Review – My Soul to Steal by Rachel Vincent

• Title: My Soul to Steal
• Author: Rachel Vincent
• Series: Soul Screamers #4
• Previous Book: My Soul to Keep
• Next Book: Reaper (#4.5), If I Die (#5)
• Source: Personal Purchase

Description from Goodreads:

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.

Review

This book was so amazing that I finished it one day. For this busy mom of three, reading a 348 page book in one day is nothing short of a miracle! But I just couldn’t put it down!

In the first chapter, we see Kaylee interact with Nash for the first time, and as they’re trying to seriously discuss their relationship, a new girl shows up who turns out to be Nash’s ex-girlfriend. And she makes it very clear from her first meeting with Kaylee that she has every intention of getting him back.

Amid the craziness of trying to decide how she feels about Nash and how to deal with his ex-girlfriend, Kaylee also faces other weirdness. She starts having horrible nightmares, and there’s always the looming threat of Avari. Also, people at her school start going crazy, and her teachers start dying. Things are a mess!

This book was heartbreaking, seeing the pain that both Kaylee and Nash are in. But moreso, it was terrifying. Just thinking about the situation that Kaylee faces with Avari made my skin crawl, and my stomach was in my throat a lot of the time. I can’t say too much without spoiling the book, but seriously? This book took the creep-factor to a whole new level, but did it in such a way that this wimp was left feverishly flipping the pages, rather than being scared enough to put the book down. I didn’t even have nightmares! lol

As much as I didn’t care for Nash in the last couple books, in this book, I started liking him again, especially seeing his pain in this book. Kaylee continues to grow and become stronger. And Tod. *sigh* I don’t know if I’m supposed to love Tod, but I do. There’s just something about the Reaper that I cannot turn away from. I LOVE him! Sabine and Alec were very interesting characters as well. And Avari is terrifying as always!

The resolution had my heart in my throat and my heart pounding. It was intense, and I couldn’t see where it was going. The last chapter ended on a little bit of a cliffhanger, with a sense of hope for the next book. I cannot wait to keep reading this series! My only regret is that I started it now, when the last book is yet to be released! I easily gave this one 5 stars!

A note on the Kindle version: This was the first Soul Screamers book that I actually read, as I listened to the audiobooks of all the rest, and I liked it. While I missed Amanda Ronconi’s voices, especially for Nash, I did still have her voice in my mind for several scenes. Also, I liked being able to read it at my own pace. It took me just under 7 hours to read it myself, whereas the audiobook is 9.5 hours. However, I would recommend either way of reading this series, since the narration is wonderful. Just as long as you read it!!

Review – My Soul to Keep by Rachel Vincent

• Title: My Soul to Keep
  
• Author: Rachel Vincent
• Series: Soul Screamers #3
• Previous Book: My Soul to Save
• Next Book: My Soul to Steal
• Source: Personal Purchase

Description from Goodreads:

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 reallycan 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.And so is someone else…

Review

Wow. That’s all I can say to start this review. Though I knew generally what this book was about from the Goodreads synopsis, I still love that it picked right up in the first chapter, and I always find it interesting how Vincent introduces the main conflict. The pacing of the story really worked for me, too. I found myself listening as much as possible and late into the night. I have never finished an audiobook so fast before! There was plenty of intense moments that had me holding my breath, and even more mystery! This book definitely had me flipping – er, listening – feverishly! I also loved  how there were a couple of little things in the book that seemed completely mundane that actually came back to be really significant later in the story, which I never saw coming. Unfortunately, there were a few things that I did see coming. Oddly enough, even though I’m always trying to figure out what’s going on, I don’t really like when I’m  right!

I really liked most of the character development in this book. Kaylee finally seems to be growing into her own and showing a backbone, rather than the insecure version of herself from the previous book, and I started to like her a lot more in this book. Nash was very unpredictable and kind of an ass. Kaylee’s father also seems to be finding a good middle ground as a father, rather than the overprotective mess from the previous book. My one big complaint is that Tod is missing for most of the first half or more of the book. I think he might be my favorite character!

I really liked the end of the book. Trying not to give too much away, but the last chapter specifically, really shows how much Kaylee grows throughout this book. I really recommend this book, and I can’t wait to start the next!

Only because of the fact that I was able to predict a couple of things, I’m giving this book 4 – 4.5 stars. I really loved it, but that little bit of predictability makes me not able to give it a full 5 stars.

Review – My Soul to Save by Rachel Vincent

• Title: My Soul to Save
• Author: Rachel Vincent
• Series: Soul Screamers #2
• Previous Book: My Soul to Take
• Next Book: My Soul to Keep
• Source: Personal Copy

Description from Goodreads:

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…

Review

I read (listened to) the first book a few months ago and then moved back to reading other books. I was at a loss as to what to read next (as evidenced by my WWW last week!), so since I had the next book in the series waiting on my Ipod, I decided to jump back into Kaylee’s story. And jump in, I did! The action and mystery picked right up in the first chapter!

While I really liked My Soul to Take, I found it to be a bit slow, so I was very happy with the pacing in My Soul to Save. Since it didn’t have the necessity of introduction, it was able to jump right into the story and keep it going.  There was one thing in the book that I saw coming, but other than that, I was not able to guess most of the twists. I also felt that the discovery of information felt very natural. It didn’t feel rushed or too slow.

We get to know the characters a little better in this book.  I like Kaylee, but sometimes she’s a little too typical teenager for my liking. Her relationship with Nash had me rolling my eyes a lot. As much as I liked him in the first book, he just was bugging me in this book. Tod, however, I really liked. He’s a little manipulative at times, but he’s just an amusing character. His moments with Nash crack me up. He really knows how to push Nash’s buttons.

I liked the ending. There was a twist I didn’t see coming, and there was a scene with Tod in the final chapter that I really liked. But the last couple sentences just seemed unnecessary to me. It didn’t really end on much of a cliffhanger, making me HAVE to read the next book, but I liked the book enough to continue on in the series. I give it 4 stars!

The books say that Twilight fans will love it, and I honestly don’t get the connection. However, if you like paranormal books, and especially if you’re looking for something other than vampires,  I think that you would like this series.

Notes on the audiobook: I am still fairly new to audiobooks, and they are not my preferred format. I tried the audiobook for Anna Dress in Blood and I could not get through it. I couldn’t stand the narrator. However, after reading about how Jac at For Love and Books really liked Amanda Ronconi as a narrator, I “bought” the novella prequel and first book of this series with my free audible credits. I really like Amanda Ronconi’s narration. She does different voices for the characters so you know who’s talking, but I don’t feel like she tries too hard. Her male voices sound male enough, but she doesn’t go overboard with them. I’ve had to cancel my audible membership for money reasons, but even though I prefer reading to listening, I will miss Amanda’s voices as I finish this series.