My Soul to Save by Rachel Vincent

I've finished the Volume 1 book in the Soul Screamers, by reading book #2 My Soul to Save.  But before I can go on to the Before I Wake that I got from BEA, I will have to read numbers 3-5.5 in the series, and that will include two "half" books, 3.5 and 5.5.  But Volume 2 doesn't come out until November, and it only includes up to book 4.  Sooo, guessing I'll be looking to the library to check them out and read them, and then purchasing the 2nd volume when it is published in November.  Aaaah!  So complicated.  Plus, I'm guessing at some point there will be a volume 3 too, and while I own #6 already with Before I Wake, I'll have to wait for that too.  Such craziness.  Oh well.  But let me say, I honestly was able to give the volume 1 book 5 out of 5 stars as I gave each individual story inside a 5 star rating.
My Soul to Save was not disappointing at all!  Of course there will be spoilers here if you haven't read any yet, but I'll try not to make them big ones.  Kaylee is now living with her father, who returned with all the troubles going on with her aunt in the 1st book.  Her father is not extremely pleased with her new boyfriend, Nash, who is also a bean sidhe (which means banshee basically), but as a male he is able to help her with her screams, in fact her screams sound like music to his ears.  Her cousin really is even more hateful to her, blaming Kaylee for her mother's death.  At the beginning they get tickets to go see a big star, turns out Nash's brother, Tod, a grim reaper as well as a bean sidhe, knows the girl who is the opening act.  While at the concert, the headliner, Eden, just collapses on stage.  Kaylee assumes she'll be okay because she doesn't get her usual urge to wail as when other people die.  Turns out that Eden sold her soul, so when she dies, there is no soul for Kaylee to wail for.  And soon we learn what happens when souls are sold, where they go, and what happens to those people when they die.  And Addison, Tod's ex-girlfriend, is next, she is on the reaper's list because she will supposedly kill herself in a week.  And when Tod finds out she also sold her soul, he wants to save her, because when you die without a soul, whoever you sold your soul to is able to torture you forever.  There is no rest, no heaven or afterlife in this case.
What I love about this book is the look into the Netherworld.  I love how we are learning what this "universe" for this author's stories is like.  The world she has created is so complex.  And I love how it all works out.  These are the kind of books that make me realize I could never be an author, that I should stick to reading, because it just amazes me how they've thought of all the details.  Made their worlds work.  I know that what we've learned and seen in this story will definitely tie in to future stories, whether it is just that we now know how things work in the Netherworld, or have an idea what Kaylee and Nash will have to face if they need to go there.  So good.  I'm ready to read on, if I had the rest of the books between this and the #6 that I do have, I'd definitely read on.  I do love when I can just read straight through a series and not have to wait.  But, alas, as I said before, I don't have the next couple books.  So, it's on with the books in my TBR pile, and on my Nook from Netgalley.
Really, if you haven't started these books, you should give them a try.  I just get sucked right in every time I pick one up!

My Soul to Lose by Rachel Vincent

So I'm actually reading this as part of the compilation book Soul Screamers Volume 1.  This is 0.5 in the series.  And let me say, this is one of the best "extra" stories to go with a series that I have ever read.  Of course since I've already read the first in the series, I know what is happening to Kaylee.  In the first book, this incident was referred back to several times, but just the main thing that happened.  In this book, *SPOILER ALERT* Kaylee first starts her wailing, as a banshee, or a bean sidhe as they are technically called.  But she doesn't know what she is, or why she can't stop.  And it happens in the middle of a shopping mall, and she even begans scratching at her own throat trying to stop it.  And this last bit is what gets her in a mental hospital ward, strapped down to a bed until she wakes up and calms down.  But there is something even more interesting going on here.  There is another girl in this hospital ward that seems to be seeing something, or knowing something is going on.  And when Kaylee gets the urge to do the wailing again, this girl, Lydia, is able to help her stop by somehow taking the pain away from Kaylee.  Unfortunately it is about this time that Kaylee's aunt and uncle come back to get her out of the mental ward, because as we know, they know she doesn't belong there.  So now, I really want to know what happened to Lydia, and why she can do what she can do.  I'm reading on to the 2nd book now, My Soul to Save, so I know I have quite a few more to go.  I'm hoping that maybe Lydia, or a similar person will show up later on in the series!  Once again Rachel Vincent has sucked me into a great story!!  And so it was so exciting to meet her at BEA, even though I didn't get in line in time to get a book signed. But she was so nice she did have an extra copy of Before I Wake that she left at the booth for me to pick up the next day, and she autographed it!

Rachel Vincent and I at Harlequin booth BEA 2012

My Soul to Take (Soul Screamers #1) by Rachel Vincent

My Soul to Take by Rachel Vincent
My 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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