Review : If I Die

Posted by Kay on July 12, 2012 1:53 pm in 4 stars reads | 3 comments

If I Die by Rachel Vincent
Pages : 342
Genre : YA, Urban Fantasy
Series : Souls Screamers, book 5
My Rating : 4/5

What it’s about (from the back of the cover) :

The entire school’s talking about the gorgeous new math teacher, Mr. Beck. Everyone except Kaylee Cavanaugh. After all, Kaylee’s no ordinary high-school junior. She’s a banshee—she screams when someone dies.

But the next scream might be for Kaylee… Yeah—it’s a shock to her, too. So to distract herself, Kaylee’s going to save every girl in school. Because that hot new teacher is really an incubus who feeds on the desire of unsuspecting students. The only girls immune to his lure are Kaylee and Sabine, her boyfriend’s needy ex-girlfriend. Now the unlikely allies have to get rid of Mr. Beck…before he discovers they aren’t quite human, either.
But Kaylee’s borrowed lifeline is nearing its end. And those who care about her will do anything to save her life.

I was about to start reading Before I Wake, the sixth book in the series, when I realized I hadn’t reviewed If I Die. Major oops! If I Die was a favorite of 2011 and my favorite of the series so far, so I needed to put down a few words about it before continuing my reading.

If I Die was intense, and it is hard to write about my feelings for this book without spoiling it or spoiling the previous books, so I’ll go with generalities.

My experience with series is that often, they get less and less entertaining with time. The more books, the worst. Hey, even trilogies often have a hard time keeping things super interesting after the first book! But, with her Soul Screamers series, Rachel Vincent did the same thing she did with her Shifters series; take a somewhat regular character, an ok setting, and push the limits to create something different, exciting and original.

I love Kaylee. I only liked her in the beginning, but as she grew stronger, more independent and more thoughtful in her decisions, I have grown to really love her. (I had a very similar reaction to Shifters‘ main character, Faythe, although Kaylee is much more sensible than Faythe will ever be.)

Also, Tod. Tod! I’m not sure why I love him so much, but I do, I really do.

The ending was mind blowing and I absolutely loved it. Make sure to have Before I Wake (but do NOT read its summary before you finish reading this one) in proximity for when you finish reading If I Die; I didn’t, and I had to suffer through months before I could finally know what happens next – which I will be doing right away!

Series Reading Order :

1. My Soul to Take
2. My Soul to Save
3. My Soul to Keep
4. My Soul to Steal
5. If I Die
6. Before I Wake