My Soul To Take by Rachel Vincent

“Don’t judge your future based on others’ mistakes.”

She doesn’t see dead people, but

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.

Personal Thoughts:

My Soul To Take is the first book in Rachel Vincent‘s Soul Screamers series. There is a prequel novella entitled My Soul To Lose which I already read before this one. The novella is more an introduction to Kaylee, the main character of the series. In My Soul To Take you will see Kaylee discover her unusual ability and the secrets behind it.

Kaylee can sense when someone near her is about to die. She saw shadows around the person before this person dies. When Kaylee see the shadows she has an uncontrollable urge to scream and once she starts screaming she just can’t stop no matter how hard she tried. An incident of her screaming has already landed her in a psychiatric ward and she will do anything she can to avoid going back in there again. When Nash and Kaylee had an encounter in a bar she was worried that Nash will discovers her secret. But Nash has a secret of his own and he seems to know more about Kaylee than she knows about herself. As Nash helps Kaylee to discover what she is, they were also confronted with series of deaths. Female teenagers start dropping dead (literally) for no reason and only Kaylee knows who will be next.

My Soul To Take is surprisingly beautiful. Rachel Vincent crafted a a unique paranormal story with this one.  Imagine yourself getting premonition of someone’s death few minutes before she dies. Isn’t that horrible? Specially when you can’t do anything about it.  But the story isn’t just about  predicting someone’s death, there were more mysteries and secrets that is worth exploring in this book.

My knowledge with Irish mythology and folklore is too little. I’ve read a few Irish myth from some fiction books but I never encounter anything about bean sidhes or banshees. So when the story introduce the bean sidhe mythology I absorbed everything about it as a fresh read. The world that the author created in here is imaginative as well as believable. The netherland, the grim reaper and the afterlife possibilities explored in this book were pretty interesting.

The story is engaging & fast-pace. There were lots of things happenings, from Kaylee’s self-discovery to her family’s history and secrets and to the mystery behind the sudden death of teenagers. The constant action and tension as you never knew who might drop dead next will drive you reading from start to end.

Kaylee and Nash were charming characters. Kaylee is caring, thoughtful and strong. With all the things that she went through you can’t help but sympathize with her. From her extreme fear of being crazy to her relief at finding out that she isn’t, even if that means that she’s different; and then having to come to grasps her ability that is both dangerous and powerful. Nash on the other hand is a perfect partner for Kaylee. He supports her and give her answers in time of confusions. He is also protective and caring to Kaylee. There’s really nothing not to like about him in this book.

The development of Kaylee and Nash relationship though happens just in few days doesn’t feel forced. I haven’t really notice that the entire novel happens in less than a week. I’m too absorbed with the story that I didn’t really care about the timeline.

Tod the reaper is my favorite character. In fact he is the main reason why I am reading this series in the first place. After Fiktshun’s solid campaign for him in YA Crush Tourney I am really intrigue with Tod. Though I have to admit, if I haven’t read Tod description from the tourney, Nash can easily get my interest. Tod in this book is funny, sarcastic and very intriguing character which makes me more eager to know him better. I know there is a novella entitled Reaper that is solely dedicated for him which I’ll be reading soon.

If I have to choose between Tod and Nash, I’ll choose Tod in a heartbeat, no second thought. But I love Tod in this book as a single character and not as a third party to Nash and Kaylee’s relationship. I’m not sure where the story goes after this book but obviously there is a potential for Tod to be Kaylee’s love interest. But for now I like the relationship that Kaylee and Nash shared as much as the bond between Tod and Nash. As much as I love Tod I don’t want him to be the caused of Nash heartbreak. I’d rather see him as the selfless brother than the third party of Nash and Kaylee’s relationship.

Another interesting character is Kaylee’s Uncle Brendon. Though he didn’t appear much in the beginning of the story, he gain my respect towards the end. I even like him better than Kaylee’s father. Because he treated Kaylee as a family, almost as if she was his daughter. He cares and love Kaylee as much as his own daughter Sophie.

My Soul To Take was thoroughly enjoyable which offers a different take on paranormal reads. It has a right amount of mystery, humour and dark elements that will grab you from start to end. I’m excited that I got the next three books and another novella to devour after this book.