Title: Grave Mercy (His Fair Assassin #1)
Author: Robin LaFevers
Published: April, 2012 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Thanks: Houghton Mifflin via NetGalley
Pages: 549
Rating:  
Purchase: The Book Depository

Why be the sheep, when you can be the wolf?

Seventeen-year-old Ismae escapes from the brutality of an arranged marriage into the sanctuary of the convent of St. Mortain, where the sisters still serve the gods of old. Here she learns that the god of Death Himself has blessed her with dangerous gifts—and a violent destiny. If she chooses to stay at the convent, she will be trained as an assassin and serve as a handmaiden to Death. To claim her new life, she must destroy the lives of others.

Ismae’s most important assignment takes her straight into the high court of Brittany—where she finds herself woefully under prepared—not only for the deadly games of intrigue and treason, but for the impossible choices she must make. For how can she deliver Death’s vengeance upon a target who, against her will, has stolen her heart?

Final Thoughts:
I haven’t had much experience with historical fiction. I look at them in the stores—mostly at their cool covers—and read the sometimes intriguing blurbs, but I always feel uneasy wondering how much fun the writers have had playing around with the true events. Enter Brett . . . who is never without some random YA novel he wants me read and review. And so he came to me and asked—who am I kidding? He doesn’t ask, he just says ‘I sent a book to your kindle,’ smiles, and then runs away before I can argue.

Title: With All My Soul (Soul Screamers #7)
Author: Rachel Vincent
Published: April, 2013 by Harlequin Teen
Thanks: Harlequin Teen, AU
Pages: 377
Rating:  
Purchase: The Book Depository

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….

Final Thoughts:
I finally finished this one. Not that it was bad. It was great. GREAT. I just found getting time to actually read it the struggle. It’s so easy to procrastinate, even in regards to something we want to do. Anyway, review time. The seventh book. The final one. It’s here. (Spoilers for the previous books, btw) Kaylee, a girl who started out in a mental ward, unable to tame the screams bursting free of her, has come so far since then. For starters, she’s dead, sort of, and unlike before, she’s no longer waiting around, she’s taking the fight to them. With her now-wide group of friends, she’d ready take down the demons that lead to her demise.

Title: Before I Wake (Soul Screamers #6)
Author: Rachel Vincent
Published: June, 2012 by Harlequin Teen
Thanks: Harlequin Teen, AU
Pages: 339
Rating:  
Purchase: The Book Depository

I died on a Thursday-killed by a monster intent on stealing my soul. The good news? He didn’t get it. The bad news? Turns out not even death will get you out of high school…

Covering up her own murder was one thing, but faking life is much harder than Kaylee Cavanaugh expected. After weeks spent “recovering,” she’s back in school, fighting to stay visible to the human world, struggling to fit in with her friends and planning time alone with her new reaper boyfriend. But to earn her keep in the human world, Kaylee must reclaim stolen souls, and when her first assignment brings her face-to-face with an old foe, she knows the game has changed. Her immortal status won’t keep her safe. And this time Kaylee isn’t just gambling with her own life….

Final Thoughts:
After the book that basically remade the series, I was wondering what to expect. While not packing as heavy a punch, Before I Wake still kept me enthralled with the day-to-day demon-infused lives of the characters I’ve come to enjoy. While almost all them are supernaturally charged in one way or another, it’s a wonder that when I think of these guys, I think of their personal struggles, the drama, and not the Netherworld crisis currently befalling them. Becoming less self-contained, the plots have grown across the six books, playing more on the human qualities, yet managing to do so in a way that doesn’t let the book fall into the dreaded ‘paranormal with no paranormal’ territory.

Title: Croak (Croak #1)
Author: Gina Damico
Published: March, 2012 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Thanks: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt via NetGalley
Pages: 311
Rating:  
Purchase: The Book Depository

Sixteen-year-old Lex Bartleby has sucker-punched her last classmate. Fed up with her punkish, wild behavior, her parents ship her off to upstate New York to live with her Uncle Mort for the summer, hoping that a few months of dirty farm work will whip her back into shape. But Uncle Mort’s true occupation is much dirtier than that of shoveling manure.

He’s a Grim Reaper. And he’s going to teach her the family business.

Final Thoughts:
This one ended up being surprisingly addictive. It wasn’t quite what I was expecting—something along the lines of a Dead Like Me clone—still, it turned out to be a little gem, just in a different way. Lex quickly progressed from her initial delinquent state featuring quite a lot of physical violence and a general defiance of reason into someone that seemed somewhat pliable. I enjoyed her antics in the beginning, but found it a relief that the book didn’t rely on her punching people for 300 pages. It goes off on a mystery solving tangent instead, backed by a town full of death and reaping, laced with plenty of humour, teen bonding—the occasion bout of underage drinking—and a mashup of board games.

Title: On A Dark Wing
Author: Jordan Dane
Published: December, 2011 by Harlequin Teen
Thanks: Harlequin Teen, AU
Pages: 312
Rating:  
Purchase: The Book Depository

The choices I had made led to the moment when fate took over. I would learn a lesson I wasn’t prepared for. And Death would be my willing teacher.

Five years ago, Abbey Chandler cheated Death. She survived a horrific car accident, but her “lucky” break came at the expense of her mother’s life and changed everything. After she crossed paths with Death—by taking the hand of an ethereal boy made of clouds and sky—she would never be normal again.

Now she’s the target of Death’s ravens and an innocent boy’s life is on the line. When Nate Holden—Abbey’s secret crush—starts to climb Alaska’s Denali, the Angel of Death stalks him because of her.

And Abbey finds out the hard way that Death never forgets.

Final Thoughts:
This one didn’t quite hit the mark for me. On A Dark Wing has an interesting premise, but the turn it took wasn’t quite what I was expecting. While I still enjoyed it, with five points of view, it was harder to form a connection or maintain the mystery. It ended up leaving the reader with more information than the protagonist. Even so, I appreciated the way the romance was handled. The character interactions seemed genuine, playing more on the non-paranormal aspects rather than the winged boy on the cover.

Title: If I Die (Soul Screamers #5)
Author: Rachel Vincent
Published: September, 2011 by Harlequin Teen
Pages: 342
Rating:  
Purchase: The Book Depository

The entire school’s talking about the gorgeous new math teacher, Mr. Beck. Everyone except Kaylee Cavanaugh. After all, Kaylee’s no ordinary high-school junior. She’s a banshee—she screams when someone dies.

But the next scream might be for Kaylee.

Yeah—it’s a shock to her, too. So to distract herself, Kaylee’s going to save every girl in school. Because that hot new teacher is really an incubus who feeds on the desire of unsuspecting students. The only girls immune to his lure are Kaylee and Sabine, her boyfriend’s needy ex-girlfriend. Now the unlikely allies have to get rid of Mr. Beck…before he discovers they aren’t quite human, either.

But Kaylee’s borrowed lifeline is nearing its end. And those who care about her will do anything to save her life.

Anything.

Final Thoughts:
This is the book the series has needed. Soooo much romance. While I’ve really enjoyed the Soul Screamers so far, If I Die took it to a whole new level. It was possibly everything you could want and not want thrown together in a storm of emotions. It pained me to put it down once I realised 3am had caught up with me. I kept searching for a chapter to end things on comfortably for the night, but unfortunately Rachel has written a book that just won’t let go of you. But once I found page 204, I forced myself to seal the book and grinned myself to sleep.

Title: My Soul To Steal (Soul Screamers #4)
Author: Rachel Vincent
Published: January, 2011 by Harlequin Teen
Pages: 343
Rating:  
Purchase: The Book Depository

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.

Final Thoughts:
There was so much angst in this book, like Crescendo level angst. I admit, it drove me insane for a while. Usually I hate angst in epic proportions, but once I got caught up in the ride, I started to enjoy myself. If you’ve read my earlier reviews for this series, you’d remember I mentioned how different each book is. This one sticks to that tradition of change, giving us a few new characters and lots of cattiness.