My Soul to Steal by Rachel Vincent

My Soul to Steal (Soul Screamers, Book 4) by Rachel Vincent is the latest addition to the Soul Screamers series.  Kaylee Cavanaugh, female bean sidhe is trying to hold it all together.  While she is still recovering from her recent breakup with Nash, his ex-girlfriend and first love Sabine comes to town.  Kaylee is blindsided by the gorgeous and slightly creepy Sabine, who is very clear in her intention to win back Nash's heart.  Sabine is a mara--a being that feeds off the fear of others in the form of their nightmares. 

In the midst of Kaylee's troubles, teachers start dropping dead at school--in their sleep.  And the student body seems to have lost its collective mind.  On top of all this, Avari seems to have been possessing people around Kaylee in their sleep.  Sabine, Avari and the chaos can't all be a coincidence, can it?  Kaylee is faced with so many possibilities that she doesn't know where to turn or who to trust.  Can she turn to Nash even though she feels that she can't trust him?  Tod is always there for her, but he seems to be acting a little weird too, and she can't expose Emma to any more of Netherworld, can she?

My Soul to Steal (Soul Screamers, Book 4) shows Kaylee becoming more self-reliant and confident in her abilities.  She also has to learn to trust and accept help from others instead of trying to take everything on herself.  Nash is also maturing--his desperation in trying to win Kaylee back a clear sign that he is adhering to the straight and narrow.  All of the characters seem to  have matured since the first novel, My Soul to Take (Soul Screamers Book 1).  Okay, maybe not Sophie but somebody has to play the foil, right?  The books seem to be heading in a direction where Kaylee is learning how special she is, as both a girl and a bean sidhe.  I found this latest addition to be highly entertaining and I am eagerly anticipating the next installment.

My Soul to Save by Rachel Vincent

The second novel in the Soul Screamers series finds Kaylee adjusting to living with her newly returned father.  She is taking lessons from Nash's mother, Harmony, on 'how to be a bean sidhe' in order to avoid the kind of trouble she got into in the past.  The problem is, Kaylee seems to be looking for trouble or, at least, trouble finds her pretty easily.  She and Nash, with some help from Tod, stumble upon a system where a Dekker media, bearing a very recognizable resemblance to Disney, sells the souls of young entertainers to an avarice demon in order to guarantee financial success and market domination.  Kaylee and Nash are thrust into the middle of the whole ordeal when we learn that Addison, Tod's old girlfriend and rising teen star, has sold her soul for fame and fortune.  Tod, who clearly still cares for Addy, plays upon Kaylee's sense of righteousness and convinces her to help him find a way to reclaim Addy's soul.  Of course, things can't go smoothly.  Kaylee finds herself in a mess with her father and, along the way, Addison's sister Regan sells her soul as well, so Kaylee is faced with having to save two souls instead of just one.

In the end, all doesn't end happily.  But, I think that's one of the things I like best about Vincent's writing.  She's not afraid for her characters to fail--or, at least, not succeed entirely.  I would have liked more of the story to have taken place outside the main plot line.  Kaylee's character is facing some major changes and I'd like to see more exploration of that.  Also, I hope that, in the future, Aiden's character, Kaylee's father, is more developed.  I'm sure that Kaylee and Nash's relationship will be explored in more depth, as things progress and the characters grow.

My Soul to Save (Soul Screamers Book 2), overall, is a good story.  I feel like it was focused a bit too much on the main plot, to the extent that character development was minimal.  Aside from some insight into Tod, I don't feel like I learned a whole lot more about the story's characters.  I didn't really care for Addison or Regan, so it wasn't easy to empathize with Kaylee's desire to help them; though I easily understood Nash's reluctance to have any part in helping them.  I am looking forward to reading My Soul to Keep (Soul Screamers, Book 3), and I hope that I'll learn more about Kaylee and her family/friends in the books to come.