Love is one of those things. Overrated, underrated, underwritten, overwritten, sublime, misunderstood. The list could go on and on. Love is such an individual experience that it’s hard to accurately depict it in books and films, yet that certainly doesn’t stop filmmakers and authors from trying. Lauren Kate’s Fallen in Love is a book of four love stories, which takes place between the third and fourth book in her Fallen series. She expands upon the love griping her main characters in the previous three books, offering fans of the series a more intimate insight into the past lives of her characters. Fallen in Love is my first encounter with any of the Fallen books, which are written about angels fallen from Heaven. They are immortal creatures, and, despite the paranormal world, Kate manages to convey truths about love relevant to the real world.

Each story is set in medieval England and presents a different aspect of love. Miles and Shelby discover feelings more than that of friends, Roland relives a past love, Arianna tempts herself with forbidden love, and Luce and Daniel seek a few moments of bliss. Kate explores how far people are willing to go for love, and the consequences of realising that no matter how much you want someone, it cannot be. The stories are fairly typical love stories, set apart only by the fantastical world in which they take place. As I myself have not previously entered the Fallen world, I found it difficult to engage with the characters and become involved in their individual plights, yet fans of the book series would devour the stories whole, learning more about the characters they love from the previous books.

Paranormal romance hogs young adult shelf space at the moment, and it is easy to see the appeal of love which has the ability to last an eternity, something which is impossible in the real world. Even so, I felt like Kate tried to use the immortality of her characters to add a new dimension to broken love and, for me, the technique doesn’t work that way around. The choices the characters in the book make regarding love are forever, whereas mortals have the timeline of death. Lost love is a tragedy in every life, not only immortal lives. Most people learn in their lives what it is to love, and what it means to lose that love. They also know the importance of moving on, however difficult that may be. Loving and losing is a part of life, due to mortality. Loving someone and living in the comfort of knowing you have the ability to love them eternally is something life cannot promise. I became frustrated reading sections of the stories where the characters seemed unable to get over past loves from previous lives. Having forever to live comes with the curse of having forever to dwell.

Even so, it is important to keep in mind that this book was written for the fans of the Fallen series, and it is first and foremost a book for the fans. However, it is also a gem for readers who have not encountered the Fallen series before and perhaps wish to know something of the world before they commit to the series. It offers enough information so the new reader can throw themselves into the strange world without becoming lost, while at the same time withholding just enough information to keep the reader intrigued.

Perhaps it is the inaccuracies in the way love is portrayed in popular culture that allows people to see the reality for what it is. Fallen in Love considers the implications of dwelling too much on love, and allowing love to become all too consuming. For those lucky enough to find it, love can be an amazing thing, yet like all good things, too much of it can be potentially fatal. There is life before love, and there will be life after love . The book works on the assumption that immortality and everlasting love is the ultimate fantasy. Yet what I got out of the book was the complete opposite: what’s most desirable about love is the knowledge that, when found, it  is something to take hold of and cherish, because you never know when it could be ripped from your grasp.

Random House Australia

$19.95