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

Released: August 1st, 2009
Publisher: Harlequin Teen
Pages: 279
Rating: 4.5/5

 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 have no idea why I randomly picked up this title, but I'm definitely glad I did! 

I'm going to start with the things I didn't like just because I think this review should end on a good note just as the book did. The beginning was quite cliche (the "super hot unreachable boy who is nothing but surprisingly insightful and understanding for unexplainable reasons and is therefore too good to be true" story line has been done and done again), and for that reason was a little too much on the predictable side. Aside from that, some rather large plot holes near the end of the book left me with the feeling of "well that's a little random" which I'm not going to say too much about since it will most definitely ruin the story for all. I will say though that both of these are minor problems that the great story definitely makes up for.

Now where to begin with the good things? Having read what seems like hundreds of teen paranormal-romance novels as of late, I have definitely grown tired of the same story being rehashed with new names, and am finding it quite hard to be really surprised anymore. That being said, My Soul to Take definitely caught me off guard at moments.

I really feel like every character in the book was created with purpose and therefore found no real dislike for any particular person. As a matter of fact, most of the characters were really likable as well as relatable.

The dynamic of the different types of paranormal beings was really interesting and all fit together like a puzzle in terms of how they interacted with each other. And the two main species of people are two that have not popped up in other novels recently and thus were very refreshing to read about.

To put it together, this book was just refreshing and a great start to a new series. I've already ordered the next few books and can't wait to read them. Highly recommended.