Rapture by Lauren Kate

The Synopsis:
The sky is dark with wings....
Like sand through an hourglass, time is running out for Luce and Daniel. To stop Lucifer from erasing the past, they must find the place where the angels fell to earth.
Dark forces are after them, and Daniel doesn’t know if he can do this — live only to lose Luce again and again. Yet together they face an epic battle that will end with lifeless bodies...and angel dust. Great sacrifices are made. Hearts are destroyed.
And suddenly Luce knows what must happen. For she was meant to be with someone other than Daniel. The curse they’ve borne has always and only been about her — and the love she cast aside. The choice she makes now is the only one that truly matters.
In the fight for Luce, who will win?
Rapture is the astonishing conclusion to the FALLEN series. Heaven can’t wait any longer.


My Thoughts:
Earlier in the year, I started with the Fallen series, really curious about this idea of angels and reincarnation.  Right from the beginning, I was hooked.  This is not the first series of books I've ever read about, but it is certainly of my top favorites.  I instantly fell in love with all of the characters, Arriane and Roland being my most liked. 

This book picks up right where readers were left off in Passion, and the stakes are higher than ever now that Lucifer has decided to recreate the Fall again which would start time over essentially.  Daniel and Luce, as they always would and will, stick close together as they try to save the world and create and even deeper connection with each other (as if they didn't already need one since they've been together since the dawn of time).  All of the angels and demons band together to help, too, and then there you have Rapture.

Luce has always been the clueless one in the series, but I never thought it to be overbearing and annoying, and for that, I really loved her clueless yet fiercely determined personality.  She was smart and a lovable character in my mind.  It's no wonder why Daniel fell in love with her in the first place.

I feel that if I say anything, I'm going to ruin the story in one way or another for those who have not read this book or series yet.  Sorry for that, but I have a tendency to do that will books I love; I just babble about them for a really long time.  But I will say this: Kate's writing is poetic and accurate.  The story she has created is flawless with the history just dripping off of every page.  Never once was my attention broken from story.  It's safe to say that I could not put Rapture down.

I don't consider myself to be a big fan of the angel genre, but I find myself with a lot of angel books on my hands.  If you happen to be one of those people who has not read the Fallen series, I suggest you do.  I always love when books are mingled in with accurate history with plenty of action and adventure.  It's also a boost when the story includes a great and sweet romance.  Now that I come to think of this, the Fallen series has to have the most epic and heart-wrenching romance I've ever read about.  And for those of you wondering, it didn't bring me to tears like Unraveling by Liz Norris did, but I did get a little misty-eyed.

And what does this review mean? It means that this book was fantabulous and I suggest everybody reads it!  Yep!

Happy reading, everyone!

Fallen in Love by Lauren Kate

I've read the first three books in the Fallen Series and have been quite content with them.  They keep me on the edge of my seat and I fall in love with the characters with each turning page.  As you can imagine, I was very happy when I spotted this little one at my local library. 

Unexpected. Unrequited. Forbidden. Eternal. Everyone has their own love story.
And in a twist of fate, four extraordinary love stories combine over the course of a romantic Valentine's Day in Medieval England. Miles and Shelby find love where they
least expect it. Roland learns a painful lesson about finding-and losing love. Arianne pays the price for a love so fierce it burns. And for the first -and last- time, Daniel and Luce
will spend a night together like none other.
Lauren Kate's FALLEN IN LOVE is filled with love stories . . . the ones everyone has been waiting for.
True love never says goodbye. . .

First off, I'll start of by saying that I thought the cover was absolute gorgeous.  Just look at it!  Her hair, the dress, even the font of the title.  I honestly think that this is the best cover in the entire series, including Rapture and Torment, which happen to be close runner ups.
Ahh, I'm sad to say this, but this book was kind of a bore.  I know, I know.  I loved all the other books, but this one was just pure romance and heartbreak.  However, I did like how the setting was a Medieval town on St. Valentine's Day.  The girl inside of me was swooning at the thought of a little romance on V Day, but mostly I was uninterested.  All of the history was correct and it was very interesting to read about, but overall I just thought the book was cute.  It was okay.  And another thing I like is Lauren Kate's style of writing.  I'm not sure why . . .
Past Lucinda in here is deeply depressed because Daniel, her knight in shining armor--literally--has left her.  Roland surprisingly has an interesting history and so does Arianne.  Arianne and Roland have been my favorite characters throughout the series, so I was really excited to read about them and get to know a bit more than them besides the fact that they're bad ass angels, well, one of them is an angel; the other is a demon.  But to top all of them, my favorite character is Miles.  He's my book boyfriend, though I don't think he knows it yet.
And although the main theme of the story revolves around Luce and Daniel, they're not really a big part of it.  It's more of Shelby and Mile's and Roland and Arianne's turn to shine.  I liked that.  We don't get to see a lot of them other than when they're protecting Luce and Daniel from the Outcasts.
This is yet another book that I gave three out of five stars.  I don't think I'll ever feel good about giving a book a three or below, but it's just what I feel.  If you're in for a light and fluffy read, by all means, go ahead and pick up this book.  It's not that I didn't know what I was getting into by reading this book; it's just that I want to read all the books in the series, and that includes this small novella.  Like I said, Fallen in Love was cute.  It wasn't terribly bad and it wasn't unforgettably good.  It was an inbetween read that just filled in the gap between the books and gave you some more insight into the other characters' lives.

The Fallen Persevere

I've been waiting to read this book impatiently after I finished reading Torment earlier this year.  I had to wait for it to come out on paperback, though, since the two other books in the series are paperback.  Too bad when I went to the library, I couldn't resist picking it up and reading it as soon as I got home.  I like to think of myself as a patient person since I have to wait a year--sometimes years!--for the next installment in a series to come out.  But, for this series, my patience went out the window, along with my sleep and a minor incident where I fell asleep with my contacts in and my nose was pressed all the way into the book itself. 
Let me just complain a little and say that the library copy of this book STUNK so bad.  It smelt like smoke and almost every other chapter had a dogeared page.  But, as long as the book wasn't mine, I was fine with it.  This was, after all, an amazing and epic romance that couldn't be put down.
Enough of this; it's not like you want to hear all of this, anyway.

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.

In Torment, readers were left in total chaos.  The Outcasts had attacked Luce and her Fallen friends in her backyard on Thanksgiving.  In complete confusion and desperation, Luce had summoned an Announcer and stepped through it, traveling to who knows where back in time.  Daniel follows after her, using a different Announcer, having no idea where he's going, but knowing that his journey will be a dangerous one.
A hair-tugging-and-screaming cliffhanger, right?
Passion starts off with Luce stepping out of the Announcer and ends up in Moscow, Russia during an air raid.  The ground rumbles with the bombs that are not so far in the distance and Luce has no idea what she is doing.  And just as Luce steps through another Announcer, traveling even further back in time, Daniel steps out of his in Moscow, Russia during an air raid, looking for her.
That's pretty how much the book goes on for the rest of it.  Although I wanted all of this game of tag to end, I knew that what Lauren Kate had to write was vital to the story, so I read on, no matter how bleary eyed I got.  I knew there had to be a stop to all of this madness.
I really appreciated all of the accurate history that was used throughout the story.  I could really tell that Miss Kate really did her research while writing this book.  Luce and Daniel travel all over the world, going further and further back in time.  So, it was kind of important that an accurate setting was given for each one of the places they traveled to.  And I was not let down by that.  I had the best history lesson from this book.  Of course some of it was altered to fit the needs of the book, but it was pretty darn close to the truth.
I give this book four stars, mostly because I wanted to strangle Passion just so I could figure out what happens in the end.  But, where would be my good book-reading spirit be with that?  I was frustrated by the mystery that was just out of reach for not only Luce, but the readers.  Nothing was predictable about this book.  There were many, many twists and turns that I did not expect and one I wish had never happened, but they made the book.  Every small detail completed this book, and I'm glad that everything that happened took place.
And as a surprising little sidenote, the whole book seems to cover days and days, but in reality, it only covers about a few hours!  My socks were knocked off when I found that out.  Waah!  How is that even possible??  Anything is possible, Millie.
I can't wait to read Rapture, the final book to the series.  I need all of my worries to be smoothed over as soon as possible.  It's too much for me to handle to just sit and wait around.  I'm extremely happy I read this series.  I know it'll always be that series I will always remember.
Here's a question!  Does anybody else think that A Thousand Years by Christina Perri would suit this song perfectly?  Everytime I hear that song, I think of Daniel and how he will always love Luce, through every bump in the road.

IMM (3)

I probably should have done this a few days ago, but oh well.  So, I have this serious problem of buying books on the spot.  BIG PROBLEM.  I can't go anywhere without buying a book or two.  Anyway, this meme was created by The Story Siren and bloggers are able to post about all the books they've received as of late.

From authors:

 <---- Got an email from E.M Tippetts herself!  She'd love for me to review it and I can't wait to read it; it sounds so cute!












<---- Won this one in a giveaway and it's signed!

Borrowed:

Bought:

 <--- Thought I might as well get with the program with this book.  Everybody raves about how good it was so I thought maybe it was time for me to read it.

I can't wait to read all of these lovelies on my shelf!  They all look so good.  What does everybody else have to read?  Leave a nice little comment telling me what's everybody got for their IMM.  Don't forget to leave a link to their blog so I can check out all of those glorious books you have!

P.S Don't forget to enter in the awesome giveaway I'm doing!  Who wouldn't want to win a Sweet Evil ARC by Wendy Higgins along with a signed bookmark?