After reading Rachel Vincent’s My Soul to Lose, the prequel novella to the Soul Screamers series, I was beyond excited to read My Soul to Take. I was right to have been excited too, because once I picked up My Soul to Take, I had an extremely hard time putting it down.
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.
Kaylee Cavanaugh is the perfect female heroine. She has a special, unwelcome, ability to be able to tell when someone near her is about to die. When this happens she has the overwhelming urge to scream and if she lets the scream out it is impossible to stop it. Up until now she’s been able to explain them away to others as panic attacks. In fact, as we found out in My Soul to Lose, the one time she couldn’t hold the scream back it landed her in a mental institution. Through all of this she’s been scared, but she’s remained strong.
As she starts to spend more time with one of the hottest guys in her high school, Nash Hudson, and secrets of her heritage and past are revealed, she continues to grow stronger. When she starts to notice a pattern in the deaths of girls her age, she embraces her gift and is determined to figure out what’s going on no matter how scared she is. I found Kaylee to be an extremely relateable and admirable character. It made it easy to root for her throughout My Soul to Take.
If you’ve read My Soul to Lose, you’ll remember Kaylee’s Aunt Val and Uncle Brendon. This time around we learn more about them and their brat of a daughter Sophie. It doesn’t take long to see that while Kaylee lives in their house, she doesn’t entirely fit in. Val coddles Sophie and treats her much differently than she does Kaylee and Sophie just plain treats her cousin like crap. My opinion of Val changed throughout the book, but my opinion of Sophie was constant…I wanted someone to knock her off her high horse. On the other hand, Kayelee’s Uncle Brendon treated her like she was a part of the family, almost as if she was his daughter. I respected and liked that about him, which made him an extremely likable character.
Kaylee pretty much keeps to herself, but her best friend Emma and her newfound relationship with Nash provide her with all the support she needs. Throughout the book they are there for her every step of the way. I enjoyed the easy friendship between Kaylee and Emma and the growing relationship between her and Nash.
As far as I’m concerned there was never a dull moment in My Soul to Take. If Kaylee wasn’t focused on trying to figure out how to stop the deaths of her classmates, she was focused on figuring out what’s going on with her. Both mysteries were fascinating and for the most part, kept me guessing. I found that the ending of My Soul to Take kept me on the edge of my seat and was extremely satisfying. Rachel Vincent is a true master at her craft; I can’t wait to read more from her!
Read Order:
My Soul to Lose
My Soul to Take
My Soul to Save
My Soul to Keep
My Soul to Steal
If I Die
