Review ~ With All My Soul (Soul Screamers #7) - Rachel Vincent

Copy purchased by myself from Amazon


ISBN: 1848451822
Publisher: Mira Ink

Released: March 26th 2013 

Description

After spending the last year undead, Kaylee Cavanaugh has had enough of the paranormal creatures who have plagued her ever since she came into her banshee powers. Now she's ready to take her school back from the evil hellions, once and forever.

To protect her friends, Kaylee will need to find a way to turn the living incarnations of Avarice, Envy and Vanity against one another.

Yet when one more person close to her is taken, Kaylee realises she can't save everyone she loves without making some powerful sacrifices...

My Opinion

First of all I can't believe this series has come to an end! The first book in this amazing series got me hooked on Vincent's writing and since then I have been eagerly awaiting every book she has released. 

A part of me didn't want to read With All My Soul as I didn't want it to end and I was nervous about how the author would tie everything up. A few of my favourite series ended badly for me and I didn't want to finish this series on a low. The other part of me was jumping around when I received the book in the post though and I couldn't wait to start reading it. It took so much effort for me to restrain myself from flicking ahead to the end (something I have developed a bad habit for) but I'm glad I did refrain from peaking as it was worth the wait.

With All My Soul was definitely not what I expected and it definitely didn't turn out the way I thought it would, it was so much better! It was fast paced, and full of action that was unpredictable and kept me turning the pages from start to finish in one sitting. There were twists everywhere, and I especially loved the ending. I really didn't see that twist coming and it ended so well. It felt like Vincent had thought about the ending and took time in writing it so everything linked faultlessly, made sense and left the reader satisfied with the resolve as it felt like a natural conclusion that was final. For once I didn't come away feeling annoyed by the way a series ended, I am a little sad it's over but it ended so well I more happy and hey that's what re-reads are for!

Kaylee has been a great character throughout the series and I have loved seeing how she developed into a strong and determined female lead that made her own choices. I also loved the romances in this series and everything about the way that ended was great. I haven't liked Nash for the past few books and I didn't when I started reading this one but by the end it had made me love him again and even though I still prefer Tod it was nice to read about the softer side of Nash again.

Overall this is one of my favourite series and Vincent is one of my favourite authors. Her work is original and her writing is brilliant. I would highly recommend Soul Screamers and any of Vincent's other series to all YA, paranormal fans as they are action packed, unpredictable, fast paced and gripping! Now I'm going to be eagerly awaiting for the the release of Oath Bound (Unbound #3).

Soul Screamers

 

Other Series:

Shifters       Unbound

Souled Out (Ell Clyne #1) - Blakely Chorpenning

Description

Ell Clyne is lost living someone else’s life. But reading souls to save the fate of a loved one seemed like a fair trade. At first.

The lie has cost Ell her family, her future, her very soul. Now the secret is out and the vampires want answers. Becoming a pawn in her own conspiracy and being abducted more times than a psychiatrist might recommend, Ell just wants to stay alive and reclaim her life without burning something down. Oops, something else.

This is the story of a girl who isn’t a superhero or a badass, but manages to fight for her place in a cold-blooded world regardless of the pain caused by that empty space where her soul should be.

 

My Opinion

It was the description that drew me to this book when I received the request. The concept sounded original and it intrigued me into wondering what Ell Clyne was. The book was interesting and kept me hooked throughout a long train journey. I liked Ell's character, she took no nonsense and could be quite witty at times, a few of which made me laugh, especially towards the start. I loved it when she went crazy but it was also great when we got to see her more vulnerable side. Chorpenning did a great job with balancing the character's emotions so it wasn't one sided. Also, because of this it meant it was easy to relate and engage with Ell. I will admit that there were times I didn't like her and my brain was screaming "What the hell did you do that for!" but that made the book better as it meant it had enthralled me in the world. 

The book was really well written. It gave me enough detail to satisfy my curiosity but did not reveal everything at once. Also it did not overly describe objects, surroundings etc which I loved as it left something to my imagination (I don't like it when book describe every minute detail with flowery language). I found myself a little confused at times but after re-reading the paragraph/section or reading on a few pages it was cleared up easily enough. 

One thing I didn't like/understand is why Gabriel, Seth etc had to be vampires. For me it added nothing to the book and I would have rather Chorpenning make up or use another mythological character related to Ell's job more as it would have been more interesting and unusual. In my opinion it didn't make sense for vampire to want the souls of prospective humans to be read as the book didn't give much background detail on this aspect. In all honesty, for me, it made the book less original as the vampire thing has been done hundred of times now and I don't believe this book needed them. I don't think I would have minded so much if they acted like vampires but besides one feeding, fire and their strength nothing else was related to vampires. 

Overall I enjoyed this book and would recommend it to paranormal lovers. It does keep your interest, there was a lot of action and the main character - Ell - was great. However it could have done without the vampires. For me it lumped an enjoyable/partly original (Ell's job and soul element) book into the swamped vampire genre when it wasn't needed. This book would be able to stand on its own if the vampires were changed but for me, as it stands, it is lost as a vampire book. 

3.5