Fallen by Lauren Kate

Title: Fallen

Author: Lauren Kate

Published: December 2009

Source: The Library

Synopsis from Goodreads:

There’s something achingly familiar about Daniel Grigori.

Mysterious and aloof, he captures Luce Price’s attention from the moment she sees him on her first day at the Sword & Cross boarding school in sultry Savannah, Georgia. He’s the one bright spot in a place where cell phones are forbidden, the other students are all screw-ups, and security cameras watch every move.

Even though Daniel wants nothing to do with Luce–and goes out of his way to make that very clear–she can’t let it go. Drawn to him like a moth to a flame, she has to find out what Daniel is so desperate to keep secret . . . even if it kills her. 

I certainly enjoyed Fallen much more than I thought I would. With all of the mixed reviews I thought that I would be one of the people who didn't like it very much, but to my surprise I did like it. The setting of a reform school really through me off, but in a good way. I don't think that I've read a reform school book before, so it was new and exciting. The hot and cold behavior of Daniel was also intriguing, as was Cam, the other guy vying for Luce's attention.

I'm pretty new to this fallen angel stuff, so I enjoyed that I was learning about something. The thing that I didn't enjoy was that I didn't really learn about them. There was next to no backstory about the angels in this book, and I'm pretty confused as to the who what why and how, but I'm hoping that it might be explained better in the sequel.

I really liked how even though Luce fell for Daniel way faster than what's normal, there was a reason for that. It wasn't just Bam, I'm in love with you for no good reason, something that annoys me. I also liked how Luce had good friends, not just a couple supporting characters who popped in every fifty pages or so. The character twists were also unexpected, well, to me at least.

The imagery in this book was fantastic, but I think that some of it could have been cut out. There were a lot of times where I didn't really want to read an entire paragraph describing a statue, or a building. That's just me though, and I'm impatient. I did think that the overall setting was superb. It was such an obviously Gothic setting, and I could practically feel the mystery through the book.

I was pleasantly surprised with this book, and I would recommend it to anyone looking for a dark, mysterious story.

Characters: 8/10
Writing: 8/10
Plot: 8/10
Originality: 9/10
Ending: 8/10
Overall: 41/50 B
Cover/Title comments: The cover and the title are both perfect, and the cover is so gorgeous. Love it!