Book Review: My Soul to Keep by Rachel Vincent

Title: My Soul to Keep (SoulScreamers #3)
Author: Rachel Vincent
Publisher: Harlequin
Release Date: 06/01/2010
ISBN: 0373210051









If you haven't read any of Rachel Vincent's SoulScreamers series, then you are seriously missing out. Young & old alike can find a lot to enjoy in this series. For the adults, there's well written plot lines, great characters & for the younger readers there's just as much to love. They get to enjoy all of the stuff that the adults would like but they also have the joy of knowing that at no point does this book "write down" to them. As a teen I'd often get irritated at the overly perfect characters & the preachy morals that many authors tried to insert into their work. (The good girls never drank or stayed out late, always studied...) Vincent tries hard to avoid those cliches & worn out ideas in her series- and succeeds.

Kaylee's had it rough. Not only has she spent most of her life assuming that there's something wrong with her, but even after she discovered her bean sidhe heritage it hasn't been easy. She's had to fight demons, save people from death- or worse, & put up with her bratty cousin. Kaylee's just hoping that she'll finally get some time to relax with her hunky boyfriend & be as normal as she possibly can be. Unfortunately for her, someone's smuggling Demon's Breath into the mortal world- a substance so incredibly addicting that coming down from it can kill you. It's up to her to find out a way to stop the distribution of it before her entire school becomes addicted.

Once again Vincent manages to write a fantastic & fast paced read. Kaylee manages to remain an intriguing & sympathetic character that many teens will find themselves relating to. Also interesting is the character of Nash, Kaylee's boyfriend who may or may not be more in love with the fact she's a bean sidhe than with Kaylee herself. He goes through a lot of character development in this book, which is a good thing- he needs to prove himself to the audience & to Kaylee.

There's also new characters introduced in this book, one of which will hopefully turn into a new suitor for Kaylee. (Hey, Nash needs competition.) Teens will love the pacing of the book & parents will love that the book deals with sensitive subjects like drug addiction & sex (Nash wants it now, Kaylee wants to wait) in a way that won't alienate anyone or go over the top.

This is a great entry into a series that has been strong from the start & looks like it will be going strong for quite some time. If you haven't been reading the series, I highly suggest that you start from the first book in the series as well as reading the free "chapter zero" available on Vincent's site.

(ARC provided by NetGalley)