Torment

This is the second book in the Fallen series, continuing the story of Luce, Daniel and the rest of the crew from the first book.  I have to admit that sometimes, in the light of the trend to make books into series, that sometimes I want to skip the second books to get to the story.   But the first book left off with such a - not really cliff hanger - but new knowledge that sparks curiosity.  Therefore, I felt the necessity to read the second. As always, I'm very careful to not reveal too much so as to avoid the spoilers as much as possible.

Luce has been moved to a new school, for her protection, and is forced to attend without Daniel and any of the friends she had at the first.  She makes a connection with some of the students, some who know more about her than she does about herself, and she starts to question all the things that Daniel is doing "for her protection."   As her knowledge of the elements around her grows, and she discovers that she is quite capable of many things, she starts to question if the things that Daniel has been telling her are for her own good or his selfish desires.

This was a well written book.  The story progressed with a good pace and the characterization became more solidified.  The chapters are broken up in a unique fashion that added to the reading experience for me as well.  I really was not liking Luce much in moments of Fallen because she was such a victim, the damsel in distress who just got in trouble and danger all the time - was very close to being  cliche.  But in this book, Luce starts to get a backbone, take some initiative and strive to take control of her life rather than just let the forces around her determine her future.  The ultimate decision of self-preservation is made at the end of this book and I'm super excited to read the last one.  I really like Luce and can't wait to see what's going to happen next.

Fallen

This is another one of those books that Amazon kept recommending to me based on my other reviews and I finally grabbed it.  I figured it would be a quick read but some reviews I read were reasonably favorable and I decided to give it a try.

This is a story about a girl named Luce - short for Lucinda.  She has just had a tragedy in her life, her boyfriend was killed by a fire which she is being blamed for, and thus she is sent to a sort of private reform school for her senior year.  She has multiple encounters with these things, shadows, that have been in her life for years, and it is these shadows that she believe is the cause of the fire that killed her boyfriend, and they seem to be gaining power.  In the meantime, there are people at this school she is drawn to that she shouldn't be, and mysterious events that start to occur, leading Luce to believe she is somehow connect to this unknown force, and that the shadows have something to do with it.

This was a pretty well written book.  I felt like the characters were well developed and that the plot was interesting.  I started to know what was happening part way through, but Kate kept enough of her secrets hidden that there were still some surprises.  It is YA and therefore brain candy, but smart enough that I could validate the time.  There were a few events that were a little cliche, but I still devoured the book and immediately sought out the sequel. 

Sarah's Key

This is one of those books that kept showing up on lists all over the internet, receiving many rave reviews, and I just picked it up from our school library one day, not knowing anything about it at all.  Even when I started reading it, I still didn't know what it was about in the least except that it had some foundation in World War II and involved a character who was a child. 

This is one of those stories that involves characters in two different periods of time.  One is Sarah, a girl in France at during WWII, and Julia, an American married to a Frenchman and living in France, working for a magazine.  She gets assigned an article for a 60 anniversary of some event she has never heard of.  In her research, she discovers Sarah's story, which leads her to question several aspects of her own life and redirects her life efforts in a different direction. 

This story starts with tragedy, but knowing that it is WWII, the reader should expect that.  I know there are reviews out there that explain, even the back of the book does a bit, but not knowing and just reading I think creates the more authentic reading experience.  It is an incredibly beautiful story, written well.  I did wish that one of the two storylines could have carried through more, but I understand why it didn't.  I love Sarah and come to love Julia and found myself wishing the book was longer just so I could spend more time with them.  This is an incredibly beautiful book that if you haven't read, it must be moved to the top of your reading list, now. 

Halo

I saw this book on my Amazon recommended list and I completely admit that I developed a fascination and interest in the book purely because of the cover.  Yes, I completely judged this book by it's cover and knew that I had to at least give it a chance based solely on that.  I tell you, whoever did the artwork on this book, I sure hope they are getting a pretty penny.  I did have some hesitation when I looked up the author though.  You see, she is 18, and while there are others who have had success in their teens, there is something a little frustrating about teen writing.  But then I looked at the cover again and knew that she deserved a chance. 

This is a story about Bethany, an angel who came to earth with two other angels to help a small community fight against the evil, dark forces that are trying to gain power.  She has never been to earth before, unlike the other two angels, and the Adornetto does a good job catching her experiences, both with a new body and dealing with significant innocence that makes it obvious she is not like normal teenagers.  She quickly becomes involved with a boy, which she is NOT supposed to do, and the forces that seemed to be distant to the quaint town she is in permeate faster than expected.  Bethany is conflicted between her responsibilities and her new feelings.

Adornetto is a pretty good writer, I have to give her credit.  Granted, there were times when I knew the author was very young, but at the same time, she does a great job really capturing the emotions of a teenager without being overly dramatic in an effort to create tension, or too vague due to time removed from such experiences.  This book is total brain candy - not a hard read at all, but an enjoyable story.  I have the interest in following the rest of the series, not merely because of a curiosity concerning the storyline, but also to witness the development of Adornetto as an author.  Enjoyable, memorable and fun.