Fallen by Lauren Kate

Published by Delacorte Books for Young Readers

Length (hardcover): 464 pages

Lucinda Price, aka Luce, did not mean to kill Trevor. He died in a mystery arson incident, Luce standing helplessly by to witness it. No one around her believes her claims of innocency, and she is sent to reform school. Not even her loving parents are sure Luce is sane. She is followed by shadows that have haunted her for her whole life, shadows that have recently begun to develop deadly tendencies. More uncertainty arises for Luce as she starts to fit in at reform school, and meets Daniel. She knows him from somewhere, but where? The mysterious boy assures Luce she is wrong, but she is certain. Gradually, he comes to accept her, but something about him is still not right. Luce finds herself smack in the middle of a heavenly battle with earthly consequences.

This was another book that surprised me. It wasn't what I thought it would be (I've got to stop forming prejudices, apparently). The tone was not dark like the cover suggests, although the setting most definitely is. I also found myself in the middle of a love triangle, a battle between Cam and Daniel, and I wasn't ever sure who to root for. The plot was a little slow between run-ins with Daniel, which made me feel as if the plot centered entirely around him, which was a bit of a turn-off. I'm certainly one for cheesy romance, but when it's realistic and thoroughly developed. She had NO reason to like Daniel, at all, he was sending awful signals. But women are gluttons for punishments, and Luce doesn't seem to put much stock into Cam's sweet moves. Don't get me wrong, I was intrigued by Danny boy, and he was smokin' hot.

The twist was cool! If I hadn't known what the book was about prior (curse you, best friend!) I would have been much more shocked. There was suspense leading up to it, and I enjoyed the mystery. Then there was the epic action at the end, that wasn't described AT ALL to the reader. I was really looking forward to a paranormal battle scene, but Luce gets whisked away. I won't spoil it anymore, but I was quite disappointed that poor little Lucy was too delicate for the fight :( !

Character development was unusual, leaving the reader feeling unsure of whom to trust and definitely interested. I liked Arriane, I think, and Penn is AWESOME. There were a ton of kick-butt ladies to love (and hate). The romance was good, pretty decently written, and had the whole star-crossed element to sweeten the deal. Luce was a nice heroine to be rooting for, and was very strong. I liked that she didn't take no for an answer, and when she had a question, she wasn't afraid to demand answers, instead of tiptoeing around it. She wasn't too girly or too punk to be relatable, and had a pretty upbeat personality, considering her very sucky circumstances.

Writing didn't blow me away, I guess I didn't notice either way. There were a couple of lines of Luce's dialogue that I had to pretend I didn't read because I was thinking "there is NO way a teen girl would say that," but it only happened once or twice, otherwise Lauren Kate did a great job of creating Lucinda's character! An entertaining read, will definitely pick up Torment, the second book in the saga.

3.85/ 5 (a difficult one to rate)