Book #102 - Passion (Fallen #3)

Passion (Fallen #3), Lauren Kate
420 pages (audiobook)
paranormal romance
Started 9/4/12
Finished 9/12/12
2.5 STARS

Moving right along down our Fallen journey is Passion. And, sadly, that was the one emotion that was NOT evoked while listening to this book. Annoyance, irritation, extreme frustration - those were all broiling under the surface. Passion - not so much.

Luce, in her infinite wisdom, decides to travel via announcers to visit her past lives in order to wrap her brain around hers and Daniel's romance for the ages. Luce wonders whether Daniel loves her just because the curse tells him he has to, or whether it is real. Also, Daniel won't ever give Luce any answers when she asks him for them, so she figures she'll take matters into her own hands. As she bounces from life to life, she picks up bits and pieces of hers and Daniel's story and starts piecing together what really caused the curse. And, maybe how it can be broken.

First of all, the concept of this book is a good one. In my very humble and inconsequential opinion, it was in the execution that things fell flat. The idea of Luce visiting old versions of herself and Daniel through the eons is kind of cool - the settings and circumstances were all different as were Luce and Daniel themselves. But, for the love of all that is holy, it went on FAR too long. So, Luce has been life hopping for roughly 7,000 years. And, after the fifth life she observed, we'd only backed up 200 years or so. I didn't count them, but it seems as if we bounced through some 20 odd lives. It just went on and on and on.

And, as we bounced around in the past, it seemed like it was the same thing over and over again. Luce declares that she loves Daniel and that she always will. But, whine, whine, does he really love me, whine, whine, what isn't Daniel telling me, whine, whine. It was so frustrating.

The crazy thing is, I really love romances. They're sort of my bread and butter. Some would probably argue that the Fallen series is about a romance to end all romances. So, why did I find it so gag-worthy? It was just so over the top. I just felt that Kate was too descriptive, too verbose, too flowery - it made me cringe more than once over the course of the book.

However, Passion is a means to an end. At this point, I'm invested enough in Luce's and Daniel's story that I feel like I need to make this all worth it somehow by seeing it through. Check back in a few days for my review of the final Fallen book, Rapture.