Fallen by Lauren Kate

4 stars - I liked it.

This is what I would consider the perfect YA novel. And it's following the formula made famous in Twilight. Two love interests, eternal love, supernatural creatures.

I picked up Fallen because of its amazing cover. There are times when I can just feel whether a book will be good or not. ... Well, there are times when I hope a book lives up to my feelings. I typically find that when I love a cover and am intrigued by the back-ad and just can't wait for the book come in... then it's usually good. I'm pretty sure it's because when a publisher puts time and effort into a book, it shows, and they usually only do it when a book is good. So in this case, the book lived up to my expectations.

Fallen is about a girl named Luce, a guy named Daniel that she's drawn to, and another guy named Cam who wants Luce. The formulaic love triangle.

Luce is new to a reform school for, apparently, setting her previous boyfriend on fire. She also sees shadows and hears voices, so her track record wasn't spotless before even her boyfriend spontaneously combusted.

Sword & Cross, the school, is pretty drab. Androgynous teachers. Boring classes. Rowdy students.

Readers will figure out the story long before Luce does, but in a way, that was a draw for me. The first few pages tells the reader about Daniel and Luce's history, so we know they're going to end up again. What we don't know is where Cam fits into all of this.

We also figure out that Daniel's an angel long, long, long before Luce does, even though she provides the reader with all the clues. I'm going to go easy on the author here and say that it was part of the mystery. Rather than Luce being stupid, she had to remain naive in order to survive.

I was a bit disappointed with the climax of the story. Luce runs off while Daniel and his good fallen angels fight Cam and his bad fallen angel army. She's stuck in a basement while explosions happen elsewhere. I think staying wtih Daniel and Cam would have been much more interesting, and the same betrayal could have happened closer to the fight scene.

The book ends with a sequel clearly in mind, which is one of my pet peeves... I like books that are stand-alone but end up so fabulous that a sequel would be awesome. But I'll read the sequel, because I still want to know exactly what's going on between the two factions of fallen angels and what exactly Luce's role is in all of this. (Beside obviously being Daniel's eternal love interest, it's implied that her death could lead to the end of the world, and I get the impression that she and Daniel have been around since creation and their love story has to do with the salvation of the world.)

Like I said, this is the perfect YA novel, and it's a pretty good read. It's not deep; it won't move you, but it will keep you entertained for a good couple hours.