Review - My Soul to Steal by Rachel Vincent

Trying to work things out with Nash—her maybe boyfriend—is hard enough for Kaylee Cavanaugh. She can't just pretend nothing happened. But "complicated" doesn't even begin to describe their relationship when his ex-girlfriend transfers to their school, determined to take Nash back.

See, Sabine isn't just an ordinary girl. She's a mara, the living personification of a nightmare. She can read people's fears—and craft them into nightmares while her victims sleep. Feeding from human fear is how she survives.

And Sabine isn't above scaring Kaylee and the entire school to death to get whatever—and whoever—she wants.

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I dove right into the fourth in Rachel Vincent’s Soul Screamers series as soon as I finished My Soul to Keep - this series about banshees and soul-stealers has me well and truly hooked!

Kaylee is trying to come to terms with Nash’s betrayal and to decide whether she trusts him enough to give him another chance –but the last thing she needs is his ex, Sabine, to show up, determined to win him back. Sabine and Nash have a history which Kaylee doesn’t know about, and to complicate things further, Sabine isn’t human. She’s a mara, a literal nightmare who feeds on people’s fear – and when several people die in their sleep, she’s Kaylee’s number-one suspect. But Nash is convinced of her innocence, and Kaylee herself isn’t sure that it’s not just jealousy that makes her suspect Sabine -or even if they’re being manipulated.

This is an emotionally charged read and I found myself completely drawn in, even more than the other books. I have to applaud Rachel Vincent for creating such believable, multi-dimensional characters, and none of them are straight-up good or evil. Nash might have initially seemed too good to be true, but with the way he betrayed Kaylee, it’s unsurprising that she finds it difficult to trust him again. And Sabine might seem like a cold-hearted, manipulative bitch, but she also has a fragility about her that captured my sympathy in spite of everything. Kaylee has more of a backbone in this book than in previous ones, even if her indecisiveness drove me crazy at times – but it’s completely understandable given the circumstances. Meanwhile, the plot is unpredictable and fast-paced as ever. I’m looking forward to Book 5!

Rating: *****