Lauren Kate : TEARDROP

LAUREN KATE took the world by a storm when she wrote and released her best-selling book series - FALLEN. Many of us, readers and fans of YA genre, have fallen under the spell of  Luce & Daniel's story. In my case, I can thank my little sister (well not so little) for introducing me to this series.

So, when I found out that Ms Kate is preparing a new book series, I got a tiny bit excited. Well, I am lying now. I got really excited. TEARDROP has been released last year and I became a proud owner of the hardback copy soon after its released day.


I have to say, the first impression were really good. The cover is absolutely stunning. Purple. Blue. Black and Silver are wonderful colours to compliment the image on the front cover. As we come to used to with Ms Kate works, there is a beautiful girl pictured in gorgeous gown. Meet EUREKA - the heroine of the story.



We are meeting Eureka at the worst time possible. She has just lost her mum in a tragic accident. She has been hospitalised after attempted suicide as she couldn't cope with her loss. Now, her stepmother is forcing her to go to therapy to talk about her issues. The life is dull. She feels lonely. She only has two best friends, Cat and Brooks, as she allied all the rest of her school. She doesn't know how to get back into her life without her mum. One afternoon she bumps into Ander - well he crashes his car into her car and her life starts to change. She seems to see him everywhere, he knows things about her which are bordering on the line with stalking, but for some reason, she trusts him. Not to mention, that sparks fly every time they are near proximity of each other. But her life gets even more intrigued when she inherits mysterious objects from her mother - a book written in language nobody can read, a pendant which doesn't open, and a thunder stone nobody knows what is used for. And then Ander warns her that her life is in danger. Brooks starts to change and hurts her every chance he gets. What is all this means? What does the mysterious book tells? And what is the story behind Ander and his sudden appearance in Eureka's life?


I must say, I do enjoy Ms Kate's stories. Her writing is always entertaining and right up to my street. Her stories are filled with strong heroines with mysterious destiny. There is a big epic romance which goes through many challenges. Her heroines are always very relate able. And this story is similar to the previous series.


The prologue is fantastic. Packed with action. It makes you want to read the rest of the story. But then it radically slows down and you have to wait a while for it to pick back up. I start to be a little bit bored. It seems to me that some chapters doesn't need to be really there. They just fill the space and make up the page number. But read on I did. Maybe it will make sense at the end? Maybe they need to be there to support the story and further explain it? But sometimes, it was too much with too little happening. But then Ander reappears again. The explanations start to come together and the story finally picks up. I am finally enjoying it.

The other, quite major thing, I have noticed is that Ms Kate seems to stick to the previous books' synopsis. Here we have a girl with a mysterious destiny nobody knows about and we have to slowly uncover the big secret. A love triangle is formed with two guys - one the the side of good, one is the baddie. The girl loses someone very close to her. There is a massive fight. Remind of something? Basically, this book is like a re-written version of Fallen with different mythical species. Heaven is swapped for Atlantis. Angels are called Seed-bearers. Demons are called Atlanteans.


But even though I picked up on the repeated plot line.. Even though the story was a little bit boring to start off with... I did enjoy it at the end. I do like Eureka's character. I've grown quite fond of her. I do appreciate the fact that she isn't the stronger female in the hood. She has her own issues, which she needs to work through and which are very relate able to every girl. I do not like Brooks - well the version possessed by Atlas who hurts Eureka's feeling every seconds he gets. And I think I am falling under Ander's charm. Why wouldn't I? He seems good and dreamy and tries to protect Eureka with everything he's got.

So to summarise my thoughts on this book isn't easy. I did like it, but it wasn't original. I've grown to like the characters, but sometimes the story itself bored me. Could it be a good story ? Yes. Does the author needs to work on it a little bit more? Absolutely. If Ms Kate wants to impress her readers, she needs to come to out with some major twists in the next book as this one seemed too predictable and very slow paced. I want more action. I want more history to the story. I want to learn more about Ander. I want to be blown away.


So TEARDROP didn't measure to my expectations. It was a nice story, but it failed to blow my socks off.  Let's hope that the second instalment - WATERFALL - will make some amendments and save the potentially good story.