GoodRead - Never To Sleep

I'm not a Soul Screamers fan. I know that sounds odd, seeing as in the past, I have read the two previous eNovellas that Rachel Vincent has written, My Soul To Lose and Reaper. So, of course, when she and Mira Ink released this, Never To Sleep, I was in two minds before I bought it. I do enjoy reading her eNovellas but for some reason, I don't get on with the series. Every time I try to start My Soul to Take, I seem to lose interest very quickly. But I have heard that the series goes up a gear from book three onwards and I would quite like to, one day, read one of them.

So, for you fans out there, Never to Sleep takes place at the same time as the fifth in the series, If I Die. This eNovella does have a spoiler about If I Die, so my advice is read this AFTER If I Die but BEFORE Before I Wake. 

This eNovella follows Kaylee's cousin, Sophie, who won't let her cousin's weirdness get in her way. Not after all the work she has done to get the right look, the right friends, the right life. But when she bumps into a new transfer student, Luc, and they both see something so horrible that Sophie scream and, somehow, both of them are transferred into a parallel world. With no way to get back, Sophie begins to panics... is this real? Or does insanity run in the family?

I liked this. A lot. I always enjoy reading Rachel's eNovella but I enjoyed reading about this spoilt, self-centred character who, when faced with something impossible, somehow manages to keep her head and fight back. Sophie is a funny character and there's a lot of inside jokes that am such fans of the Soul Screamers series. One of which is when Sophie thinks that her "insane" cousin, Kaylee couldn't handle the Netherworld. I snorted at that line. 

Oh, if you only knew...!

Luc is an interesting character. This is very much his introduction as, from the other reviews I have read, he's playing a major role in Before I Wake, so I might have to treat myself to that to find out happens. 

This is very much a story for the fans so if you're a fan, enjoy. If not but you're curious, go back to the first book, My Soul to Take or the eNovella prequel, My Soul to Lose, and work your way forward... 

GoodRead - Reaper

AND ON THE FIRST DAY OF CHRISTMAS, MY TRUE LOVE GAVE ME TO... an eBook about death? Tasteful!

In this special novella, Rachel Vincent writes from Tod's (Nash's older brother) point of view. Now, Tod is a teenager who likes girls, food, sports and tolerate his brother. He has his whole life ahead of him. And with his bean sidhe (aka banshee) heritage, that's gonna last a long time, indeed.

But that was before the car accident happened.

Tod, then, has to make a choice. Life? Death? Or somewhere in the middle?

Now, this is very much a novella for the fans, just like Rachel's other novella, My Soul to Lose. Whereas My Soul To Lose is classed (by GoodReads) as a prequel to the first novel in the Soul Screamers series, My Soul to Take, this is classed as 3.5 in the series (aka between My Soul To Keep and My Soul To Steal) and this is the perfect place to read this. Even though this does go into Tod's past and there is hints of "this is a prequel!" about it, it answers questions that I am sure readers of the Soul Screamers series want to know...

Now, I haven't read this series and my copy of My Soul To Take (book 1 in the series) is waiting patiently in my To Be Read pile and I do plan on reading this and a few other books by Mira Ink (mostly by my Kindle, I hope!), but I do feel like this was interesting. Maybe this will help get me into the series. It's all about timing... we'll see.

Here is a video for the third book in the Soul Screamers series, My Soul to Keep. And I will give you 5 housepoints if you can spot the mistake!

My Soul To Steal: Animated Cover!

Mira Ink have revealed an EXCLUSIVE animated cover for the fourth book in the Soul Screamers series by Rachel Vincent, MY SOUL TO STEAL. This make Mira Ink "first YA publishers to create an animated book jacket for one of their titles", and that makes this kinda cool!



And it is! I love it! It's a really cool idea!

Now, also, there is a small competition running on Mira Ink for ten lucky people to win a copy of My Soul To Steal. Now, if you want to win a copy, you have to go to Mira Ink's Facebook - http://www.facebook.com/miraink - and comment on the picture of the My Soul To Steal cover. YOU HAVE TO COMMENT, no liking the picture! After that, Mira Ink will select the winners! Good luck!

GoodRead - My Soul To Lose

There's something very wrong with Kaylee Cavanaugh. All she wanted to do was going shopping with her best friend, Em, and plot revenge of how to get even with the guy who ditched her for Em for the prom. Instead, she finds herself screaming. For no reason. And she can't stop. So much so, she has to be sedated and wakes up inside a mental hospital…

I have a copy of the first Soul Screamers books - My Soul to Take - and have been meaning to read it for quite some time (lack of time & amount of books. Plus, have you seen the UK cover? Scary or what?!). But, after winning a special (very glittery) hardback copy of The Iron King from the UK publisher, Mira Ink, I thought I would investigate this series further. So, when I was told there was a free ebook prequel from the author's - Rachel Vincent - site, I went on there and downloaded it.

This is a fast-read of a prequel. Just over 70 pages or thereabouts. And this prequel, to me, seems to be answering questions that happen later in the series that fans of the series will get and understand. For someone like myself, who is entering the series through this then My Soul to Take, it asks questions that are never truly answered.

I liked Kaylee - she's easily likeable and you are shocked and horrified to the events that happen to her. But, like I said, the story asks questions that are never answered in this short story, teasing you to read the series completely.

I like My Soul to Lose, but if you are starting this series, don't read this first! Read this after the second or third novels in the series, My Soul to Save or My Soul to Keep. There is, also, another free ebook novella from Rachel Vincent website - Reaper - that takes place after My Soul To Keep so I would say if you wanted to read them, read both of these free eBooks AFTER My Soul to Keep. Hopefully, these will explain and answer questions that fans have asked and wanted answers…

(FYI: I am going to try and read My Soul to Take in the near future [hopefully] so that will be the real start to this series.)

GoodRead - UK Cover Vs US Cover

Okay, now I know some of you guys from the USA know about the Soul Screamers series by Rachel Vincent, but it's only just going to hit the UK on 1st January 2011 by new imprint Mira Ink. Anyway, I've seen the cover and I had to show you the UK cover and show the US cover as well...

So, here is the UK cover...


And this is the US cover...


First of all, the UK cover is as scary as hell! Seriously! The cover alone will give me nightmares! But it's very Striking, isn't it? Whereas the US cover is very arty, plus I like the red.

Hmm... am not sure how I feel about this one. I think the UK cover has a slight edge about it. Maybe it's because it scares the do-dahs out of me! Or maybe if I even get this book (if I do, I think I will have to buy it online - I might get scared in the bookshop), I can scare people on the bus/train with it if I don't like the story...

*acts all innocent* Who? Me? NEVER! *laughs behind hand*