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.

In My Mailbox is a meme hosted by The Story Siren, which allows bloggers to share what books they’ve received in the past week. They can be from stores, contests, tours or publishers!

• Wake by Lisa McMann (purchased)
• Gone by Lisa McMann (purchased)
• Die For Me by Amy Plum (purchased)
• Starcrossed by Josephine Angelini (purchased)
• The Devouring by Simon Holt (purchased)
• Soulstice by Simon Holt (purchased)
• The Girl In The Steel Corset by Kady Cross (purchased)
• My Soul To Take by Rachel Vincent (purchased)
• Halo by Alexandra Adornetto (purchased)
• Unearthly by Cynthia Hand (purchased)
• Intertwined by Gena Showalter (purchased)
• Unraveled by Gena Showalter (purchased)
• Demonglass by Rachel Hawkins (purchased)
• Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare (purchased)
• Fallen by Lauren Kate (purchased)
• Torment by Lauren Kate (purchased)
• Infinity by Sherrilyn Kenyon (purchased)
• Invincible by Sherrilyn Kenyon (purchased)
• White Cat by Holly Black (library)
• The Secret To Lying by Todd Mitchell (library)
• Shadow Kiss by Richelle Mead (library)
• Frostbite by Richelle Mead (library)
• Captivate by Carrie Jones (library)
• My Love Lies Bleeding by Alyxandra Harvey (library)
• Lover Eternal by J.R. Ward (library)

As you can see, my mailbox went into overload this week. Lots of my bookdepository orders arrived (every single book packaged individually), but I still have a couple more I’m waiting on. I went to the city this week with my friend Brittany from Nice Girls Read Books and we stalked all the bookstores we could find. We nearly got stuck in a back alley tow away zone trying to find a park for one of the little independent bookshops. City driving, not fun… On top of the 12 books that arrived in the mail, I grabbed 6 at the shops on impulse and picked up 7 more from the big library in the city. Out of all of these, I’d read six already (Wake, My Soul To Take, Intertwined, Unraveled, Clockwork Angel and Infinity) but I needed them for my collection. I especially love the shiny foil coverslip on Clockwork Angel, it looks great sitting beside my TMI hardbacks.

Link up to your mailbox and I’ll be sure to check it out!