Sophie's Reviews > Die for Me

Actual Rating: 1.5 stars

This review is going to be long, because I have so much to say about this book. So. Very. Much.

I read this for a straight two hours and was almost done before I went running, and I just came back and finished the last five pages. So while I was away in the nice mountain air, I had a time to meditate and get over how irritated this book made me. But when I came back, this line greeted me:

I didn't know what to say. My eyes filled with tears.

Welcome back, irritation! I think this line does a pretty good job of summarizing what this book is about. Was it just me, or does Kate cry a LOT? I'm not kidding. I was sort of expecting her to drown in her own tears before being killed by the sad excuse of a villain in this book. Here are some examples from my randomly flipping through the pages as I write this review:

I succeeded in wobbling my way down the back hallway into Vincent's room, where I threw myself face-down on his bed and let myself sob.

I felt tears well up in my eyes and pinched myself hard.

I couldn't stop the tears this time. (And these three quotes were all placed about one page from each other.)

Look, look! Here's another one! It's a doozy:

What do you do after reading the most romantic love letter--the only love letter, for that matter--you've ever received? I walked over to the bed and, climbing up onto its high mattress, sat down beside Vincent's body. I cupped his cold face with my warm hand and then, stroking his hair with my fingers, began to cry.

Erm. I don't know about you, Kate, but I think I would be more screaming with happiness, hugging the hell out of my boyfriend, hyperventilating, etc. There are so many options. Crying isn't the only emotional response we humans have, you know...

As you can see from Kate's waterworks, Plum has not done too good a job with her prose. The dialogue is stilted and awkward, and it doesn't seem to reflect the characters' personalities. For example, Vincent is supposed to be some suave Frenchman who is fluent in English but not that well acquainted with the slang. At one point, however, he says that something is "no biggie." Which I think qualifies as an American thing.

I wanted to strangle Kate. I really, really did. She was insufferable. I almost gave up the book because of her. Her mind runs like a broken record. Vincent, my sister, Vincent, ahhh the undead, Vincent. I GET IT, KATE. I GET THAT YOU ARE OBSESSED WITH VINCENT. PLEASE, CAN WE MOVE ON? She can't seem to resist his "sexy" smile or that "sexy" way he has his eyes "half-closed." I don't know about you guys, but this is what I think of:

That is not attractive. At all. Plum uses the word sexy quite liberally, yet I never really thought Vincent was that hot, probably because Kate spends more time gushing about his looks than really showing us who he is. And I fall in love with fictional men quite easily. Granted, he does say some things that she finds extremely romantic (but only made me gag), but that's it. Also, he stalks her (and admits to it!), and she obsesses over him the first time they ever meet. It's like Kate's never seen an attractive person her whole life, the way she keeps imagining Vincent everywhere she goes. She gets jealous all the time, is extremely self-deprecating, and generally a clingy and whiny character. Also, just because you joke about stalking the other person, does not make it okay. I don't see why authors feel the need to justify their characters by pointing out their flaws. It doesn't make them any less visible. And when did the word trolling suddenly become included in fiction? In my opinion, that word should never have existed. Kate and Vincent's relationship creeped me out majorly. It seems almost like necrophilia--there is one point where Kate actually sleeps next to Vincent's cold, dead body and feels comforted (as well as thrilled when she touches his lips and hair). No joke.

To summarize this paragraph, I did not like Kate or Vincent or their relationship. I didn't like Georgia, either: despite everything Kate says about Georgia taking care of her, she seems more like a stubborn prostitute than anything else, and it is her behavior that gets everyone in their mess to begin with. Nobody in this book really stood out to me, although I liked Jules, and I sincerely hope Plum wasn't hinting at a love triangle with him. Anyway, I bet if this story had been focused on Charlotte and Ambrose, I would've felt less inclined to stab myself. Maybe.

Speaking of Charlotte and Ambrose and Kate's stupidity, here's something else she says that made me want to gouge out my eyeballs: It was the first time I had seen the two of them interact, and even in the midst of this trauma, something clicked in my mind. There was something there between Charlotte and Ambrose[...]He was the unrequited love she had mentioned[...]As soon as the thought crossed my mind, I knew it was true.

Very good, Kate. Very, very good. You deserve a cookie for figuring that out while everyone else is panicking over someone dying. Also, this quote is another good example of how unnatural and awkward the writing is.

Bear with me. The good stuff is only just beginning. Now, the plot.

Um. What? What plot? Kate and Vincent's hurricane of a romance doesn't constitute as plot, and neither does the lame, predictable villain who appears in the last twenty pages. All I could think of while I was reading the last part was one of those cliche mustache twirlers in the old silent movies. I couldn't help seeing the humongous cliche this entire book is.

Let's see...
-Normal girl meets sexy, mysterious guy. Though there is nothing appealing about normal girl, sexy guy is attracted to her anyway.
-Normal girl loves reading books, dallying in art. In short, a quiet intellectual (who somehow can never make intelligent decisions).
-Guy gives girl tons of presents and waxes poetic about her all the time.
-Normal girl swept up in whirlwind romance that starts with smoldering eyes and an inability to let things go.

Have you also realized that some of these remind you of a certain bestselling novel with sparkly creatures? Here are some reminders:
1. Girl and guy are separated. Girl goes to pieces and guy is devastated. (Oh the pain, the PAIIIIN).
2. Girl meets guy's sort-of sister, who likes her immediately.
3. Guy will be one certain age forever (although I did like that he could age if he didn't die).
4. Guy was on the brink of death when an older man saves him and becomes his mentor.
5. Guy goes on rampage and kills lots of baaad people because he believes he can redeem himself.
6. Villain wants to kill girl first in order to make guy feel pain.

Had enough? I'd hope so. There are so many similarities, beginning with the fact that Kate seems to lose all of her own personality (and there was not much to begin with) the moment she meets Vincent.

I'm going to end this review on a positive note by saying I did enjoy the fact that this was set in Paris instead of some damp, dark, foresty region in North America. Also, the premise is definitely creative and interesting; it just sort of got lost in all of the Kate-Vincent lurve.

Am I enough of a sucker to read the next one? We'll see.