*** Review*** The Betrayal of Natalie Hargrove by Lauren Kate

On the Back of the Book

All it takes is one fatal mistake...

High school beauty Natalie Hargrove has spent years plotting to become prom queen. She’s got just what it takes: popularity, glamour and ruthless ambition. When someone threatens to overturn her perfect plan, Natalie needs to take control. But a critical error plunges her into a sea of secrets, shame and scandal. Because it turns out there’s one thing even Natalie Hargrove can’t command – and that’s fate.

Pre Read Thoughts

I read the Fallen Series by this author and wasn’t a huge fan but I saw this one and knew that it wasn’t one of those Twilight-ish books so I decided to give it a go. I bought it in WHSmith as part of a ‘buy one get one half price’ offer. That means I’m not entirely sure how much I paid for it. The RRp for the book is £6.99 but at the time of writing this it’s £4.49 on the Kindle. The cover is a lovely looking angsty model girl and is really rather dull. The title really does deserve a better cover. The synopsis isn’t very telling either and that’s frustrating. I’m essentially reading a book because I want to see if it’s better than a series I don’t like. That’s not good, as long as I like it though...

Post Read Thoughts

Meh, this book is so average and doesn’t really excite me at all. It never drew me into the story and I failed to enjoy it. There were moments that I felt were taken from other stories and twisted to fit this – only the author didn’t pull it off as well as the original author. I didn’t think that the writing or the actual idea for the story were particularly good and I can see why it got lost until Ms Kate’s Fallen books became so popular. I’m trying to think of something positive to say but I’m really struggling here.

Natalie – on the plus side she isn’t anywhere near as annoying as Lauren Kate’s other leading lady, Luce, but that’s the only positive thing about her. She’s selfish, slutty, self obsessed and a whole host of other stuff that I really can’t be bothered to list. I felt no sympathy for her whatsoever – not even at the end. She’s a thoroughly unlikable character that got what was coming to her.

Mike – Natalie’s boyfriend and another not very likable character. He’s painted out as the perfect boyfriend and that annoys me a bit. He’s also very forgettable. I don’t remember much about him and that’s not a good thing. I wrote my initial draft review 10 minutes after finishing the book.

Overall I’m really unimpressed with this. It’s not very good and at the same time it’s not so bad that I feel the need to rant over every microscopic detail. That leaves me with very little to say about the book. I do hope this was the book I paid half price for though, I’d feel very disappointed and robbed if it isn’t. There are many reasons why I tell people reading is better than TV, this isn’t one of them.

My Rating

2 stars – This is thoroughly average. Not something I’m ever likely to read again. I recommend it to Fallen fans because Lauren Kate books are evidently your cup of tea. It’s becoming apparent to me that they aren’t mine. If you’ve never heard of her or picked up her books before then you should stay away from this one.

A Final Note

There are some sex scenes in this so I wouldn’t recommend giving it to a younger teen or an immature one. 

***Review*** Passion by Lauren Kate

On the Back of the Book

"Every single lifetime, I'll choose you. Just as you have always chosen me. Forever."

Before Luce and Daniel met at Sword & Cross, before they fought the Immortals, they had already lived many lives. And so Luce, desperate to unlock the curse that condemns their love, must revisit her past incarnations in order to understand her fate. Each century, each life, holds a different clue.

But Daniel is chasing her throughout the centuries before she has a chance to rewrite history.

How many deaths can one true love endure? And can Luce and Daniel unlock their past in order to change their future.

Pre Read Thoughts

I've not been overly impressed with this series, it didn't grab me as some series have but it didn't instantly have me backing away from it hissing. I'll tell you how I've come of this opinion book one was pretty forgettable, if you ask me what happens in Fallen I wouldn't be able to tell you. As for Torment in my opinion it was 400 pages of absolutely nothing happening and then in the final 52 pages there was a surge of plot development that had me scratching my head in complete and utter confusion. I reread the final chapter three, yeah that's right THREE times, before I had a clue of what was happening. Since my experiences haven't been the best that's left me feeling a bit apprehensive about Passion. I feel the need to point out that I was loathe to buy this at £9.99, that's £3 more expensive than your average paperback but my brother was buying a book in our local WHSmith and they were buy one get one for £1 and so I grabbed it. What can I say? I love a bargain. So I shall take this opportunity to thank my wonderful big brother, Dave. Cheers mate. I will admit I'm a sucker for a pretty cover and this one has me in bits. It's gorgeous. I'm really looking forward to seeing what this has to offer.

Post Read Thoughts

The first thing I want to say is that for me this book felt really disjointed and because of that I'm really having trouble trying to form an opinion of the story but for you, I'll try. This book for me was a bunch of mini-stories shoved together in an attempt to cash in on the angel trend currently sweeping through the YA genre. I spent much of the book feeling confused and wondering if I was missing something. Another downside of the constant changes is that I had trouble really getting to grips with the story and this made the book drag a bit as I was always trying to figure out what was happening.

One of my favourite characters to bash is Luce. Now I'm not blaming Lauren Kate I just find her to be, whiny, clingy, stupid, insecure and slightly slutty. I also think that she's quite bland when she's not annoying me she's fading into the background. This has to be another case of *insert self here*. There's one other character that I don't like: Daniel. Unfortunately he has quite a large part in this book which is a shame because he's in desperate need of a personality transplant. I'd like to point out that there are characters that I do like. My personal favourite is Cam, he's everything Daniel should have been and more.

Despite appearances I actually liked the premise of going back into Luce and Daniel's past I just think there was a better way to go about it. An idea I had was to have the series as a trilogy and released the mini stories as free online things that led up to the release of Rapture. Essentially I think what I'm trying to say is that even though the writing was good, the story didn't really add to the series. I have to say the end was fantastic. I loved it. Another positive (I'm on a roll!) is that the book played like a movie in my head, unfortunately the signal was a bit dodgy though because it kept cutting out.

My Rating
3 stars - I liked the idea of the story, I liked the writing and in parts this was amazing but it was hit and miss for me, there was too much happening in the book. This also felt like more of a set up for Rapture and I refuse to give it more than 3.

Torment by Lauren Kate

Plot

Luce has been moved to yet another school, this time by her 'boyfriend' Daniel. Now in California (not that her parents know this fact) Luce decides to delve into her past [lives] to see if she can come up with answers to the questions that Daniel refuses to comment on and to see whether she truly belongs with him.

Whilst there Luce meets Miles, a boy who is just so sweet and wonderful oh and he's in love with our 'heroine'. Luce feels an attraction towards him, will she act on it?

Writing

I liked the writing, even though the premise is essentially The Immortals but with angels. For the most part the author creates a fantasy world that fits quite nicely into our own. Overall the writing's pretty good but the was something that annoyed me.

The ending. It was confusing, there was too many things happening in such a short amount of time. Lets be honest, you can't have 400 pages of nothing and then expect the reader to be able to understand everything that you've just crammed into the last 52 pages. What happened wasn't set up very well and was rushed.

Characters

This yet another book where the quality of the main characters is surpassed by that of the rest of them. I don't care if Daniel's a blinking angel, if he treated me that way he'd be out the door. Of course though this is a young adult book so introducing Luce, a girl who must have the word 'doormat' tattooed on her forehead because she just lets him get away with whatever. Oh no I'm sorry it's because he's been trawling after her past 1000 reincarnations, that's not romantic, that's stalkerish.

Other than that I love the characters particularly new boy Miles, he's so adorable and has all the qualities of a gentleman. It's just a shame that the only reason he's been added is because he's the obligatory secondary love interest for Luce.

Overall

It's an okay book. I didn't race through it and that's because I found that at times it dragged a bit but it was better than I was expecting.

Okay I know I hated the main characters but then again they didn't seem to like each other either. I also know that I also hated the ending but I'm willing to forgive the author for that. (I know I'm such a nice person.)

3 stars is what I gave it in the end. I enjoyed it (most of the time) but if the first book is anything to go by then this is going to be pretty forgettable. Read it if you want but I suggest you go to the library as opposed to buying it.