Audio Book Review: Passion (Fallen #3) by Lauren Kate (September Sequel Challenge #2)

Once again I downloaded the audio book from the library to go on with this story. And I really enjoyed a lot about this next part in the series.  It was filled with so many different periods in history, which was a lot of fun.  We didn't get to see all of the characters that much in this book, other than of course Luce and Daniel, although the others did show up here and there for small parts of the story.  If you haven't read this far in the series yet, you can stop here and go back and read my review of the first book, Fallen, so that I don't give you any spoilers. 

In this story we pick up right where we left off from book 2, Torment, Luce has taken off inside of an Announcer, and the others are following her, trying to find her.  Especially Daniel.  Luce is trying to understand just why do they always fall in love.  It leads to death for her every time, and horrible heartbreak for Daniel every time.  And she doesn't know just why they fell in love, or if they are just compelled to because of the curse.  And so she is going back to her past lives to try to figure out why they love each other.  Along the way she will pick up someone named Bill, a gargoyle, who is there to help her figure out what she wants to see.  She will find out in some lives she is a much different girl than she is now.  She will see Daniel in all of his different human bodies as well.  We get to see how she dies, and Luce gets to actually be inside the bodies to experience the death in some of the situations.  I loved all the reincarnations, although so many were in Europe and places other than America, even before it got into the more ancient history.  But there was World War I, and World War II.  Russia, Shakespeare's time, ancient Mayans, and the one I was beginning to wonder if they'd have, ancient Egypt.

The whole time Daniel is following her, always showing up just right after she's left it seems.  And he is just hoping that she won't do something that could mess up all of history, including their love.  In the end, they will find each other, but it will be after something horrible is about to be set in motion.  You see the devil himself will show up, and he will have something to say about this whole thing with Luce and Daniel, and his own wants.  And we'll be left waiting to find out how the gang will fight him, and whether Luce and Daniel's love will really survive, and if they can finally break the curse.

I liked it better than the first two, although there were still moments I wanted to smack Luce, and moments that Daniel was still kind of a controlling jerk.  But again, I'm so ready to read the next book and find out what happens.  Or should I say listen to the next book.  I also heard there is going to be a 5th book, told from Cam's point of view.  And does anyone know when the movie comes out?  I thought it was this fall, but I haven't seen any previews for it.

Review: YOLO Juliet by Brett Wright/Shakespeare and srsly Hamlet by Courtney Carbone/Shakespeare

Okay, thanks to Edelweiss and Random House Books for Young Readers for allowing me to read a sampler of these two titles.  Now, I am a little disappointed that it was only samplers, but that is fine. While I normally do enjoy books like this, I might not have made it all the way through, as I have actually read Romeo and Juliet.  But I think this could be a great way to help kids today understand Shakespeare.  Yeah, you could say it "dumbs" it down.  But, it's not any different to me than translating it into more modern words like the No Fear Shakespeare books do.

These are basically told through Romeo and Juliet texting each other, or else writing in diary mode on their phones.  They use normal texting abbreviations and terms, as well as emojis.  One of the exchanges between Romeo and Juliet that I love was like this:

Romeo:  Juliet, I swear on the

 

Juliet:  Wait, you swear on a piece of rock in the sky?  Um.

Romeo:  Okay, what should I swear on, then?

Juliet:  Maybe we shouldn't make any promises yet.  All of t his happened as fast as 

Doesn't that kind of look like fun?  Of course in the book each person's speaking part is in bubbles like in a text message.

So I would recommend this as a fun book for someone trying to understand Shakespeare as they read it.

Waiting on Wednesday - Anyone But You: A Modern-Day Spin on Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet (Twisted Lit #3) by Kim Askew and Amy Helmes

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly event hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine where we spotlight upcoming releases that we're eagerly awaiting.  This week I've chosen a book in a series that is a modern re-do of Romeo and Juliet.  While there seem to have been a few of these lately, I like how this series would be a good choice for teachers to use in their classroom alongside teaching the "real" Shakespeare stories.  As a teacher/librarian, I can think of all sorts of ideas that could be done with these in a classroom.  Without further ado, here is the blurb from Barnesandnoble.com:

Power, passion...and pizza

The Montes love Italian food. And they hate the Caputos, That's how it is. It's been that way for sixty years. Every time the Caputos start to get a reputation for great pizza (and who knows? It could be better than the Montes!) there's "an accident" and Cap's is knocked back on its knees. What nobody knows is that the family teenagers are sick of their parents acting like schoolyard bullies, when nobody even remembers why the fight started! Gigi Caputo and Roman Monte, the son and daughter, are secretly in love. Determined to put a stop to their parents' vicious feud, they risk their parents' livelihood and their own lives. In this nod to Romeo and Juliet, will love win? Or vendetta?

Sounds fun, huh?  I've only read the 2nd one in the series, Exposure, which was supposed to be a retelling of Macbeth, and you can read my review of that HERE.

And while you're here, don't forget to enter my awesome Fierce Reads giveaway, where there will be 5 winners, so there are 5 books you could win!!!

Exposure (A Twisted Lit Novel) by Kim Askew and Amy Helms

I've been intrigued by these updated takes on Shakespeare plays since I first saw them as giveaways on Goodreads.com.  I received this book as part of a trade through the YA Book Exchange, from another blogger, The Book Babe.  And it wasn't too bad!  I will admit that I've only actually read two of Shakespeare's plays, haven't even seen that many in plays or movies.  This book is supposed to be a twist on Macbeth.  So I'm familiar with a lot of the things that are kind of trivia for this one, "out damned spot", the three witches, etc.  So it was an enjoyable story, and would be interesting for a class that had read the real play to read and compare.
The main character is Skye, and she is a nerd, at least in the fact that she's quiet, and is happier being behind the scenes, which fits well with her love of photography.  However she does have a crush on the big man on campus, Craig.  Now she and Craig had been good friends when he first came to Alaska.  Then that school year, I think sophomore year, started and as Skye figured, he was so attractive that the "in crowd" immediately accepted him as one of their own, and she lost touch with him.  Not that he still doesn't talk to her when he sees her, and tries to include her by inviting her to parties and other events.  She never takes him up on it, until the one time she decides to call his bluff.  And it is like she thinks, he is very awkward once she actually accepts the invitation.  So she goes, riding with him and his cheerleader girlfriend to the party.  They play this game of flashlight tag, and while Skye hangs back, not wanting to play, she isn't having the greatest time at this party.  And during the game, Duncan, Craig's best friend, has disappeared.  They find him the next day, he'd fallen into the ice, then climbed out, and frozen to death.  Skye has a feeling that maybe Craig and his girlfriend know what happened, and even though she is not happy with Craig, she doesn't want to ruin it for him, so she keeps his secret.
A lot of the stuff from the original Macbeth is sprinkled in the details of the story, the titles of the chapters, and even lines within the dialogue.  A quick, easy read.