldn't be with her for even a fraction of time.

I had my doubts about Luce but, okay, I think she really understood the love that she and Daniel share (and along with her we did too). When there is love, real love, there is no room for doubt so I'm glad that her horizons were cleared and she saw her love through brand-new eyes.

“I’ll love you with all my heart, in every life, through every death. I
will not be bound by anything but my love for you.”

This book was an awesome surprise for my feelings.

That time in Tibet where Daniel couldn't take the pain and he jumped of a cliff and stayed unconcsious for weeks.. I cried. Cried and Cried. For days. Ah.

[Hayley · Rating 2 out of 5]

Daniel & Luce. A love that spreads across eons of time and one that ends in Luce dying in a ball of fire each and every time. Except this time, something is different and Luce's on a journey through their past lives to find out why. Through ancient China, old fashioned England and Egyptian tombs Luce winds her way towards the answer she is searching for....

And then here is where my problems lie..
WHAT ON EARTH IS SHE SEARCHING FOR?
I know I know, it's all pre-determined and she had to do it to change the past/therefore change the future, but really the whole time I was just thinking, "and the point of that was?". It just frustrated me and the more I think about it, the more problems I have with it.

The whole book pretty much didn't need to happen, I admit at the start I was thinking 'this is kinda cool going back in time' but I honestly thought it would only be for half the book, not the entire novel. It also meant I missed the other characters, it was pretty much the Luce and Daniel show (and if you love their soppy and sometimes over the top, death defying and completely unrelatable love then you will adore this book) with Shelby and Miles popping into a past life for what seemed like no reason what-so-ever and a small performance by Annabelle who just popped out of no-where. I missed the snarky, witty banter from Cam and the delightful relationship between Roland and Arriane.

And if anyone can tell me the answer to two simple questions, well i'd love you forever...

Why do all the other fallen angels (i.e Arriane, Cam, Roland, Gabbe etc. always hang around Daniel and ultimatly Luce in each life? Maybe i've missed something, but come on, they are always hanging around and i'm not quite sure why, perhaps they are just awesome friends who like to watch Luce die over and over again, or perhaps i'm just being cynical and they're just besties.

And

How does Daniel keep changing his appearance in almost each past life? Suddenly he's Egyptian, and the next minute he has his whole torso tattooed, and then he's oreintal? I'm not sure I get this either.

Phoar, glad I got that all off my chest.

All in all, it was an easy read and had it's great moments, but I had too many questions left to ask rather than any of them being solved.

Also secretly I want Cam to end up with Luce.

[Prabhjot Kaur · Rating 3 out of 5]

After the not so impressive Torment I wasn't sure if I had wanted to continue with the series but me wants answers so here I am.

This was actually not a bad book. I know a lot of people haven't liked this but I didn't mind it as much as Torment. Lauren Kate's writing wasn't the best and it had a lot of errors but I actually enjoyed the plot involving past lives and actually travelling there.

Luce was still pretty stupid even her past selves were pretty stupid but I enjoyed her journey with Bill. I already suspected Bill's agenda and I was right. I loved Cameron in this the most even though he was barely there. I wish he were there more. I also liked Daniel's POV and started to like him again after not liking him in Torment.

There are still so many questions that I need answers to like the most important one - Trevor? Why was he burnt alive? It's still not clear and the author doesn't even touch this topic and I am afraid that she isn't going to.

Overall it wasn't bad.

3 stars

[Sandy · Rating 1 out of 5]

I don't give a lot of one-star ratings, but WOW. WOW.

I wanted to scream, I get it! Daniel and Luce are in lust love. BUT WHY? WHY???

I'm still at a loss about what I was supposed to learn from this book. That Daniel and Luce are the most selfish couple of all time? That instalove trumps all?

You think it's bad reading about ONE Luce? Trying reading about a dozen Luces through the centuries. And hello? The gargoyle? What was Luce thinking?

Ugh. That's all I can say after slogging through this book.

[Anna (Enchanted by YA)]

A thousand insta-love moments, are you kidding me? I think I'll pass *manically waves goodbye to the series*

[Bella · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have a confession to make. I didn't like Fallen, the first book in the series, all that much. Luce annoyed me, and the whole thing to me felt like a copy of Twilight (which I loved, and everything else paled in comparison at the time). I've recently reread it, and I'm happy to say I don't feel like that anymore. And now, having read Torment and Passion too, I'm going to take back what I said and say that this series is awesome, and if you haven't read it yet, what have you been doing for the past two years?! Because it's a series that you shouldn't miss.
I liked Luce in this book. I really think that she grows up a lot in this book, and I think she realises that moaning about things is not going to help anything or anyone, and she seems a lot less self centred and a lot more mature to me, which is something that I really hoped would happen in this book. She's a completely different person to the girl that she was at the beginning of Fallen, and I think travelling back in time to all her past lives really helped her become the young woman she is changing into.
Because the book is about Luce travelling backwards in time and visiting all her past lives to try to find out more about the curse and find a way to break it, and Daniel following her to try and make sure she doesn't rewrite time and change the future, I also learnt a lot about Daniel. I don't think I ever realised how much pain Lauren Kate has put Daniel through; every time Luce dies in each reincarnation his heart breaks again. I felt sorry for him, and it made me like him a lot more because of it. It helped me to understand why he was so flippant and rude to Luce at the beginning, and some of his actions made a lot more sense.
My favourite part of the book was the plot. I really enjoyed every single one of Luce's past lives, and finding out a little bit about each era that she visits. I especially liked the story of Luce's life as a member of a Mayan tribe, and how they made sacrifices to the Gods, in the hope that it would rain. I also enjoyed the past life Luce had in Helston, in England, with amazing balls with huge gowns. I love reading about events like this, and while this was only a small part of the book, it was one of my favourites. For a history geek like me, this whole book was awesome.
Passion is like the perfect game of cat and mouse through time. It answers a lot the questions that I had at the end of Torment, and also raises new questions that will hopefully be answered in Rapture, the last book in the series. I'm so glad I enjoyed this book, I was hesitant at first, but the beginning blew me away, and the rest of the book didn't disappoint. I can only hope that Rapture will be just as good, and I'm not going to enjoy waiting for it; I want it NOW.

*Thank you to the publishers for sending this review copy for free in exchange for an honest review. In no way has this affected my opinion of the book.

[Glass · Rating 1 out of 5]

I don't know why am I even trying!!! This is the dumbest book ever.

[Donna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Posted on: http://bookpassionforlife.blogspot.com

Could you believe my luck when I managed to get this book for review? I actually jumped up and down with excitement, I was that excited. As you all know this is one of my favourite series and boy, this book didn't disappoint.

After the events in Torment, Luce starts using the announcers to time travel back in time to find out if she and Daniel are truly meant for each other but also to see if she can break the curse on her once and for all. She then comes across a new friend named Bill, who seems to want to help her but can she trust him? Or does he have a hidden agenda? And while Luce is visiting her past selves she doesn't realise that Daniel is chasing her, trying to find her, to save her.

Wow! Lauren Kate has completely raised the bar now for the fourth and final book. Passion was completely addictive that I managed to finish it within 24 hours. From page one you just know you’re just going to love it as Lauren takes you on this exciting journey. The amount of detail that has gone into this story makes you imagine you’re standing right in Luce's place, it really makes you wish you had your own announcer to travel in but what I loved most was the different era's and the different stories that brought our two main characters together. Watching their love unfold each and every time really touches you and leaves you praying there is a happy ending for them.

Luce does a lot of growing up through-out this book. Watching her and Daniel's past lives meet, fall in love and then of course, watching herself die was a lot for her to take in but most of all she now realises that their relationship is pure and everlasting and no matter the outcome, they will always find a way to be together.

Now Daniel, I really enjoyed being able to follow him on his journey because we've never really seen that before. Not only do we get a peek at what it’s like for him but we also see how much he truly loves Luce, this boy will do anything for her and I love that. Not only is his relationship with Luce interesting to watch but Daniel's relationship with Cam was also another one that really caught my attention, the way they were in the this book leaves me a little hope that maybe one day, they may be the brothers they once were and I'll look forward to seeing what happens.

The ending of this book will leave you speechless; I was only disappointed that I didn’t have the next book ready and waiting for me. I don’t want to tell you to much of the ending because I honestly don’t want to spoil it for you, but let’s just say…..evil has arisen and all our favourite characters will need to work together to defeat it.

Overall, I think any fans of this series will be pleased that Lauren has managed to capture so many aspects of Daniel's and Luce's love through this out story. She has done an amazing job, one that was truly beautiful to read about and I for one can’t wait for the fourth and final book. 2012 can’t come quick enough.

A massive thank you to Random House for giving me the opportunity to review the book.

[Amanda Minnock · Rating 2 out of 5]

May contain spoilers or actually can it even contain spoilers when it still doesn't have a solid plot? (whatevz)

[In the voice of Joker)
Want to know why I got this headache? Well see I'm reading the Fallen series, the book has no plot, no foundation, I try to read on but it just gets worse. I'm trying to push to get through this book to see the end, but my brain doesn't like that.. Not.One.Bit. I put the book down the frustration in me is at boiling point and I can't believe I have spent money on this series! My boyfriend turns to me and says.. why so serious hun? I turn and look.. WHY SO SERIOUS? I FEEL LIKE I'M BANGING MY HEAD OFF A BRICK WALL!

Ok so I am three books in, I'm still unclear why the hell Cam & Dan fight over her at the end of the first book? WTF and where does the white linen pants come from at the end during the battle? Why does she trust someone so much after a month? Why do they argue so much in the whole 5 or so times they have met in this lifetime (seriously why?!!!) Then torment hes not even really in the book but he still seems to come across as a complete dick but I liked this one a lot more than the first.

I have thought for the last two books that Dan was the douche but in this one Luce actually makes me want to punch her in the face, she is like a petulant child that is completely self centered who won't listen to anyone rushes into things ASS first and is just an arrogant little girl.4.0 student? Seriously no.

So they are traveling all over time she is not an angel nor is she a demon, the story was lagging so much it gave me a sore head and I had to put the book down a few times as it wasn't enjoyable..
When you did feel yourself getting into a bit of it Lauren would completely spiral off into something so irrelevant it was frustrating.

The big reveal at the end, anticlimax! what even..?

Anyway I'm about to start Rapture because as I have said before I bought all the series at once because the hype the book got, what a waste of trees.

[Mizuki · Rating 1 out of 5]

Okay, so I found Passion, the book 3 of the Fallen series in library and decided to give this series another try. The first two books had given me little satisfaction, with the romance between the two main characters so paper-thin, the pace of the story so off-beat, the plot so shabbily constructed and the mythical and historical references being so water-downed (I almost wanted to say 'bastardized' instead of just 'water-downed', but it sounds a bit too harsh so I changed it), I just didn't dare to put my hope up.

Two years ago when I first saw Fallen in the bookstore and read the introduction on the backcover, I mistook that both Daniel and Luce were once angels before they fell from God's good side and were made to reincarnate as mortals throughout history, unable to be together in every single incarnation as the punishment for loving each other, because angels were supposed to love only God and nothing else. (See? I'm too heavily influenced by Angel Sanctuary, hehe.)

In my mind, the setting above could have made such interesting story; with two mortals struggle to stay together against the mighty forces of Heaven and Hell which threatens to tear them apart, the mortal leads can even discover a few supernatural abilities from their angelic origin along the line, so to speak. So you can imagine my disappointment when I found out Fallen is just yet another 'helpless-human-girl-in-love-with-a-beautiful-powerful-mysterious-supernatural-guy' YA novel.

To tell you the truth, the overused human!girl and supernatural!boy setting isn't the biggest turn-off, what I found most disappointing is how the love relationship is played out, and the lack of explanation in……almost everything.

More confusing still, is the fact that in book 3, the author mentioned Luce's incarnations encountering Daniel in different forms (a Mayan teen, a young rebel in ancient China, etc), even remembering growing up with those past versions of Daniel before she died. It really confuses the hell out of me. Isn't Daniel an immortal? How would an immortal have the chance to grow up? Please, Miss Kate. A bit of explanation won't hurt anyone.

Call me a whinny, I found the idea of the names of Luce's incarnations(even those from thousands years ago) all sounded similar with Luce or Lucinda utterly hilarious. It's also hinted that Luce's original name when she first met Daniel was actually "Lucinda". Oh, seriously?  So people's names have remained unchanged throughout history? HA!

Passion opens with a prologue with Miss Sophia and her gang being reintroduced to the story; and the scene is a good one, the suspense is planted, the descriptions on different characters (most of them supernatural) are nicely played out. But after that I dove headfirst into Luce's time-travel into her past lives, then I felt as though I was being lured to walk in an endless, inescapable circle of deja vu.

With Passion, we are made to travel alongside Luce through many of her incarnations, many of those past lives are well described and the details are remarkable; but unluckily her past encounters with Daniel aren't very interesting. Since I'm not much of a fan for romance, the repeated circle of Luce's past incarnations meeting Daniel, falling deeply in love with him the second they laid eyes on one another (by the way, I'm also a non-fan for love at first sight), and then the past-Luces died by bursting into flame; grows tiresome to me pretty fast. 120 pages onward, the only thing kept me reading is the promise of Luce finding some answer and solution to the curse between her and Daniel.  

My old questions to the series  are still with me. How on earth could Daniel bear to see his supposed love of eternity burning to die for so many times without ever chose to let her go, leaving her behind so the poor girl might have a chance to mature, fall in love with someone else, start a family and then grow old like everyone else did? I mean, by the time we met Daniel in Fallen, he seemed to already give up the hope of changing Luce's fate, so might I ask, why should he still be hanging around? Why he couldn't at least try to exit Luce's life once he saw her?

Questions, still so many questions.

First I need to tell you I distaste the idea of Luce going back in time to figure out her long history with Daniel in the middle of a battle, when the fallen angels were fighting to protect her. I mean, what kind of heroine would do this in a battle when her friends were fighting for her? Just give me a break!

Why should the entire book focus solely on Luce's past incarnations? Couldn't Miss Kate just distill the entire reincarnations thing and Luce's encounters with Daniel in a couple of chapters and/or flashbacks instead of spreading them across an entire book of 420 pages?

For example, the Blue Bloods series by Melissa de la Cruz, also deals with fallen angels and reincarnation, but the author never spent an entire book to talk about the past incarnations of the lead couple. It would be so damn ridiculous and boring.

Plus it's puzzling to see Luce (and then Daniel) stepping into different time-spaces (where she isn't supposed to visit), interacting with different people (who she shouldn't have met) in the past, changing things and causes of events (which aren't supposed to be interfered) without once messing up the time-space balance of universe. How can it be possible?

The theories of alternative universes, loophole, time travel and other Sci-Fi goodies (and even Stephen Hawking) kept running through my head when I read the book. I must confess I'm no expert to time travel, but my limited knowledge about the subject tells me that at least half of the stuff Miss Kate written in her book, doesn't add up. For example, does anyone remember what those Back To the Future movies tell us about time-travel? That interfering history is dangerous? It's one thing to see/experience passively your past-life's events in flashbacks, unable to change anything; but it's another thing for a person to actually go back in time, interfering with people and events so much like Luce and Daniel did without screwing the future up. Give me a break!

Okay, I'm not entirely against the idea of time travel, but the more Miss Kate wrote about it, the more the time travel stuff looks at odd with the entire fallen angels, war between Heaven and Hell setting. Not to mention Luce getting a magical time-travel guide Bill, who just came out of nowhere but Luce still trusted him to the 100%, looks too much like a deus ex machina.

Plus it's mentioned that the past-Daniel met with the future version of Luce and even HIMSELF for a couple of times in the past, but it was never mentioned in the first two books. Are you kidding me? How could a person ever forget he had been visited by his future-counterpart!?

As characters, Luce and Daniel are as plain and dim as usual; so once again, the other fallen angels became the saving grace. We can always rely on Cam, Roland and etc to make the reading easier for us. I like that Luce is less annoying in this book, but sadly I found hardly anything for me to root for her.

PS: finally in around pg. 100, it's mentioned that Roland is a black character, took you long enough, Miss Kate.

After Luce experienced one of her past incarnations burning to die in Daniel's arms, she commented that 'it's a necessary, beautiful release'. Oh,Com'on. From that point onward I decided that I hate this girl. The more she mentioned how much she loved Daniel, his beautiful face  and how much she wanted to be with him, the more I couldn't stand her.

In the book, I got annoyed by Daniel's 'I'm nothing without Luce, I choose her over everything else' attitude. My goodness, does this guy have any meaning or purpose of life outside Luce!? And he had done a few things which makes me question his morality, e.g. he burned an entire Mayan tribe to die in order to save the past-Luce, including the girl's own family, doesn't sound very angelic, isn't it?

I read the last few chapters, and then the identity of the villain is revealed—it turns out to be a complete non complex. And I feel very bad for the villain for having to deal with Luce, his conversations with Luce is just so humiliating, to a point I need to facepalm.

As to the ending. Oh goodness I hardly even want to mention it. The supposed plot twist in the finale turns out to be such a massive   canon rape canon-destroying plot hole which I feel completely cheated, yes the ending is that ridiculous.

The Final Words: If you aren't looking for some good laugh, stay away from this series.

[Mariah · Rating 1 out of 5]

If simultaneously insulting the entirety of the Mayan civilization and ripping off Mulan was an Olympic sport, this would take gold, silver AND bronze.

Even Bill, the gargoyle sidekick couldn’t save this one.

The romance is so insubstantial, what the hell was teen me smoking?
(The answer is nothing, don’t do drugs kids - make sure your bad literary choices are 100% your fault)

[Lilou · Rating 3 out of 5]

First of all i was not so happy about this book. It just felt like it was never ending. But it also was quite nice like how Lauren just thinks like okay 9 days to survive good luck! So now i'm looking forward to reading te next one bc i want to know what is going to happen! I also think Luce is just too dramatic, really really annoying tbh. Hopes she gets a little better in book4

[Amber J (Thereadingwitch) · Rating 2 out of 5]

I started this book by reading the physical version. I didn't get very far and I even marked it as DNF. But then I decided to give it a go with the audio. That wasn't as bad and the narrator is the same one who narrates the Guild Hunter series. So that is kinda cool.

I don't understand this Luce. Why would anyone want to see their past selves die, over and over again? I don't know what she was trying to accomplish and all the times where she could have messed up her past so bad, and she didn't even think twice? Honestly, I think Luce is just not the brightest.

Daniel, I still don't understand why he feels the need to keep so much from her. Maybe, some of it he can't tell, but keeping so much extra secret would leave anyone feeling frustrated and lied to. No...just way too much unnecessary drama going on.


How I choose my rating:
1* Didn't like it at all. These are rare as I usually just don't finish any book I dislike this much.
2** Didn't like it. Again usually DNF if I dislike it this much, but occasionally I feel it still has potential and I try to stick with it to the end.
3*** I liked it. It wasn't great but it was enjoyable enough. It is unlikely I'll ever reread it but I might finish the series if it is a part of one.
4**** I really liked this book. Maybe not a work of genius, but highly entertaining. I might reread this at some point, and I will almost always finish the series if part of one.
5***** I loved this book. I found little to no issues with it at all. I will probably reread this and possibly more than once. I will definitely finish the series if it's part of one.

[Elena Salvatore · Rating 2 out of 5]

“At last." He breathed into her, finding her lips.
"You found me," she whispered.
"Always.”

Luce finally wants to stop the curse once and for all but in order to that she must travel back in time, back to all the other times she meet Daniel and fell in love with him.
With the help of a mysterious winged creature she manages to travel back to every meeting she had with Daniel. Meanwhile Daniel has to travel back in time as well to bring Luce back. Everytime he arrives at a place, Luce has already left it.



I loved that we finally got to see all the other times they meet and fell in love (it was what I was waiting for since book 1), even when most of them felt like they were completely different characters.

Some of them, I even believe that are in love.

However what made this book my favorite out of the series was the plot twist.
I knew what it would be. I've read spoilers about it. I saw it coming.
And I loved it.
I just wished it was better executed like this entire series.

I really think it could be a great series if it was written differently.