Novel Review: If I Should Die (Revenants, #3) by Amy Plum

Rating (Out of 5): ~4-4.5

Genre: YA Supernatural Romance

Publisher: HarperCollins/Teen

Publish Date: May 7th, 2013

Spoilers?:  Mild, nothing major, not the ending.

Buy it here: Amazon. Barnes and Noble. Book Depository. Powells.

Teaser Tuesday.

Goodreads Synopsis:

I will not lose another person I love. I will not let history repeat itself.

Vincent waited lifetimes to find me, but in an instant our future together was shattered. He was betrayed by someone we both called a friend, and I lost him. Now our enemy is determined to rule over France’s immortals, and willing to wage a war to get what they want.

It shouldn’t be possible, none of it should be, but this is my reality. I know Vincent is somewhere out there, I know he’s not completely gone, and I will do anything to save him.

After what we’ve already fought to achieve, a life without Vincent is unimaginable. He once swore to avoid dying—to go against his nature and forsake sacrificing himself for others—so that we could be together. How can I not risk everything to bring my love back to me?

What Will I Miss?:

I'm going to miss the characters in this series, the world it's set in, their version of Paris and how they explore it. I'm going to miss the surprises, however big or small they were. I'm definitely going to miss Kate and Vincent's relationship.

The Cover:

This cover, as well as the other covers in this series, and just generally pretty. They're fitting to the setting of the books, they give the feeling of love, which is a big part of the series. I just like them; they're not a favorite, but they're not really embarrassing, and I really don't mind looking at them.

Review:

This was a very good book, and a very good ending to the series.

So, Vincent is dead. Only not really, because he’s a ghost, invisible to the eye, but pretty clear in Kate’s head. Violette killed him, and is now trying to suck his Champion powers inside her, but it’s not working. Kate is sure that she can find a way to save him, to bring him back, and is determined to save him. And so she talks to her psychic friend, Bran, and then Jean-Baptiste’s old friend, Mr. Gold…

And that’s all I’m going to say about that. I don’t want to give away too much.

This was very good. Kate is fantastic, and Vincent is so sweet, and them together is just adorable and heart-warming. What happens with them in this book is very good, in many ways, and I think it turned out very well. What happened with Kate, in particular, was very good; I guessed at some of it, and was very happy to find out that I was right, and how exactly those guesses turned out.

I don’t want to get into too much detail about the big plot, because a lot happened, and it was very exciting, some of it surprising, some of it just plain good. It progressed well, and it ended very nicely, in my opinion. My only real problem with the progression is that, at times, it’s very slow. There’s stuff happening with the characters, sure, and it’s very easy to keep reading, but the big plot seems to come to a standstill a lot. For instance, when Vincent is stuck as a ghost and everyone is trying to find where he is being kept/where Violette is hiding and a way to bring him back, it just takes forever for anything to happen. They take so long discussing it and doing stuff close to home, which is smart, yes, but there is just so little action pertaining it, that there seems to be no rush and they have all the time in the world to find the answer, when they really don’t. That bothered me.

I like the romance in this series a lot. It’s just so sweet, and seems so honest, and is very believable, and the progression of it is done very well. Kate and Vincent are fantastic. I felt really bad for Jules, really bad at one point, and was surprised with what happened with him. I’ve never really seen that happen in a book before, and I liked the surprise of it. There was also a small romance for Kate’s sister, Georgia, and that was very nice as well.

I liked all of the characters—some of them I have a hard time remembering the personalities and characteristics of, but overall I like them. They’re fun, and they have their parts in the story that are needed. I like that there are so many people there to help them with everything. Also, Kate’s Mamie and Papy take part in a lot of the stuff, in taking care of the girls, making sure they’re okay, and even searching for answers, and I really liked them. So often in YA, the parental figures are never present, that it’s refreshing when they are part of everything, especially when it’s because they’re helping.

So. I was pleasantly surprised with this book, I really liked it, I thought it was a great conclusion to the series. And I look forward to anything that Plum releases next.

Teaser Tuesday[54]: If I Should Die (Revenants, #3) by Amy Plum

Teaser Tuesday is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (Make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

-------------------

If I Should Die (Revenants/Die for Me, #3) by Amy Plum

Genre: YA Paranormal Romance

Publisher: HarperCollins/Teen

Publish Date: May 7^th, 2013

Buy it here: Amazon. Barnes and Noble. Book Depository. Powells.

Goodreads Synopsis:

I will not lose another person I love. I will not let history repeat itself.

Vincent waited lifetimes to find me, but in an instant our future together was shattered. He was betrayed by someone we both called a friend, and I lost him. Now our enemy is determined to rule over France’s immortals, and willing to wage a war to get what they want.

It shouldn’t be possible, none of it should be, but this is my reality. I know Vincent is somewhere out there, I know he’s not completely gone, and I will do anything to save him.

After what we’ve already fought to achieve, a life without Vincent is unimaginable. He once swore to avoid dying—to go against his nature and forsake sacrificing himself for others—so that we could be together. How can I not risk everything to bring my love back to me?

Excerpt:

“‘We should probably inspect this initial passageway before you enter. I’ll give it a go,’ he said gallantly. As he stepped into the black tunnel, a bright light flashed before his head. He leapt back, yelping in pain, and rubbed his face frantically.” (Hardback, pg. 114)

Reading anything good right now?

Novel Review: Until I Die (Revenants, #2) by Amy Plum

Rating (Out of 5): ~4

Genre: YA Paranormal Romance

Publisher: HarperCollins (HarperTeen)

Publish Date: May 2012

Spoilers?: No.

Buy it here: Amazon. Barnes and Noble. Book Depository. Powells.

Goodreads Synopsis:

Kate and Vincent have overcome the odds and at last they are together in Paris, the city of lights and love.

As their romance deepens there’s one question they can’t ignore: How are they supposed to be together if Vincent can’t resist sacrificing himself to save others? Although Vincent promises that he’ll do whatever it takes to lead a normal life with Kate, will that mean letting innocent people die? When a new and surprising enemy reveals itself, Kate realizes that even more may be at stake—and that Vincent’s immortality is in jeopardy.

In Die for Me, Amy Plum created a captivating paranormal mythology with immortal revenants and a lush Paris setting. Until I Die is poised to thrill readers with more heart-pounding suspense, spellbinding romance, and a cliff-hanger ending that will leave them desperate for the third and final novel in the series.

Something Specific:

Quotes:

• “‘Um, yeah. I guess lying around reading books all day doesn’t do much for physical endurance.’” (Hardback, pg. 3) Ahh, if only…
• "He completed me. Not that I wasn’t a whole person on my own. But who he was seemed to complement who I was.” (Hardback, pg. 171) This is a thought that I have pretty much never seen before in a book, so I particularly liked it.

The Cover:

I like these covers. They're pretty, the setting in particular, and it fits for the setting. It also has the typical, girl-in-a-pretty-dress thing, but that's not a big bother for me. It's a little embarrassing, but not too much. Overall, I think it's pretty and fitting.

Review:

I put off reading this because I heard about a horrible cliffhanger, but now I have the third, and last, book, so I finally got to reading it. And I’m kind of glad that I waited, because I would not have liked having to wait so long.

This book seemed to move rather slowly. It’s not action-packed, it focuses a lot on Kate and Vincent’s relationship, along with a reasonable amount for the other characters. It’s rather character-based, although there is still some action. It doesn’t seem like very much is happening, but there actually is. And for some reason, it’s really easy to get sucked into the story, to keep wanting to read, and for the pages to go by rather quickly.

The descriptions of the places that Kate goes are rather well done. I get a good image of where she is, and I can easily tell that Kate is enjoying it, is relishing in the view. Also, I like that the Eifel Tower is not the centered Paris Place in this book; it tends to be the main event for most people, is always the thing showed and thought of when Paris is brought up, so I’m glad that Kate sees so much else, and that the Eifel Tower only gets a couple small mentions, in this one and the first book.

I’m still a rather big fan of Vincent and Kate; Vincent is a sweetheart, and Kate is very active and pretty smart, which I like. The romance between them is well done, and a lot of focus is placed on it, which I think is good. There are also several romantic scenes between the two, and the only upsetting thing about that is that they’re so tiny.

I haven’t grown as close with the other characters, and some of them are kind of hard to remember what their personality is supposed to be, just because the time with them is so little. I do like Georgia, Kate’s sister, as well as Jules, and Ambrose seems funny, although I don’t feel like I know the last two well enough. We met some new characters in this book, and I kind of already guessed what was going to happen with them, so I wasn’t surprised.

I think my biggest, and really only, problem with the book was that I didn’t feel very intense emotions throughout any of it. At the end, for example, when this big climax happened, I didn’t feel like I was experiencing what Kate should have been feeling. I think she should have been hurried, rushed, but she didn’t seem to be. And that kind of bothered me. That’s really the only reason that the rating is only a light 4 stars, instead of higher.

The ending, though, was a rather bad cliffhanger. It’s just mean, and I’m not very happy about it. I have several theories on where the story could go from here, some of which regarding the very end of the book, and some regarding the Champion business, but I’m not going to talk about them here, just because they would be full of spoilers and I don’t want to ruin that much. I’ll just leave it at: I’m very excited to read the last book.

As soon as I finish this review, in fact, I plan on starting it. I’m not even giving the series a break/pause to read another book, like I normally would. I’m fully ready to see how this series ends, and very excited for it.

Wishlist Thursday[3]: If I Should Die (Revenants, #3) by Amy Plum

If I Should Die (Revenants, #3) by Amy Plum

Genre: YA Supernatural Romance

Publisher: HarperTeen

Publish Date: May 7^th, 2013

Buy it here: Amazon. Barnes and Noble. Book Depository. Powells.

Goodreads Synopsis (maybe don't read if you haven't read the previous two books--'cause spoilers!):

I will not lose another person I love. I will not let history repeat itself.

Vincent waited lifetimes to find me, but in an instant our future together was shattered. He was betrayed by someone we both called a friend, and I lost him. Now our enemy is determined to rule over France’s immortals, and willing to wage a war to get what they want.

It shouldn’t be possible, none of it should be, but this is my reality. I know Vincent is somewhere out there, I know he’s not completely gone, and I will do anything to save him.

After what we’ve already fought to achieve, a life without Vincent is unimaginable. He once swore to avoid dying—to go against his nature and forsake sacrificing himself for others—so that we could be together. How can I not risk everything to bring my love back to me?

Why?:

This is the last book in the Revenants series, and I’ve already pre-ordered it, so I’m super excited to get it and see how the series ends. I haven’t, however, actually read the second book. I own it, and have moved it very close to the top of my to-read-right-now/very-soon pile, and I’m hoping to have read it or be reading it around the time it arrives, so we'll see how that goes. Also, I think I partly pushed off reading the second book so long (especially since I really enjoyed the first book) because I heard that there’s a really bad cliffhanger, and I didn’t want to have to wait a year to find out what happens, like most everyone else. So now I get to read the two books right next to each other (much like what I’m going to be doing with the first two books of Maureen Johnson’s Shades of London series). Either way, I’m pretty excited.