Jun 272012

Review: Before I Wake by Rachel Vincent (Soul Screamers #6)

1 comments Review »Posted by Mandi Kaye

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Warning! Spoilers from If I Die appear in this review! You have been warned.

Release Date: June 26, 2012
Title: Before I Wake
Author: Rachel Vincent
Pages: 352
Publisher: HarlequinTeen
Available: Barnes and Noble

From the Publisher: I died on a Thursday—killed by a monster intent on stealing my soul.

The good news? He didn’t get it.

The bad news? Turns out not even death will get you out of high school

Covering up her own murder was one thing, but faking life is much harder than Kaylee Cavanaugh expected. After weeks spent “recovering,” she’s back in school, fighting to stay visible to the human world, struggling to fit in with her friends and planning time alone with her new reaper boyfriend.

But to earn her keep in the human world, Kaylee must reclaim stolen souls, and when her first assignment brings her face-to-face with an old foe, she knows the game has changed. Her immortal status won’t keep her safe. And this time Kaylee isn’t just gambling with her own life.

Getting this book the way that I did is one of the highlights of my year! If you don’t know – check out my BEA recap post. I was prepared for it to be fabulous – I just didn’t expect it to be as fabulous as it actually was.

If I gave out ratings higher than a 5, this one would definitely achieve it.

With each new installment of this series, Rachel Vincent opens up this world a little bit more. The characters continue to grow and evolve, including the bad guys. And she isn’t afraid to write death. I won’t tell you who – or how – but expect to be surprised and expect to mourn. When Kaylee died in If I Die, I was shocked – but I never mourned because I always knew she’d come back somehow. She is the main character after all. We’ve lost many characters in the series – Aunt Val, Meredith, Doug, Addison… just to name a few. But I was never affected by it until this book.

Expect to feel emotional when you read this – and not just because there is death. I got overwhelmed for Kaylee when she had to deal with her classmates back at school. I wanted to reach through the pages and throttle them.

Tod continues to be my favorite book crush (for now). And Sabine continues to annoy the ever lovin’ snot out of me. But she’s growing on me.

I have to say – it’s rare for series to get dramatically better with each new book, but Rachel Vincent accomplishes that with this one. There’s one book left - With All My Soul – and then we’ll be finished with this world. I am sad, but really excited to see how it ends.