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An epic, romantic journey with Lauren Kate


What makes an epic love story? Each of us will have our own ideas about this -- grandparents may have their Maalaala Mo Kaya moments, perhaps an aunt has a Lovingly Yours, Helen-worthy story, or you might even describe your own as the pinnacle of your human experience. In the world of fiction, however, there are stories that truly live up to every sense of the phrase. Take the story of Lucinda Price and Daniel Grigori—characters in the supernatural romance series Fallen by New York Times Bestselling Author Lauren Kate. Daniel is an angel who was cast out from Heaven because of his love for the mortal Luce, their souls cursed to roam the Earth to find one another and fall in love over the course of many different lifetimes. But in each lifetime, Luce dies while Daniel is left all alone with his grief until Luce is reincarnated to begin the tragic cycle all over again. Fear factor I had a chance to talk love stories with Lauren Kate when she first visited last year to promote Torment, the second book in the series. Back then, I also asked her which Filipino food she was brave enough to try so far and she said halo-halo, which she loved. Lauren came back last month to do two promotional events in Manila and Cebu for the launch of the third book, Passion, as part of the Asia-Pacific leg of The Passion Tour. This time, her hosts from National Book Store successfully got her to try the infamous delicacy that we Filipinos seem to love to make foreigners eat just to scare them a little: balut. “Oh my gosh," she said with a nervous laugh when I asked her about the experience. “It was scary but it actually tasted pretty good. I was not able to eat the serious parts but I had the broth and the yolk."

Lauren Kate joins National Book Store's Sandra Ramos-Padilla onstage during The Passion Tour at Glorietta 5 last July 16. Photo by Gary Joran Mayoralgo
An integrated prequel If the settings and time periods in Passion are any indication, Luce probably had culinary adventures more bizarre than balut—several thousand years’ worth of bizarre—as she travels back in time to visit her past lives in order to understand her love for Daniel and the Curse that hounds them. Fearing that she might inadvertently rewrite their history, Daniel chases Luce as she jumps to Russia during World War II, England during the Victorian Era, China during the Shang Dynasty, and other lifetimes. Each era is chosen by her Announcers—shadows that she can manipulate to serve as portals through time—if they think she can learn something significant from the period.
Passion begins exactly where Torment ended.
Lauren refers to Passion as an “integrated prequel" because it begins exactly where Torment ended, describes what Luce is doing in the present, but also relates what happened in her previous lives. With the entire known history of the world to draw from, Lauren explained that choosing when and where to set Luce’s lifetimes was never arbitrary. “Some of them are vacation spots that really affected me, like her life in Chichén Itzá. I went there two or three years ago," she said. “A lot of them were based on novels that I really liked, like when she’s in Milan, that’s A Farewell to Arms. Same thing with the Helston, England chapters—I’ve always loved Victorian novels. Further back, some of them are just fantasy, settings that I’ve always been intrigued by and wanted to learn more about," she added. Since Luce and Daniel have been almost anywhere and “anywhen," I just had to ask if they could have spent one of their lifetimes as Filipinos and what it would have been like. “They would’ve eaten a lot of balut," she said, laughing. “I can picture them on a little deserted island, one of the 7,000 islands here." A likable heroine
Lauren says coming back to the Philippines "feels like a really nice homecoming." Photo by Gary Joran Mayoralgo
With its unusual structure, fast pace, and clever plotting, Passion is, by far, the strongest book in the Fallen series. Despite its grand scope, the story remains grounded by the focus on Luce, who has evolved into a pro-active and likable heroine. “I love the way she’s grown over the series," Lauren enthused. “I’m really very proud of her right now." Luce’s temporal expeditions not only give readers a deeper insight into her character, but also show Luce herself the extent of Daniel’s love and sacrifice. “Luce is quite different in each of her past lives based on the way she was raised and who her parents were," Lauren explained during the July 16th fan event at the Glorietta 5 Atrium. “She’s surprised by the different personalities that her soul can have in each of these different incarnations. It confuses her, the way Daniel loves her even when she’s not so nice." Daniel’s voice is also a welcome surprise in this book. In Fallen and Torment, he was rather unreachable—very much a divine being with the weight of the world on his shoulders—but the scenes in Passion that are told from his perspective humanize him, giving readers a better understanding of his motivations and how difficult it is to live with the choices he made. “Free will: it’s all the rage these days." Choice is a central theme in the series that traces its origins all the way to Heaven, to the time when the angels had to choose between God and Lucifer, and Daniel chose love over Heaven and Hell. What’s interesting to me about this aspect of the story is how Lauren depicts the characters’ exercise of free will as something more than just a black-or-white, good-or-bad choice. “Even the characters that are operating as if they have free will—it was given to them by God. Their [Luce and Daniel] choice to love each other… the forces of good and evil are always trying to suppress it. I think, if or when they succeed, they’ll prove something about free will: that it’s possible," Lauren said. Passion hints about a monumental choice that Luce will eventually have to make that will turn the tide of the war between Heaven and Hell. The significance of this choice, along with two prevailing mysteries (“When did Luce and Daniel actually meet and why did they fall in love originally?") and an apocalyptic scenario brought about by one of the series’ most memorable characters will be at the core of the last book, Rapture, which will be released in March 2012. “We have this main threat that all of the angels have to band together to prevent from happening," Lauren revealed. “We’ll see all the characters together again. For the first time, we see Luce and Daniel together in the present and in a good relationship for the whole book." “Rapture is the first time that I’ve ever been sitting at the keyboard and actually cried during the writing of a scene," she added. “It’s going to be a very powerful book." It’s going to be epic. - YA, GMA News
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