A truly spectacular cover.

It’s rare to find a book that only has one cover around the world.

Lucinda Price is seventeen, has had her head shaved by her parents and deposited at the Sword & Cross reform school. It’s gonna be a great year.  Her first day is filled with meeting the other students, following the rules and him. Daniel: the fellow teenager that can only be described as beautiful. As their eyes meet, Luce’s heart thumps madly and Daniel, he flips her off.

There’s something about that him that prevents Luce was staying away. She’s drawn to him like a former lover, but with every step she gains he pushes her further away. As she tries to adjust to this caged life, Luce’s feelings are constricted between for desire for Daniel and affection for the thoughtful and charming Cam. With tough and rebellious reform school girls making her life a living nightmare, Luce is determined to keep her secret that landed her in this place a secret. But there’s more to this world of Sword & Cross and Luce is stuck in the middle of it. 

I liked the premise of Fallen. It had a good mix of mystery but for adults like me I could still make some educated guesses. I love, love, loved that this was set in a reform boarding school! This isn’t a privileged boarding school, but a dark and dismal setting that really made the world come alive. For some kids, this is their life. It’s a jail that serves as a school where the teachers try but after so many years….

It’s good versus evil mashed with a love triangle. Who does the reader want our Luce to end up with? Cam or Daniel? Daniel or Cam? This is the current YA of excellence and it made me feel like I was seventeen again. Yet, there’s so much more to the story and this first book only lightly touches on the countless secrets that the main characters are holding within. The series finished this year and I am beyond excited that I can read through the rest at my leisure. I hope Kate is able to keep the story going with more depth rather than just focusing on forbidden love. 

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!