Review: My Soul to Steal by Rachel Vincent

Even though the Soul Screamers Reading Challenge is officially over, since I wasn't able to reread and review MStS and IID during the Challenge, I'm going to now!!

My Soul to Steal by Rachel Vincent

Released January 4, 2011

Source of my copy: Library Loan

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.

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Everyone's favorite teen bean sidhe is back, and this time she's facing more than just hellions, a Netherworld addiction, and general evil--well, all that stuff, too--she's facing a real, literal Nightmare: a terrifying creature who can use your own greatest fears against you, and feed off your terror.


Oh yeah, and she's Nash's ex-girlfriend.


Keeping with the pattern of my other reviews for the SSRC, I'm going to be talking about character development. And with the introduction of such a complex and awesome character as Sabine, she's absolutely going to be the focus. 


BEWARE OF SOUL SCREAMERS SPOILERS UP TO MStS! NO IID OR BIW SPOILERS.


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Sabine Campbell. Teenage girl. Nash's ex. Nightmare.


I don't remember precisely how I felt about Sabine the first time around (I probably liked her and very much disliked her simultaneously. Not because I wanted Kaylee and Nash together--I was just as unable to forgive him as Kay--but because she's just so IRRITATING), but going back, I LOVE her!


She's snarky, tough, and hilarious, and I love her for it. She's had a tough time of it, being a Nightmare and scaring everyone she meets. And while that's left its scars, it's made her stronger, the same way Kaylee's struggles have helped her.


Besides that, she's so supremely LOYAL to Nash, even when he kinda doesn't deserve it. And while I can't exactly say I think their supremely codependent relationship is exactly HEALTHY, I want them both to be happy, and they make each other happy, in their weird way.


There's also a part in Sabine's short story Niederwald (included in the Enthralled: Paranormal Diversions anthology) that really helped me connect with her character and choices (I'm including it because it takes place--I think--either between MStS and IID, or POSSIBLY during IID, I'm not sure, but the part I'm talking about isn't spoilery) where she talks about Nash and Kaylee's relationship.


She talks about Kaylee's desire to "fix" Nash, to buff out the dark bits of his soul, the ones she can't connect with. Sabine, on the other hand, notes that she can love all of him, because she recognizes the dark side of him that matches hers, and loves him for all of him. 


It's no one's fault, and it doesn't mean Nash and Kay don't love each other. But I don't think they're right for each other. (I'll talk about this more in my If I Die review, because there are a couple points from it I want to cite. And you people who've read it, I don't mean the obvious one from the math hall ;D)


Anyway, Niederwald is one of the many factors that helped me sympathize with, and, yes, start to love Sabine. I haven't read her other short story, Fearless, but I so want to!


I'm not going to talk about Emma or Sophie, because I don't have much to add to their character analysis at this point that I haven't said in earlier reviews, and I don't have much more to say on the topic of Nash and Kaylee until If I Die, except maybe to note the struggle for trust between the two of them since Nash's addiction. 


So that leaves us with Tod.


<3 Obviously I love Tod. I probably don't even need to mention that. Tod's role in the books keeps growing, and by MStS he's very clearly close and loyal to Kaylee. And we, the reader, aren't the only ones who might have noticed his feelings growing. [Highlight for a note that maaay be a bit IID spoilery, if you're really concerned about that]. 


Rereading, I was surprised at how quickly Sabine noticed. She dropped some hints about Tod and Kaylee I didn't catch last time around.


Anyway, Tod is just as awesome as ever, delivering death, pizza, and unsolicited relationship advice. And speaking of that advice...Does Tod's insistence that Kay and Nash don't belong together driven by something other than his desire for both their happiness and well-being, and they belief that they don't fit together? Or is there another reason for his intervention...?


Altogether, My Soul to Steal gets <*><*><*><*><*>


(:D)
~Mag

Review: My Soul To Keep by Rachel Vincent (SSRC)

Well, I'm running really late on this because my library's only copy of My Soul to Keep was checked out until yesterday, but luckily I'm a fast reader and finished today!

I reread MSTK for the Soul Screamers Reading Challenge being hosted by Fiktshun! It's super awesome and super fun, and if you haven't joined yet you most definitely should!!

My Soul to Keep by Rachel Vincent
Kaylee has one addiction: her very hot, very popular boyfriend, Nash. A banshee like Kaylee, Nash understands her like no one else. Nothing can come between them.

Until something does.

Demon breath. No, not the toothpaste-challenged kind. The Netherworld kind. The kind that really can kill you. Somehow the super-addictive substance has made its way to the human world. But how? Kaylee and Nash have to cut off the source and protect their friends—one of whom is already hooked.

And so is someone else…

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At the beginning of MSTK, Kaylee is finally free of the grounding she received for all the crazy stuff that went down in the last book. But she hasn't been free very long before she discovers the Netherworld is still leaking into the human work and threatening the lives of everyone she knows.

Of course, Kaylee being Kaylee, she can't possibly take that lying down, or leave it up to those older and stronger than her. Kay always wants to protect others, which is what simultaneously makes her one of the stupidest and most admirable heroines around these days.

When she discovers humans are getting addicted to Demon's Breath (remember that nasty crap from the last book?) she knows she has to stop it. And THAT is when things start to go downhill again.


Ok, so, like the last few months, I'll finish up by talking about character development! This stuff will be spoilery! Read at your own risk!

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So first we have Kaylee. As I mentioned above, in MSTK she's still just as selfless and brave as she was in the first two books. But she's also becoming more realistic, and realizing that she can't save everyone. But at the same time, this knowledge only makes her more determined to save those she can. She can accept that there's nothing more she can do for Addison, but she wants to save others from that same fate.

Then there's Nash. Anyone who's already read all the books knows that this is the one where the Nash-hate really starts. Nash has made PLENTY of mistakes. And while some of them are understandable, that's never been enough for me to really love him past the second book. Yes, going back to the first book, I loved him again and remembered why I had loved him before, but reaching this book, those feelings are gone again. Which really is tragic, because he was such an awesome guy. And now he's acting like a total butthead.

Emma. Kaylee's best friend has to go through a lot again in this book. Yet she stays strong, and doesn't abandon Kay. I think that's really all that has to be said about her character.

Sophie. Oh, man, Sophie's so obnoxious. Yet as I've said before, I can't bring myself to hate her. I've said it six zillion times, she's just so CLUELESS. But in this book, you start to see behind the mask, that behind her Ice Queen appearance she's still capable of being hurt.

Alec. He only makes a brief appearance in MSTK, but there's something interesting about him, isn't there? Of course, I've already read past this book, but even the first time I was intrigued by him.

Addison. She's only briefly in this one, but she was brave and selfless, too. She gave up the only good thing left in her existence to help Kaylee and Tod and Nash, which is pretty incredible.

And I've saved the best for last: TOD. Oh, Tod! I love that guy so much there aren't even words to express it. And just like last time, he's even better in this book. He's still grieving Addy, but at the same time he's finally recovering. This is the book where we really start to see that he'll be there for Kay when she needs him. In the first book, Tod was pretty much...well...dead. He wasn't very human anymore. In the second book, he's getting better, and Addy being in danger really jump started that, but really it's Kaylee who's bringing him back. He's alive again, and a sarcastic and obnoxious and awesome. But more than that, he's loyal, and protective, and GOOD. And also, I love him. But that's mostly irrelevant.

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Altogether, I looooved it (again!) and it gets <*><*><*><*><*>

(:D)
~Mag