Guest review: My soul to take - Rachel Vincent

Soul Screamers 1
Genre: YA paranormal
Pages: 279 paperback
Published: 2009
Review by Lis

She doesn't see dead people. 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.

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Some of you may have heard me about my perpetual temp jobs that boring doesn’t even begin to describe in the least. Well if the jobs allows, that is to say I don’t have to talk to whiny people and I don’t have to answer a phone, I listen to audiobooks. It’s something that has kept me sane through many a temp job. Well, at my latest job, reading about whiny people and train delays, Rachel Vincent’s Soul Screamers series came to my attention. Since Rachel Vincent is one of my favorite authors, I took a chance on the series and I haven’t been disappointed at all. Of course, to share the glee I asked B. for a review of the series. So get ready to be awed by the first installment: My Soul to Take.

To start, the series is a Young Adult book and it’s told from Kaylee Kavanagh’s point of view. She’s a High School student who doesn’t know about her heritage, about who she really is and what she can do. As a result she spent a week in the Psych Ward of the local hospital. Poor her. Now let me tell you, in the paranormal world there are some freaky cool abilities to have, but the ability to “scream” for the about-to-be-deceased isn’t one of them. Yup, that’s right. Kaylee is a Bean Sidhe. That would be a Banshee. Yes, the women who scream when someone is about to die.

Only she doesn’t know about it. She only knows that she sometimes sees “shadows” around someone and then gets a panic attack.

That is until one night, when you with her best friend Emma, she meets the uber cutey Nash. When she sees a shadow around a fellow dancer while dancing with the cutey, she starts to panic. Only Nash calms her down and it turns out he has a secret of her own.

The ball gets rolling fast and furious from there on out and you’re on a rollercoaster. The story is not all about Kaylee discovering who she really is. There is also something not quite right with female students dropping like flies.

Kaylee and Nash get help from Tod. Now Tod, he be mine. MINE I tell you! So stay away! He’s a Reaper. Yes, that would be a Grim Reaper, one who harvests souls. But like everyone in this story, Tod also has a secret.

The story is fascinating and well thought through. It’s not just your average teenage romance with a lot of angst. It has depth and a great cast of characters. The characters are not perfect, the have their flaws and they make their mistakes and I found that refreshing. While most stories have a tendency for a happy ending, this ending is happy with a flaw. It’s realistic in that the story shows that not everything always ends with the hero and heroine on top. No worries. No one dies, well no one who isn’t already dead or important!

The only real flaw I found in the story is the theme of predestine or pre-destiny. It’s actually a religious/Protestant term that says everything is preordained. When you’re born, when you die, what you do. It comes back in this story with the “list of the dead” Tod has. He gets a list with names of who dies and when. It’s probably there for the story and the existence of Reapers, but I’m a firm believer of making your own destiny. I don’t think all is ever so easy. Especially not a list of the dead.

Despite this My Soul to Take is a book that is most definitely recommended! It’s quirky, witty and has you on the edge of your seat from beginning to end! My Soul to Take sure made my job a whole lot less boring and caused some funny scenes! (If you ask, I might just tell you!)

Btw, the covers are also very beautiful!

Go get it! 

Thank you Lis!