Book 3), Passion (Fallen

Wow! Three full books and still no answers....NONE. This series could have been something great, instead it's just about a sily girl whos boyfriends stupid antics got them bolth cursed by the devil. THE END

***HELPFUL HINT***
Do yourself a favor if you must (I stress the "must") read this book...read the first 50-60 pages then skip to the last 90pgs and I promise you that you missed nothing but filler that Lauren Kate wrote to fill her own greedy pockets & you'll understand what little to this book there is to understand.

I was excited for the third book. Loved the first, the second was okay, the third was just okay. I will finish the series but, I really hope the fourth is better than the filler 2nd and 3rd book. I felt like at times I had to finish the book because I spent $11 bucks on the book...wish I borrowed it from someone else!

After the last book, Torment, I was pretty excited to see more of Luce and Daniel's story and how her past lives played into their current love. Passion does not disappoint. The reader is taken through many of their different romances and you learn along with Luce how much they really do love each other.

It was a nice change of pace to have the chapters alternate between Luce and Daniel and get his perspective on different situations, considering we didn't know very much about him for the first two books. We finally get more of his personality and his feelings for Luce.

One of the things I was a bit disappointed about is that there wasn't much room for any of the supporting characters that I know many of us have come to love: Arianne, Shelby, Steven/Francesca, etc. However, considering that this is Luce's journey through her past lives, there isn't really much room for others beyond her and Daniel and some cameos from the others.

The ending perfectly sets up the final installment, Rapture, and leaves you rather frustrated that we have to wait until NEXT YEAR to get the last book. Passion is definitely a great read and a natural progression of Luce's story and never feels forced or as if the author was just looking to stretch out the series. I'd recommend this book to anyone who enjoyed the first two books!

Passion is the third book in the series (behind Fallen and Torment) that will be four books in all. This book tells the story of Luce going back through her past lives to try to prove if Daniel really loves her (or is just a pawn of the curse) and if there is a way to break the curse altogether.

The problem I think, for me anyway, was that for most of the book Luce is an observer of her past incarnations falling in love with Daniel over and over again. So essentially the reader is an observer watching another observer of a story, and so almost all of the emotion is taken out of it. There is some emotion given off by "our" Luce (usually jealousy or envy) but all of the so-called passion is twice removed from the reader. Some of the settings are interesting, as well as the historical significance of a few of the encounters, but for the most part this book loses all of the great chemistry and romance that is found in the first two books of the series. Others have mentioned that this is a typical filler book in the series, and I unfortunately agree.

***SPOILERS BEYOND THIS POINT***

Perhaps one of the greater injustices of the book is the scene at the race track that pretty much gives away "Bill's" true identity. I think this scene was completely unnecessary and it would have been better if the identity of Bill was discovered at the end instead of with this silly "smoking hoof prints" on the bleacher's give away. As almost all of the interaction in this book is between Luce and Bill, I would have enjoyed it more had I not really known that he was going to come out of the closet (so to speak) as the villain in the end.

The climax of the novel between Luce and Daniel (ie. where she is supposed to kill her soul with the starshot) is the only real emotional scene in the whole book, but it was over so quickly that Kate really didn't capitalize on it. I think that scene could have been built up a bit more so that the reader could finally feel attached to the characters at the end.

This story wasn't terrible, but it certainly wasn't great like the first two books in the series were. I think the concept was good, and it was nice to get the history behind Luce and Daniel's previous lives. Perhaps it would have been better if Luce had gone "3D" in all of her previous lives so that we could have felt her emotions first hand rather than as an observer for most of the book. In any case, I will be reading the last book in the series because of course I want to know how it ends!

I really fell in love with the whole story about Daniel and Luce in Fallen and Torment but I must say, Passion was very disappointing. There was really nothing new about it and I felt it was also a filler book. Sometimes, I think series should end at 3 books or sooner....I waited so long for this book to come out and the 'magic' and 'romance' was just lacking. I hope the final book that comes out in 2012 will be much better. Let's just say I am not anxiously awaiting the next book of this series...

I was waiting for this book very much, I must say the first half if not more of the book was a wast! The first two were great, but in this one she seems to be dragging it out to write another book for the series. I not yet sure if I will even read the next book. Really disappointed.

I really did not think this book could be worse than Torment was. Boy was I wrong!! While Fallen was good, fast paced and hooked us in, Passion is just one leap from one time to another. Boring is the only way to describe it. There was NO Passion, no humor, no real danger to face (until the very last few pages). It just seemed to have no point what so ever. I'll not be reading the next one.

If this book was the start of the series I think it would have made a huge difference, we would have understood the Daniel and Luce saga better having being swayed by their tragic history and revealing past lives. This is my favourite book of the series as Luce relives her past and finally understands the curse and her love for Daniel. Interestingly enough Luce was kind of a witch in some of her past lives yet totally innocent in others. I prefer the future Luce who fights for what she wants and takes control of her destiny. Parts of this book are heartbreaking and yet somehow hopeful as he never gives up although he comes close a couple of times.

It is strange how we twist these stories to make angels more human and endearing to us yet history has them depicted as "Avenging" angels on the battlefields cleaving their way through the throng of humans and demons alike to win the war. Sometimes family is blood but other times it the people who you choose to be your family and whether they would fight to save you and you them that matters most. Roland has always been an interesting character and tried to steer Luce onto the right track yet his bad boy ways have him pegged as Satan's lackey just like Cam and still he was secretly hoping that Luce and Daniel will triumph after all.
The end is coming and whether they can stop it in time is almost impossible but they will never give up and will die trying.

Despite the fact that Passion is a reread, I never actually wrote a review for this one way back when. I got this book when Lauren Kate came to Singapore for a book signing, and I did read it, but I guess it had been a while since I'd read Torment, which is why I was a little bit confused with the events in the book. Thankfully, with rereading the series, it's now making a LOT more sense. I think this one is my favourite in the series so far. I love the concept behind it–visiting the past lives in different time periods in different places. I love learning about history, and I was excited to learn more about the past while looking at Luce and Daniel's previous relationships.

This was the breakthrough I needed–Luce became a MUCH better character. At the start of the novel she was still kind of her old self, super whiny, clearly not seeing the bigger picture. Later on in the book, she kind of gets it. While I still don't really like her character, I can tolerate her. Here's to hoping that she remains this way (or gets even better) in the last book! I did like the differences between her past selves and her present self. It was cool to see her change with the time period and the area she lands in: China, Mexico and Egypt were really interesting changes of scenery.

I missed the rest of the crew this time round! While we do get to see Daniel in all his glory–as well as the earlier versions of himself–I missed seeing the rest of the angel, demon and nephilim crew on the regular. I mean, you do get glimpses of them here and there (including a very interesting Cam moment in the past), but it just wasn't the same without Arriane's constant snark and Gabbe's sweet nature. There's also an interesting addition to this novel, who throws a complicated twist as Luce and Daniel go back further in time.

Passion delves through rich history and makes for an exciting adventure with several deadly twists and an outcome that could change it all. The last few moments were very interesting, and that has me all set to read the final book in the main series–for the first time. I can't believe I'm finally going to read it after all these years! I'm looking forward to see how it all ends.

The third volume of this controversially popular series featuring love struck Lucinda Price and her plethora of angelic associates takes the series in a variety of various directions, most of them good, even if the book takes a while to strut it’s stuff. The book is essentially about Luce entering Announcer after Announcer after Announcer as she she risks her life, limb and soul in her passionate hunt for clues and information on the curse which keeps her eternally apart from her soul mate, Daniel Grigori.

New characters are introduced in just about every chapter in this enthralling tale, but they are by definition nothing but cameo appearances as their respective roles in the story can only be short lived.

One new character is called Bill the Gargoyle and he enters from stage left at around the thirty five percent mark of the book. His role is to provide life saving support for Lucinda as she traverses universe after universe seeking important clues to answer her ultimate riddle. But he does more than just support our heroine. He provides some much needed comic relief for book lovers everywhere and also balances and justifies the story as it goes along.

I found chapter eleven of the book a respective highlight. Some of the passages found in this section were bordering on the beautiful and really lifted the tone of the book from romantic stalkerism to mythical and classic but high quality fairy tale. I am now beginning to really anticipate the ending to this mad chase through these eternity of eternities and can see how much the book has improved from it’s relatively slow and repetitive beginning.

So I give this one four stars. If the ending is exceptional (in either a happy or sad way) I will let you know. But its still highly recommended. If you have got this far, I see no reason to stop now.

BFN Greggorio

-------

Book finished October 17, 2015. In some respects the story is ended. We now know how the curse can be defeated, but in stepped Bill the Gargoyle, and with one swift stroke he upset the plans of everyone concerned and the ultimate fight for survival is about to begin. BRING IT ON!!!!!

She touched the side of Daniel’s face. “Is it love? Or is it just the curse that brings us together?”

“It’s love,” he gasped. “Don’t you know that?”

In this installment of the Fallen series Lucy uses Announcers to delve into past lives. She sees her relationship with Daniel and her death throughout different eras and cultures and tries to piece together what she really feels for Daniel and how she might break the curse upon them.

Being honest, something about this series is just not doing it for me. I really do want to like it, but I think I am wanting something more from the characters. I am going to put the rest of the books from this series on the back burner for a while and maybe come back to it as a fluff read. Nothing wrong with light fluff reading from time to time. I give it 3 stars. But man are these covers stunning.

After the torment of the last book (ahem) I was thrilled that this book delivered in all the ways in which the second installment didn't.

I LOVED the world building in this book. We follow Luce on her travels through time and various different continents and I could vividly depict all the places as they were so well described and detailed. I also loved how Lauren tied some of the plot into key historical events. For example, Luce and Daniel were Shakespeare's muse and they were both there the night the Globe Theater went on fire. Smarty Pants Lauren Kate. Very clever.

I was suspicious of Bill from the outset. Someone who professes to sit on the fence is someone to be very wary of. While I had a feeling he was untrustworthy, I didn't anticipate his identity so that was a good twist at the end.

This book was way more imaginative that Book 2 and I loved the 3D/Cleaving plot development. Genius.

(view spoiler) I was screaming at my Kindle, so afraid she was going to act all stupid again. Thankfully, she has matured and progressed while on her journey of self-discovery and she made the right call. I really hope that in the final book her and Daniel are a solid unit and that all the nonsense over who she should be with is put to bed and the plot concentrates on winning the war against Satan.

The big thing that Daniel is concealing still hasn't come out though I have s strong suspicion I know exactly what it is - all tied up with her true identity and what actually happened to instigate the curse.

The only thing that was a bit confusing in this book was the whole notion of the truce between Cam and Daniel, good and evil. There was a pretty big deal made of this in the last book as it was listed as a countdown. Yet there is no mention of it anymore and I assume we are meant to believe that in the greater scheme of things it no longer matters?

Also, since Book 1 there is no further mention of why Cam was trying to lure Luce away from Daniel and no explanation for his vague statement at the end of Fallen.'I just want her. You know why," he said to Daniel when they were in the rafters. I would really love to know the backstory here and it would add substance to what's supposed to be a love triangle but really never was.

Anyway, my issues with this book were minor and I enjoyed it way more than the second book. Im looking forward to finishing this series now.

This might have been my favorite of the Fallen books so far. I really enjoyed watching Luce face down her past and see and learn from her previous incarnations. I've never really been a big fan of history, but I found each life visited to be interesting and entertaining.

I also liked seeing the Daniel chapters. I liked watching his own journey and his former selves.

Basically, this book expanded upon the idea of Daniel and Luce having a history and focused less on the "now" of their relationship and more on discovering the why and what to do to stop it in their present.

I find it hard to give a very good review without spoilers, so I'll leave it at this...if you enjoyed the previous books, you'll enjoy this one. If you are intrigued with the idea of past lives, you will enjoy this book. If you're a fan of paranormal romance and the idea of soul mates, you'll enjoy this book. And if you love stories about fallen angels, you'll love this book.

Paranormal romance

There isn’t anything Luce wouldn’t do for Daniel including dying. Throughout time Luce and Daniel find each other only to have it all end with Luce’s death, over and over. And Daniel is left alone each and every time. It leaves Luce wondering if there isn’t another way.

Luce thinks someone or something in one of her past lives can show her how to stop it in her present life so Daniel and she can be together without her dying yet again. So Luce begins a journey through her different pasts to find the key that will have their love surviving this time around.

Cam, the legions of angels and the Outcasts are determined to catch Luce as she travels back but only Daniel is truly desperate. As Daniel chases Luce through the pasts that they have shares he is afraid of what will happen if she manages to rewrite their histories. If Luce manages that it just might take a romance that has lasted through the ages and sending it up in flames but permanently this time around.

This is proving to be a series that stays with the reader even after they finish each book. The series pulls the reader in more and more with each book that is read. It will also have them hoping for a satisfying ending that has Daniel and Luce getting an ending fitting for a romance that has proved to last throughout time. This is proving to be a very intriguing series that has readers reaching for the next book just to see what will happen to all the characters next. This book in the series has some great twists that just add to the overall plot of the series that keeps readers guessing just where it will all end. It is also proving to be a very good romance.

I will try to make this review as short and to the point as possible. I've divided it into three sections so read one or all of them.

BRIEF SYNOPSIS (NO SPOILERS)
This book picks up where Torment left off, with Luce going through the Announcer to try and learn more about her love with Daniel and the curse that has been set upon them. The whole book is pretty much about how Luce hops from life to life, going as far back as when humans did not exist. She is trying to discover a loophole in which the curse can be lifted, and is also looking for more tangible signs of Daniel's love.

POSITIVE
I have to say, this book was really interesting. I really like seeing the earlier incarnations of Luce and a younger Daniel. There were new concepts and characters, as well as heartbreaking and joyful moments. We really get to see the deeper story of what really happened to the Fallen angels, and what kind of bonds they share. This book has redeemed what I have read so far in the series. It is very entertaining.

NEGATIVE
I did not give this book five stars because, like its two predecessors, it was a bit dull at moments. Some chapters just seemed to drag on, and the boring parts were described in great detail while the things I wanted to know more about were explained only briefly. I think there could be a bit more action and less kissing. For a lot of the book, we hear about how Luce just wants to throw her arms around Daniel and experience his "hungry kiss" (gag). Luce is also a bit childish and illogical. I would actually say she is one of my least favorite characters.

This series is exceptionally cheesy, over-the-top teen romance. That said, it is still a decent read. The story is interesting and left me really curious to know more and see where the rest of the series is going. If you are able to get past the occasional swooning teenager, I would recommend it as an entertaining read. And on the plus side, it doesn't spend entire chapters of the two main characters staring into the other's eyes and constantly describing their incredible hotness (yes, I'm looking at you "Twilight"!). But I'm not sure that I'm going to read any more of series.

When I started to read this book, I jumped right back into the story like no time had passed between novels at all, which I like, it makes it easier to follow along.

The characters are still quite likable but the story sort of faltered for me. I'm glad that the reader could see into their past lives (mainly Luce's) and what got them to where Daniel and Luce are today, but the "time jumping" was not fun to follow. Luce was far more stubborn in her quest for the truth and didn't care if she altered time to achieve what she set out to do. It made me want to reach into the book and strangle her or slap the crap out of her.

As for Daniel, he was valiant as always, but always a day late, a dollar short. I kept hoping he would have gotten to her over and over again just to get the time jumping over with.

What I really wanted to know is what happened with the other travelers. We saw briefly what happened to Shelby and Miles and a few seconds of Cam, but what happened when they traveled through time?

Overall, it was, as always, a great novel by an amazing writer. I will be buying her fourth installment in the Fallen series to see where everything ends up.

Lucinda Price and Daniel Grigori. Two souls who have loved each other for millennia, despite the fact that Luce is cursed to die at around the age of 17. Every time Luce hits that fated age, she becomes a column of fire and dies in Daniel's arms. She is then reincarnated into another life, only to repeat the cycle. In Lauren Kate's first book, FALLEN, Luce and Daniel met and fell in love, just as they have through the ages. Except for one thing: Luce lives through it. Something is clearly different in this incarnation, though the curse hasn't been broken.

In TORMENT, Luce learns more about the war between the two factions of fallen angels and comes to learn that she will play some role in that war --- she doesn't yet understand her part, though. A group called the Outcasts are looking for her, too. Interestingly, Luce is also tempted by Miles, a handsome nephilim student at the school where she is hiding. But how could Luce be interested in anyone other than Daniel? She asks herself this very question, wanting to know why she is fated to love the fallen angel, and whether or not it's something she has any control over. She just knows that her love is, without understanding why. At the end of TORMENT, Luce steps through an Announcer headlong into her past, in an attempt to understand her love for Daniel and to see if it's possible to break the curse that causes her to die.

This brings us to PASSION, Lauren Kate's third installment in the Fallen series, where Luce finds herself a spectator to her past lives, as earlier versions play out the same cycle of living, loving and dying --- all before she turns 18. She sees herself as a young girl living in Russia during the First World War, and as a nurse in Italy, a princess in Versailles and a servant in Egypt.

As Luce jumps from Announcer to Announcer, she is aided by a new character, "Bill," who takes the form of a small, unassuming gargoyle. Bill seems to be helping Luce learn about her previous lives, but he also appears to be leading her toward some goal of his own. It's clear Bill has an agenda, but Luce doesn't discover what it is until it's almost too late...and Daniel isn't there to save her.

While she is travelling through the past, Daniel is always one step behind her, never able to catch up --- which is perhaps how it should be. There are things Luce needs to learn on her own, without Daniel there. And Daniel has his own kinks to work out in the past --- like finding (or making) a loophole in the curse that could allow Luce to survive.

But with Bill --- who may not be as unassuming as he seems --- at Luce's side, who knows what might happen? After seeing the agony each of her deaths puts Daniel through, Luce becomes driven by a desire to release Daniel from that pain and almost takes a course of action (proposed to her by Bill, of course) that would destroy the love they share. And if she goes through with it, it wouldn't just be their love at stake, but also her soul...

PASSION delivers. In the previous two books, we understood that Luce and Daniel were fated to be together. Now, though, after actually seeing how their love played out through history, I found myself really rooting for their love to prevail. I would still like to see more of modern-day Luce and Daniel together, but understanding where they come from, and how Daniel has suffered with each of Luce's incarnations, makes their love all the more tangible. I'm definitely looking forward to RAPTURE, and I can't want to see if the curse can be broken so that Luce and Daniel's love will survive past Luce's 17th year.

--- Reviewed by Florence Seymour

Ok- so if you read my last 2 reviews (which just happen to be of Fallen and Torment) than you will know that the only reason I continued to read this series, is because I got the first 3 at the same time. You will also know that I did not like much of anything about the first 2 books.

BUT- I am SO glad I continued reading, because this book was such a HUGE improvement.

In Passion, Luce is trying to figure things out, so she travels back in time to see her past lives. This was nice to see. I enjoyed being able to see more of what Luce had gone through, and specifically what Daniel had gone through for her.

I loved finally having some character depth. It was nice to see more about Daniel, what he felt and how he got through watching the love of his life die again and again.

AND character growth!! Luce FINALLY wasn't super annoying! She wasn't whinny, and didn't make bad decision after bad decision, just because!
We did learn some things, and a few questions have been answered, though definitely not all of them.

Now, when I pick up book 4, it will be because I want to. Because I finally am invested in this series. Good job, Lauren Kate.
Rating: 3.5 stars (rounding up though)

Review by Theresa Jones at TheresaMJones.com

This third book in the Fallen series by Lauren Kate was amazing!!! Luce is on a mission of the heart and she is looking into most of her past lives, with an unsuspected helper, Bill. He is what the Angels and Demons call a Scale and he is helping Luce with her mission.
I usually stay away from books that take place in the past, I don't like the past aspect. Its filled with words I don't understand and unfamiliar places. Instead of shying away from this book like I usually would, I embraced it. I absolutely loved it!!
Sure, it was all over the place as Luce and Daniel traveled. Then there was the figuring out the personalities of the other Lucinda's, but it was a really good book!

You see Luce evolve over her travels, shes still the stubborn Luce but with more consequence. She changes as she goes through the past, seeing herself die and die again. Then watching Daniels reactions of her deaths are heart-wrenching. Luce keeps traveling through the Announcers, growing and growing, till she goes 3D and then that's a surprise... But I'm gonna stop there till I give away more

There's Daniel, who is following Luce through the past and being a bit on the reckless side. He knows the consequences but those don't matter too much to him. He just wants her back in his arms, safe and sound. You see him remembering his past lives and feeling the pain all over again. He grows stronger though, and is remembering the places and things he forgot.

All in all the book was good! The way it was written was the right way to write a book like that. I give it 40 out of 51 tacos all in all!! Great job Lauren Kate!! Look out for the next book in the Fallen series Rapture coming soon!! Now off to read 5 books in the next 4 days before my flight to New York!!

After loving 'Fallen' and finding 'Torment' distinctly mediocre, I had my doubts about Lauren Kate's third installment in the series. Still, I have to admit I dropped everything when the the store box shot through the mail slot, and spent the next few days swatting off pets and children so I could read it.

There's a lot I could say about this book, but a lot of it's been said already. Yes, it's slow to start. Yes, it's a very different kind of story from what came before, and that's bound to alienate some readers. But personally, I think it's the best of the series so far.

I mean this partly on an emotional level. In 'Fallen', though I loved the characters and the setting, I could never quite reconcile Luce's pathetic stalking of a boy who's deliberately cruel to her. Even when he got nicer, there didn't seem much point to her infatuation. In 'Torment' it was Daniel who annoyed me, with his patriarchal attitude and refusal to give Luce any reasons for his constant demands. 'Passion' may throttle back on the action, and there are no boarding school antics to keep things ticking over, but Kate wisely uses the breathing space to finally make a case for this doomed love that's spanned milennia. It's here that I finally find Daniel and Luce believable. In fact they also manage to be moving, in places even profound.

'Passion' is also better than the others on a technical level. Okay, not something most teen readers care about or will even notice, but as a historical novelist myself, I was quite impressed by Kate's ability to create so many believable past worlds for her characters to experience. And while twentieth century Russia and Italy aren't too hard to manage, she also bravely delves into some pretty obscure settings: pre-Columbian Mexico, ancient Tibet, and eighteenth century Tahiti, to name a few. It says a lot about her as a writer that all of these disparate settings were equally well-realized.

So why not five stars? First [slight spoiler alert] the Bill 'twist' was obvious to me from the moment he appeared on the scene. I just couldn't buy it that Luce would be so gullible, after all she's been through. Second, Luce ended the previous book on fairly dubious terms with Daniel. Then she's right back in love with him at the beginning of 'Passion'. I would have liked to see her start out still angry and conflicted, and have to work through these emotional obstacles to realize how she really feels about Daniel, and why. The third bummer was heaven. After all of these fabulous, imaginitive historical settings, heaven was straight out of a children's Bible illustration - definitely a letdown.

All in all though, a great novel. I'm looking forward to the last installment, even though I know I'll miss these characters when they're finished.

Finally! I actually liked Luce in this book. She seemed a lot smarter to me. Maybe because she stopped whining and moaning while waiting on the sidelines and actually decided to DO something about it. If there's one thing I hate, it's a whiny heroine who sits back and lets stuff happen to her. Go Luce!

This series is really starting to impress me. Every book gets better, and I am looking forward to Rapture. I'm glad we're finally starting to get some answers, but I hope there's more to the curse/story than was revealed. Because honestly, that would be lame if not. And the "mercy" that is given to Daniel for his curse seemed totally random to me. I don't want to reveal it for those who haven't read it, but the loophole was just weird.

I liked that we got to see a few of Luce's previous lives, and I liked the constant action. There was no time while reading that I was bored or thought the pacing was slow. I sped through Passion because of this. The twist at the end was a bit obvious. I think we all knew something was up with Bill. I expected him to be someone else, though, so his true identity was a nice surprise.

I have to admit, I wasn't a fan of the first book. And Torment even had its rocky moments. Passion made me a fan of this series. It's a thoroughly well-written, enjoyable book. Like I said in my review for Torment, if you gave up on Lauren Kate because of the first book, keep going. You may end up liking this series.

I had read the first two books right after one another within the last year and was excited for the third installment. I liked that we got to see some of the back story hear Daniels point of view. I liked how Luce took her fate into her own hands somewhat by going back through the announcer to try and understand what was really going on between her and Daniel and try and find a way to break or just better understand the curse. In seems like most similar books in this genre the girl always just blindly follows the boy or will complain about their woeful situation but not actually try and take matters into their own hands so this was a nice and welcome change.

I do have a few issues. Normally i'm not a fan of authors trying to make parts of a series able to stand alone by replaying character introductions or past events to an annoying degree for those who have been following the series.That being said i could have used some of that in this book but at the same time it wasn't necessary. This book was pretty much all about Luce and Daniel. When past characters appeared or were mentioned I was a bit confused as to who they were but is the scheme of things this wasn't that important. I will have to go back and reread the first two before the final installment for a detail refresher. Passion seems like it was written for the character of Luce to get her bearings and for the indulgent of the readers who wanted some more back story than it was to advance the plot.

This being said I did really enjoy Passion, but it did feel like the author wrote it so that after the finale she wouldn't have to be plagued by requests for peeks into Daniel and Luce's past so instead wrote this novel and put it in the middle of the series to appease some readers. I gladly accepted and devoured this additional information and hope that it does not dissuade some readers from continuing this series.

I love where Passion (Fallen #3) begins. Torment (Fallen #2) left me hanging, so I was beyond anxious to see where this book - the story - took us. I was not disappointed.

If you are a fan of period pieces, you will adore Passion (Fallen #3). We are taken through past life after past life where Luce and Daniel meet, fall in love, and separate because of the curse plaguing them and their relationship.

There are moments that are tender where you fall deeper in love with the characters. There are other times that are so heart wrenching where you mourn for their fate. In the end, you are pulling for them and hoping they find each other for real and break the curse.

I liked the way Lauren Kate makes us see the characters from each of the previous books in a new light, making us question - yet again - their ulterior motives. As for me, I'm looking forward to Rapture (Fallen #4), which absolutely has the potential to be the best one yet.

T. R. Graves, Author

Passion continues right where Torment left off. Luce sets out on her quest to discover why her love for Daniel is cursed. She goes back in time to witness firsthand her relationship with Daniel in each lifetime in hopes of finding the reason for all the heartache in their relationship.

The entire book is basically different places at different points in time when Luce and Daniel were together. Lauren Kate does a wonderful job of explaining in detail each and every destination Luce visits, making you feel as though you're right there watching it firsthand.

I did really enjoy Passion, but I have to admit not quite as much as the first two. I am very excited to read the fourth book in the series, Rapture, as this continues to be a favorite series of mine.

Sooo, we have made it to book 3! Let me tell you, it was a struggle to get through this book. I had no idea that this series could get downright BORING!! Irritatingly dumb, yes, but boring, UGH!! I WOULD RATHER WATCH WALLPAPER PEEL than listen to Luce!!! This Author is like a broken record player, she constantly repeats herself, over and Over and OVER!!! Come on Lauren Kate, if you were going to repeat yourself for 9 hours, could you have at least used different words instead of the same ones?! And who came up with the book tittle?? Fallen was good for book #1, you nailed it with Torment on book 2 because it was torment to read it but book #3, Passion?? Passion about what? Oh wait, you mean “continue to build the passion of disgust for this series? OK, I can agree with that.

Recap: Daniel had spirited Luce off to “Nephilim High School”, where Luce learns that the story of her love for Daniel is as popular as Romeo and Juliet (and just as tragic) and everyone knows about it but Luce. For 18 days, Luce is supposed to stay at this school and stay low. But we all know Luce by now, she does everything she can to get herself into trouble and cause chaos. By the time the 18 days are up, she has managed to have Thanksgiving dinner with her best friend from Dover High School, two Nephilim class mates, her parents and all the fallen angles from Sword and Cross. After dinner there is a big show down between the “outcast” angels and the “fallen” angels over who gets Luce. So what does Luce do? She grabs an announcer, opens it up and says “So long everybody, I am angry and mad and want to figure things out alone because you guys won’t tell me the truth and I don’t like you” and poof! She jumps in side like a spoil little child! (How could an author write their main character so dumb and still want everyone who reads the books to love her???????)

This book should have never been written. Out of the four books in this series, this book was not needed at all. Nothing came from this book! No revelation about Luce and Daniel was in this book. This book was a complete waste of time. If people are brave enough to read this series, trust me, skip book 3 and move on!! This book was more a “novella” than part of the series. Daniel is barely in the book at all. All he is doing is chasing after Luce and always shows up a “day late and a dollar short”. Now Luce on the other hand, spends 9 hours and 40 minutes (of the book) flitting from past life to past life trying to figure out why her and Daniel love each other so much. Along the way she finds a friend, that teaches her how to “cleave” to herself to experience the past “in the flesh”, whose name is Bill. Of all the beautiful names all through this book, her friend in this book is Bill. And guess who Bill turns out to be?! Yes, saw this one coming a mile away, Satan. SATAN?! Lauren Kate you nicknamed Satan, Bill????? Facepalm yourself!! Now what do we learn in this book, NOTHING!! Nothing at all!!! Like I said, you could skip this book completely and you would not miss a thing going from book 2 to book 4.

The Narrator of the book is Justine Eyre. And that is about as nice as I can get about her.

The most enjoyable part about this book was reading the reviews. I must say I have never enjoyed reading book reviews so much till I read the reviews for the Fallen Series!! Pop some popcorn, grab a soda, use the bathroom first (or you will pee yourself) and curl up for some great reading!!!! Now the people who wrote the reviews know how to write. Lauren Kate, take notes if you want to continue selling books.

P.S. I still love the book covers!!!

I have just raced through reading Passion by Lauren Kate, which is of course the third book in the incredibly popular Fallen series and I have to say that this is my favourite book by far. I really wanted to take my time with it but I just could NOT. STOP. READING and I couldn't possibly put the book down. I was literally racing through the book as Lucinda was racing through time. I've waited for two books worth now to discover the whole story and I'm pleased to say that Lauren Kate finally delivers. I should of course mention at this point that if you have not read Fallen or Torment, then I would recommend you do so before reading the rest of this review.

Passion begins where Torment ended and as you may remember (truly, how could you forget?!) that Luce had finally had enough of everything, climbed into an announcer and disappeared into oblivion. What follows is a journey of discovery through time as Luce revisits her former lives with Daniel to gain a greater understanding about their relationship. Is it true love? Are they really soul mates or is it just the curse that bounds them together? As everything unfurls, the bigger picture comes into focus and we FINALLY understand what's going on. I cannot emphasise enough how HAPPY I am about this. Both the reader and Luce have been kept in the dark for far too long.

Firstly, what an aptly named book! I definitely felt the passion between Daniel and Luce throughout their various reincarnations. And what stuck with me the most was that whilst Daniel continued to love Luce over the years, with each new life he had to win Luce's affections all over again. Admittedly this is not a particularly hard job when you're soul mates and are predestined to be with each other but still!

If I could think of one thing that I'm just a little disappointed in, it's that we never really found out why Daniel chooses Luce. What is it about her that makes her so appealing? I'm guessing that because Luce and Daniel are soul mates, there doesn't need to be an answer to this question but it throws up a whole new set of questions, such as do all angels have soul mates? And presumably they can be mortal? Also, I would have loved to have seen the life where Luce and Daniel met for the very first time and am desperately hoping that Lauren is saving this little gem for the final book.

I think Luce's story is enthralling and I was captivated by her travel through time to visit her past lives. I also found it incredibly romantic that Daniel was chasing her throughout the journey. As an aside, I have to say that since book one, Daniel has always had dark hair for me and Cam was the blonde one. This idea is stuck so firmly in my head that when I read a description of Daniel in Passion, I actually thought it was a mistake. But then his blonde hair was referred to again and I remembered that it was me that had changed this in my head!

I have to say a huge thank you to Lauren Kate for not giving us another horrific cliff hanger at the end of Passion (only horrific in the sense that at the end of Torment, it resulted in me screaming "Nooooo!!!" at the top of my lungs and the wait for the next book has been somewhat painful). The door is definitely left open for "Rapture", the final book in the series which is released sometime in 2012. One hopes that the title of the book and the year of release does not pre-empt or allude to any sort of apocalyptic activity! I see "Rapture" as being the final climactic scene of the story, the big fight scene if you will. There is definitely a sense of foreboding towards the end of Passion and a strong indication that there is a battle ahead. BRING IT ON!

For those of you who thought "Fallen" was a beautifully interwoven tale of forbidden love, then you're in for a real treat with "Passion". I must agree "Torment" was a little weak and on-going, but "Passion" seems to pick up right where "Fallen" leaves us. "Fallen" began with the unyielding love between Luce and Daniel, but we are left to wonder why? Why, for the last (as we later learn) six Millennia have Luce and Daniel been finding one another? "Passion" takes both Luce and the reader on this time jumping journey from where we began in "Fallen": Helston, England, 1854 all the way to 3100 B.C., straight to Heaven's Gate when the fall of the Angels first began. We see how Daniel has chosen Luce over Heaven, Hell and even God himself. But we also learn, that as hinted at in the past, that the fault of the fall of the Angels does not rest solely on Daniel's shoulders, but alongside (what most people have come to know) as the true villain of our time, Lucifer himself.
This part of the story reigns true to the testament we have heard over time; Lucifer didn't want to share or play nice. He was obsessed and corrupted by power. A need to enforce and play by his own rules thus earning him a casting out of Heaven; along with anyone else who either chose his side or no side at all. But it is at this point that we are set up for the fourth and final installment of the "Fallen" series. After all the time jumping and just missing one another, present day Daniel finally catches up with present day Luce, who has now learned that Daniel really is 'the one'. Now I know this is where a lot of people will get lost and say that there still is no explanation for why Luce and Daniel love each other. Luce will at one point be asked the question "Why do yo love Daniel?" and Luce will say "There are a million reasons. I just do."
And for those who need a little more explanation here it is. For obvious reasons we know why Lucifer was cast out of Heaven and we know why those who sided with him were also cast out. But those who couldn't make the decision or made no decision at all, really in fact did make the decision that while they didn't want to side with Lucifer, their whole heart really didn't belong purely and entirely to heaven either, thus earning a casting out of their own to test our their trials on earth. Now Daniel didn't chose Lucifer, and while he still loves God, he did choose Luce. And this, fellow readers, is where their 'punishment' begins. Daneil can have Luce, but only for a short time every lifetime. Every time Luce either learns or gets close to the truth her time is up. After centuries of burning up or flaming out, whichever you want to call it, Luce finally has enough past memories stored up to piece together the puzzle (i.e. the lease on their 'punishment' is running out) basically, if Luce and Daniel stick it out long enough, their punishment will cease and they can finally be together. And Luce knows this (but whether that consciously or unconsciously --most likely the latter--), so this guy, this Angel who served in God's hierarchicy circle of angels, was well respected and highly honored in Heaven; when this guy chooses you above all else, a mere mortal, what greater honor is there? And when you yourself would rather spend just a short time with someone like that knowing the pain it will invoke on the two of you in the end (Luce dead and Daniel brokenhearted, suffering with grief and pain until they can meet again), how can you NOT love that person? In fact, how can you not call it love? After all, isn't love a promise? (Or it's supposed to be anyhow.)
Love is a fighter's game, you can't win otherwise.
This Novel is called Passion for a reason and it really was my favorite so far. In my opinion: For every two people who tell you how stupid this story line is, there will be one person who give anything, anything, to be loved like that.
What can I say, maybe I'm just a sucker for romance?

This is a series, so I strongly recommend reading "Fallen" and "Torment" before jumping into "Passion", but then again if you've come across a bad review for Book #2 you could probably just read the last three chapters and you should still be set up for "Passion".
Enjoy.

Well, I flew through Passion, finishing in less than a day. I didn't want to put it down, and I needed to know what would come next.
Passion wasn't really what I expected... while in theory we got to see some of their romances and where the love is coming from in their past encounters, I really wanted at least one start to finish meeting and falling in love.
What I got instead was interesting, and it really helps to see where Daniel's immense love comes from, and get to know him and where he's been. What Luce got from it was more of a sense of who she is, and she has to learn and convince herself that their love is from something real, not just fate or simple attraction.
This is a good addition to the series, and I know that I'll pick up the last and hope that all the threads are tied up and something happens with a bang.

After reading TORMENT, I was seriously considering not giving this a chance. I mean, did Lauren Kate think smearing her crap over pages of a book and slapping on a cover of a jaw-dropping cover of a tall, skin-'n'-bones girl sobbing into her hands in front of beautiful grey scenery was a good idea? Yeah, no. TORMENT was literally tormenting to get through.

Thank God I have a two-book rule (if two consequent books in a series suck, I give up), or else I wouldn't have given this a chance. As much as it hurt me mentally, physically, emotionally, circulatorily, cardiovascularly, and gynecologically, I decided to give PASSION a chance, and BOY am I glad I did!

PASSION was everything I wanted it to be. I have to say, this review may be partially biased since I viewed this book through glasses tinted as rose as possible, but I'm going to try to be as sincere as I can here.

The cover may be sucky(-ier) compared to the other two, but the insides are definitely better. Maybe what drove me nuckin' futs about TORMENT was the fact that it took place over about NINETEEN DAYS, which is an unthinkably short time for a book to take place with as little action as TORMENT had. PASSION spans over thousands of years, reaching back all the way to BCE time (which is like BC/AD, except it's BCE/CE with CE meaning Common Era and B meaning Before. I had to look that up. Is that bad?), which definitely took care of that issue.
The villian was nothing short of predictable to me, and I guessed that they were the villian about halfway through their rein.

Luce definitely isn't as helpless, soggy and/or plain stupid in this book. She takes time to think things through and doesn't slack when she knows what she wants to accomplish.

The cause of this book may be pretty stupid (Luce thinks that Daniel only loves her because of their curse, and wants to prove that he'd love her otherwise. I mean, come on! Mid-pre-midlife crisis FTLoss!), but all the chaos that ensues because of her rash decision are nothing short of interesting.

(In other news, I think this is the longest review of a book I've written. Ever.)

So, yeah. FALLEN was fantastic, TORMENT was the most aptly named book ever, and PASSION was better than the two combined. (Maybe it was the historical fiction that won me over, and the fact that Kate had to actually get off her butt and research something for once [or, you know, she could've not gotten off her butt and used a computer--but who has time for the semantics?])

If TORMENT killed it for you, PASSION will re-ignite the spark inside your heart. I promise. (Well, unless you're reading it while wearing . . . poop-colored glasses [I dunno! What's the opposite of rose? {Maybe it's that pukey color you get when you mix all the colors together! }])

I went into reading this book for two reasons: 1. I had read the first two books and 2. the second left off on a cliffhanger and I can't stand not having closure.
The first book in the series was... ok. It wasn't my favorite, but I enjoyed it. The 2nd book in the series was... well, boring, in my opinion. I just didn't care for it. I didn't have high hopes for Passion, but went on ahead anyway. And I am SO glad I did! This is, by far, my favorite in the series. It moved quickly, provided some much desired back story, allowed you to really get to know these characters, and- thank goodness- Luce wasn't the whiny kid she was in the Torment.
For fans of the series, this is the book to look forward to. To new readers of the series, yes the other two books are necessary to read to know what's going on. But do read them- Passion is worth the wait!

I loved Fallen. I mean really thought it was great. I wanted more info so I didn't feel so very lost about certain things, but I still really thought it was a great book. It pained me to read the second (Torment). It was not a great follow-up. Despite the epic failure that I thought Torment was, I still had high hopes for Passion. Shame on me. Don't get me wrong, I will read Rapture - if for no other reason than the text on the page facing the last page states: "Rapture - The Final Book int he Fallen Series - Spring 2012" and I can close the book on a series that had so much potential but fell flat fast.

Here, virtually all the characters we got to know in the first two books were non-existant. The promise of a "team Cam vs team Daniel" - shattered. Primarily by the fact that Cam was in all of like 3 chapters and he was peripheral. And expendable. And he didn't really influence the plot or the characters in any way. The only characters that really mattered in this installment were Daniel, Luce (both, in all their incarnations) and the new Bill character. And while this is a petty, nit-pickey, tiny little annoyance - was it really necessary for ever version of Luce to be named some version of Luce? Really? Before we get to the Mayan civilization or Chinese one, we couldn't get a different name? With Bill as the guide, it wasn't really necessary for that to happen. But anyway... onto bigger complaints.

First, the entire plot annoyed me. Luce needed proof that their love was real? This book felt like an unnecessary detour through time just so the author could try writing about time travel. Bill could have gone all "3D" Luce with the first step back and Luce would have felt it right away. But that would have cut out at least half the book. Because Luce gets a hint that "choice" is important, but there really isn't any context to help the reader guess why and the time traveling got old. Fast. And there were still all these rules around the curse, but even after learning what the curse was and where it came from, where'd the rules come from? The little we learn about the characters all happens in the last 30 pages. And there isn't enough meat to the rest of the pages before that to keep a reader really engaged. I constantly felt like "get on with it, where'd the curse come from?" and was relieved when a chapter was over because it meant I was getting closer to the end to figuring out what the end game of this installment was.

The characters were flat. Everything about them came from the first two books and the prose, which was decent in the first book, was just as bad as it was in the last. There are plot holes, unnecessary time traveling, changes to time lines with out any consequences (even though they are all about making sure nothing too drastic changes, but they need to create the loophole in the first place - so, it's like an oxymoron in a way), and the descriptions of the scenery and setting are bloated and felt like a way for the author just to show off some historical research. The time frames really didn't do anything other then play window dressing and after a little while, it got annoying having to read 3 or 4 pages of setting description before really having any clue why those particular lifetimes were chosen.

I am ready for this series to end. All the romance has been sucked out of the series for me, the way Luce's doubt came about in Torment and the way it was "resolved" here didn't do anything to bring that romance back. And, I don't even really want to think about the theology that must be coming in the last book.... This book was really more of a transition from love story in the first two books to what ever battle of good vs evil is coming in the last one (at least that's what it seems to be setting up for). The first books weren't really ever about saving the world, but about Luce and Daniel's love story. Now, all of a sudden we are shifting to the need to save the world. I don't know why it took that (mis)direction, but it spoiled the story. We had to get through the anti-climax of where the curse came from so we can get to the angels battling satan so we can get to the end of the series. We learn nothing about the annoying Announcers. We get introduced to "the Scale" but what a waste of words that was. There was no real action here. No real depth to the plot. No real romance between the characters. No real elegance to the dialogue. That leave no real hope for the last, except for the fact that it will be the last!

I liked "Fallen" and "Torment" and was actually pleasantly surprised by them. I liked Luce, Cam, Miles and most of her other friends. I had reservations about Daniel because he was so hot and cold but I figured it was a good match for Luce. I was more than a little eager to move on to "Passion".

While I really respect when a book in a series takes a risk and goes a different route than the previous novels, "Passion" was just too different. The time travel through the Announcers could have been awesome. But it was poorly executed. Luce and Daniel (separately) went back to too many previous lives and those sequences felt rushed and muddy. I was unclear on most of what I was supposed to learn from those travels. Luce seemed to get it, but I was lost.

I can understand why Luce looked different many times in past lives. I mean it made sense that if she was in Egypt she looked Egyptian and so on. She was reincarnated and born to different parents each time. However, why does Daniel look different so often? I understand he should fit into each culture/time period but he is an immortal Fallen angel. He has been alive for all those centuries whereas Luce keeps dying and starting over anew. Did I miss something that explained that? Does he have shape-changing powers in addition to him angel status? 95% of this book wasn't satisfying to this reader in any way, shape or form. Shelby and Miles make quickie appearances every so often but we never really know what they are doing and what they have been through. Sure they are searching for Luce but there isn't much of a point other than their last encounter with Daniel. The merging of the souls was awkward and not well explained. Bill's plan to have Luce cleave away from her past and start anew without Daniel made no sense. I read it over and over again hoping to understand it. Finally since it made sense to Luce I gave up and just went with it.

There was a positive in all of this. The reason this review is two stars rather than the one I thought it was going to be is due to the ending. Maybe the last two or three chapters of this book really grabbed me. It involved the original casting out of the fallen angels from Heaven and how they work a loophole into the curse. I found that to be exciting and page turning reading. We end with a nice set up for the concluding book "Rapture". I am too invested in this series to stop reading it now. Hopefully "Passion" was just a misstep along the way. The whole time travel thing really drug this tale down. Another negative is just how little we got to visit with the entertaining cast of supporting characters. I do think we will see much more of our friends in the next book.

Bottom Line: "Passion" ends up filling like a contract filler. If you follow this series, you should definitely read at least the last few chapters of this book. You won't miss anything if you skip the rest.

Passion is the ultimate filler book. Absolutely no plot progression happens for the first 400 or so pages, and then, BOOM, new plot point and cliffhanger ending! I didn't wholly dislike it, since I love me some time travel and visiting far off places, but it was all extremely repetitive and melodramatic. Luce is beginning her journey through space and time to learn about her past lives and relationship with Daniel. She's also hoping to find out where the curse changed and how she can break it. It's also pretty important that she doesn't screw anything up, therefore rendering herself nonexistent in the future, or some other catastrophe. Daniel is also making his way backward through time to find her before she breaks anything, but he's also got to be mindful of his actions in the past.

I did like the way time travel worked in Passion. It's definitely less Science Fiction and more divine intervention, but it works for this series. Basically, stepping through the shadows doesn't take Luce to a random point in her history. The travel works on a kind of need to know basis, so wherever Luce needs to be to learn a lesson, is where she winds up. It was interesting to see all of the different times and places, and I liked how the further back we went, the less Luce looked like herself. It would have been pretty strange if she looked like her modern Caucasian self during the Shang Dynasty! Daniel also looked different, but I'm sure that's due to being an angel rather than human evolution.

Aside from the inner workings of the time-space continuum, I was kind of bored with Passion after about three past lives. It was the same thing over and over again. Luce would step into some unknown place and time, be faced with some problem, improvise and end up where her past self is, run into Daniel, watch past Daniel and past Luce kiss, past Luce dies in a fireball from hell, and then goes to the next place/time. Meanwhile, Daniel is always one step behind her and can't seem to catch up. Or they just miss each other by moments. There was some variation added as Luce went further back, but not enough that it felt new and different from what I had already read.

Passion also introduces us to Bill, a little gargoyle who serves as a tour guide through time for Luce. I found his presence extremely comical and couldn't take him seriously at all. My mind immediately thought of Space Jam, because it was kind of like a cartoon character flitting around Luce all of the time. He was helpful in getting her dressed period appropriate, but I just had this mental picture of a cartoon cloud of dust appearing around her as Bill quickly does stuff to change her appearance. It was very distracting.

Passion ends on a cliffhanger. Finally in the last few pages, we see where the curse started, although we never see when Luce and Daniel met, which I would have liked to. Everything goes all the way back to the Fall. Things are learned and evil plans are revealed, and everyone goes back to the present where there's a gaping plot hole! Time doesn't pass the same when you're time traveling, so even though Luce was gone for quite some time, only hours had passed in the present. Well, the plot twist involves the Fall, which was said to last nine days. Now in the future/present, they say they have nine days to figure out how to stop the evil plan before the Fall is complete. Um, no. They'd have a couple of hours! I'm sure Luce was gone for about that time or a little less, but either way, nine days in the time travelly world does not equal nine days in real time.

Although I found the time traveling idea fun, I was ultimately disappointed with this installment of the series. So far in the series, Luce really doesn't know much about Daniel, their love, or their curse. This installment is meant for her to travel throughout time by way of Announcer in order to understand her past lives, Daniel, their love and the curse. By the end of the story, I didn't feel that much was learned other than the contents of her past lives.

During her travels, Luce met a version of herself in England who turned out to be a bad person. From this live, Luce learned that although each reincarnation her soul was the same but the personalities could be different. I found this to be a stretch. I understand the idea that being raised differently from different people in a different era is going to cause some general changes in personality, but at the same time, I don't understand the extents of these changes. Generally, if someone has a kind and generous soul, how could their personality be bitchy? This really didn't make sense to me. I expected more of a general theme instead of a random modge-podge of people. I also found it disappointing that no matter what the personality, Daniel of that time still loved the Luce of that time. This made me feel sorry for Daniel. He has so little control over who he loves that he's forced to love a bad person just because the soul? None of this truly made sense to me.

Another aspect that I found concerning is the constant reminder that if Luce changed something in the past, it could cause her to no longer exist or be a different person, etc etc. This also didn't make sense to me. If each of the different Luces is their own person, their own family, with no ties other than the soul itself, how can that change her to the point where she no longer exists? None of the past Luces ever remembered the contents of their previous life, so it can't be that it changes the overall aspect of her growth and development, so really? How does this affect her future? I can see how Daniel making the changes he made actually can adjust the contents of the future, but nothing that Luce did really would have altered anything?

And lastly, it's never explained WHY Luce and Daniel love one another. Even when Satan flat out asks her what she loves about Daniel, she can't explain. I can understand it being difficult to put into words why you love someone, but you can at least name some qualities of that person that makes them pleasant. Luce really had nothing which I found really solidified the fact that the majority of this book was really written for no reason other than to show Luce's history rather than explain why things were the way they were.

Quite honestly, if I didn't already have the next book checked out from the library, I'd probably just stop here. Since I have it already, I'll give the series a chance to explain a bit more, hopefully it doesn't let me down.

***May contain spoilers***

I was a really big fan of Lauren Kate's "Fallen" (the first book in her series of the same name). I thought that it was a really unique book because at the time of its release the whole fallen angel element had not yet been played around with much in YA pararnormal books (or not played around to the extent that it is today). Furthermore, not only did it have a completely original story line, but it had great characters to boot (Hello Daniel and Cam!). But then when I read the next book in her "Fallen" series, "Torment", and I was completely disappointed by it- I felt that it had so much potential but it fell flat. I thought that it deviated way too much from the original storyline (with all of the talk of Announcers, Outcasts, etc.) and the characters that we had come to love in "Fallen" did not play all that large of role in it (again, Daniel and Cam), whereas characters that we were only 'so-so' about played a massive role in it (ie. Miles, Shelby, and Callie). But I think that my biggest criticism of it was the main character, Luce, herself. I couldn't comprehend her thought processes at all, one minute she was all hot when it came to Daniel, the next minute she was totally ice cold.

Therefore, when I started "Passion", the third book in Lauren's "Fallen" series, I will admit that I was very hesitant to do so. I really and truly thought that I would think about this book (and series in general) what I did about Carrie Jones' "Need" series, that the first book was super amazing, but that the later two books were huge disappointments, but that wasn't the case- well, not entirely...

I would say a good fifty or so pages of this book I was entirely turned off by it, I really hated the direction that it was headed (again, with the whole Announcers thing), but I also really disliked it because of a newly introduced character- Bill the gargoyle. Though I guess that you could argue that this series isn't realistic at all, it is by far not the most unrealistic YA paranormal series out there in my opinion (therefore making it semi-realistic), but once Bill was introduced, well my opinion of it being semi-realistic completely flew out of the window. I thought that in the beginning Bill was such an unnecessary (and annoying) character, I really do think that I would have preferred to have seen Luce fall and pick herself up by herself and not with the help of a little sketchy critter.

I then decided to put aside my growing hatred of Bill to focus on what was really important about the book, the history of Luce, Daniel and their love. In doing so, I could not only start to tolerate the book (and the direction that it was heading), but actually start to enjoy it. I thought that each little world that Lauren wrote of was really interesting and quite well developed. I would totally to see more into each of their lives together (as opposed to the very short amount of time we did see pass in each of them). But what I was kinda confused about in their past lives was how Daniel was able to change his appearance (in one of their lives together he had skin the colour of hot chocolate with equally dark hair, the next he was his typical blonde haired, light skinned coloured self) when Lauren explains that very little about angels bodies change (well in relation to scars at least).

What I definitely liked most about this book was that it actually answered all of burning questions that we had from the previous two book (ie. How did Luce and Daniel meet? What started their curse? Can it be broken? Do they want it to be broken? etc.).

All in all, while this book is by no means as good as "Fallen", it is by no means as bad as "Torment". I am quite interested in seeing where Lauren takes the final book in the series, Rapture".

from Murphy's Library -- rated 2 and a half there

There's not other way: you either love or hate the Fallen series. Luce and Daniel's story has been told through Fallen and Torment and while I've seen a lot of people saying they didn't like it, I also have seen a few people saying they did like it. I started my review of Torment on last September telling you I hate Lauren Kate for making me so curious. I must confess I may have changed my mind after reading Passion--now I may hate her for another reasons.

As expected, we start Passion exactly where we were left on Torment: Luce starts travelling with the Announcers in order to understand what's the matter about her relationship with Daniel. Once nobody seem to be up to tell her what's going on, she decided to go back in time and find out by herself--and, well, let's give her some credit, after all, wouldn't you want to know if you were her?

But let me tell you something: I got freaking bored reading her past lifes with Daniel. I know, I know, we all know how they all end up (with her death), but Lauren Kate's writing didn't get me this time. I kept reading just to see if she would surprise me at some point, and that never came. We spent the whole book with Luce watching herself fall for him over and over again, there's a little twist at some point, and not even that got me hooked on this book.

If we find out why she kept dying every time? Yep, but it's something I wasn't really surprised by the explanation, I can say I had a feeling it was going to be something like that. If am I going to read Rapture? Probably. But only because I don't get tired of Cam (if you like him, good news: he's got some moments on Passion) LOL

I am so hooked on this series now. We all wish we could go back and relive parts of our life but Luce gets to go back and experience parts of her past lives. She learns more and more about herself, about Daniel, about Cam, Arianne, Molly, and Gabbe. They've been there with her in every lifetime. I have to mention Bill. Since when was a gross looking little gargoyle "good" and "helpful"? This was definatley the most exciting of the series so far. As Luce gets closer to figuring out the curse, figuring the meaning between her and Daniel, and realizing she may have to make a decision that will finally free the both of them even if it means not being together.

After the action in Fallen and (more so) in Torment, Passion is a bit of a let down. Luce explores her past lives in search of evidence of Daniel's love for her. We learn more about their shared past and see the various personas that Luce's soul took on in the past. Passion is about Luce exploring the past, settling her feelings, and realizing the truth. In fact, in addition to Luce rekindling her passion with Daniel, there is only one other major plot development.

Still, Passion is a necessary transition book in the series, and I enjoyed it in its own way. At first, I thought that I would get bored of watching Luce leap through her past lives, as she left the first couple pretty quickly. Once I adjusted to the pacing of the novel, however, I found myself just as mystified as Luce by her past lives, and as the novel progressed, I saw how they tied in together. The Announcers take Luce to certain lives for a purpose--there is something for her, for us, to learn.

I was annoyed by Luce's incessant desire to speak with her past lives and warn them--to tell them what she would have liked to know before starting her relationship with Daniel. It seemed obvious to me that if she changed one life, then her own life would be in jeopardy... though I can't blame her for wanting to try. If I knew as much as Luce did when she first started her journey into the past, I would have hated to watch past me's die without understanding what they're getting into. Oddly enough, I was amused rather than confounded by Daniel's interference with the past despite his knowledge of what will happen if he interferes; this is probably because, unlike Luce, he knows what he's doing most of the time.

Everything leads back to Daniel's decision to live for love. In Passion, we learn the depth of Daniel's love for Luce, and we learn why the present Luce has a chance at life. With Luce finally understanding her relationship with Daniel, they only need to prove that it is worth fighting for (and take down the big bad guy). I cannot wait to read Rapture and find out how it all ends!

Luce goes back in time in order to see what her past lives have been like with Daniel as she is not one hundred percent sure about their love based on the ending in book two (Torment). Luce is trying to figure out how to break the curse, except this isn't a leisurely trip down memory lane as Cam, the Outcasts, Daniel, and other angels are hot on her trail. The problem with time travel is the fact that if Luce makes any changes to her past lives, it could have serious consequences in the future, like a ripple effect. This is what worries Daniel the most as a small change could impact their futures greatly. Passion, Lauren Kate's third book in the Fallen series is an edge of your seat adventure into Luce's past.

Luce is taking things into her own hands (finally!) in Passion, which I really liked. She was trying to figure things out on her own without relying on Daniel or Miles or any one else. She travels back and witnesses her former lives which take place all over the world and throughout many points in time. I especially liked this part since I am big fan of time travel and historical fiction. I found this aspect of the book to be extremely fascinating as well as the idea of reincarnation. However, while I liked this part of the book, after a while I felt the time travel got to be monotonous as this was the main focus of the novel. I think it had to be done this way though in order for readers to fully comprehend Luce and Daniel's relationship; however, I wanted a little more of present day.

There's a new character, Bill, whom Luce meets while traveling back to her past lives. At first he was a strange new addition to the plot, but his secrets will be fully revealed as Passion progresses. Readers can count on many new secrets being uncovered and a few plot twists while learning more about Luce and Daniel's eternal love.

The final book in the series, Rapture, comes out in 2012. Passion felt like a middle of the road book that is hopefully setting readers up for an epic ending. Word on the street is that Disney snatched up the movie rights to all four books in this series. Daniel on the big screen? Yes, please!

Passion spans thousands of years of history between Luce and Daniel and in her journey to the beginning of time to find answers to their bond, Luce discovers not only the power within herself, but she sees how the curse affects Daniel. With amazing historical aspects, true love and deceit, Passion is a great edition to the Fallen series.

My favorite part of the book was the historical elements. Lauren Kate did an amazing job with bringing history to life in Luce and Daniel's story. From the war in 1941 Russia, to 1918 Italy, 1854 England and the dates keep going further and further back till 3100 BCE Egypt and back to present day. In each chapter, Lauren paints a detailed history between Luce and Daniel. I can only imagine the amount of time it took her to research each time period and it really shows in the story. Each chapter alternates between Luce, as she continues to go further into history looking for answers, and Daniel who is desperately trying to catch her before something bad happens to her. Each chapter's history really comes to life and I felt like I was there with Luce or Daniel watching a moment of their past play out.

Seeing their history was a little eye opening and I liked even though their characters change through out the course of history and civilization, their love is constant and unbreakable. Lauren threw in a few good twists, one being the answer to Daniel and Cam's history. I honestly didn't see that one coming at all. Now I feel like I finally understand him and his motives. I loved seeing both Daniel and Luce's points of views, and getting to see how the curse first started. When Luce left at the end of Torment, so did everyone else on their quest to find her. Though the secondary characters aren't as present in Passion like they are in Fallen and Torment, they are still there through out Luce's history. I can't talk about the characters and not mention Bill. What a fabulously new twisted character he is. His character added elements of humor and surprise to a story that at times can be a little tense, and he completely surprised me towards the end. Another twist I did not see happening, and I was torn between shouting I knew it and no way. Lauren wrote him in away that made him enduring and I quickly pushed my first suspicions of him out of my mind.

Passion is a fabulously written prequel that fits in the series perfectly. I'm completely amazed at Lauren's writing with this book. She was able to not only make Passion read like a prequel, but it's also a book that fits perfectly for the end of Torment. Fans of the series will love this book, there is passion, romance, betrayal, and a lot of revelations with the character's history and the curse. Though the story wraps up nicely, Lauren leaves me wanting the next book in the series, Rapture like now. If you enjoyed Fallen and Torment I recommend picking up Passion tomorrow when it's out on bookstore shelves.

First off, I loved these books and the characters. I gave this 4 stars mainly because despite Luce's antics Daniel and the rest of the characters do a really great job. Especially Daniel, but Luce needs a real attitude adjustment. She is a whiney, spoiled baby who whines about everything. I don't know how Daniel can even hang in there with her. And love her?! Oh My! She doesn't want to do anything he tells her to do, even when it's for her own safety. Then Daniel has to bail her out of the trouble she gets into. She knows that if she dies Daniel will die and yet she continually gets herself in situations where she could very well die. Is that selfish or what? I will hang in there and finish Passions and hope for the best. Is there going to be another book? I sure hope so.

I borrowed Passion from my friend Paula somewhere around 2 years ago! (More like 3 at the time of this posting.) WHOOPS! Super bad friend, I know. My bad. I was torn between wanting to finish this series and knowing that I wasn’t excited about this book in particular. I initially liked the idea of two people (okay one person and one semi-fallen angel) being soul mates, continually being reincarnated (or the human continually being reincarnated), and finding each other lifetime after lifetime; however, a couple of things have made this subject not as appealing as it once was. 1) Being a Christian sometimes I find it annoying that angels in fiction never seem to behave in reverence to God as I believe they would in real life. Obviously there are true fallen angels in real life, yet that is the difference between angels and demons. And my point being that there for a while it seemed like every “angel book” I read seemed a bit too rebellious and too far fiction for me. 2) YA Paranormal books where something supernatural brings the characters together yet the characters can still choose to fight their supernatural connection began to abound—at least in my own reading. Like the too far fiction of angels vs. demons, I began to question what the point was of having a supernatural connection to another being if those characters weren’t going to end up together. 3) I really hate time travel books. I’m really not 100% sure WHY I hate time travel books, but I’ve yet to read one where I didn’t find it annoying. So all of that sums up how I felt about starting Passion and why I put it off for so long.

Because it’s been so long since I read Torment, starting Passion left me a bit confused. I’m sure I still missed some connections between the previous books and this one, but that’s okay. I got the gist of the story. Truthfully on top of my other hang ups I’ve already discussed, Luce was beginning to get on my nerves with how much she was questioning Daniel and their relationship. Granted, Daniel was never really a fountain of information for Luce and often left her with more questions than answers in the past. But when you’ve lived thousands of years constantly being reincarnated and continually falling in love with the same person over and over again, how do you question that deep down. And also truthfully I skimmed a lot of Luce’s narrations. However, the further I got into the book and the more Luce learned about her past lives with Daniel, the more willing I was to dig in a little deeper instead of just skimming the surface. Luce learns some critical things about her love for Daniel and about his love for her, but it sure seemed like it took her a long time to learn them.

Daniel, on the other hand, I was more able to connect with. I can’t remember if he’s ever really had a narration separate from Luce in the previous books, but I felt like I was able to see him as a character much better through Passion than Luce. I will say that I liked the contrast between Daniel and Luce. Whereas Daniel’s love has continued to grow for Luce throughout each incarnation, Luce’s love for Daniel has had to begin anew each time. Daniel has all the information of lifetime’s past, but Luce is essentially a blank slate. Luce wants Daniel to share his information with her so bad, yet Daniel knows that doing so in the past has essentially caused her death and he wants to get as much time with her in this lifetime as possible.

I pushed myself to continue to read this one when I might have otherwise put it down because I wanted this officially read, marked off my list, and given back to Paula. That being said, if I needed to put this one down more frequently it probably would have resulted in a lower rating. Each incarnation that Luce or Daniel traveled back to was a bit of the same thing over and over. “Oh no, you’re dressed for the wrong time period. Must find you some proper clothes.” “Oh look, there’s your former self.” Watch from a distance or meld into your former self to experience everything first hand. “Oh look, there’s Daniel’s former self.” Make out. “Whoops, you died….again.”

Passion was better than I expected it to be. It wasn’t as bad in all of the areas as I expected. Lauren Kate’s angels and demons, even Lucifer, appear to have a reverence for God or at the very least, there seems to be certain underlying rules that were more true to life than many other YA paranormal fiction I’ve read in the past. Luce and Daniel remain true to their love for each other in every reincarnation which makes their supernatural <strike>curse</strike> bond serve a purpose. And while Luce’s travels to the past were a bit of an annoyance to me, I’m glad she was able to learn the lessons she needed to learn. Daniel’s trips back were a bit less frustrating in general.

Passion gets 3 Stars from me. I can’t say I loved this book, but it was more bearable than I was expecting it to be. And finally I can cross this one off my list and move on to the series ender, Rapture. Have you read Passion? What did you think? Let me know! *Side note, I really like all the covers for this series, minus this one. I’m not sure if it’s the girl herself or the way the cover was done, but she looks a bit fake in this picture. Anyone else see what I’m seeing?

For more book reviews, check out Somewhere Only We Know - http://sandyfarmer.blogspot.com.

I liked "Fallen" and "Torment" and was actually pleasantly surprised by them. I liked Luce, Cam, Miles and most of her other friends. I had reservations about Daniel because he was so hot and cold but I figured it was a good match for Luce. I was more than a little eager to move on to "Passion".

While I really respect when a book in a series takes a risk and goes a different route than the previous novels, "Passion" was just too different. The time travel through the Announcers could have been awesome. But it was poorly executed. Luce and Daniel (separately) went back to too many previous lives and those sequences felt rushed and muddy. I was unclear on most of what I was supposed to learn from those travels. Luce seemed to get it, but I was lost.

I can understand why Luce looked different many times in past lives. I mean it made sense that if she was in Egypt she looked Egyptian and so on. She was reincarnated and born to different parents each time. However, why does Daniel look different so often? I understand he should fit into each culture/time period but he is an immortal Fallen angel. He has been alive for all those centuries whereas Luce keeps dying and starting over anew. Did I miss something that explained that? Does he have shape-changing powers in addition to him angel status? 95% of this book wasn't satisfying to this reader in any way, shape or form. Shelby and Miles make quickie appearances every so often but we never really know what they are doing and what they have been through. Sure they are searching for Luce but there isn't much of a point other than their last encounter with Daniel. The merging of the souls was awkward and not well explained. Bill's plan to have Luce cleave away from her past and start anew without Daniel made no sense. I read it over and over again hoping to understand it. Finally since it made sense to Luce I gave up and just went with it.

There was a positive in all of this. The reason this review is two stars rather than the one I thought it was going to be is due to the ending. Maybe the last two or three chapters of this book really grabbed me. It involved the original casting out of the fallen angels from Heaven and how they work a loophole into the curse. I found that to be exciting and page turning reading. We end with a nice set up for the concluding book "Rapture". I am too invested in this series to stop reading it now. Hopefully "Passion" was just a misstep along the way. The whole time travel thing really drug this tale down. Another negative is just how little we got to visit with the entertaining cast of supporting characters. I do think we will see much more of our friends in the next book.

Bottom Line: "Passion" ends up filling like a contract filler. If you follow this series, you should definitely read at least the last few chapters of this book. You won't miss anything if you skip the rest.

Passion is the ultimate filler book. Absolutely no plot progression happens for the first 400 or so pages, and then, BOOM, new plot point and cliffhanger ending! I didn't wholly dislike it, since I love me some time travel and visiting far off places, but it was all extremely repetitive and melodramatic. Luce is beginning her journey through space and time to learn about her past lives and relationship with Daniel. She's also hoping to find out where the curse changed and how she can break it. It's also pretty important that she doesn't screw anything up, therefore rendering herself nonexistent in the future, or some other catastrophe. Daniel is also making his way backward through time to find her before she breaks anything, but he's also got to be mindful of his actions in the past.

I did like the way time travel worked in Passion. It's definitely less Science Fiction and more divine intervention, but it works for this series. Basically, stepping through the shadows doesn't take Luce to a random point in her history. The travel works on a kind of need to know basis, so wherever Luce needs to be to learn a lesson, is where she winds up. It was interesting to see all of the different times and places, and I liked how the further back we went, the less Luce looked like herself. It would have been pretty strange if she looked like her modern Caucasian self during the Shang Dynasty! Daniel also looked different, but I'm sure that's due to being an angel rather than human evolution.

Aside from the inner workings of the time-space continuum, I was kind of bored with Passion after about three past lives. It was the same thing over and over again. Luce would step into some unknown place and time, be faced with some problem, improvise and end up where her past self is, run into Daniel, watch past Daniel and past Luce kiss, past Luce dies in a fireball from hell, and then goes to the next place/time. Meanwhile, Daniel is always one step behind her and can't seem to catch up. Or they just miss each other by moments. There was some variation added as Luce went further back, but not enough that it felt new and different from what I had already read.

Passion also introduces us to Bill, a little gargoyle who serves as a tour guide through time for Luce. I found his presence extremely comical and couldn't take him seriously at all. My mind immediately thought of Space Jam, because it was kind of like a cartoon character flitting around Luce all of the time. He was helpful in getting her dressed period appropriate, but I just had this mental picture of a cartoon cloud of dust appearing around her as Bill quickly does stuff to change her appearance. It was very distracting.

Passion ends on a cliffhanger. Finally in the last few pages, we see where the curse started, although we never see when Luce and Daniel met, which I would have liked to. Everything goes all the way back to the Fall. Things are learned and evil plans are revealed, and everyone goes back to the present where there's a gaping plot hole! Time doesn't pass the same when you're time traveling, so even though Luce was gone for quite some time, only hours had passed in the present. Well, the plot twist involves the Fall, which was said to last nine days. Now in the future/present, they say they have nine days to figure out how to stop the evil plan before the Fall is complete. Um, no. They'd have a couple of hours! I'm sure Luce was gone for about that time or a little less, but either way, nine days in the time travelly world does not equal nine days in real time.

Although I found the time traveling idea fun, I was ultimately disappointed with this installment of the series. So far in the series, Luce really doesn't know much about Daniel, their love, or their curse. This installment is meant for her to travel throughout time by way of Announcer in order to understand her past lives, Daniel, their love and the curse. By the end of the story, I didn't feel that much was learned other than the contents of her past lives.

During her travels, Luce met a version of herself in England who turned out to be a bad person. From this live, Luce learned that although each reincarnation her soul was the same but the personalities could be different. I found this to be a stretch. I understand the idea that being raised differently from different people in a different era is going to cause some general changes in personality, but at the same time, I don't understand the extents of these changes. Generally, if someone has a kind and generous soul, how could their personality be bitchy? This really didn't make sense to me. I expected more of a general theme instead of a random modge-podge of people. I also found it disappointing that no matter what the personality, Daniel of that time still loved the Luce of that time. This made me feel sorry for Daniel. He has so little control over who he loves that he's forced to love a bad person just because the soul? None of this truly made sense to me.

Another aspect that I found concerning is the constant reminder that if Luce changed something in the past, it could cause her to no longer exist or be a different person, etc etc. This also didn't make sense to me. If each of the different Luces is their own person, their own family, with no ties other than the soul itself, how can that change her to the point where she no longer exists? None of the past Luces ever remembered the contents of their previous life, so it can't be that it changes the overall aspect of her growth and development, so really? How does this affect her future? I can see how Daniel making the changes he made actually can adjust the contents of the future, but nothing that Luce did really would have altered anything?

And lastly, it's never explained WHY Luce and Daniel love one another. Even when Satan flat out asks her what she loves about Daniel, she can't explain. I can understand it being difficult to put into words why you love someone, but you can at least name some qualities of that person that makes them pleasant. Luce really had nothing which I found really solidified the fact that the majority of this book was really written for no reason other than to show Luce's history rather than explain why things were the way they were.

Quite honestly, if I didn't already have the next book checked out from the library, I'd probably just stop here. Since I have it already, I'll give the series a chance to explain a bit more, hopefully it doesn't let me down.

***May contain spoilers***

I was a really big fan of Lauren Kate's "Fallen" (the first book in her series of the same name). I thought that it was a really unique book because at the time of its release the whole fallen angel element had not yet been played around with much in YA pararnormal books (or not played around to the extent that it is today). Furthermore, not only did it have a completely original story line, but it had great characters to boot (Hello Daniel and Cam!). But then when I read the next book in her "Fallen" series, "Torment", and I was completely disappointed by it- I felt that it had so much potential but it fell flat. I thought that it deviated way too much from the original storyline (with all of the talk of Announcers, Outcasts, etc.) and the characters that we had come to love in "Fallen" did not play all that large of role in it (again, Daniel and Cam), whereas characters that we were only 'so-so' about played a massive role in it (ie. Miles, Shelby, and Callie). But I think that my biggest criticism of it was the main character, Luce, herself. I couldn't comprehend her thought processes at all, one minute she was all hot when it came to Daniel, the next minute she was totally ice cold.

Therefore, when I started "Passion", the third book in Lauren's "Fallen" series, I will admit that I was very hesitant to do so. I really and truly thought that I would think about this book (and series in general) what I did about Carrie Jones' "Need" series, that the first book was super amazing, but that the later two books were huge disappointments, but that wasn't the case- well, not entirely...

I would say a good fifty or so pages of this book I was entirely turned off by it, I really hated the direction that it was headed (again, with the whole Announcers thing), but I also really disliked it because of a newly introduced character- Bill the gargoyle. Though I guess that you could argue that this series isn't realistic at all, it is by far not the most unrealistic YA paranormal series out there in my opinion (therefore making it semi-realistic), but once Bill was introduced, well my opinion of it being semi-realistic completely flew out of the window. I thought that in the beginning Bill was such an unnecessary (and annoying) character, I really do think that I would have preferred to have seen Luce fall and pick herself up by herself and not with the help of a little sketchy critter.

I then decided to put aside my growing hatred of Bill to focus on what was really important about the book, the history of Luce, Daniel and their love. In doing so, I could not only start to tolerate the book (and the direction that it was heading), but actually start to enjoy it. I thought that each little world that Lauren wrote of was really interesting and quite well developed. I would totally to see more into each of their lives together (as opposed to the very short amount of time we did see pass in each of them). But what I was kinda confused about in their past lives was how Daniel was able to change his appearance (in one of their lives together he had skin the colour of hot chocolate with equally dark hair, the next he was his typical blonde haired, light skinned coloured self) when Lauren explains that very little about angels bodies change (well in relation to scars at least).

What I definitely liked most about this book was that it actually answered all of burning questions that we had from the previous two book (ie. How did Luce and Daniel meet? What started their curse? Can it be broken? Do they want it to be broken? etc.).

All in all, while this book is by no means as good as "Fallen", it is by no means as bad as "Torment". I am quite interested in seeing where Lauren takes the final book in the series, Rapture".

from Murphy's Library -- rated 2 and a half there

There's not other way: you either love or hate the Fallen series. Luce and Daniel's story has been told through Fallen and Torment and while I've seen a lot of people saying they didn't like it, I also have seen a few people saying they did like it. I started my review of Torment on last September telling you I hate Lauren Kate for making me so curious. I must confess I may have changed my mind after reading Passion--now I may hate her for another reasons.

As expected, we start Passion exactly where we were left on Torment: Luce starts travelling with the Announcers in order to understand what's the matter about her relationship with Daniel. Once nobody seem to be up to tell her what's going on, she decided to go back in time and find out by herself--and, well, let's give her some credit, after all, wouldn't you want to know if you were her?

But let me tell you something: I got freaking bored reading her past lifes with Daniel. I know, I know, we all know how they all end up (with her death), but Lauren Kate's writing didn't get me this time. I kept reading just to see if she would surprise me at some point, and that never came. We spent the whole book with Luce watching herself fall for him over and over again, there's a little twist at some point, and not even that got me hooked on this book.

If we find out why she kept dying every time? Yep, but it's something I wasn't really surprised by the explanation, I can say I had a feeling it was going to be something like that. If am I going to read Rapture? Probably. But only because I don't get tired of Cam (if you like him, good news: he's got some moments on Passion) LOL

I am so hooked on this series now. We all wish we could go back and relive parts of our life but Luce gets to go back and experience parts of her past lives. She learns more and more about herself, about Daniel, about Cam, Arianne, Molly, and Gabbe. They've been there with her in every lifetime. I have to mention Bill. Since when was a gross looking little gargoyle "good" and "helpful"? This was definatley the most exciting of the series so far. As Luce gets closer to figuring out the curse, figuring the meaning between her and Daniel, and realizing she may have to make a decision that will finally free the both of them even if it means not being together.

After the action in Fallen and (more so) in Torment, Passion is a bit of a let down. Luce explores her past lives in search of evidence of Daniel's love for her. We learn more about their shared past and see the various personas that Luce's soul took on in the past. Passion is about Luce exploring the past, settling her feelings, and realizing the truth. In fact, in addition to Luce rekindling her passion with Daniel, there is only one other major plot development.

Still, Passion is a necessary transition book in the series, and I enjoyed it in its own way. At first, I thought that I would get bored of watching Luce leap through her past lives, as she left the first couple pretty quickly. Once I adjusted to the pacing of the novel, however, I found myself just as mystified as Luce by her past lives, and as the novel progressed, I saw how they tied in together. The Announcers take Luce to certain lives for a purpose--there is something for her, for us, to learn.

I was annoyed by Luce's incessant desire to speak with her past lives and warn them--to tell them what she would have liked to know before starting her relationship with Daniel. It seemed obvious to me that if she changed one life, then her own life would be in jeopardy... though I can't blame her for wanting to try. If I knew as much as Luce did when she first started her journey into the past, I would have hated to watch past me's die without understanding what they're getting into. Oddly enough, I was amused rather than confounded by Daniel's interference with the past despite his knowledge of what will happen if he interferes; this is probably because, unlike Luce, he knows what he's doing most of the time.

Everything leads back to Daniel's decision to live for love. In Passion, we learn the depth of Daniel's love for Luce, and we learn why the present Luce has a chance at life. With Luce finally understanding her relationship with Daniel, they only need to prove that it is worth fighting for (and take down the big bad guy). I cannot wait to read Rapture and find out how it all ends!

Luce goes back in time in order to see what her past lives have been like with Daniel as she is not one hundred percent sure about their love based on the ending in book two (Torment). Luce is trying to figure out how to break the curse, except this isn't a leisurely trip down memory lane as Cam, the Outcasts, Daniel, and other angels are hot on her trail. The problem with time travel is the fact that if Luce makes any changes to her past lives, it could have serious consequences in the future, like a ripple effect. This is what worries Daniel the most as a small change could impact their futures greatly. Passion, Lauren Kate's third book in the Fallen series is an edge of your seat adventure into Luce's past.

Luce is taking things into her own hands (finally!) in Passion, which I really liked. She was trying to figure things out on her own without relying on Daniel or Miles or any one else. She travels back and witnesses her former lives which take place all over the world and throughout many points in time. I especially liked this part since I am big fan of time travel and historical fiction. I found this aspect of the book to be extremely fascinating as well as the idea of reincarnation. However, while I liked this part of the book, after a while I felt the time travel got to be monotonous as this was the main focus of the novel. I think it had to be done this way though in order for readers to fully comprehend Luce and Daniel's relationship; however, I wanted a little more of present day.

There's a new character, Bill, whom Luce meets while traveling back to her past lives. At first he was a strange new addition to the plot, but his secrets will be fully revealed as Passion progresses. Readers can count on many new secrets being uncovered and a few plot twists while learning more about Luce and Daniel's eternal love.

The final book in the series, Rapture, comes out in 2012. Passion felt like a middle of the road book that is hopefully setting readers up for an epic ending. Word on the street is that Disney snatched up the movie rights to all four books in this series. Daniel on the big screen? Yes, please!

Passion spans thousands of years of history between Luce and Daniel and in her journey to the beginning of time to find answers to their bond, Luce discovers not only the power within herself, but she sees how the curse affects Daniel. With amazing historical aspects, true love and deceit, Passion is a great edition to the Fallen series.

My favorite part of the book was the historical elements. Lauren Kate did an amazing job with bringing history to life in Luce and Daniel's story. From the war in 1941 Russia, to 1918 Italy, 1854 England and the dates keep going further and further back till 3100 BCE Egypt and back to present day. In each chapter, Lauren paints a detailed history between Luce and Daniel. I can only imagine the amount of time it took her to research each time period and it really shows in the story. Each chapter alternates between Luce, as she continues to go further into history looking for answers, and Daniel who is desperately trying to catch her before something bad happens to her. Each chapter's history really comes to life and I felt like I was there with Luce or Daniel watching a moment of their past play out.

Seeing their history was a little eye opening and I liked even though their characters change through out the course of history and civilization, their love is constant and unbreakable. Lauren threw in a few good twists, one being the answer to Daniel and Cam's history. I honestly didn't see that one coming at all. Now I feel like I finally understand him and his motives. I loved seeing both Daniel and Luce's points of views, and getting to see how the curse first started. When Luce left at the end of Torment, so did everyone else on their quest to find her. Though the secondary characters aren't as present in Passion like they are in Fallen and Torment, they are still there through out Luce's history. I can't talk about the characters and not mention Bill. What a fabulously new twisted character he is. His character added elements of humor and surprise to a story that at times can be a little tense, and he completely surprised me towards the end. Another twist I did not see happening, and I was torn between shouting I knew it and no way. Lauren wrote him in away that made him enduring and I quickly pushed my first suspicions of him out of my mind.

Passion is a fabulously written prequel that fits in the series perfectly. I'm completely amazed at Lauren's writing with this book. She was able to not only make Passion read like a prequel, but it's also a book that fits perfectly for the end of Torment. Fans of the series will love this book, there is passion, romance, betrayal, and a lot of revelations with the character's history and the curse. Though the story wraps up nicely, Lauren leaves me wanting the next book in the series, Rapture like now. If you enjoyed Fallen and Torment I recommend picking up Passion tomorrow when it's out on bookstore shelves.

First off, I loved these books and the characters. I gave this 4 stars mainly because despite Luce's antics Daniel and the rest of the characters do a really great job. Especially Daniel, but Luce needs a real attitude adjustment. She is a whiney, spoiled baby who whines about everything. I don't know how Daniel can even hang in there with her. And love her?! Oh My! She doesn't want to do anything he tells her to do, even when it's for her own safety. Then Daniel has to bail her out of the trouble she gets into. She knows that if she dies Daniel will die and yet she continually gets herself in situations where she could very well die. Is that selfish or what? I will hang in there and finish Passions and hope for the best. Is there going to be another book? I sure hope so.

I borrowed Passion from my friend Paula somewhere around 2 years ago! (More like 3 at the time of this posting.) WHOOPS! Super bad friend, I know. My bad. I was torn between wanting to finish this series and knowing that I wasn’t excited about this book in particular. I initially liked the idea of two people (okay one person and one semi-fallen angel) being soul mates, continually being reincarnated (or the human continually being reincarnated), and finding each other lifetime after lifetime; however, a couple of things have made this subject not as appealing as it once was. 1) Being a Christian sometimes I find it annoying that angels in fiction never seem to behave in reverence to God as I believe they would in real life. Obviously there are true fallen angels in real life, yet that is the difference between angels and demons. And my point being that there for a while it seemed like every “angel book” I read seemed a bit too rebellious and too far fiction for me. 2) YA Paranormal books where something supernatural brings the characters together yet the characters can still choose to fight their supernatural connection began to abound—at least in my own reading. Like the too far fiction of angels vs. demons, I began to question what the point was of having a supernatural connection to another being if those characters weren’t going to end up together. 3) I really hate time travel books. I’m really not 100% sure WHY I hate time travel books, but I’ve yet to read one where I didn’t find it annoying. So all of that sums up how I felt about starting Passion and why I put it off for so long.

Because it’s been so long since I read Torment, starting Passion left me a bit confused. I’m sure I still missed some connections between the previous books and this one, but that’s okay. I got the gist of the story. Truthfully on top of my other hang ups I’ve already discussed, Luce was beginning to get on my nerves with how much she was questioning Daniel and their relationship. Granted, Daniel was never really a fountain of information for Luce and often left her with more questions than answers in the past. But when you’ve lived thousands of years constantly being reincarnated and continually falling in love with the same person over and over again, how do you question that deep down. And also truthfully I skimmed a lot of Luce’s narrations. However, the further I got into the book and the more Luce learned about her past lives with Daniel, the more willing I was to dig in a little deeper instead of just skimming the surface. Luce learns some critical things about her love for Daniel and about his love for her, but it sure seemed like it took her a long time to learn them.

Daniel, on the other hand, I was more able to connect with. I can’t remember if he’s ever really had a narration separate from Luce in the previous books, but I felt like I was able to see him as a character much better through Passion than Luce. I will say that I liked the contrast between Daniel and Luce. Whereas Daniel’s love has continued to grow for Luce throughout each incarnation, Luce’s love for Daniel has had to begin anew each time. Daniel has all the information of lifetime’s past, but Luce is essentially a blank slate. Luce wants Daniel to share his information with her so bad, yet Daniel knows that doing so in the past has essentially caused her death and he wants to get as much time with her in this lifetime as possible.

I pushed myself to continue to read this one when I might have otherwise put it down because I wanted this officially read, marked off my list, and given back to Paula. That being said, if I needed to put this one down more frequently it probably would have resulted in a lower rating. Each incarnation that Luce or Daniel traveled back to was a bit of the same thing over and over. “Oh no, you’re dressed for the wrong time period. Must find you some proper clothes.” “Oh look, there’s your former self.” Watch from a distance or meld into your former self to experience everything first hand. “Oh look, there’s Daniel’s former self.” Make out. “Whoops, you died….again.”

Passion was better than I expected it to be. It wasn’t as bad in all of the areas as I expected. Lauren Kate’s angels and demons, even Lucifer, appear to have a reverence for God or at the very least, there seems to be certain underlying rules that were more true to life than many other YA paranormal fiction I’ve read in the past. Luce and Daniel remain true to their love for each other in every reincarnation which makes their supernatural <strike>curse</strike> bond serve a purpose. And while Luce’s travels to the past were a bit of an annoyance to me, I’m glad she was able to learn the lessons she needed to learn. Daniel’s trips back were a bit less frustrating in general.

Passion gets 3 Stars from me. I can’t say I loved this book, but it was more bearable than I was expecting it to be. And finally I can cross this one off my list and move on to the series ender, Rapture. Have you read Passion? What did you think? Let me know! *Side note, I really like all the covers for this series, minus this one. I’m not sure if it’s the girl herself or the way the cover was done, but she looks a bit fake in this picture. Anyone else see what I’m seeing?

For more book reviews, check out Somewhere Only We Know - http://sandyfarmer.blogspot.com.

I wrote a review for torment... the book was horrible. I stand by my review. I am also extremely grateful I read passion. Good job author. This is what I saw in book 1. I almost didn't bother to read this book because 2 was so tedious and on reality not important.
Welcome back luce and friends. This book opens the story and leads you right into the story and makes you want the final chapter....
My review for book 2 was disliked. But again, I am going to stick with my review. Book 3, passion, well done. I was expecting to give this one a bad review also...... not so. Well done

Yes, I've heard the bad reviews, but I quite liked the first two books, Fallen and Torment, and thought I'd enjoy this one as well. Sadly, it just didn't do it for me.

First of all, the whole story just kind of left me a little muddled and confused. It wasn't one of those stories where you're on the edge of your seat wondering what loop it's going to throw you through next. It was just a bit confusing and didn't seem fully thought out. Luce kept "realizing" things that I thought I already had figured out or I simply didn't understand at all even after she "explained" what she learned.

Luce. Luce, Luce, Luce. She drove me absolutely nuts! She was selfish and idiotic. She kept meddling with her past lives for her own benefit never once bothering to think she was intruding. She just HAD search through her past live's not willing to just accept Daniel's love. Every time she sees Daniel in a past life, though, she loses her head like a sex-starved teenage idiot. It's was beyond annoying.

The one thing I really like about Passion as compared to the other two was Daniel's POV. We got much more of it than the meager glimpses we've seen before. It was almost every other chapter this time. I liked to see what was happening from his end of things as opposed to everything being all about Luce.

Final thoughts: If you've read the other two in the series, then this one might be worth picking up since it's necessary if you plan on finishing the series. If you've never read the series, I definitely wouldn't recommend it simply because Passion doesn't have much going for it.

*spoiler alert** Really loved it. I think it was well worth the wait. It brought so much more to the story and it was really interesting to see luce past lives and how daniel was all the other times. I really feel sorry for cam now aswel, before i just thought he was evil but now i know why he turned over i'd like to see something good for him in the last book. Only thing i would have liked to add was maybe a conversation with luce and daniel at the end of the book about all she learned, but maybe there was no need for the words. I really enjoyed it and cant believe we have to wait a year for the next lol

I don't really know what to say about this book. I absolutely loved the story once I was finished with the book. However, the book read at a very slow pace. Or rather, I had to read it at a very slow pace. I think that what has made people give this book some poor reviews is that this is a book that requires a lot of thinking and processing as you read.

I think that going back to see Luce and Daniel in all their past lives was amazing. It was also very necessary to understand where they are now. Just like Luce, the reader is sort of blindly jumping through time and trying desperately to make sense of all the situations and figure a way out of them. Unlike Luce, the reader has the luxury of putting the book down and taking a rest from all the thinking!

I'm having a hard time reviewing without spoilers, so let me just say that Lauren Kate has really created some beautiful descriptions and there were times when Daniel's anguish literally broke my heart! She also throws in some surprises along the way that were fun.

The history of each life was very well done. It's obvious that she did some research to make everything authentic and as a reader, I really appreciated that.

The cover is something that I just have to mention. I know, I know....don't judge a book by it's cover and yadda, yadda, yadda. But just look at that cover! This series has got some of the best covers out there, bar none! I absolutely love them! They are beautiful, but dark and passionate! Whoever does these covers......keep doing what you are doing!

My grade for this book is probably A-. In the end, I really did love this book. The minus is just because of the sort of slow nature of the book. The story is fantastic and the book is a beautiful way to set up the last book in the series, Rapture. So Lauren Kate, bring it on! I'm ready for whatever surprises you are going to throw my way!

This book differs in several ways from the first two books. We get every second chapter from Daniel’s point of view, which is a nice change of pace considering I never really felt like I knew Daniel.

The storyline is quite different as well. Throughout the book, Luce and Daniel are jumping through time. Luce is trying to find answers and Daniel is trying to find Luce. Luce and Daniel are apart for pretty much the entire book. Luce, of course, encounters other Daniels from her past lives, but still doesn’t get much time with the Daniel from her current lifetime.

Most aspects of this book are comparable to the first two. The story, however, I felt was a bit weaker. I didn’t feel like the story progressed as much as it should have. I mean, this book could easily have been condensed and possibly merged with the fourth book to keep the series a trilogy. This book basically plays the same scenario again and again. Daniel and Luce find each other in a certain lifetime, they fall in love, and Luce dies. Next chapter: Daniel searches for Luce to no avail. Repeat, repeat, repeat – over and over (with a few realizations on Luce’s part) until the end chapters where we actually find out some stuff. I just felt like it was a bit drawn out and monotonous.

I will be reading the fourth book if for no other reason than to discover more answers.

Passion currently is the highlight to the series for me, there was something about this tale and how it was told that actually got me invested in the series. The way Luce dives back in time to try to figure and change things for herself, actually brought life to her character. As well, when Daniel dove back chasing her, trying to find her and stop her from rewriting history.

This story is told from both Luce and Daniel's perspectives and this brings life to the two characters. In the series I thought the whole lack of information about Daniel and his mysterious attitude seemed to delude his character and made it hard to understand their relationship. However, in this story with part of the story coming from Daniel and even as Luce goes back through their relationship and reliving them, there is a sense of closure. I was happy to see this brought to life, and I wanted this sooner.

There was one glaring hole I felt needed addressing in this backwards time travel, and the question arose really early for me. Well since Luce and Daniel came from the future, wouldn't anything they do to the past versions of themselves affect what happens to later versions and trickle down to them? What I'm getting at, was since Luce went back and did stuff with her past selves, to see how much Daniel really loved her and why, wouldn't by that technically HAVE to happen to make her the way she is? Basically if she didn't go back in time, she wouldn't be who she is today? I kept asking that, the further she went back and the answer never came.

Now back to the characters, Luce and Daniel grew on me. This book brought to life their relationship and showed just how eternal their love has been, and just what Daniel went through for her. It wasn't like Daniel just took their relationship for granted because of the curse they had, but it was more that he loved her so much that everyone else would call it a curse.

Than there Bob the gargoyle, and I hated this character. For who he is (which I guessed almost right away), and what else. Cam really never made an appearance in this book, it's not that I'm asking for the love triangle to make an appearance in this book, at all. What I was wondering was, why was Cam going through time to catch Luce? Miles and Shelby's reason for going back was rather apparent, they were friends. As well, when Miles and Shelby found out just what Daniel went through their whole demeanor of him changed. Which is what happened to me throughout this book. This book did bring Daniel and Luce together.

Alright. After reading to this point in the series I had almost given up on it. This book definitely set the bar higher than the previous two. It takes the characters that I've followed thus far and speeds up their action to an acceptable pace.

As we join back with Luce she is hopping through time to try to figure out her and Daniel's past. She slowly figures out a few important key factors, but it is still hard because of Daniel's intent on secrecy. Luce has some company join her along the way, but it's slightly obvious from the start that it's not the best of help to have. I like the sides of Daniel I finally got to see this time. His story finally cracked open and I saw him in a little better light than before. Along with the help of their friends, Luce and Daniel's story truly grows in this book.

*Happy dance* The plot FINALLY picks up in this one! It was so sluggish in the first two books I was honestly concerned that it would continue on in this one. Luce's time travels came to my aid on this aspect. The hopping through time and seeing all the different lives and cultures she lived in really kept me interested. Daniel's struggles through these situations left real validity to their past and present relationships. I am very glad that is finally shown. I had hoped that some of the secrets he possessed about these relationships would illuminated this time. There is still a feeling that there's a lot more to be had at the end of the book though.

I did not realize until the ending of this book that it was actually a four book series. I thought this would be the end. That's why I was irritated when I finished the book. It had just picked up enough that I was truly interested and the series ends like that?? Nope, I was wrong. If I had known, I would have seriously waited until Rapture came out to even bother with these books.

I think that's just the key thing about this series. It's a great concept, I just wish it had been planned and written better, because sorry Lauren Kate, but it's just not good writing, and the plot isn't fantastic either.

This book just drags on and on and on. It could have been brilliant, time travel, angels, the devil, star crossed lovers, but instead we got Luce heading from life to life, Daniel following her, and character development? Back story? Well, I suppose we get those things but it's all just so stagnant. The plot feels so staged at this point that I'm not sure who we're fighting, why, when or how. The writing is on crack, bouncing here, there, oooooh shiny thing! and back again. There are some good bits, I enjoyed some of the previous lives, but they went on and on and after one or two, I mean it was pretty samey, definitely not a strong enough plot for a whole book.

I really liked Luce from the first book, she had some strength, wasn't just relying on Daniel to give her life definition or to save her, but the problem is the writing. It's just not very good. The supporting characters are so half formed that I just don't have a strong opinion about them one way or the other.

Sorry but at this point it feels like Twilight-lite and I am no fan of Twilight. Tweenies may swallow it up, but others should look elsewhere.

Passion was so disappointing after the other two. I can't really make my mind up yet until I read the last one. This book just felt like a filler. I really enjoyed reading the first book although the revelations were a bit vague. But it worked for me since I knew it was part of a series and surely the answers would be in the next books. The second, had some obvious flaws but the story was appealing to me and I liked where it was headed. The mystery kept me going with the other two but this one made me feel like I was looking forward to finishing it just so it would be over with. I enjoyed a few key moments and the end. But that's about it.

Overall the book was okay but some of it just seemed unnecessary. I guess I just can't understand why this girl can't follow her heart. Why she needs so much proof of love when it's right in front of her face. I know there was a lot at stake for their love but still. There were not enough revelations in this book to warrant all the past lives that were presented. Or maybe that's just me. I might have just been expecting there to be more to it after all the buildup.

I will still read last one in hopes that it is at least as good as the first two. I recommend to others who have read the first two in the series. You need to at least read the end of this one.

Since I've blogged about the Fallen book covers a number of times I have to start off by saying that I absolutely hate this cover. Yes, it is nice they they have added some color in, making it finally stick out a bit from the pack, but still an anorexic girl, standing in a very uncomfortable position, with long black hair that Luce doesn't have?

So, this is just one long chase book. Luce runs, Daniel runs after her, Cam runs after them, Gabe, Molly, etc run after them. It made absolutely no sense that any of them would be running through the past, as though trying to catch up to Luce, especially when she didn't even seem to know what the purpose of doing it was. It just felt like Kate was struggling to build suspense, and fulfill a four book contract.

The plot is a complete mess, and honestly I am struggling right now to remember everything that happened. There are angels, and Elders and Outcasts and demons, and the devil mixed with a love story where the characters are now traveling erratically through time in search of something that they don't know about yet.

My first instinct had me rating this a 4 but as time passed and the clarity of what actually happened in the story rapidly faded, I just couldn't justify it, so I've put it at a 3. Daniel's point of view was what saved this for me. He always seemed like a bit of a jerk, but in Passion he actually seemed to come to life a bit.

I didn't realize there were more in the series until I began listening to it on CD. But still, I loved the traveling through time aspect, and the historical stops in time that gave me somewhat of a feel for the past in her various lives. I thought it was a unique way of presenting both a time travel aspect and a means of showing reincarnation. I truly enjoyed the "first" book in the series for me, and plan to check out the earlier books in the series soon. I really want to see how this is all resolved.

***Spoiler Alert***
I suspected Bill wasn't who he said he was from the beginning when she first met him, but I loved the way Ms Kate presented him just the same. Some of the dialogue between the two just had me laughing out loud.

After reading Fallen and Torment, I was anxious to read Passion. And I am glad to say that it did not disappoint. Passion is a well written book that gives Fallen Fans the answers they crave while creating new ones to keep them hooked. I, as a writer, know that this book could not have been an easy challange, but Lauren Kate did a wonderful job. There is a lot of detail, yet not too much so that it bores the reader. It was definitely one that I hated to put down. I would recommend the book for everyone, and it is one that I will definatly read again between now and the release of Rapture.

Luce trips through the past in this installment of the Fallen series, allowing the readers some background of the torturous love affair between the various Lucindas and Daniels. Climbing through announcers into different time periods and witnessing the vibrant passion between herself and her angel love, Luce attempts to understand her connection to Daniel. Is it fair to Daniel to have him watch her die again and again? Is is fair to Luce, to her family and her life, to burn up just due to his love?

Very enjoyable for fans of the Fallen series, they will be pleased to find this book better than the last.

This is the book from the series that I've liked the least. Although the idea of traveling through time is not bad, also not very creative, it's a little boring, and took me forever to read, even being a fast reader. After I've read the 4th book, I saw that the 3rd book is a preparation for the 4th.

In the third installment of this tale we find Luce going into the past to learn what makes her fall in love with Daniel and what makes her die. It is a clever undertaking as readers find themselves reading important parts of history. Kate even takes us to the day when the Angels fell from Heaven. The different settings in the past help pace the novel nicely with a strong plot development. As with her other novels, this too is a page turner. I mostly wanted to see where Luce would find herself after stepping out of her Announcer (her means of traveling through time) and how quickly Daniel could get to her, if he ever could.

Throughout the novel what we get is a growing of Luce's character - she is trying to understand who she is, who Daniel is, who they are together. With a predictable twist, which I still enjoyed, and a cliff-hanger ending, Kate has nicely set up her fourth and final installment in this love story: Rapture, coming in spring 2012.

If you have read her previous two books, you will not be disappointed in her latest installment.

this book is really good in my opinion. I mean yeah i've seen a few others with very similar (eerily similar) story lines, but something about it is just "magical" i guess you could say. A lot of people are overly crtical and analytical of the book, but for me its not so much about how flawlessly and organized a book is written, but that the story is captivating and pulls me in, and these types of books sure do the job. granted what some other reviewers pointed out is true, its still enjoyable and ive read the first two. cant wait to see what a 4th will look like

2.5 Stars

I had high hopes for Passion but sadly I'm giving this one 2.5 stars. I actually am a fan of the Fallen Series which is why I was disappointed with the fact that I found myself bored during this book.

Luce did a lot of time traveling, going back to her past selves to find out and learn more about everything that is going on and how to break the curse. Yet, I felt quite a few of the lives she visited were just fillers, neither she nor I the reader really learned anything. Most of the questions are still left unanswered.

There was a new antagonist in Passion, although I must admit even he was very predictable. I already figured out he was the bad guy the moment he appeared.

Overall the book didn't become interesting until the ending which left us with a cliffhanger. And yes I will be picking up Rapture when it comes out, just to see how everything turns out.

I really enjoyed reading Passion. It took me one day to read it, I loved it so much I re-read it! This book did not dissapoint! At the end of Torment we knew where Luce was headed...to see her past lives with Daniel and to finally try to understand where their curse originated from and why it has to be.

This book also helped me understand what Daniel had to go through every time he lost Lucinda and demonstrated the pure love he has for her. I'll admit, it made me mad when Luce had her doubts about him, but screamed with joy when she realized the love Daniel has had, and forever have for her. Kate described their 'Passion' in such a beautiful way it had me down to tears by the end of the book and makes you wish you had a love like this for yourself.

Kate really did an amazing job decribing everything in Lucindas past lives that you can easily picture everything. It was a great idea of going "3-D'(you'll find out what that means) and experiencing it first-hand. This book contains love (obviously), some comedy that makes you laugh (well it made me laugh), and a great mystery that unfolds itself throughout the book, it finally answers most of our questions and helps us understand things we could question. Also leaves you with your mouth open with the incridable twist she puts into it.

I'd love to talk more about this book, but I think it's best for people to read it and make their own opinions as I have done so myself for this book. One thing is for sure though this will have you wanting more. Can't wait until Rapture comes!!

I really liked the first two books, but once I got through this dumpster fire of a book, it killed the series for me. It took me several weeks to complete and I kept wanting to chuck it, with how dimwitted the main character became. Plus, there was just too much story jumping for my tastes.

After I read Fallen I was so excited for Torment. After I read Torment I was even more excited for Passion. Passion did not disappoint. It was exciting and romantic. I really loved all of the history in the book. i liked how you can finally see Luce and Daniel's past lives. I really enjoyed reading about Luce's past lives in England, Russia, and even the Mayan culture. you get to learn a lot about Luce and Daniel's love for each other and their curse. A character I really liked (at first)was Bill. I thought he was funny and helpful but (SPOILER ALERT!!) after I found out who he really was the story took a dark and exciting turn. One thing I was a little sad about was because the story was so focused on Luce and her lives, there wasn't much time for all of the other angels including my favorite, Arriane. Overall, it was a VERY good book and I can't wait for Rapture to come out next year. :)

FANTASTIC! Lauren does an unbelievable job.
Luce has jumped into an announcer and plans to visit her past lives to figure out if Daniel really loves her/why he loves her/if she really loves him or if it's just the curse. She also wants to find the loophole and break the curse. Daniel also travel via announcers trying to find Luce. Sophia and Miles also go this route.
Like stated above Lauren out does herself. Reviewing Luce's past lives is done brilliantly. Each time the true history and location are pointed out and accurate. We travel with Luce and Daniel to many of their past lives and learn that Daniel loves Luce and that's all there is to it. Love is his choice.
Will not tell what happens because the read is so good and I don't want to spoil it.
Cannot wait for RAPTURE in the spring of 2012 to find out how this all unfolds.

WOW! This book is incredible! I love all the different Lucinda's! I could not put this book down! I am disappointed with the cover of this book. It didn't measure up to the other ones. And to me a cover can make the book. Other then that I loved it! To find out what Daniel has been through and just how deep his love goes its just.....beautiful. I can't wait for Part 4!I expect this series to end with a BANG!

Publisher-Random House Children's Books
My score: 5 STARS!
Reviewed by~Sarah

Now with Luce going into the announcer to view her past live you know that she is going to see herself die over and over again. You're prepared for that part, what makes the book dry is how Luce acts after she gets a glimpse of them. I don't know how Daniel loves them? Is it true love or just a love he can't get over? How do they fall in love so quickly every time?

After so long into the book I was done learning about her past lives and wanted something else to happen. If there was more for her to discover with each past life then it would have made more sense for there to be so many of them. Once again you are left with new characters and almost no mention of any of the established characters. Why spend the time and effort to set up characters and relationships if you're not going to use them? Perhaps it will get better in the fourth book.

I can't believe I have to wait till next YEAR to read the last book. The ending will leave you with your mouth ajar and angry for the long wait! haha
I loved seeing more of Luce and Dainel, being able to go back years and years of their love was AMAZING! Seeing Daniel's side was also a delight, I knew he loved Luce, I just wondered how deep it really was. When you read it, its not just you discovering their love, its you and Luce. I liked how Lauren wrote this.
Hurry up Rapture!!! ;)

Evolving characters made this worth reading. I mean all of the characters. Each one is more clearly written in this installment. Certainly, any questions the reader might have regarding the strength of the love shared by Daniel and Luce are put to rest. It was nice to see different aspects of Luce's personality throughout time. As to the origin of their love, I expect the next book to reveal that. Well written.

Wow! This book was awesome! I loved learning more about Luce's past lives! It kept me on my toes all the way through! I didn't see that ending coming! I'm going to get started on Rapture! If you haven't read this series this year, you need to put this at the very top of your list! I love the romance! Absolutely fantastic!

To say the least, I didn't understand much from the first book at all but honestly it was good and unique and interesting so I kept reading it and I usually have this thing where I have to finish the whole series and learn the whole story and every thing in all kinds of ways possible so I read all the other books, and I loved them really. It was amazing and full of surprises. It was also very well and beautifully written, the end of the series was quite a shock for me that left me breathless and mesmerized but of course I won't tell you why, because you have to read it your self and figure it out. I would say they're not my favorite books, but I definitely love them and I don't regret reading them :)

Each of the past lives feels culturally different, which is engaging.

Never bought into the author's theology, which is laughable and highly distracting. Guess I won't ever confuse this story with what's in the Bible.