My Soul to Take by Rachel VincentMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
All I can say is, why has it taken me so long to read this book? And I'm guessing, any book by Rachel Vincent is going to be this good! Reading this book reminds me of when I found Mara Purnhagenand her ghost series. I fell right into it, in love with it, and can't wait to read the rest of the series! First off, not sure why I didn't guess right from the series name: Soul Screamers, that this was about banshees. But what a cool new supernatural creature to develop into a story! The main character is Kaylee. Kaylee gets this uncontrollable urge to scream when she sees this black cloud surrounding people, and somehow she just knows that they're about to die. She had an episode in a mall,and I guess I have to get the prequel novella to read about that, but her aunt and uncle, who she lives with because her mother died when she was little and her father has moved back to Ireland, well, they put her in a psych ward and get her on meds to try to help with these "episodes". Only it happens again when she's snuck into a local club for 18 and older with her best friend Emma. The night starts off good, as one of the hottest guys in school, Nash, seems to have eyes for only her, and really be into her. But then this happens again, and she has to hold back the scream, and doing so makes her look like she's having a fit. Only, Nash doesn't seem to be too freaked out or scared off by this. In fact, he seems to know what's going on, and he does, he lets Kaylee in on what her heritage is. The cool thing, banshees aren't quite what we think of them as. In fact they have a cool Irish name that is interpreted as banshees, bean sidhe. The females scream/sing because they can tell when the soul leaves the body. And they are able to hold it and keep it from leaving the body, so that the deceased can see his family say their goodbyes, etc. The males don't do the screaming, but they can get the soul to move, back into the body, towards where it should be going, etc. But you're not supposed to bring someone back to life this way, because it means someone else will take their place. And what Kaylee soon learns, is that this rash of deaths of young people isn't supposed to be happening. They aren't on death's "list" to die. Someone is taking their souls for a nefarious purpose. And we do find out who, and Kaylee's father does come back, and we learn a lot about her family, but I won't tell you that, you'll have to read it for yourself.
I just have to say I love the connection between Nash and Kaylee. Can't wait to read on and find out where it goes. I do also like the character Tod, a grim reaper, which reminds me of one of my favorite shows, Dead Like Me. I can't wait to keep up with him too. I got this book as a strip cover that was going to be thrown away at the bookstore where I work. Now I have to go back and buy the compilation that has this, as well as the prequel novella: My Soul to Lose, and the 2nd book in the series: My Soul to Save. I'm hoping that they'll put the next 3 in a compilation as well.
This counts as my "M" in my A-Z Reading Challenge.
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