Fallen in Love by Lauren Kate

Title:   Fallen In Love (Fallen #3.5)
Author:   Lauren Kate
Publisher: Random House Children's Books
Published: January 24, 2012

My Rating: 

From Goodreads: 


Unexpected. Unrequited. Forbidden. Eternal. Everyone has their own love story.

And in a twist of fate, four extraordinary love stories combine over the course of a romantic Valentine's Day in Medieval England. Miles and Shelby find love where they least expect it. Roland learns a painful lesson about finding-and losing love. Arriane pays the price for a love so fierce it burns. And for the first -and last- time, Daniel and Luce will spend a night together like none other.

Lauren Kate's FALLEN IN LOVE is filled with love stories . . . the ones everyone has been waiting for.

True love never says goodbye. .

My Review

Four short stories in one novella made for a pleasant and fast read. I wish I could rate each story individually, because my opinions on these stories vary greatly. The first story involves Miles and Shelby and is, in fact, a very cute story. For the first time, I found Shelby to be endearing, and I loved the “Gift of the Magi” moment she and Miles shared. I’ve always thought Miles was adorable in a goofy kind of way. I think Roland summed this up perfectly:

“Miles was all golden heart and very little badass.”

My favorite part of story #1 was when they ran into Roland, which segued nicely into the next story. Roland:  he’s always been a bit of a mystery to me, and, to be honest, he scared me a little. His story really shed some light on things and what happened to make him the Roland we know in the present.
 

The third story was, for me, the best of all:

“When one lover suffered from a broken heart, no matter how badly the other wanted to help, she couldn't be the one to heal it.”

I LOVED reading about Arriane and Tessriel. I think there was a wonderful message of acceptance and love with lots of underlying little gems, as well as the importance of free will. A beautiful, but heart-wrenching tale.

“As far as possible, Arriane realized, each soul had to be content alone before plunging into love, because one never knew when the other would move out of that love. It was the greatest paradox: Souls need each other, but they also need to not need each other.”

I would love to see more stories like this from Lauren Kate.

Then we have the fourth and final story. Luce and Daniel’s story was probably intended as a “save the best for last” kind of thing, but it wasn't my favorite.  Maybe, it's because I love Cam.  Maybe, I find myself growing tired of Daniel and Luce.  Most likely, I think I’m just more than ready for these two to get their happy ending and for the readers to have theirs. I did enjoy the sneak peek of Rapture, but mainly due to the sliver of Cam we received. I would have relished a whole story devoted to Cam. Perhaps, there will be one in the future.

I definitely recommend Fallen in Love to huge fans of The Fallen series, especially if you are team Daniel, or, if you’re like me, a bigger fan of the series’ supporting characters. There just wasn’t a whole lot for us “Cam girls” this time around. Rapture (Fallen #4) hits shelves June 12, 2012.

Thank you to Random House and Netgalley for providing me with an ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

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