Thursday, 4 February 2010

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Review: My Soul to Take by Rachel Vincent

My Soul to Take by Rachel VincentMy Soul to Take by Rachel Vincent (proof copy) - 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…
From Amazon US.

You have no idea how much I have wanted to read this book! I am a massive fan of Rachel Vincent’s adult urban fantasy Shifters series, and just couldn’t wait to try out her YA urban fantasy Soul Screamers series. So when Harlequin Teen emailed me asking if I would like to review My Soul to Take, I jumped at the chance, and I’m so glad I did, because I absolutely loved it!

I absolutely loved the mythology! I have come across bean sidhes before in novels, but mainly in adult novels, or in references in other YA, and the mythology was different. I won’t go into the details of what it is to be a bean sidhe in this series, as it would spoil some parts of the story, but it is just brilliant! So unique, and just amazing to learn about along with Kaylee.

I loved the characters! Kaylee is very easily relatable, generally a pretty normal girl, but she is strong and has such huge compassion and a conscience that won’t let her rest. I loved her, and her voice, and it was great seeing everything through her eyes, especially as she found out the truth about herself. Emma, Kaylee’s best friend, is really cool too; she’s fiercely loyal but also has a great attitude I love reading about. I would have liked to have read more of her. Nash, Kaylee’s love interest, he’s incredibly good looking and very sexy, but I wasn’t too sure of first of all; he seemed to be far too nice considering his reputation, and I didn’t trust him, but it all makes sense in the end, and he’s just so awesome! Tod I still haven’t made my mind up about; as a reaper, he’s intriguing, and we find out some things about him that I predicted, but I’m still not sure if I trust him. I look forward to seeing more of him in the next book, to find out what he’s all about. An awesome set of characters, I love them all!

There is a great amount of action, but it’s not action as I normally describe it, with physical fighting, but yet, I can’t really go into it without spoiling the book. I can tell you that it’s seriously cool to read about, and I was pretty much literally on the edge of my seat, reading as fast as I could to find out what was going to happen. There were even some unshed tears at one point. It was fantastic! The ending was unbelievable! I did not see it coming at all; it was one of those jaw drop, “So that’s why!” everything pieces together moments. It was just brilliant, total genius!

If I was to criticise anything, I think it would be with Kaylee finding out about her being a bean sidhe; not how she finds out, but more along the lines of the time scale, and her acceptance. I can’t really go into much more detail without spoiling the book, again, and I can’t even tell you why, purely because I’m not sure; there’s just something about it that didn’t feel quite right to me. But generally speaking, this is minor, because I loved this book!

My Soul to Save is not part of the Shifters series, clearly, and so fans of the Shifters series shouldn’t pick this book up expecting them to be similar. The only similarities are the writing styles and strong female protagonists. There I would say the similarities end. Fans of Rachel’s should keep this in mind when picking up the book. This book is amazing, though, so you should definitely give it a go, whether you’re already a Rachel Vincent fan or not. I loved it, and I can’t wait to read My Soul to Save!

Thanks to Harlequin Teen for sending me a review copy.

Add to Goodreads

Published: 1st August 2009
Publisher: Harlequin Teen
Rachel Vincent’s Website

My other reviews from the series:
My Soul to Lose (Soul Screamers Prequel 0.5)

8 comments:

  1. Awesome review! I have heard some mixed feelings regarding this book. Your review makes me want to check it out! Thanks! :)

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  2. Ah, sounds like a great read! I haven't read a book with bean sidhes yet, but this sounds like an awesome book to try them out. :D

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  3. Holly - Thank you! Ohh, it's great! I do hope you give it a chance! :)

    Anna - Oh, it's fantastic! I hope you enjoy the book if you read it!

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  4. I saw on Dedicated Book Reviewers that you posted your review of My Soul to Take. I really liked this book too. I just read My Soul to Save (the sequel) last month. You can read my review of it here if you're interested. The third book in the series,My Soul to Keep, is coming out this summer! Can't wait!

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  5. Oh, this sounds like a really good book! It's already on my TBR list and I can't wait to get my hands on it :)

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  6. Christina - Thanks for following my link from Dedicated Book Reviewers, I appreciate it! Take was so good wasn't it? Thanks for the link, I'll check your review out. I'm looking forward to Keep, but I need to read Save first :)

    Cindy - It's brilliant! I so hope you enjoy it when you read it! :D

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  7. Jo,

    I apologize that parts of my review were slightly spoilerish. I will remedy that and I hope I didn't ruin anything for you.

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  8. Oh, no, it wasn't majorly spoilerish, I'm just fussy about what I'm told before I read a book is all. There were just a few details - that I'm sure aren't necessarily integral to the plot - that I would like to find out as I read. There's nothing wrong with your review, I'm just fussy! Lol.

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