Synopsis: She doesn’t see dead people. She senses when someone near her is about to die. And when that happens, a force beyond her control compels her to scream bloody murder. Literally.

Kaylee just wants to enjoy having caught the attention of the hottest guy in school. But a normal date is hard to come by when Nash seems to know more about her need to scream than she does. And when classmates start dropping dead for no apparent reason, only Kaylee knows who’ll be next. -Goodreads

Review:  Once upon a time in a magical land called Ireland there was a race of people called the bean sidhe, you may know them as banshees. In Irish legends, banshees are women who begin to wail if someone near them is about to die so understandably the cry of the banshee has become something of a bad omen. In the soul screamers world banshees are alive and kicking in the modern day world and one otherwise normal teenage girl, Kaylee, has just discovered that she has a whole other side to herself that she never knew existed.

It’s nice to read a book based on mythology that doesn’t focus on any of the recently overdone paranormal creatures… vampires, werewolves, you know the drill. Instead, this book (and the rest in the series) are all about creatures of death while still being very much alive. Kaylee feels and acts like a genuine teenage girl, with all the drama that comes with it.

This book is a perfect start to a new series, focusing on world building and fully fleshed out characters while still keeping the reader hanging on for dear life with a wonderfully imagined plot. There was a lot of back story to be explored in order to really bring the reader into this world and she lay it all out beautifully while still managing to maintain a decently paced story.

The one thing I would have liked to see given a little more developed is Kaylee’s romantic relationship. To me, a lot of the fun of romance in novels is seeing it evolve from strangers or old friends to that first spark of interest to usually undying, crazily committed love. So for me, in this book, the romance was rushed and not fully explored. Especially because I’ve seen what Rachel Vincent can do with that first moment of romantic tension in some of her past books. Thankfully, there are more books to come that can hopefully better explore the sometimes crazy world of teenage romance.

Honestly, this isn’t what I would have expected of a YA debut from Rachel Vincent, but it is always nice to be surprised so that made this book that much better. A must read for anyone who loves paranormal YA.

Rating:

Second Opinions:
@ Feeling Fictional
@ Dark Readers
@ Fluttering Butterflies