Review: Rapture (Fallen #4) by Lauren Kate

Name of book: Rapture (Fallen #4)
Author: Lauren Kate
Publication: June 12th 2012
Genre: YA Paranormal
Source: Burrowed
Goodreads

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.

-- My Rating --

-- My Thoughts --

     **WARNING This is a spoiler if you haven't read the three other books in the series, you will find them here: Fallen, Torment, Passion WARNING** I couldn't believe I finished this series, wait! I still can't believe I finished it! It's so overwhelming, so enchanting! I can't stop babbling about how much I love this series! I love it! Adore it! I am swooning over it!

     Luce and Daniel have been through countless troubles over numerous years ( decades, centuries... You name it.) because of the love they have for each other. As if that wan't enough, Lucifer has an evil plan.  This time, they have to stop Lucifer from erasing much of the history of Earth, which means erasing Luce and Daniel's past.

     But to stop Lucifer, they have to find the exact location of the Fall. The Fall of the angels from Heaven to Earth, and to find this location, they will have to go through deep research into the history of the Earth. 

     While fighting their enemies and making new friends, Luce realises that she was meant to love someone else. The curse has always been about Luce, not Daniel. The land is covered by angel dust and many lives are taken, it's up to Luce to find the answer to break this curse and save the world.

     Will Luce find the answer to this terrible curse? Will she and Daniel ever be together? Find out the astonishing, captivating conclusion to the Fallen series when you read Rapture...

     Oh My God! This  is not what I expected at all... You better prepare some tissues , you will be shedding a few (or many) tears when you read this book. It's so heart breaking, so compelling. Lauren Kate's style has improved so much!

     The character development is obvious. Long gone is the clumsy Luce who was afraid of everything. A new girl is  there, a girl who has the courage to take down the devil and fight for the love of her life. 

     Daniel, well, I am swooning over him all the time! He is so damn-goegous and protective. And Cam is my favoite character of all, although I felt like he was a little bit left out at the end but he is still there in my heart. I want to read his happy ending!

     The ending is breath taking! You can guess whatever you want but the end will NEVER be what you expected or guessed.  It was so unpredictable! First, I didn't like the end that much, but after sleeping on it and dreaming about it, it is one of the best conclusions I have ever read.

     This book showed me (andit will show all of you) the value of true love, the value of the love that lasts for eternity, the love that never dies and has no boundries. I will always remember this series, so that I can give it to my children to read. This series is an unforgettable series, it is the book that will always be kept on bookshelves in houses all around the world. As long as we are faithful, this series shall never die, for it will always remain alive in our hearts and souls...

Review: The Betrayal of Natalie Hargrove by Lauren Kate

From Google...

A steamy Southern beauty makes one fatal mistake

Natalie Hargrove would kill to be her high school's Palmetto Princess. But her boyfriend Mike King doesn't share her dream and risks losing the honor of Palmetto Prince to Natalie's nemesis, Justin Balmer. So she convinces Mike to help play a prank on Justin. . . one that goes terribly wrong. They tie him to the front of the church after a party - when they arrive the next morning, Justin is dead.

From blackmail to buried desire, dark secrets to darker deeds, Natalie unravels. She never should've messed with fate. Fate is the one thing more twisted than Natalie Hargrove.
Cruel Intentions meets Macbeth in this seductive, riveting tale of conscience and consequence.

My Rating:

My Thoughts

     This wonderful standalone, explores the senior year of Natalie Hargrove. The girl who had it all, the perfect looks, the perfect reputation, and the perfect long-term boyfriend, but nothing comes in a perfect package, right? What Natalie had up her sleeve the years before she moved to Palmetto, is something not even her boyfriend, Mike, could know about.

     As a runner up for the Palmetto Princess, Natalie would literally do anything to ensure her and Mike's places as the Prince and Princess. But on one night party, Natalie and MIke carry their drunk competitor, Justin Balmer, to their car and give him a ride to the church. What a decent idea! But that's not what Natalie has in mind! Just a little fresh lipstick, and arms tied around the doors of the church, can cause some humiliation for Justin, when he wakes up on Sunday morning (Walla! Church day i.e. full of people.)

     Natalie's plan goes a little bit out of control as they find Justin dead by tomorrow morning. Every action has its consequences, and that's what Natalie and Mike experience. Even when crowned as the Prince and Princess, they can't get away from their guilty conscience.

     What should Natalie do to make things right? Will her little mistake be discovered? And what has she been hiding for all those years? You can find out all of this if you read Lauren Kate's tragedic tale of guilty conscience. 

Recommendation:

     I can't explain how wonderful this standalone novel was! Lauren Kate is definitely a professional writer, she actually makes you feel for the heroine and discover her little secret one step at a time. Well, I wasn't expecting the tragedic end, but the unexpectable is so enjoyable! The tale of love and hate, good deeds and bad deeds, is what this novel is all about.

Review: Passion (Fallen #3) by Lauren Kate

From Google...

Luce would die for Daniel.
And she has. Over and over again. Throughout time, Luce and Daniel have found each other, only to be painfully torn apart: Luce dead, Daniel left broken and alone. But perhaps it doesn’t need to be that way. . .
Luce is certain that something—or someone—in a past life can help her in her present one. 
So she begins the most important journey of this lifetime . . . going back eternities to witness firsthand her romances with Daniel . . . and finally unlock the key to making their love last.

Cam and the legions of angels and Outcasts are desperate to catch Luce, but none are as frantic as Daniel. He chases Luce through their shared pasts, terrified of what might happen if she rewrites history.
Because their romance for the ages could go up in flames . . . forever. Sweeping across centuries, PASSION is the third novel in the unforgettably epic FALLEN series.

My Rating:

My Thoughts:

     I finally finished the third book in the series, Fallen. Lauren Kate nailed the point of this sequel, she simply created one of the best books I've ever read. 

     Luce is diving deeper and deeper into her past, deeper and deeper into history. As she watches her past selves, from 1941 in Moscow to 1918 in Milan until she reaches 3100 BC in Egypt, she looks for proof on the strength of her relationship with Daniel and a way to break the curse on both of them. 

     I appreciate the effort Lauren Kate put into this novel, I'm sure she did a lot of research, to combine all of these places and dates into Luce's long journey. I was quite surprised that the chapters were not only entitled by the name of the place Luce visits, but also Lauren Kate gave the exact date (Very stunning)...

      It is a bit strange that Luce needs all of this searching to actually find out that her love with Daniel is worth anything, but I don't blame her. Because  we are girls, and it's normal for us to be insecure, jealous, and stubborn.

     Luce uses the help of an angel (Bil) , whom she finds in an Announcer in the middle of her journey, He teaches her the best ways to communicate with Announcers, and how to cleave into her past self (When Luce touches one of her past selves, both the girls can combine into one).

     Luce searches life after life, at the same time, Daniel searches for Luce as well. But he is always too late to catch her before she steps into an Announcer. Daniel and Luce's love is forever burning and for sure they will find each other. Luce's little angel friend tricks her into almost killing the one she loves but he is not what he seems, he is a pure evil angel, a angel almost everybody fears, he is Satan.

     Satan (Lucifer) is planning something very evil, he is planning to erase a part of history, will Daniel and Luce be able  to stop him?

Will they finally be together?

We will find out in the next Fallen sequel, Rapture, which will be released on 12nd June 2012...

Recommendation:

     Lauren Kate is definitely an amazing storyteller! Passion has a wonderful quick pace, a whole world of characters,which fortunately you will not get lost in. This stunning novel will melt away your heart, and leave you as a prisoner to your emotions. Highly recommended for you, YA fans, and romantic fiction fans...

Review: Torment (Fallen #2) by Lauren Kate

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.

My Rating

My Thoughts:

     After the first sequel of this book, Fallen,  I expected a lot from this book, Fortunately, it met my my expectations, the remarkable thing is that the characters from the last book have nearly doubled in number, but you can still keep up with events. I will give a plus for Lauren Kate on this one!

     Luce is sent to another reform school, Shoreline, where she meets Nephilims (children of fallen angels and humans), who have some special powers. Luce learns her way through the reform school, and makes many new friends (like Shelby and Miles). Daniel and Luce's relationship seems to fall apart as Daniel hides more and more secrets from her. 

     Luce is determined to find out about the secrets. She uses the help of Shelby, one of the Nephilims to manipulate Announcers, the shadows she has been seeing since she was a kid. As she learns more about her past life, she feels that the more she digs through, the more her secrets she will know.

     When Luce goes home to Thanksgiving, she wasn't expecting a happy dinner with her parents, angel, demon, and Nephilim friends. And she was right, when the dinner ends, and her parents go out, an army of Outcasts awaits them on the front porch. As the fight begins, and the truce is broken, Luce decides to step into an Announcer's window, into the darkness, into the shadows, determined to find out everything about her past.

Recommendation:

     The second book in the series, Fallen, has a quicker pace, a much more wonderful bunch of characters, and a more mysterious ending than the first book. It's such an eye-catching, bewildering masterpiece, that will leave you committed to read the third sequel, Passion...

Review: Fallen #1 By Lauren Kate...

From Google...

There’s something achingly familiar about Daniel Grigori.

Mysterious and aloof, he captures Luce Price’s attention from the moment she sees him on her first day at the Sword & Cross boarding school in sultry Savannah, Georgia. He’s the one bright spot in a place where cell phones are forbidden, the other students are all screw-ups, and security cameras watch every move.

Even though Daniel wants nothing to do with Luce–and goes out of his way to make that very clear–she can’t let it go. Drawn to him like a moth to a flame, she has to find out what Daniel is so desperate to keep secret . . . even if it kills her.

My Rating:

     What I thought:

     Lauren Kate, has done a great job writing this book! The book attracted my very "heart", I couldn't sleep at night without revising all the pages I have read -through the day- in my mind, and predicting what the other pages will be about.

     The plot of the novel is yet another "triangular love" story, between Lucinda, Daniel, and Cameron (Cam). As Luce goes through her daily routine in a reform school, Sword & Cross, she finds out that she stuck between two, equally handsome, boys. 

     Daniel, whom although she is sure she has never seen before, looks familiar. She feels an irresistible pull toward him, but he acts ignorant, selfish, and pushes her away, without giving a real reason.

     Cam, who is so open that she describes him as "Algebra" while Daniel as "Calculus", acts like he is totally into her. Although Luce likes Cam, and feels safe when she is around him, yet she knows that he is not Daniel and can never be.

     Luce has been seeing shadows since she was a little kid, these shadows make awful noises, and appear when and where they are the least expected, that's  why Luce associates them with the death of the boy  she had a huge crush on, when she was back home. As the plot continues, Luce suddenly finds herself in a situation, where the two boys are fighting over her.

     Luce finds out that Daniel, Cam, and many others in the reform school have some "supernatural" powers. Daniel tells her about their true-selves, and leaves her to find out that they are all fallen angels. Luce and Daniel have found and lost each other many times during the past centuries. As Daniel explains, Luce appears each seventeen years, but when her lips meet Daniel's in every lifetime, she burns into ash right in front of his eyes. But this time is different, Luce doesn't die and she finally understands everything. Well, almost everything...

What are the shadows?

What's the story behind the fall?

And will other angels leave this couple to live happily ever after?

We will find out all of this in the next "Fallen" sequel, "Torment"...

Recommendation:

I really loved the fiction in the book, as Lauren Kate replaces

the myth of vampires with fallen angels, which is a very attractive subject for 

novels! I would recommend this very  much for Vampire fans and Fiction fans.