Review: My Soul to Take

My Soul to Take (Soul Screamers Book 1) by Rachel Vincent
Published (UK): 1 January 2011
Publisher: MIRA books
Buy: Amazon UK/Amazon USA

Description (from blurb):
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!

My thoughts:

I'd heard a lot about this series over twitter (I follow Rachel Vincent) and I enjoyed reading the shifter series, so I thought I'd give it a go. My first impression was that the UK cover is much nicer than the American cover (even if we did have to wait like an extra 18months to get the book) and that this seemed- as is becoming the case with Rachel Vincent- to be sliiiiightly different from other books in it's genre, but similar enough to still be recognised and enjoyed as such.

I must admit I *was* a bit sceptical of Nash's intentions at first...sure he was going to end up being a bad guy or something similar, and I'm still a bit unsure about how quickly their relationship developed, and how cliche it started off...average American teen lusts after attractive but ultimately unattainable adolescent-oh but wait no, he feels just the same, and more than that he knows you better than you know yourself...and it was a liiiiitle bit like that, but different enough that I forgive it. However it does seem to me as though he likes her more for *what* she is, rather than *who* she is, but I guess it could be argued the two are so closely linked it doesn't really matter....but that's a philosophical debate for another day. It's not as though he likes her cause she's a cheerleader or anything...anyway, back to the book.

Another thing I wasn't sure about was how accepting her best friend was of the whole situation. I thought "surely that's not how a person would react!" but then I like to think if my best friend told me she was a bean sidhe (banshee, that's what Kaylee is, incase you didn't figure that bit out yet) I'd believe her and be totally supportive too, especially if I'd seen her in action like Emma has seen Kaylee.

I did figure out a couple of the minor twists, but sometimes I like to think that authors put kinda obvious minor twists in, so whilst you're busy congratulating yourself on one-upping them, they sneak up behind you and whack you round the head with a HUUUUUGE plot point you might have noticed if you weren't too busy being smug about how clever you are. This happens to me ALL the time, but to be honest, I enjoy it. No point reading a predictable book. Twists are half the fun, and figuring out the minor twists are also fun, its a winwin.

I thought the story itself was great, well paced with a strong plotline and interesting, fully developed characters which is another thing Rachel Vincent is good at. You never get the impression with her that a character is there simply to flesh the story out, or act as a vessel for another character. You can imagine her thinking up intricate back-stories for every person in her stories, and I appreciate that.

I'd give this book 4/5, and I can't wait for the second one to be delivered! Which I'm hoping will be tomorrow. Or technically later today...

Comment please! Do you like this series? Do you hate this series? Does my review suck, or am I getting better?