Cait's Reviews > Die for Me

At first, I just picked up this book thinking, "meh, it's not going to be awesome" and just use it as one of those books that I read to tide me over until the really exciting ones come out.

But, man, was I proved wrong. Brava, Amy Plum, brava.

This book was everything I thought it wouldn't be. It had love, and not the kind that makes me want to strangle the characters like many other YA novels (gasp!), action, and left me breathless at points to where I have gone back and re read my favorite parts which was almost the whole book quite a few times, which I never do. Ever.

First off, I love Kate, because, unlike many other novels Fallen, especially. Eugh. yes, Kate and Vincent do have a connection when their eyes first lock, but guess what? You might need to sit down, because this is a shocker. Instead of them immediately going to some dark corner somewhere to make out, she actually tries to go about the crush normally! And doesn't think about him all the time! Because she has more important things to do! I know you guys, this is seriously life-altering for YA novels. She does what any normal ( I can't believe I used normal more than once in describing YA) person would do and makes the cafe a daily habit to see if she can spot him again, and she thinks that she sees him around sometimes, but it isn't all-consuming. She still thinks about the death of her parents. Sure, she isn't super confident, but she does think she's pretty (not as much as her sister), and instead of just gloating about how smart and grown up she is, actually does things to display it like go to a museum, read books, and actually study. Don't faint yet because I actually haven't even gotten to the best part. When she sees Vincent's supposedly best friend "die" from getting crumpled by a train and she sees Vincent's uncaring, cold, reaction, she actually runs away, says he's evil, and she hates him! Because, seriously, I can only stand so many books where the girls are like you're a vampire (werewolf, witch, faerie, etc), you're dangerous, but who cares? I for some odd reason am still attracted to you and won't run away even though you could kill me! I just thoroughly enjoyed the fact that she really gave them tests and trials to get through in order to be together, so that their romance actually had a strong base.

And Vincent. Ohhhh mannn. Is he one hottie frenchman. I love that he's an actual good guy and doesn't believe that he's the root of all evil. For once, the girl falls in love with a guy who doesn't hate himself. And I love his backstory about Helene. You can really see why he was chosen to be a revenant. Heck, just that couple of pages about it could have been a story in and of itself. Yeah, he does follow Kate and stalk her a little while in volant form, but I can get over that little bit of twilightish similarity.

And while I'm on the Twilight thing; to the people who are saying that this is like Twilight are total idiots. Especially the thought that Edward is like Vincent. Besides the stalking thing, (which he actually has a good reason for doing since she almost kind of died and he said that he stopped after she almost died in order to give her privacy) they are not alike. At all. And I will gleefully punch the next person that says it is. It actually has something they might be missing in those closed-off little heads of theirs; depth. As I said, Vincent doesn't go around hating himself and being oh woe is me my life sucks you should stay away from me even though I'm stalking you in your bedroom. He's actually a freaking HERO, not some whining thumb sucking asshat like Edward. And a really badass super hero one at that. Yes he's immortal, but it's not like he can use some sort of magical piss and make her one, too. (I'm very interested to see how she works that with the immortality) and I know he watches her sleep, but she actually knew he was there; hell, she's the one who came to his house, so that's not even relevant. And for those that say that the similarities are there I'll counter with this: Plum takes the few similarities that there are between the two and changes it around so drastically that it actually works, and ends up being how Twilight's should have gone. It's like Plum knew this whole controversy was going to come up and had Vincent say,
"I'm a revenant, not a vampire, chérie."

So take that you Twilight loving people! Ha ha ha ha he he he he!

Okay, that was my rant for the day, and back to Vincent and his total awesomeness we go.

I think the whole revenant idea is really fresh. And she addresses even in her novel that they aren't zombies, they just re-animate. And they don't have rotting flesh or anything like that, either, which is good because I don't know how much I would go for that kind of relationship. I mean, before this book, I'd never heard of anything like this before. She really lays it out for us what they are, and what their purpose is, so I'm not left scratching my head, and I have done a lot of head scratching reading other novels (I should get someone to scratch my head for me, how much I have and will continue to do it). After the whole little break for their relationship, I just loved them together (the whole kissing him and sleeping next to him while he was "dead" kind of left me shaking my head a little, but that was a small issue) that letter that he wrote her just totally stole my breath, I felt like I was right there with her, reading it with trembling hands. It was just gorgeous.

Man, I'm still not done writing about this book? I'm going to get carpal tunnel! Whoever reads this is paying my doctor's bill. No joke.

Last of all, besides my ailing hands, I just really loved the prose and writing style that Plum used. Some of it was funny like with Ambrose, Jules, and the other revenants, but most of it was just plain beautiful. In the beginning with the death of Kate's parents, she described it perfectly ( I lost a close family member ) and I felt like I was writing that part myself. I could literally feel and share Kate's pain about all that she had to go through, which just made her all the more relatable to me. Also how she wrote Vincent's and Kate's relationship was just so pure and raw and beautiful, and even a little funny like when Kate eats Vincent's face hahah. (I'll add some quotes in a little bit).

So, all in all, this book was totally amazing, and definitely not the blow through book that I thought it was going to be. If you're anything like me, this will be a new favorite series, and trust me I'm looking forward to the next book with all my heart <3

Am I done? Ehhh.....I have one more thing to say.

IT'S NOT LIKE TWILIGHT!

Okay, now It's finally off of my chest. And again, Brava and congrats and all that good stuff, Plum on an amazing first novel. Good day to you all.