My Soul to Take (Soul Screamers, #1)

by Rachel Vincent

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!

• ISBN10: 0373210035
• ISBN13: 9780373210039
• Publish Date: 28 July 2009 (first published 1 January 2009)
• Publish Status: Active
• Imprint: Harlequin Teen
• Edition: Original ed.
• Format: Paperback (US Trade)
• Pages: 288
• Language: English

Reviews

[Angie]

I am now joining the Rachel Vincent fan club! She created great characters, an interesting plot, and introduced a unique paranormal entity. I absolutely loved how she integrated banshees, or bean sidhe as they're called in the Irish lore, into the modern world. Sure they might be just another non-human species hidden among humans, but they haven't been overdone at all. In fact, I haven't read about them before, and haven't heard about any other books feature them.

Kaylee is great and believable. She's honest, and determined even when things aren't exactly going according to plan. She's a (mostly) normal teenage girl, flies under the radar, and is just trying to keep a grip on some normalcy. However, it's hard to appear normal when you start wailing at the top of your lungs as someone is about to die. She's able to hold it in even though it's a struggle, and her best friend, Emma just thinks she's having a panic attack. That is, until girls start dropping dead all around them.

Enter Nash! The super hot, popular guy, who pays Kaylee no attention until he witnesses one of her "panic attacks." He should be freaked out, or think she's a freak, but instead, two days later they start dating. Yep, that's fast! I could understand him taking an interest in her due to her weirdness (especially when we learn something later in the book), but romantically? I wish that could have had more development. It was very rushed and very unbelievable, but it didn't keep from enjoying the story as a whole. In fact, once the mystery of random girls dying from unknown causes really gets going, I forgot all about the rushed romance. I was completely intrigued by the idea of banshees and grim reapers, and engaged in the story. I just wanted to know what the heck is going on, what Kaylee has to do with it, and how Nash is going to help her!

My Soul to Take is a fun read, and it moves at a fairly fast pace once the plot gets going. I loved learning about bean sidhes and the other otherworldly creatures right along side Kaylee. Thankfully, I have the next three books right here, and I'll be jumping right into the second one!

Read more of my reviews at Pinkindle Reads & Reviews.

[boghunden]

Jeg var rigtig glad for den her bog. Det føltes som om, den hørte til i den lidt mere voksne ende af YA genren. Der var masser af spænding på hver side, selvom der egentlig ikke var de helt store overraskelser – det er vel lidt ironisk, på en eller anden måde.
Jeg var særligt glad for den måde bogen starter på; der var ikke hele den lange introduktion, det skete bare stille og roligt hen af vejen. I stedet kunne man koncentrere sig om den egentlig historie fra start, noget jeg personligt synes rigtig godt om.
Desværre var der også noget, jeg var mindre vild med, nemlig det at Kaylee forelsker sig hovedkuls i Nash fra første blik. Skolens populære og lækre fyr. Det ville være rigtig rart med lidt forandring for en gangs skyld. Jeg sad og håbede, hun ville forelske sig i en anden hen af vejen, men blev desværre skuffet. Er rigtig godt træt af, at den første fyr man møder i en bog, er den hovedpersonen (såfremt det er en pige) forelsker sig i. Det er bare set for mange gange før.
Alligevel var jeg glad for bogen, uden at være helt sikker på hvorfor. Sproget var ikke synderligt fantastisk og handlingen var forholdsvis forudsigelig. Da jeg skulle give den stjerner, blev jeg alligevel i tvivl om, hvor mange den skulle have, 4 eller 4 – lige indtil jeg kom i tanke om, at hvis den skulle have 5, så ville jeg jo nok ikke være i tvivl ;)

[Jo]

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!

From Once Upon a Bookcase - YA book blog

[Linda]

WOW, this was a totally awesome book! I loved how Kaylee dealt with her new self, and how she grew and took charge of herself and her situation.

Nash is great - I really hope that they WILL be able to have a long and happy life, and that Kaylee's dad will be able to accept all that will come his way as well.

I really didn't appreciate Sophie, though, totally spoiled girl, with little emphaty for others. Val scared me - but at the same time, she incarnated the kind of woman that there actually are plenty of in the real world, not just in the soulscreamer world! Way to go in order to try to stay forever young.

Poor Tod! I feel bad for him, but I have a feeling he will be around in the next books to wreak some havoc, both on Kaylee and on Nash.

And I could totally see Kaylee's dad and Harmony hooking up in the future :D

[liz089]

AWESOME