Saturday 23 August 2014

Review: My Soul to Take by Rachel Vincent


My Soul to Take by Rachel Vincent book cover

Title: My Soul to Take
Author: Rachel Vincent
Series: Soul Screamers, #1
Format: Paperback, owned
My rating: 3.5 / 5
Pages: 345

Add to Goodreads


Something is wrong with Kaylee Cavanaugh...

She can sense 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 boy in school. But a normal date is hard to come by when Nash seems to know more about the dark forces behind Kaylee's power than she does.

And when classmates start dropping dead for no apparent reason and only Kaylee knows who'll be next, she realises that finding a boyfriend is the least of her worries!

-- As seen on Goodreads



My Thoughts


I don’t remember reading any fiction books based on the Bean Sí before. I grew up listening to my parents and other people in my family telling stories about the Bean Sí that follows pure Irish bloodlines, and prepares the family for an imminent death. It was just something that was always there. Now, there is little something I need to get off my chest: THE BEAN SÍ DOESN’T SCREAM! Personally, I’ve never heard a story where one is described as “screaming”. They cry, and they wail and mourn with loud soul wrenching sobs, but they don’t scream! I will admit that “Soul Screamers” as a series title sounds better than “Soul Weepers” so I can see why the screaming thing was chosen, even if it kind of grated on my nerves. Right, the Irish girl had her little melt down… moving on.


After reading the above, you probably think I hated the book. Nope, I didn’t. I really enjoyed reading My Soul to Take. It’s a quick read, with good characters and a fast plot that never slowed down. I liked Kaylee as the main character. She’s an intelligent girl that was portrayed in the right light. She didn’t fall into the usual YA trap of being intelligent on paper and actually turning around and doing the most stupid thing imaginable. All the characters appealed to me on some level.


The relationship between Kaylee and Nash was very quick to start. It has the hallmarks of insta-love, but for some strange reason, I didn’t mind it that much. With the book being very fast paced, there wasn’t that much time to have a slower moving relationship running parallel to the mystey plot. The entire story is spread out over a week at most, and they have gone from first real conversation to lovey-dovey in that stretch of time. Oh the joys of High School…


I really liked that the mystery side of the plot wasn’t sacrificed for the romance. I did manage to predict some of the twists, but I’m really happy that a few took me by surprise as well. I have started to avoid mysteries as I can pinpoint the guilty parties very early on, so reading a book where I was in the dark for the vast majority was a wonderful change.


My less than fangirling response to My Soul to Take could be blamed on two outside influences: I had a severe book-hangover from Resistance, and the releases of Opposition and Dust to Dust were imminent when I read it. I couldn’t leave one world behind enough, and I couldn’t stop focusing on other books I love to read about! I might reread My Soul to Take at some stage in the future, and see if my feelings change when my mind isn’t as clouded by other stuff. It’s definitely a more “It’s not the book, it’s me” feeling.





2 comments:

  1. I read and enjoyed this one too, but it was just an okay read for me as well. I think I gave it the same sort of rating. It was good enough that I continued the series. Great review :)

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    Replies
    1. Thanks Charnell! And yes, I feel the same. I really want to continue on with with the series at some stage. I'll probably do a quick reread before I read the second book though. There wasn't anything I hated, but it never really blew me away or anything like that.

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