Novel Review: With All My Soul (Soul Screamers, #7) by Rachel Vincent

Rating (Out of 5): ~4.5

Genre: YA Paranormal Romance

Publisher: HarlquinTeen

Publish Date: March 26th, 2013

Spoilers?: Minor.

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

Teaser Tuesday.

Goodreads Synopsis:

What does it mean when your school is voted the most dangerous in America? It's time to kick some hellion butt...

After not really surviving her junior year (does "undead" count as survival?), Kaylee Cavanaugh has vowed to take back her school from the hellions causing all the trouble. She's going to find a way to turn the incarnations of Avarice, Envy and Vanity against one another in order to protect her friends and finish this war, once and forever.

But then she meets Wrath and understands that she's closer to the edge than she's ever been. And when one more person close to her is taken, Kaylee realizes she can't save everyone she loves without risking everything she has....

What Will I Miss?:

• The characters, definitely. Mainly them, I think. I grew close to pretty much all of them, I like the dynamic they had going. 
• I'm also going to miss the romance, of course, because I really liked the main couple.
• I'm going to miss the way that Kaylee, as the main heroine, took charge, and the surprises that Vincent took with the series.
  

Review:

I really like this series, and it’s sad to see it go. This is a good place to stop it, though, very fitting; it’s a good ending to this series. A bit surprising, though, which is also nice.

This book draws the conclusion to the series, and thus the conclusion to the Avari plot line. And while I did like how the story left off, I didn’t particularly believe the ending. Supposedly they won’t have to deal with Avari anymore, but I just don’t trust that things would end that easy. Not necessarily that how things ended was easy to get to, because it wasn’t, but still.

Maybe I just didn’t connect with the ending as well as I could have, though. Aside from the ‘reunion’ at the very end, that was really nice.

Aside from that, though, I really enjoyed this book. I like what happened with Kaylee and Tod; I liked their sweet moments, as well as their sexy ones, and just where their relationship was by the end of the book. Although there was this soul entertwining thing that I had to expend my disbelief for, even though it was supposed to be sweet (and actually was, in a way).

I really like what happened with Nash and Sabine, how Nash seemed to have grown and I was happy that things were working out for Sabine. Sophie and Luca seem to be in a good place. Emma, by the end, seems to be moving on very well, and I’m hopeful for how things are going for her sister and the baby. I’m happy for all of their parents.

I don’t think I really have too much to say. I’m rather happy with how everything ended, with where all of the characters are at. I’m going to miss them, but this is a good time to stop the series, and this a very good ending to do it.

Also, I look forward to whatever Vincent has planned in the future for YA, which is hopefully something, although that leaves time for me to actually start her adult series. 

The Cover:

I do rather like the cover of this book. The first few covers for this series were not very good, but they got better as they went, and I think this one is especially pretty. The fact that a dress similar to the one the model is wearing is actually in the book helps, too. The Embarrassing Factor isn't too horribly high, either, which is nice.

Review: Origins (Sweep/Wicca, #11), by Cate Tiernan

Rating (Out of 5): ~3 (Maybe ~3.5)

Publisher: Penguin (Speak)

Spoilers?: Some.

Goodreads Synopsis:

The chronicle of the deadly Woodbane conspiracy, as told by one of Morgan's own ancestors, has fallen into Hunter's and Morgan's hands. Hunter and Morgan explore the world of these powerful witches, to find a way to vanquish them at last.

Review:

This is a really good series. It's long, and I started it a long time ago, but each book's usually pretty short books, and they (usually) aren't hard to get through, either. Lately, though, they seem to be dragging on to other things...

Usually we get to read about Morgan, and Hunter. The last book focused quite a bit on Hunter, as he went to visit his father and met a not-so-good lady. This book starts with Hunter returning, and telling Morgan about what happened. What happened, sucked, and I do mostly blame the woman, but Hunter's at fault as well, and Morgan realizes this. She's not happy, and I'm looking forward to how she's going to handle it and how their relationship is going to change.

We don't get to see how things change, though, because the rest of the book is about someone else. While away, Hunter found a book of shadows, and they read it. The author of it, Rose, is an ancestor of Morgan's, who created the dark wave that they are still fighting.

She fell in love with someone from an enemy coven, and when she's pulled away from him, and is also accused of being a witch, she doesn't feel bad about creating something that burns down villages.

I did not like Rose. I didn't mind her at first, but by the end, I could not stand her. I even almost paused the book, about halfway through, but decided against it since it's so short and I wanted to just get it over with. (It didn't help much, though, that I didn't particularly care about her story, and instead wanted to get back to Morgan and Hunter.) But I wouldn't call it terrible or anything.

I want to read the next one soon, but I'm having a hard time getting myself to do it because I think that it also goes into other points of view, and I only want to read the main story line, not about their ancestors and all that. I really only care about Morgan, Hunter, and their close friends, and want to only read about them being together. Not going into the past, or future, or any of that.
The last few books have strayed, though, to being almost only in Hunter's head, or in someone completely different's, and I'm not enjoying it all that much. It's still a good series, though, and I don't think there are that many left, though (fifteen, I think?), so I might just go get it and hurry through the last few.