My Soul to Lose

At this moment, I'm currently reading the first book in this series and am glad that I read this first. The review I read for this book suggested it be read first and I would agree. This ability or affliction that Kaylee Cavanaugh as to deal with is so unlike anything I've read before and learning more about it and her before jumping into book one helps a lot. It was so difficult to read what she experiences when she's about to scream or is screaming, not in a bad way but in a well written kind of perfect way. Rachel Vincent made me feel Kaylee's pain and sadness of what she has to deal with. I feel her desperation and confusion and how alone she is. I anxiously want her to find someone to confide in, someone to believe her and help show more her. I can see I'm definitely going to get the feels from this series. Can't wait to experience that wonderful journey with this series and hope it lives up to this introduction. show less

Like the rest of you, I picked this up because it was free in Kindle format and I was curious. I'm glad I gave it a look because this sucked me in right away.

Kaylee Cavanaugh has panic attacks. Bad ones. Most of the time she can handle them by getting away from the person who caused them but sometimes she just can't get enough distance. While shopping with her best friend for a dress for the homecoming dance she has one and this time she can't stop screaming. The next day she wakes up strapped down to a bed in the psychiatric ward of her local hospital.

She's terrified, angry, and hurt. She can't understand how her guardians could leave her there and she can't understand what's wrong with her. She doesn't think she's crazy, but what show more other explanation is there?

Then she meets Lydia, another patient, and in a rush Lydia tells her about death and pain and how she can "take it" from Kaylee, make her stop hurting, stop screaming, but if she does something else might be taken too.

The ending is abrupt and left me wanting to dive in to the first official book of the series, [b:My Soul to Take|6315602|My Soul to Take (Soul Screamers, #1)|Rachel Vincent|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1239688778s/6315602.jpg|6500841]. show less

My Soul To Lose is a prequel novella to Rachel Vincent's popular series, Soul Screamers, which I have yet to read! While I think it probably isn't absolutely necessary to read this novella before the rest of the series, I found it to be a lovely introduction to the world and characters. It left me with a huge urge to read the first book which hopefully I'll get to do really soon! Sometimes novellas can be lacking in substance or feel like they were cut short but this one certainly wasn't.

The story starts off with a bang. Kaylee Cavanaugh is trying to enjoy a day out with a friend but her 'panic attacks' are getting in the way of that. Kaylee's really having a tough time of it. She screams for no apparent reason and there's nothing she show more can do about it! Fearing she is mentally ill, she is admitted to a psychiatric unit and even had to be sedated for 15 hours. This story mostly takes place inside the unit. I've read a fair few books that feature psychiatric hospitals and I think of all of them, this one was the easiest to picture.

Rachel Vincent's writing is just amazing! I could see everything clearly in my head and there was so much emotion throughout the story it was almost tangible. When Kaylee was having one of her attacks, it was described so well you could almost feel it yourself. You could sense her panic, fear and confusion. It really gets inside your head and makes you realize what Kaylee is going through. I just loved how real it all felt even if the circumstances and reasons behind it were a little surreal!

This is definitely one to read in a single sitting. I was so captivated by the story, I couldn't tear my eyes away from Kindle. I loved the ideas, the mystery and the characters. Kaylee is a likable person and I'm looking forward to getting to know her better in the next book. If you want to test this series out, this novella is really a good way to do so! It will leave you hungry for more. I have a feeling I'm going to adore book one! show less

I was not expecting to love this series because I couldn't imagine screaming as an interesting "otherworldly ability." But Rachel Vincent immediately takes our main character to a very interesting and somehow unexpected place--the insane asylum. If the series continues as this story has begun, I am totally there.

To begin I would like to say I LOVE Rachel Vincent. I am slightly willing to be unfairly kind to her because her the world she creates with her mind makes me so uber happy I am sometime willing to overlook things I would sometimes give other authors grief about. This all stems from the Shifters series, of which I fell madly in love with. That being said I remember when Vincent started releasing information about Soul Screamers and then finally the novella. I toyed with the idea of reading it over and over again, mostly because I love her and there were times between Shifters books when I needed a fix. But alas I avoided the YA. My reasoning behind this is this, I also have a bit of a love affair with Rachel Caine (PS I love that both of show more these amazing women live in Texas). I started with Rachel Caine's Weather Warden books, and then moved on to her Morganville books. While I enjoyed the Morganville books, they clearly have a different tone to them, and because of that I picked up on things I found annoying. And then when I went back to Weather Warden books because a new one had come out, I would find those same things I found annoying in Morganville, and then my love for Rachel Caine got a little bit smaller (I still buy all her books and read them religiously so it's not like I'm a Rachel Caine hater now). My fear with Vincent is that the same thing would happen, and I was not willing to do that. Well Shifters has been over for a while now, my tears have dried over the amazing ending to a great series. And now I need a Rachel Vincent fix. After stalker her website for months, and searching the internet far and wide for any information on her new series I have given up and gone for Soul Screamers, or at least the novella, it's hella cheap on my Nook so I figured why not. It's short if I don't like it no harm no foul, I will just wait patiently for the new series.

So with that really long and probably unnecessary introduction, I read it. I liked it. Vincent is a great writer, she never dumbs things down for the reader, even the YA department. Another thing I like about her is her world building. I remember reading the first Shifters book and coming away from it thinking I have a really good grasp on what is happening in this world. This not always the case for some series, some series I can be three books in and confused because my foundation isn't good. This is not a problem Vincent has, she's great at the world building (and if her twitter posts are any indications it's because she works her but off on getting everything the way she wants it).

That being said this novella was no world building, it was Kaylee building. Kind of a new concept for me, I'm used to character building while world building. Vincent doesn't explain what Kaylee is, doesn't really introduce any other characters in any kind of major way. You leave the novella knowing that Emma is Kaylee's best friend, and a good one judging by the fact that she wrote to Kaylee while she was in a mental hospital. That her Uncle really loves her, and probably understands her best out of all of her parent figures. That her Aunt loves her but doesn't get her. And that she has a "cool" cousin who we never meet.

Most of the novella takes place in the mental hospital, which is a traumatic experience for Kaylee, as I think it would be for any young girl suddenly waking up tied to a bed. Vincent's descriptions of Kaylee's reactions were real and easy to relate to. I could easily see myself reacting the same way as Kaylee did if I were in her situation.

Mostly this novella leaves the reader with a feeling of knowing what Kaylee is going through and how she feels, and more than that the reader wants to know what the heck is going on with her as much as Kaylee wants to know. It is clear Kaylee knows when someone is going to die, which she knows when she has what she refers to as a "panic attack" and the overwhelming desire to scream. So I kind of have a feel of where this is going but in no way do I have any specifics, or have any idea how Kaylee is going to get a handle on this, but I want to know.

I think the novella achieves its purpose by making me want to see what happens to Kaylee. Vincent gives just enough to make me like Kaylee and find out what happens next. That being said I follow Vincent on Twitter so I know the names of characters and kind of a round about idea of what is going on (I think there is someone named Todd and I think he might be a reaper, don't quote me on that). Either way I am intrigued, and thoroughly enjoyed the writing, will be reading the next book in the series sometime soon. show less

Recently, Barnes & Noble's Free Fridays download offered Reaper by Rachel Vincent, a part of the Soul Screamer series. It looked pretty interesting, so I downloaded it and then decided that I needed to read the series up to Reaper before reading it. So, I started with the novella, My Soul to Lose, which was released as a prequel to the Soul Screamer series.

My Soul to Lose introduces us to Kaylee Cavanaugh, a young girl suffering from unusual panic attacks. They are triggered when someone in close proximity to her is going to die and when onset occurs, she can not stop screaming. Usually, she is able to sense when it is happening and can remove herself from the situation before losing control. Unfortunately, she isn't able to avoid a show more dying soul at the mall one day and ends up in the psychiatric ward.

What a great teaser for the series. Kaylee has no idea the purpose for her abilities or why she even has them. We are also introduced to Lydia, another young girl with special abilities, allowing her to absorb other's pain. I assume that Kaylee will be the focus of the Soul Screamers series, but it will be interesting to see if Lydia appears in any of the other books in the series as well.

I was a fan of Rachel Vincent's Shifter series prior to reading this, and I hope that this series is as interesting and well written as the Shifter series is. Next up for me is My Soul to Take (Soul Screamers Book 1), and then, most likely, the rest of the series.

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Kaylee is just happy, happy to have a bestfriend like Emma who is going to help her plot a little revenge on her ex-boyfriend who left her before homecoming and had the nerve to ask Emma instead of her. But Em is a really good friend so together they have a master plan...

That Kaylee is about to miss when, while shopping, she feels it coming her way, creeping on her lungs, jerking to get free. She is about to scream in the middle of the mall and show the whole world her biggest secret: she is a freak.

Or so she thinks. But in fact Kaylee doesn't know what's wrong with her, what are the shadows that she sees sometimes around people or why does she have this sudden urge to scream so badly when she spots one of these shadows.
And now her show more secret is out because she couldn't help herself and HAD to do it. Poor Kaylee wakes up in a mental hospital where she discovers that she actually hurt herself trying to stop the screaming and now she only wonders when are her aunt and uncle going to take her home. Far away from the real crazy people inside that place and far far away of her fears...

Personal opinion:
I'm so happy. Really, I'm beyond happiness right now. I have finally read the first novella of the Soul Screamers series and now all I want to do is continue with the other books... but I have to take it easy, right? xD

My thoughts? I loved it. It was short and quick but it was so well written that I actually forged a bond with Kaylee. And that means a lot for me so... I have to stop writing and continue with the next one :D

Oops, before I leave, can I give you an advice? If you haven't read this series yet you might want to reconsider that. Seriously, I all the books and novellas a few months ago and I can't understand why didn't I start reading them before... So, yeah, go and buy them, borrow them, don't know, just read them xD show less