Book Review: Die for Me by Amy Plum

Title: Die for Me (Revenants #1)
Author: Amy Plum
Publisher: HarperTeen
Release Date: 05/10/2011
ISBN: 9780062004017

My life had always been blissfully, wonderfully normal. But it only took one moment to change everything.

Suddenly, my sister, Georgia, and I were orphans. We put our lives into storage and moved to Paris to live with my grandparents. And I knew my shattered heart, my shattered life, would never feel normal again. Then I met Vincent.

Mysterious, sexy, and unnervingly charming, Vincent Delacroix appeared out of nowhere and swept me off my feet. Just like that, I was in danger of losing my heart all over again. But I was ready to let it happen.

Of course, nothing is ever that easy. Because Vincent is no normal human. He has a terrifying destiny, one that puts his life at risk every day. He also has enemies . . . immortal, murderous enemies who are determined to destroy him and all of his kind.

While I'm fighting to piece together the remnants of my life, can I risk putting my heart—as well as my life and my family's—in jeopardy for a chance at love?

I have to admit that I wasn't quite sure what I was getting into. The synopsis on the back of the book was incredibly vague about what type of supernatural critter the book was about & as such, I didn't really go into this book with any preconceived notions. That actually helped the book out immensely as it enabled me to see this particular supernatural creature in a different light. Because of this, I'm not going to spill the beans as far as what Vincent is. (If you're curious then take the first letter of each paragraph after this one & it'll tell you what the supernatural creatures are. Or you could just google "revenants" but it's more fun this way, I guess.)

Zealous fans of series such as Twilight will enjoy the gentle romance that's played up in this book. While there is a bit of action in the book, the plot takes a good while to get there & decides to focus on building up the romance between the main characters as well as playing up the beautiful scenery of France.

Others who aren't as fond of Twilight might get a little frustrated that the main character isn't as well fleshed out as they'd like her to be. I couldn't help but wish for a little more development as far as characters go, but even so I couldn't help but like Kate for the most part. She doesn't go through the "I'm just an average girl, poor pitiful me" mopes to the extent that Bella does & while it does exist in the book, Plum gives Kate a reason to doubt herself. (Plus Kate isn't really as willing to sit back & do nothing or put up with as much stuff as Bella did.)

My absolute favorite part of the book had to be the twist on a very common supernatural creature. I'll admit that I was initially a little skeptical when I first realized what Vincent & his friends were, but after some initial misgivings I was able to enjoy how Plum interpreted these characters.

Because the book is so slow I can't help but feel that this book will really only appeal to a portion of the YA reading audience. It took me a while to get into this book & I'll admit that at one point I put the book down because I just couldn't really get all that connected with the characters or plot. It just ran a little too slow for my tastes.

I will say though, keep at it. The slow plot movement pays off in the end & I admit that I ended up liking this book more than I thought I would.

Even though I ended up not being overwhelmingly drawn into this book in the same way I was drawn into similar books like Hush, Hush, this is still an enjoyable book that I feel many readers will still enjoy. I just recommend getting it from the library if you're not a fan of slower paced books. I'll probably glance through the next book when it comes out, but I don't know that I'll be dying to tear through the pages like I would with some of the other YA books out there. This is a good enough book but I'm not entirely sure if it can stand out against its peers even with the cool twist on supernatural creatures.

Since you've read to this point, you can now put the letters together to find out what the book is about. It might have been a little overly elaborate, but it was fun to post a semi-spoilerish plot point in this fashion.

3/5

(ARC provided through BAM)