Review: Torment by Lauren Kate

Dear Blog,

I'm sure most of you know that Torment is being released tomorrow here in the UK (and is just released in the States)  Hence, my review:

Summary (from Goodreads): How many lives do you need to live before you find someone worth dying for? In the aftermath of what happened at Sword & Cross, Luce has been hidden away by her cursed angelic boyfriend, Daniel, in a new school filled with Nephilim, the offspring of fallen angels and humans. Daniel promises she will be safe here, protected from those who would kill her. At the school Luce discovers what the Shadows that have followed her all her life mean - and how to manipulate them to see into her other lives. Yet the more Luce learns about herself, the more she realizes that the past is her only key to unlocking her future...and that Daniel hasn't told her everything. What if his version of the past isn't actually the way things happened...what if Luce was really meant to be with someone else?

Review: The first chapter of Torment sees Luce arriving at a new school, this time on the sunny California coastline, and the aforementioned school is (imaginatively named) Shoreline. It's a far cry from the deliciously creepy sinisterness of Sword & Cross; this time the students go for parties on the beach, and there's not a CCTV camera in sight. It makes a refreshing change.

The new cast of characters Luce meets seem to fill the roles of those she left behind at Sword & Cross. Luce's new room mate is yoga addict Shelby, who seems to take the place of Arianne, while the utterly charming Miles assumes the role of Cam. Worry not, for the old S&C crew do make an appearance at the end, and Arianne even has a cameo in Las Vegas. It's a little weird, but in truth I suppose I could imagine her there.
Luce's friend Callie was a nice idea, but I really struggled to like her (I'm not sure if you were supposed to or not). She just seemed slightly giggly and airheaded- although I suppose that compared to a load of angels, demons and Nephilims, anyone relatively human looks that plain and dumb.
Anyway. Back to Miles, for he plays a pretty big part in Torment. Though Miles is not a demon, unlike Cam, and a mere Nephilim, he's still sweet and likeable, and clearly I'm not the only one who thinks so. He and Luce seem pretty attratced to one another, which adds yet another dimension to the tangled web of love that is Luce's life.

Speaking of tangled webs of love. The relationship between Luce and Daniel is just as eternal and passionate as it was before, but this time there's a rough edge to every passionate kiss, which made me happy. Just because it's eternal, doesn't mean that Luce and Daniel can't have a few spats now and again. One one hand it was slightly irritating to see the two fighting, which they do frequently in Torment, because they're so right for each other.  But on the other,  it just seems like a more realistic portrayal of love than some completely perfect relationship that you often come across in books, where the characters never say a word against their significant other. It makes me happy that Luce doesn't just do everything that Daniel tells her to do, even if it makes her sound slightly whiny at times. Now and again I wanted to slap Daniel and yell, "if you love her that much, then trust her, dammit!" Which for much of the book he doesn't seem to do.  And to quote Luce herself, "how am I supposed to understand if you don't tell me what's happening?"  

My thoughts exactly. But here we find out a little more about the mysterious Outcasts and their motives, as well as Luce's past lives with Daniel. It makes for pretty interesting reading, to resolve all these mysteries, and the glimpses into Luce's past lives are probably the most interesting part of the story, seeing as they left me asking the most questions in the last book.
Torment reminded me in a lot of ways of The Sweet Far Thing by Libba Bray. In some respects, nothing big and exciting really happens for the first couple of hundred phrases, until the climax, which is utterly fantastic and makes up for it. So part of me thinks, does it really have to be this long? But the other part thinks, yes it does. Because many of the questions asked in Fallen are resolved, but still enough is left unsaid to give the book an air of mystery about it.

Despite the slight slowness in parts, it was more addictive than I thought it was, and I read the last 150 pages or so in one sitting. The climax was particularly exciting, and leaves things open for the third book in the series/trilogy/whatever it is going to become, Passion. I suppose it's much like chocolate; you think you should save some for later, because surely it's not healthy, but then you devour it all anyway. It's hard to put down, but easy to pick up. 

In Three Words: Intriguing, romantic, unputdownable.
Recommended for: Everyone who read and loved Fallen. And if you haven't read it yet, what are you waiting for?!
Rating: 4. 

Thank you to Random House for sending me a copy to review.

Review: Hush, Hush by Becca Fitzpatrick

Dear Blog,
I took Hush, Hush camping with me last week and I haven't had time to write a review since then *sigh* what more can I say?  Unfortunately, I must have a life outside the internet or my neck will get even more stiff than it is now, my eyes will turn square and I'll start getting Cyberspace Withdrawal Symptoms every time I have to go for just five minutes.  Anyway. 

Summary (from Goodreads): For Nora Grey, romance was not part of the plan. She's never been particularly attracted to the boys at her school, no matter how much her best friend, Vee, pushes them at her. Not until Patch came along. With his easy smile and eyes that seem to see inside her, Nora is drawn to him against her better judgment.
But after a series of terrifying encounters, Nora's not sure who to trust. Patch seems to be everywhere she is, and to know more about her than her closest friends. She can't decide whether she should fall into his arms or run and hide. And when she tries to seek some answers, she finds herself near a truth that is way more unsettling than anything Patch makes her feel.  For Nora is right in the middle of an ancient battle between the immortal and those that have fallen - and, when it comes to choosing sides, the wrong choice will cost her life.

Review: It's true that if somebody holds up a book and, while summarising it, mentions "paranormal" or "urban fantasy", or "for fans of Twilight", I will probably run a hundred miles in the other direction.  I haven't read Fallen, House of Night, Kissed by an Angel, Vampire Academy,  the Morganville Vampires, Beautiful Creatures, Shiver, the Dark Divine, Wicked Lovely, or anything else that looks remotely paranormal.  This is probably because I really don't buy the whole hype around Twilight.

It's also true that Hush, Hush is effectively Twilight but with angels.  There are many, many similiarities; everything from being attacked on a night out on the town, as they say, to sitting together in a science class, which is sort of annoying.  I suppose it must be kind of tricky to write something truly, truly original in the paranormal genre these days, but surely not everything had to be almost exactly the same?  Hmm. 

One thing I really didn't like about this book was Patch.  I think the whole bad-boy impression the reader got about him was what was supposed to make him so mysterious and attractive.  But to my mind he is a stalker, and even when he and Nora were in love and he saved her life numerous times, I still wasn't too keen on him.  If I were to have a fallen-angel boyfriend, I would at least like him to be sweet and tell me why he was stalking me.   Eventually, though, all is revealed and Patch becomes Nora's guardian angel , which sort of works out well for them both. 
Despite the fact that I didn't like Patch, Nora was a likeable character. She had a best friend, she was critical without being overly emo-y, and SHE TALKED!  She had a mind of her own, even though for lots of the books evil angels sort of messed around with it and made things appear that weren't actually there.  She was a pretty cool character (compared to Bella, she was nice, but compared to Sophie from Hex Hall she seemed a little lacking in awesomeness.  I feel guilty writing this review, like poor Nora can't really win.

Another thing that got on my nerves was that although we as the reader know about Patch being a fallen angel, although Nora begins to sort of work things out, she doesn't really find out the whole story until about three-quarters of the way through the book. But the cover and the writing that says "a fallen angel...a forbidden love", etc, etc.  The whole book just screams, "FALLEN ANGEL! FALLEN ANGEL!" Which sorts of takes the fun out of the mystery element of the book.  In which sense, it was pretty predictable. 

Despite plot-related flaws, other stuff such as the pace and the writing style were good.  It certainly sounded realistic from Nora's point of view.  The descriptions were good, the action scenes were exciting, it was creepy in the creepy scenes and the romantic scenes were, well, romantic, even though Patch creeped me out a bit. 

Summary: well worth a read, and I'll read the sequel, Crescendo, when it comes out, even though Hush Hush is not absolutely amazing and lacks originality. Oh well, it was pleasant enough, and I'm glad I read it.  And sorry for so many comparisons to Twilight.  Rating: 3.