Passion Review

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!

Thank you to Random House Children's Books for sending me a copy of Passion to read and review. Passion is released on 14th June, 2011 in both the US and UK. Lauren Kate has her own website which you can visit by clicking here . She is also active on facebook and twitter. Fallen also has a UK website (where you can read the first chapter of Passion) which you can access by clicking here and a US website which you can access by clicking here .