Die For Me by Amy Plum

Series: Revenants, Book One

Publisher: ATOM

Format: Paperback

Published: 5^th May 2011

Number of Pages: 352

Book: Bought

Genre: Dark Romance, Urban Fantasy, Fantasy, Action-Adventure, YA

Recommended Age: 12+

Contains: Violence, Death

No Alcohol, Drug References

Author's Blog: Amy Plum

My life had always been blissfully, wonderfully normal.  But it only took one moment to change everything.

Suddenly, my sister Georgia and I were orphans.  We put our lives in storage and moved to Paris to live with our grandparents.  And I knew my shattered heart, my shattered life, would never feel normal again.  Then I met Vincent.

Mysterious, sexy and unnervingly charming, Vincent Delacroix appeared out of nowhere and swept me off my feet.  Just like that, I was in danger of losing my heart all over again.

Of course, nothing is ever that easy.  Because Vincent is no normal human.  He has a terrifying destiny, one that puts his life at risk every day.  He also has enemies… immortal, murderous enemies who are determined to destroy him and all of his kind.

While I’m fighting to piece together the remnants of my life, can I risk putting my heart – as well as my life and my family’s – in jeopardy for a change at love?

A stunning novel of life, death and the lengths we go to for love.

Review:

Kate has just lost her parents in a car accident; her and her sister, Georgia, have moved to Paris to live with their grandparents.  While reading in a café, Kate sees them sitting at another table.  One boy in particular captures her mind.  He is so very mysterious and beautiful that Kate assumes she has no chance.  Then she almost dies, and suddenly Vincent is hers.  Kate is pulled into a world of self-sacrificing immortals known as Revenants.  They are in a struggle against another, murderous group of immortals called the numa.  Can Kate survive in this world?  Does she even want to?  Is she willing to die, or worse: get her heart broken again for a chance of pure love?

This has got to be the most original zombie story I have ever read.  No, make that one of the most original paranormal-romance stories.  So many are all about the vampires, these days, therefore a nice, new zombie series was just what I’d been looking for.  Admittedly, there were a few plotlines that were slightly familiar from other YA books, but I honestly forgot all about them as I read.  I just loved the concept, storyline and characters! 

Kate was a good lead: a little helpless, but independent: not clingy, which was nice.  She was intelligent, sweet, a complete book addict and absolutely believable.  I could see myself actually meeting her in real life – and liking her.  The love-interest, Vincent, was romantic, chivalrous and gorgeous.  One of the things I loved most about him was the nickname he had for Kate: “mon ange”.    Their relationship was wonderful: slow and steady, beautiful and touching.

But what made this book stick out from so many other paranormal romances were the supporting characters.  They were all just amazing!  Charlotte, the bubbly Revenant, who became Kate’s best friend.  Ambrose, who made me laugh – especially when he called Kate “Katie-Lou”.  Mischievous Jules, who really cared about Kate and who I fell in love with.  Gaspard, the poet-turned-super-swordsman.  As for Kate’s family, I could completely feel the connection between them all.  Her sister Georgia, the party girl, who would do anything for Kate and was an all-round brilliant big sister.  Her Mamie and Papy, caring, loving: simply wonderful grandparents.  That’s what was so special: the connections between all of the characters, main and supporting, were so real, so believable.  Perfect.

Although the action didn’t kick in until later on in the story, the romance and friendship was just spot-on.  The writing was beautiful, the setting was new and genius, everything was just amazing.  What made this so very believable – besides the characters – was their reaction to the unusual and unnatural.  Kate didn’t just automatically accept what Vincent truly was: she took time to adjust.  Have you noticed that in many paranormal books the human just instantly believes and accepts what her supernatural beau is?  It’s almost as annoying as love-at-first-sight, in my opinion anyway, so the lack of it just secured this book as one of my favourites.

There was romance, humour, realistic characters, wonderful settings and completely new species of paranormal beings.  It was just an amazingly new and fresh book.  I, for one, cannot wait for the next in the series!  I want more of Kate, more Vincent, more Jules, more Revenant… and I need to know what happens next! 

Star Rating:
4½ Out of 5

Read this book if you liked:

Finding Sky by Joss Stirling

Tempest Rising by Tracy Deebs

The Iron King by Julie Kagawa

Challenges It's Taking Part In:

100 Books in a Year Reading Challenge 2011 (Hosted by Book Chick City)

Happy Reading

Megan