Fallen by Lauren Kate: Book Review

This was my choice of a read for my book club's "Judge a Book by its Cover" challenge. I love the cover. It's Gothic and mysterious-looking. And I love the title; both the cover art and the title drew me in.

But the story wasn't great. It's the story of a girl, Luce, who is in some sort of maximum security juvenile detention school thing for teenagers who have apparently done Bad Things. I guess Luce killed a boy, or they think she did, and so they've locked her up. The place is depressing. Luce has zero self-esteem and she's a stalker. It's difficult to like her. But she's inexplicably attracted to Daniel, a cool dude who is mean to her. The first time they lock eyes, he flips her off. He rejects her at every turn, yet she continues to stalk him. Why? Because she's drawn to him...she LOVES him. Whaaa???

The book starts off with a scene way back in history, of a guy and a girl who are in love. The guy is sketching a portrait of the girl because he knows he's about to lose her. They kiss and it's over; she's gone. Fast-forward to present day. It doesn't take a genius to figure out that Luce and Daniel keep being reincarnated throughout the ages, and that Daniel is a fallen angel. I kind of went into the story knowing that in the back of my mind, and I'm sure you will too. But then, toward the end of the book, the author comes out and tells you this. Apparently she thinks you're not a very smart reader; surely you didn't see it coming. It's quite insulting, actually. I guess it was supposed to be a big revelation. But it ended up just annoying me because I was waiting for something big; I'd already known the revelation all along.

This is the second or third "fallen angel" YA story I've read. After all the vampire books that have saturated the market in the past decade, I was ready for something different, something with a little more light. But so far I've been sorely disappointed. I'm still looking for that really good fallen angel / guardian angel story that hooks me and draws me in.

I dislike reading books in which I feel the author has little respect for me as a reader, or my intelligence. I realize this was written for a YA audience and not an adult audience, but I assert the intended YA audience is more intelligent than what was assumed by Kate in writing this book.

All in all, 2.5 stars from me; I'm rounding up to be nice.