*REVIEW* Torment

Synopsis:

Hell on earth.

That’s what it’s like for Luce to be apart from her fallen angel boyfriend, Daniel. It took them an eternity to find one another, but now he has told her he must go away. Just long enough to hunt down the Outcasts—immortals who want to kill Luce. Daniel hides Luce at Shoreline, a school on the rocky California coast with unusually gifted students: Nephilim, the offspring of fallen angels and humans.

At Shoreline, Luce learns what the Shadows are, and how she can use them as windows to her previous lives. Yet the more Luce learns, the more she suspects that Daniel hasn’t told her everything. He’s hiding something—something dangerous. What if Daniel’s version of the past isn’t actually true? What if Luce is really meant to be with someone else?

The second novel in the addictive FALLEN series . . . where love never dies.

Torment is the second book in the Fallen series and I think the title fits the book perfectly. It's obvious in this book that several of the characters are struggling with things, being "tormented" if you will by a past they can't escape and a future that is completely and utterly unclear. While I did not enjoy it as much as the first book, I think that Torment was a solid book two, albeit with a few minor annoyances which I'll delve into in a moment.

Torment picks up where Fallen left us, immediately after the battle at the cemetary. Daniel has made arrangements for Luce to transfer to Shoreline, a presitigous school on the west coast. Shoreline offers certain protections for Luce that will enable Daniel to work with Cam and others to hunt down the Outcasts, fallen angels who have been shunned by both camps. Rather than explain to Luce all that is going on, Daniel gives her as little information as possible and assumes she will obey his wishes and remain confined on the school's campus. He is hoping time at Shoreline will allow Luce to begin to learn the things that she must learn on her own. If only Daniel could have predicted her actions...

See, Luce begins to exert some independence at Shoreline in a MAJOR way. She begins experimenting with the Announcers, desperate to learn as much as she can about her past lives. She ignores Daniel's request for her to stay on campus and travels several times on various adventures, some of which could have ended very, very badly. And throughout it all, Luce begins to develop serious anger and doubt when it comes to everything she knows. Why is she being punished, forced to live again and again just to fall in love with Daniel and burn for it? And how much does her curse hurt the people who love her in each of her reincarnations?

On top of these newfound feelings, Luce begins to develop other feelings--feelings for Miles, a fellow student at Shoreline. Luce and Daniel have begun fighting nonstop and Luce is beyond frustrated with Daniel's inability to let her in, to tell her the things she desperately wants to know. And Miles is always there, so open and kind and stable and she can't help but form feelings for him, feelings that make her feel guilty, yet wonderful at the same time. Are her and Daniel truly meant to be? Or could she stop this cycle once and for all by finding love with someone else?

Like I said above, Torment is a solid book two. I liked the addition of the new characters and I enjoyed learning more about the angels and demons. However, there are still SO many unanswered questions, things that I really don't understand and that left me feeling quite a bit frustrated by the end of the book. And then there's Daniel... I really, really liked him in the first book but in this one, I struggled at times. He just seemed so unbending, unwilling to tell Luce anything, and he seemed a little controlling. While I'm SURE this came from a place of wanting to protect her, I found myself wanting to smack him!

And then there's Luce... yes, I understand it must be beyond frustrating to be left in the dark about so many things but she kind of plucked my nerves in this one a bit. On one hand, she seemed to grow more independent and I'd be cheering for her, but then she'd be overly negative and emotional and I'd find myself wanting to tell her to grow up. Because although Daniel did seem to be annoyingly controlling, it's clear that his intent is nothing but to keep her safe. It felt almost at times as if she did things simply because she thought she had been told not to, and that is WAY juvenile in my opinion.

All in all though, I'm still a huge fan of this series and will be starting Passion, book three, right away! If you haven't tried this series yet, I'd give it a go. If for nothing else, do it for the covers. Cause THEY ARE STUNNING. Enjoy! *XOXO*