Fallen:
To Lucinda Price, enrolling at Sword & Cross is a last resort. unable to recollect the details of a tragedy which took the life of her friend, she arrives and Sword & Cross despondent. When she sees Daniel Grigori, everything changes. Somehow, she feels a connection with him that she hasn't felt with anyone else before. He appears in her dreams, and it seems as if she knows him. But when she tries to talk to him, he shrugs her off coldly, leaving her lost and confused.

To me, a major part of the fascination and appeal of Fallen was Luce and Daniel's romance. Unlike in a lot of books, it was very complicated, but even more than that. Luce was similar to Megan in The Iron Knight; her feelings out in the open, but responded to in all coldness. Luce and Daniel are also very much opposites; while Daniel does everything because he believes he is protecting Luce, Luce will throw herself into danger to find answers. The real reason I gave Fallen 5+ Stars is because I really connected with Luce, and she unlocked a lot of emotion that is usually hidden deep inside me.

Torment:
Torment definitely wasn't as good as Fallen. It was borderline close to terrible. For some reason, it seemed as if Luce's personality took a major change; venting against Daniel was just the beginning of it. Things that she was fine with in Fallen, she was suddenly not in Torment. Her baseline personality was still there, but he personality definitely took a turn, like Cam's is rumoured to be in Unforgiven.

Daniel wasn't as present in Torment, partially due to him being away 'protecting' Luce. I love Daniel, he's always wanting to fight for what he believes in (Luce). It was almost like Lauren Kate started a love triangle in Torment, which I am very, VERY against, as fragile as Daniel and Luce's relationship is, they are destiny.

Passion:
Passion was a definite improvement from Torment; I felt that it gave readers a background that had been missing from the start. I didn't love it, but it was a good book. It was more of a journey through time than a book.

The plot didn't really progress in Passion, instead, the main focus was Luce uncovering some answers. Split between Daniel/Luce third POV, omniscient style chapters, it was a very intriguing dual POV. Passion was very different from Fallen and Torment, not to say I didn't like it; I definitely did.

Lauren Kate really set up Rapture with Passion, and she is one of the most skilled at writing endings that I have read.

I often like coming into a series when it is complete, so I can read the books back to back. I did read these (books 1-3) but then decided to take a break before continuing on. I will, I just needed something else.

I was glad to find this combo to review, because I didn't know if I really had that much to say about the books individually. Each book did have it's own definite story line. Different settings, new characters introduced (as well as original ones sticking around).

In book 1, we are introduced to the characters, Luce's history ... things aren't really explained until a little later in the book. You have your usual teenage love triangle. There was a bit of a cataclysmic ending and I wasn't sure where the story was going to go from there.

Book 2 takes Luce (and us) to another school setting. She (and the reader) learn more about the nephilim and the shadows. Another love interest (love triangle) here, abrupt ending ...

Book 3 has Luce traveling through time, peeking (and more) at her former lives. It was interesting, if a bit depressing.

There was very little light or humor in the books, I think after reading the three I just felt a little dragged down, thus my turning to something else. Even though there was just the one book left (and a novella) I'll come back and finish the series in the near future.