Book #93 - Fallen (Fallen #1)

Fallen (Fallen #1), Lauren Kate
452 pages (audiobook)
urban fantasy, paranormal romance
Started 8/8/12
Finished 8/23/12
3 STARS

Fallen has been around for awhile now. Heck - it has almost 100,000 ratings on Goodreads. That's a HUGE number. It seems like most people either loved it or hated it. So that, of course, made me naturally curious as to which end of the spectrum I would fall. Before even starting it, it has a big positive in my book - that cover. I mean, have you ever seen a more gorgeous cover? The big negative is that it's a big angel book - I mean, it's ALL about angels. And, of all the paranormal creatures that are written about, angels are my least favorite.

Lucinda Price has landed herself in a scary reform school after her former boyfriend was killed under suspicious circumstances. When she arrives, she's inexplicably drawn to one particular boy - Daniel. Love at first sight? Maybe. But, it feels like something much, much more than that. She enlists the help of her new friend Penn to try and find out his secrets. Meanwhile, her interactions with Daniel run so hot and cold that she starts thinking that perhaps her affections should go to another - Cam. As the shadows grow and the drama surrounding Daniel and Cam comes to a head, Luce is left wondering if love is enough.

So, the results are in, and I am one of the few that fell sort of right in the middle of love and hate. I didn't love Fallen. There were a lot of problems for me. The beginning was interesting. The end was exciting. Everything in between was pretty blah. There seemed to be a very large chunk of time where the characters didn't really do anything and the story didn't go anywhere. It was pretty much this, over and over and over again:

Luce:  "Where's Daniel? Oh - there he is!" *sigh* "Isn't he gorgeous?"
Daniel:  "Crap. There's Luce."
Luce:  "Daniel, I think I love you. Why do I love you?"
Daniel:  "Luce, you don't really love me. Stay away from me. On second thought, don't. Wait - never mind. Stay away. I don't like you. Crap. I think I love you. It's complicated. But, I can't tell you why."
Luce:  "Huh?"

It got a little old after awhile. Ok - it got a LOT old. Because, honestly, it was that same basic exchange just in different settings - the cemetery, the library, the gym - I got bored.

But, when stuff started happening, and the backstory from the beginning started coming together, I was reengaged. If you can make it through the middle without giving up entirely, it's like you're rewarded for that at the end. You have the epic battle between good and evil - love and hate. It's pretty cool.

I never felt extremely connected to any one particular character. Luce, Daniel, Penn - even Cam - all felt very flat. Like caricatures of who they are supposed to be. I wanted a girl to root for. One I wanted to be like. I wanted a guy that made me swoon a little myself. I wanted that plucky side-kick that gave me some comic relief from what is otherwise a heavy story. And, I wanted a bad guy that I hated to hate. I didn't get any of those things, really. It's like, they were all 50% there, but that's as far as they got. It was disappointing.

All that being said, Fallen did help pass the time during my commute for two weeks. I was left wondering what would happen with Luce and Daniel. And, yes, I did go to the library and get Torment (Fallen #2) out a few days later.