Review: Torment by Lauren Kate

Torment by Lauren Kate
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Actual Rating: 3. 5 stars

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.

Characters: 
I question my tastes in books as a preteen. I read Fallen when I was in 8th grade and I guess I was even stronger a romantic than I am now.  First, I loved Daniel and thought he was the perfect, beautiful boy that broods but is really caring behind the mask.  How my opinion has changed. He's too controlling and possessive of Luce.  Yes, his actions are out of love but he's oppressing her!! 

Luce makes me conflicted. I like her and I don't.  She goes out into the woods in the night which makes me think that she's asking for trouble, but I like that she's showing independence and defying Daniels' wishes.  I just had hoped she wouldn't be dumb and walk into danger.  I suppose I'm a feminist, so Luce annoys me, when she complains about missing Daniel.  Where isnt the lead feminine character in YA paranormal romances strong and fierce?

Luce's friends like Arianne appear again, and Cam is hardly in the book.  There are new characters too like Shelby and Miles, whom i like a lot.  Shelby has attitude and shows her loyalty to Luce despite their rocky beginning. Miles is so sweet! I admit that I was rooting for him and not Daniel.  Blasphemy, right?

Plot: Like Fallen, this was a bit boring in the beginning. It's just Luce getting used to a new school and pathetically pining for Daniel.  The action comes at the end, and woah talk about a cliffhanger! Now I have to continue with the series.

Signing: Lauren Kate is coming to my local Barnes and Noble to promote her new series, Teardrop.  This is the real reason why I picked up the Fallen series again.  I don't want to again show up having not read any of the author's books.  I've done that too often... So, I've stocked up on my books, and am ready to go with my bud Dani.   

Would I recommend this to a friend? I am not a huge fan of these books anymore, but I remember absolutely loving Fallen when I first read it years ago.  I recommend it for younger teens.  Dani calls it a step above Twilight, but I would say that Fallen is a millistep above it.  Maybe  it gets better as the series progresses?

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