I got up at 5:30am this morning to get ready for the three hour drive to Brisbane for the Lauren Kate Passion Tour – Brisbane Signing. Thankfully, I wasn’t the one driving. After a stop off for a Maccas breaky, Brittany (Nice Girls Read Books) and I arrived early at the shopping centre. Checking out Dymocks, we only found a couple people lined up outside, so we took off to scope out all the bookstores. Mistake. Half an hour later, a line had appeared and we ended up standing all the way outside the doors of the shopping centre for a good forty-five minutes. I’d just bought five books at the shops and had my three Lauren Kate books for the signing, so my shoulder was well and truly sore by the time we reached the front of the line.

It was actually fairly well organised and fast moving once things got going. Lauren would take your stack of books and you’d hop up on the stage with her while she signed them and get some photos with her.

While we were there, Brittany and I caught up with Melissa from Spellbound By Books again. It’s always fun to be able to catch up with other bloggers. Although, we didn’t get to check out the bookstores with her… next time.

Lauren was really nice and friendly, commenting on what good condition my personal library must be in based on how well my books were cared for 😉

I loved the vibe there, and it was fun watching all of the shoppers walk by, staring as they tried to figure out what’s going on. This was my second author signing so far, and definitely worth the trip. Although, right about now, I feel like crashing into bed for the next twelve hours. A big thanks to my little brother for driving us.

Title: Torment (Fallen #2)
Author: Lauren Kate
Published: September, 2010 by Delacorte Press
Pages: 452
Rating:  
Purchase: The Book Depository

Hell on earth.

That’s what it’s like for Luce to be apart from her fallen angel boyfriend, Daniel.
It took them an eternity to find one another, but now he has told her he must go away. Just long enough to hunt down the Outcasts—immortals who want to kill Luce. Daniel hides Luce at Shoreline, a school on the rocky California coast with unusually gifted students: Nephilim, the offspring of fallen angels and humans.

At Shoreline, Luce learns what the Shadows are, and how she can use them as windows to her previous lives. Yet the more Luce learns, the more she suspects that Daniel hasn’t told her everything. He’s hiding something—something dangerous.

Final Thoughts:
This isn’t the book I was expecting. Rather than following on from the action-packed plot that we finally got to in the final quarter of Fallen, here we’re thrown into a new school, new characters and Luce. That’s it. Everyone else from the first book is gone, so it’s like starting over again. Only this time, it’s on the complete opposite extreme. Shoreline, possibly named after the cliff edged beach the school borders, is nothing like Luce’s old school. Gone are all the prison-like qualities of Sword and Cross, replaced by laptops with free wi-fi for all and extravagant breakfasts on the terrace.

Title: Fallen (Fallen #1)
Author: Lauren Kate
Published: December, 2009 by Delacorte Press
Pages: 452
Rating:  
Purchase: The Book Depository

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.

Final Thoughts:
A lot of people have been divided over this one. I can see where the not so positive thoughts have been coming from. It is incredibly slow in getting toward the actual paranormal aspects. So if you’re looking for a hot paranormal romance, you might find yourself disappointed for the first 350 or so pages. I admit, I was disappointed at first, but after getting into the story and taking it for what it was, I actually started to enjoy myself. Boarding school stories can get tiresome, but this one was a bit out of the norm.

Title: My Soul To Steal (Soul Screamers #4)
Author: Rachel Vincent
Published: January, 2011 by Harlequin Teen
Pages: 343
Rating:  
Purchase: The Book Depository

Trying to work things out with Nash—her maybe boyfriend—is hard enough for Kaylee Cavanaugh. She can’t just pretend nothing happened. But “complicated” doesn’t even begin to describe their relationship when his ex-girlfriend transfers to their school, determined to take Nash back.

See, Sabine isn’t just an ordinary girl. She’s a mara, the living personification of a nightmare. She can read people’s fears—and craft them into nightmares while her victims sleep. Feeding from human fear is how she survives.

And Sabine isn’t above scaring Kaylee and the entire school to death to get whatever—and whoever—she wants.

Final Thoughts:
There was so much angst in this book, like Crescendo level angst. I admit, it drove me insane for a while. Usually I hate angst in epic proportions, but once I got caught up in the ride, I started to enjoy myself. If you’ve read my earlier reviews for this series, you’d remember I mentioned how different each book is. This one sticks to that tradition of change, giving us a few new characters and lots of cattiness.

Title: My Soul To Keep (Soul Screamers #3)
Author: Rachel Vincent
Published: June, 2010 by Harlequin Teen
Pages: 296
Rating:  
Purchase: The Book Depository

Kaylee has one addiction: her very hot, very popular boyfriend, Nash. A banshee like Kaylee, Nash understands her like no one else. Nothing can come between them.

Until something does.

Demon breath. No, not the toothpaste-challenged kind. The Netherworld kind. The kind that really can kill you. Somehow the super-addictive substance has made its way to the human world. But how? Kaylee and Nash have to cut off the source and protect their friends—one of whom is already hooked.

Final Thoughts:
I don’t know why, but I seem to keep going into these books with low expectations. You know how when you pick up a book and feel like you’re going to have to trudge through it? I have no idea where these feelings come from, but it’s definitely better than going into a book with over-hype. When I get down to it, I actually really enjoy reading the Soul Screamers series and this one was no different. Well, now that I think about it, it was. It was better. That’s always good. You wouldn’t want the series moving in the other direction. I love how each story manages to one up the previous book.

Title: A Beautiful Dark (A Beautiful Dark #1)
Author: Jocelyn Davies
Published: September, 2011 by HarperTeen
Thanks: HarperCollins via NetGalley
Pages: 320
Rating:  
Purchase: The Book Depository

On the night of Skye’s seventeenth birthday, she meets two enigmatic strangers. Complete opposites–like fire and ice–Asher is dark and wild, while Devin is fair and aloof. Their sudden appearance sends Skye’s life into a tailspin. She has no idea what they want, or why they seem to follow her every move–only that their presence coincides with a flurry of strange events. Soon she begins to doubt not just the identity of the two boys, but also the truth about her own past.

In the dead of a bitingly cold Colorado winter, Skye finds herself coming to terms with the impossible secret that threatens to shatter her world. Torn between Asher, who she can’t help falling for, and Devin, who she can’t stay away from, the consequences of Skye’s choice will reach further than the three of them could ever imagine.

Final Thoughts:
I love the cover for this book, but what I found inside, not so much. When you’re reading YA, you’re invariably going to come across familiar themes. This one has plenty, from dead parents, to the annoying best friend and even the love triangle. I don’t mind these things most of the time and usually find myself swept up in the book. Unfortunately this time, it didn’t happen.