Fallen in Love by Lauren Kate

Fallen In Love (Fallen 3.5) by Lauren Kate
Release Date: January 24th 2012
Publisher: Random House
Add it: Goodreads
Overall: ♥♥♥


I've done a mini-review for each story :)

*drools over cover*

Love Where You Least Expect It: The Valentine of Shelby and Miles
Rating: 1 star

Alrighty, first things first, I don't care about Shelby and Miles at all. Throughout the series so far, I think their both rather flat and boring. Miles sounds like every other guy with no personality and Shelby sounds like every other chick with no personality.

I don't think I have to explain these stories to you - they're pretty straightforward Valentine Day stories... I was hoping that this short story would make me care about Shelby and Miles more, but unfortunately it didn't. I felt like I was reading from Luce and Daniel's perspective again and so far, the two still haven't stood apart from any of the other characters. I felt it could've had the potential as it's stated that Miles is protective about his hat and Shleby wonders whether there is any sentimental meaning behind it - this doesn't get expanded on, and I feel it would have shaped Miles' character a lot more.

As for the writing so far - it's still pretty satisfactory.
"Lucinda hadn't even noticed - that was how lost in sadness she was"

"One of his long golden-black dreadlocks came loose from its elastic and tumbled from the recesses of his helmet"

That first example is a perfect case of telling rather than showing. There wasn't any need for the "lost in sadness" part, the reader gets it - she didn't notice something she should have, so she's clearly out of it, or sad (which had been mentioned multiple times beforehand).
As for the second example, I don't even understand that :|. I read that and had to do a double-take. If anyone can tell me how you have golden-black dreadlocks, feel free :)

I must admit, one part did make me laugh - there is a cute part where Shelby goes to swap something and in order to get the item, she says that it's a mark of the devil and gets really theatrical about it. That made me laugh!!

Overall, I was unimpressed, I didn't see a build in character or personality for either and would've liked to see that *something* that seperates them from the others in the Fallen series.

Love Lessons: The Valentine of Roland
Rating: 2 stars

Okay, I guess I sort of felt for Roland more, and I definitely enjoyed his story more than Shelby and Miles'. I don't have a hell of a lot to say about Roland's story because whilst I was more interested in it than the former, the writing still wasn't that great and the story was only marginally better!

HOWEVER, Roland's story helped clear up a plot hole-y type thing I picked up on in Passion. When Luce gives Daniel tattoos, why does he not have them in every other life? Turns out that angels can change their looks as they please and Daniel does it pretty much every lifetime (this may have been mentioned in Fallen or Torment but I can't remember), so yeah. I was happy about that.

Then there's the cheesy love references...
"At first, he was cautious in his ascent, but even in the creaky metal armor, he soon felt nimble again with light memories of love" AWWWW.

And we learn more about Cam, sort of. Kinda. Which was cool :)

Yeah. That's about all I have to say about this one :|

Burning Love: The Valentine of Arriane
Rating: 4 stars

NOW THIS ONE WAS COOL.

Firstly Arriane's true love was a woman. A woman. I couldn't get over it. I initially thought that I read it wrong and they were just friends, but it seems I've underestimated Lauren Kate and she actually had the guts to write a gay character. I am so impressed!

But you know what the saddest thing is? That I automatically assumed I read it wrong. We don't see enough gay characters in YA. Off the top of my head, I can think of Lola's parents (Dads) from Lola and the Boy Next Door, and now Arriane. And YA is my preference of genre!

I thought Kate did Arriane's love story really well and I loved that this story had so much more happen than the others, there was actual drama, action and hurt. As the story develops, I was *this* close to shedding a tear for Arriane because I felt so sorry for her.

As for the writing in this story, I thought it was definitely an improvement in comparison to the others (apart from the typos I found) and I was pleased to see another confirmation of how angel's bodies function.
"Except for their wing scars, every other ink mark or wound or scar in time would fade away"

Overall, I loved Arriane's story and I would have been extremely happy if this book just focused on her experiences.

Endless Love: The Valentine of Daniel and Lucinda
Rating: 2 stars

This is 2 stars because I enjoy their story in general. But this was nothing new. It was the usual "I love Daniel", "If only Daniel were here..." "He had blonde hair (blah blah blah), but *insert long dramatic pause* he wasn't Daniel. *insert so called cliffhanger*.

Yeah.

Overall
I loved learning Arriane's background and Roland's background (but mostly Arriane's!) and it was a nice, easy read. However, I really wish I actually cared about Shelby and Miles, and I'm really hoping to see more of them in Rapture. And the excerpt of Rapture was actually pretty interesting so I can say I'm somewhat looking forward to the last installment (AND GOD. I WANT TO KNOW WHY the curse has affected them, WHAT is so great about Luce? WHY does Lucifer wanna go all psycho and stuff-apart from the fact he is Lucifer and wants to destroy the world etc etc).  

Whilst I received this from NetGalley, this has in no way affected my review

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