My Soul To Steal (Soul Screamers #4) by Rachel Vincent

“I don’t have you, and without you, it feels like what I do have doesn’t matter.” 

Trying to work things out with Nash—her maybe boyfriend—is hard enough for Kaylee Cavanaugh. She can‘t just pretend nothing happened. But “complicated” doesn’t even begin to describe their relationship when his ex-girlfriend transfers to their school, determined to take Nash back.

See, Sabine isn’t just an ordinary girl. She’s a mara, the living personification of a nightmare. She can read people’s fears—and craft them into nightmares while her victims sleep. Feeding from human fear is how she survives.

And Sabine isn’t above scaring Kaylee and the entire school to death to get whatever—and whoever—she wants.

Personal Thoughts:

My Soul To Steal is the fourth book of Soul Screamers series, and this series is just getting better and better each time I read. If you notice, I skip reviewing My Soul To Save and My Soul To Keep which I’ve read way before this. I’ve read those two books consecutively, together with My Soul To Lose, My Soul To Take and Reaper but I’m too overwhelmed to write any review at that time. I don’t want to gush too much about them or worst absent-mindedly interchange the stories. Reading the first three books and two novellas consecutively is just too much to talk about. When I found out that the fifth book will be release I take a pause reading the series and decided to wait till I got a copy of the latest book, If I Die. Now that I’m expecting to get a copy soon, I’m back again in Kaylee’s world.

“Anger is great. It’s powerful, when you need something to hold you up. Something to steel your spine. But in the dark, when you’re alone with the truth, anger can’t survive. The only thing that can live in the dark with you is fear.”

One of the things I enjoy about reading this series is how Rachel Vincent package her characters. They are diverse not just with their special abilities but also with their personalities. I love them and sometimes I get annoyed with them too. Even the hero and heroine do some crazy things that sometimes make them stick into my skin. But never the less I love them with all the craziness and flaws they have.

Sabine, the new addition to the series is so much welcome. I like her, she certainly give a nice kick to the story. Finally Kaylee got a real competition with Nash. Sabine, Nash ex-girlfriend / best friend is a walking nightmare to Kaylee, literally. I admire Sabine’s guts. She knows what she wants and she’ll do everything she can to get it. She’s honest, straight forward, strong-willed, and fearless. But my likeness with Sabine start and end with her alone. I still don’t want her to end up with Nash, I still prefer Kaylee for that place.

Kaylee, I don’t know what to do with her. She is still amazing and I still like her but her indecisiveness sometimes is too much. If she can just be as brave as Sabine I guess I’ll admire her more. I know she’s not afraid facing Avari or any demons from Netherworld but in terms of facing her feelings, she always hold back. She needs to decide what she really wants. She’s being overly logical sometimes. Why can’t she just do what she wants? She’s giving her self too much trouble when in the first place she can be happy if she just learn how to forgive. I’m not saying that she forget what Nash did but she can save the long drill of heartaches for both of them. Her trust issue with Nash is understandable and I like that she make her stand with that but avoiding Nash and not talking to him isn’t fair. She needs to give Nash another chance if she really can’t give him up fully. How can Nash gain back her trust if she don’t even give him another chance.

When Tod was talking to Kaylee about giving up Nash for good, for a moment I thought that she will do just as she is told. Though I don’t want her to just give up Nash as easy as that even Tod is clearly stating that Sabine is the right one for Nash. I want Kaylee to prove to everyone that she deserves what she wants and clearly she still want Nash.

Tod was his normal sarcastic and charming self as usual. I enjoy every moment he pop up in the story. And his progressing ability is really handy at least now he is not the only one who can take advantage of his invisibility. But when he told Kaylee to give up Nash I was totally shock, almost wishing that it was just one of Kaylee’s nightmare or one of Tod’s jokes and there will be a punch line in the end. Because seriously I don’t see it coming from Tod at all. I know he love his brother so much and he also care for Kaylee but how can he think that giving up is the solution?

As for Nash, I feel sorry for him, not that I don’t blame him because he certainly have some faults too and I really don’t like what he did to Kaylee from My Soul To Keep but I feel for him in a way. The withdrawal thing is definitely not easy and having no one there to supports you or just be there with you is just too much for him. He really needs someone to at least stay with him while he battle his inner struggle with frost.

Lastly, there is Alec, who we were introduced to into the previous book, My Soul To Keep. He doesn’t appeal to me the first time but in here he easily grow in me. I enjoy reading his culture shock and adjustments. He is now living at Kaylee’s place, still adjusting in human world after getting stuck in Netherworld for decades. He doesn’t age since then, so basically he has a mind of 45 years old and a body of a teen ager. That combination isn’t perfect but you need to keep an eye on this guy because he got a major participation in the story.

This is really a roller coaster ride. One moment you cheer for one character then another minute you’ll want to smack the hell out of him/her. Rachel Vincent surely knows how to navigate readers feelings. She push all her characters into a more personal level. And it is easy to get lost with them to the point that you also battle your choices and questions your allegiances. Not to forget the Netherworld issue and Avari’s plans to Kaylee and the human world.

If this series continue the path of getting better and better I wonder what Rachel Vincent stored for the next book, If I Die. My Soul To Steal is pretty much has it all already, and definitely the best of what I read so far from this series. It is darker, edgier and more personal. I can’t wait to get my hands on If I Die to find out where the story will go from here.