Passion by Lauren Kate

23rd June 2011, Doubleday Children's,
432 pages, Paperback
Review copy

Young Adult, paranormal

Angels, time travel, teen romance, some violence,

Summary from Random House Children's Books 

Before Luce and Daniel met at Sword & Cross, before they fought the Immortals, they had already lived many lives. And so Luce, desperate to unlock the curse that condemns their love, must revisit her past incarnations in order to understand her fate. Each century, each life, holds a different clue. 

But Daniel is chasing her throughout the centuries before she has a chance to rewrite history. 

How many deaths can one true love endure? 

And can Luce and Daniel unlock their past in order to change their future?

Nayuleska's thoughts on Passion
Regular readers will know that mostly my reviews are in a different style. I'm choosing to change it just for Passion, because I need to discuss my decision for giving the the book 8/10 and 2/10. Like Cem, I write honest reviews, explaining what I love and what I didn't like about books.

Disclaimer: All of these views are my own opinion. I will be reading the fourth book when it comes out. I may read Passion again - I'll just skip the bits I'm not keen on. Spoiler alert: there is a middling spoiler about what gets examined in the last part of the book in the 2/10 explanation.

The 8/10: I think I enjoyed this one a lot more (until near the end) because Luce isn't as moany as the other books. I really love how she learns about travelling back in time to meeting her former selves. I really like the extra way she can get to know that - that was pretty cool. It was fun seeing how Daniel and the other angels were doing, it gave me a fuller understanding of the story. The small plot twists that built up slowly over the story were well executed.

The 2/10: Whenever I read books on angels, there is always a thin line between where I'll keep reading, and where I'll stop reading. I find it interesting to authors interpretation on fictional angels and demons, having my own faith include angels. Where books delve into going into heaven and hell, and use what God might say and do, that's where the line is crossed for me. That happens at the end of Passion.

Religion always is a controversial subject, because everyone has different views on it. I'm not saying that Passion is awful and it shouldn't be read. I enjoyed most of it. All I'm saying is, that for me personally with my beliefs, the end part was uncomfortable to read. For me, it worked when there wasn't a direct show of where Daniel and Cam came from, or who they answered to. Adding that in doesn't feel right for me. For me, heaven, hell, what happens when we die (this part isn't necessarily in the book) and God are unknown and can never be accurately described by anyone. It's something we have to look forward to after death.

So this is probably the first time I've given a book two grades: 8/10 and 2/10. I guess if I met half way it would be 5/10 (I think...my maths is isn't very good! If anyone could figure out what the grade would be please let me know).

Be sure to check out more about the series on Lauren's website.

Suggested reading


Make sure you've read book one, Fallen

and book 2, Torment