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.
Release Date: September 27, 2011 Title: If I Die (Soul Screamers #5) Author: Rachel Vincent
Pages: 342
Publisher: Harlequin Teen
Available: Barnes and Noble
From the Publisher: The entire school’s talking about the gorgeous new math teacher, Mr. Beck. Everyone except Kaylee Cavanaugh. After all, Kaylee’s no ordinary high-school junior. She’s a banshee—she screams when someone dies.
But the next scream might be for Kaylee.
Yeah—it’s a shock to her, too. So to distract herself, Kaylee’s going to save every girl in school. Because that hot new teacher is really an incubus who feeds on the desire of unsuspecting students. The only girls immune to his lure are Kaylee and Sabine, her boyfriend’s needy ex-girlfriend. Now the unlikely allies have to get rid of Mr. Beck…before he discovers they aren’t quite human, either.
But Kaylee’s borrowed lifeline is nearing its end. And those who care about her will do anything to save her life.
Anything.
This is one of the most spoilery reviews I’ve ever written.
If you have not read this book, PROCEED WITH CAUTION.
What is this I don’t even.
Yeah, so that was pretty much reaction last night when I finished. I was left completely speechless by the turn of events. It was one of those books that had me grinning like a goof and then at the end I was making all of these incoherent sounds that were very positive- I swear. Not that anyone who heard me last night would believe me.
Let me first say- I still hate Sabine. A lot. And that makes me happy. And isn’t completely shocking, considering how much I hated her in the last one.
But in what is a shocking turn of events, I am now 100% irrevocably Team Tod. And I never thought that would happen. Ever.
In a million years.
But it did. I still don’t completely understand it. I can’t pinpoint a moment the moment it happened.
Oh wait- yes I can.
“There’s a good kind of crazy, Kaylee,” he insisted softly, reaching out to wrap his warm hand around mind. “It’s the kind that makes you think about things that make your head hurt, because not thinking about them is the coward’s way out. The kind that makes you touch people who bruise your soul, just because they need to be touched. This is the kind of crazy that lets you stare out into the darkness and rage at eternity, while it stares back at you, ready to swallow you whole.”
…
“I’ve seen you fight, Kaylee. I’ve seen you step into that darkness for someone else, then claw your way out, bruised but still standing. You’re that kind of crazy, and I live in that darkness. Together, we’d take crazy to a whole new level.”
Seriously, where the hell did that come from?
It doesn’t matter. I loved it. And quite frankly, the ending was one of my favorite endings ever.
This is, hands down, the best book in the series so far.
Release Date: January 4, 2011 Title: My Soul to Steal (Soul Screamers #4) Author: Rachel Vincent
Pages: 343
Publisher: HarlequinTeen
Available: Barnes and Noble
From the Publisher: Trying to work things out with Nash-her maybe boyfriend-is hard enough for Kaylee Cavanaugh. She can’t just pretend nothing happened. But “complicated” doesn’t even begin to describe their relationship when his ex-girlfriend transfers to their school, determined to take Nash back.
See, Sabine isn’t just an ordinary girl. She’s a mara, the living personification of a nightmare. She can read people’s fears-and craft them into nightmares while her victims sleep. Feeding from human fear is how she survives.
And Sabine isn’t above scaring Kaylee and the entire school to death to get whatever-and whoever-she wants.
I didn’t think a book in this series could be more infuriating than the last one. I was wrong.
Nash has begun to redeem himself. But I was so obsessed with hating Sabine that I almost didn’t see it. That girl is a real piece of work. And yet, I understand her. I admire her for the strength and determination she has when it comes to getting what she wants. I don’t have nearly the balls she does. But I hated her for how she treated Kaylee. There is no other word to describe her than bitch.
Tod is getting close to crossing a line. It’s becoming more and more evident that he has feelings for Kaylee (like I haven’t seen that coming since the first book). And telling Kaylee to let Nash go was so self-serving that I’m not sure what I think about it. On the one hand, he made some very logical points (as did Sabine) about why Kaylee and Nash shouldn’t be together.
But dammit- LOVE IS NOT LOGICAL.
Trying to use your head and think about love is just about one of the worst things you can do.
And sure- I do think Tod and Kaylee could make a good couple; I just don’t want them to because, despite his mistakes, I adore Nash. Plus, I’m not sure Kaylee would ever be able to see Tod that way.
The most annoying thing about the book, however, is that I have a suspicion that I’m going to end up liking Sabine in future books.
From the Publisher: Kaylee has one addiction: her very hot, very popular boyfriend, Nash. A banshee like Kaylee, Nash understands her like no one else. Nothing can come between them.
Until something does.
Demon breath. No, not the toothpaste-challenged kind. The Netherworld kind. The kind that really can kill you. Somehow the super-addictive substance has made its way to the human world. But how? Kaylee and Nash have to cut off the source and protect their friends—one of whom is already hooked.
I’m going to take a departure from my normal review format. Today, I’m going to write an open letter to Nash Hudson. Which also means this will be quite spoilerish for any of you who haven’t yet read this book- so proceed with caution!
Dear Nash,
What. The. Eff.
In the first book, you were the perfect guy. Sure, you were a little too perfect, but a girl can look past that because you were so attentive, so sweet, and so caring in a crisis. And I’ll admit, in the second book there were some red flags. But I was willing to give you the benefit of the doubt. It was obvious how much you cared for Kaylee, despite your overbearing and controlling ways.
But you screwed up in a big way in the third book.
And I don’t know if you can fix it. How is anyone supposed to trust you ever again? For all intents and purposes, you threw Kaylee under a bus, and you never stopped to see if she was okay.
When I first found out that you would do something that would make my feelings about you change, I was heartbroken. But I never really thought you could do something that bad.
I was wrong.
In the beginning of the book, I thought you were heading in a bad direction- you were pushing Kaylee far too hard on the sex issue when she obviously wasn’t ready. And to be honest, I’m glad you didn’t turn out to be a rapist. But what happened was worse, in some ways.
Oh Nash, how could you? You’re not that guy. At least, you’re not supposed to be that guy.
You’ve disappointed me. You’ve broken my trust. I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to read you again the same way.
You’ve got a long road ahead of you for redemption. And I sincerely hope you take it.
From the Publisher:When Kaylee Cavanaugh screams, someone dies.
So when teen pop star Eden croaks onstage and Kaylee doesn’t wail, she knows something is dead wrong. She can’t cry for someone who has no soul.
The last thing Kaylee needs right now is to be skipping school, breaking her dad’s ironclad curfew and putting her too-hot-to-be-real boyfriend’s loyalty to the test. But starry-eyed teens are trading their souls: a flickering lifetime of fame and fortune in exchange for eternity in the Netherworld—a consequence they can’t possibly understand.
Kaylee can’t let that happen, even if trying to save their souls means putting her own at risk….
288 pages, Harlequin Teen
I like where this series is going. Kaylee is my kind of girl – she’s always getting into trouble; but it’s always because she’s trying to help someone else. Kind of reminds me of Buffy.
Nash got on my nerves in this one because he was never willing to risk his neck for anyone other than Kaylee. She did the right thing for the right reasons; he did the right thing for the wrong reasons. He’s not quite as swoonworthy as he was in the first book, but I do still like him. Tod, however, had a lot of character growth in this book. We got to see his emotions. The end was a little anti-climatic (stop reading NOW if you haven’t read this book yet)…
…you would think that after spending the entire book hellbent on saving Addy’s soul that he would have been crushed to have lost it anyway. I missed seeing that part of Tod. I get his revenge, but I wanted the emotion.
Last year, I only listened to the first two audiobooks, so I’m definitely curious about where the series is headed next. What new kind of trouble can Kaylee get the boys into?
From the Publisher: She doesn’t see dead people, but…
She senses when someone near her is about to die. And when that happens, a force beyond her control compels her to scream bloody murder. Literally.
Kaylee just wants to enjoy having caught the attention of the hottest guy in school. But a normal date is hard to come by when Nash seems to know more about her need to scream than she does. And when classmates start dropping dead for no apparent reason, only Kaylee knows who’ll be next…
384 pages, Harlequin Teen
I love love love Rachel Vincent. When I realized last year that she had a YA series out, I had to check it out. So I bought the audiobook editions of both My Soul to Take and My Soul to Save. I was a little iffy about them – I never did get the rest of the series – so when Rachel over at Fiktsun put together the Soul Screamers Challenge, I thought it would be a fun way to dive back in.
And it is! I enjoyed reading the book so much more than listening to it. I’m not sure why that is – it’s exactly the same story after all.
This paranormal series is unlike any other that I’ve read. Instead of focusing on the standard witches, werewolves, and vampires the Soul Screamers series is about the bean sidhe (or banshee, in layman’s terms). It’s a folklore that isn’t explored often in contemporary fiction and Vincent does a remarkable job in creating a world where they exist and making me wish I lived in that world too.
And can I just take a moment to swoon over both Nash and Tod? I really kind of dig them both. It’s evident that the foundation is laid for a future love triangle, and honestly it’s hard to decide which one I like better. Nash is obviously the better choice (at this point), but I do so like them both.
I’m looking forward to reading the next one next month!
Twitter: 516 | Facebook: 232 | RSS: 128
Total Followers: 876
(Count updates every two hours)
The majority of the books I review are obtained as advanced copies via Net Galley, through ARC tours, or they are finished books I have purchased myself.
If you are an author or publisher and would like me to review your book, please read my review policy and contact me.
Release Date: June 26, 2012
