My Soul to Take by Rachel Vincent

She doesn't see dead people. She senses 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 guy in school. But a normal date is hard to come by when Nash seems to know more about her need to scream than she does. And when classmates start dropping dead for no apparent reason, only Kaylee knows who'll be next.

I hate to say this, especially in a review, but I was a bit wishy washy when it came to this book. There were aspects of My Soul to Take that I really liked and enjoyed and then there were parts that just weren’t doing it for me. Therefore, its hard for me to place this book in any category…it was just ok.

I really admired Vincent’s style of writing in My Soul to Take. The story flows very nicely and reads almost like a contemporary novel, which always makes it very relatable and realistic despite being a paranormal book. The charcters, especially the main one Kaylee, were refreshing. Kaylee in particular isn't some helpless whiny girl who hides behind the shadow of her paranormal boyfriend. She's an independent, take charge, kind of girl, which I find invigorating. I also really loved Tod. His sarcasm, witty remarks, and alluring bad boy was an instant attraction for me. His character's relationship came as a pleasant surprise to me as well and I always give kuddos to an author who can shock me.

The difficulties for me in this book lie with the plot. I just wasn't sold on the whole bean sidhe thing. (By the way, why is it pronounced Banshee but spelt like a vegetable? That was beyond frustrating for me). Introducing Kaylee to who she really is felt rushed. One minute she's a normal teenager and the next minute, BAM, here's an entire explanation of what you really are in one night. There wasn't really any progression for me. I just would have liked a little more build-up and suspense.Then, once the cat was out of the bag, it was like Kaylee was some bean expert. It just felt so quick.

The ending was also very abrupt. A lot of things were happening at once, people just showing up out of the blue to help save the day, secret plots becoming unveiled, new relationships coming to light, and all in like the last 20 pages. Again, I would have just liked a little more backing and length. It would have just made the story that much stronger.

I know there are several more books in this series and I have the second one right now on my bookshelf. I'll probably get to it eventually, because I hate leaving a series unfinished. I still think that the story has great potential and I always find that books normally get better later in a series, so I'm remaining optimistic. Mostly for the fact that I want to find out what happens to Tod.