Nyx Book Reviews

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Review: Die for Me by Amy Plum

Title: Die for Me
Author: Amy Plum
Series: Die for Me
Rating: 4/5 Stars Stars

341 pages
Published May 10th 2011 by HarperTeen
Review copy received from the publisher

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So, apparently YA paranormal romance can be original!

Kate’s parents have passed away in a car accident, and together with her sister she moves in with her grandparents in Paris. She is just a whisp of her former self, trying to deal with the fact that her parents are gone. Then she meets the mysterious Vincent, who has more secrets than Kate would have ever expected, and she slowly returns to the land of the living.

Ms Plum dedicated Die for Me to her mother, who she still misses every day. The fact that she lived through the loss of a parent shows in Die for Me; the whole grieving process, the numbness, it’s all so realistic. The first part of the book is emotional, but it doesn’t get too depressing. I loved the dynamics between Kate and her older sister. They bicker, they’re very different, but they love each other and are always there for each other. It was nice to read a good sibling dynamic in YA; most main character seem to be only child or have a much older/younger sibling.

This story features a particular type of supe, revenants. I won’t go into their specific powers as other reviews do, as I feel knowing what they can do will take some suspense out of the story. Let’s just say that I like the way they work, and I’m looking forward to find out more about them, as I’m getting the feeling we will discover a lot more about their lore throughout the series.

Of course it’s impossible to review a romance without talking about the romance itself. It was… good. Kate feels an instant attraction to Vincent, but she puts the attraction into perspective instantly. I’m not a big fan of Vincent personally – he was fine, but just a tad boring. He treats Kate well though, and to be honest that’s all I require from a romance.

As for the plot, Die for Me, like many other paranormal romances, is more character-based than plot-based. Most events hinge on interaction between characters, instead of moving a certain plot ahead or discovering new information. Like we’ve seen before in books like Twilight and Fallen at the end of the book we get to see some action, which I enjoyed. It wasn’t as horribly clichéd as it could have been. I hope Kate will become a bit more independent in next books, in the sense of that she doesn’t have to rely on Vincent for protection against the baddies.

Die for Me manages to stay away from being run-of-the-mill paranormal YA by featuring believable emotions and realistic sibling-dynamics, and the fact that her boyfriend isn’t abusive or creepy in any way makes it a lot better than most YA romances I’ve read.

Blurb

In the City of Lights, two star-crossed lovers battle a fate that is destined to tear them apart again and again for eternity.

When Kate Mercier’s parents die in a tragic car accident, she leaves her life–and memories–behind to live with her grandparents in Paris. For Kate, the only way to survive her pain is escaping into the world of books and Parisian art. Until she meets Vincent.

Mysterious, charming, and devastatingly handsome, Vincent threatens to melt the ice around Kate’s guarded heart with just his smile. As she begins to fall in love with Vincent, Kate discovers that he’s a revenant–an undead being whose fate forces him to sacrifice himself over and over again to save the lives of others. Vincent and those like him are bound in a centuries-old war against a group of evil revenants who exist only to murder and betray. Kate soon realizes that if she follows her heart, she may never be safe again.

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