Review: Die For Me by Amy Plum

Title: Die For Me
Series: Revenants
Author: Amy Plum
Publisher: Atom
Publication Date: 5 May 2011





Synopsis: From Amazon
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 into storage and moved to Paris to live with my 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. But I was ready to let it happen. 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.

Review:
Due to the compelling nature of this book I did not make as many notes as I usually do while reading. Typically I jot stuff down as it wafts through mind like a cool breeze and gets lost just as quickly. Hence I am trying to piece together a comprehensive review from words randomly written down such as OMG, awesome, *swoon* including little stars by it. At least you know I liked it right [ ; D ]

From the synopsis you can already see that the narration is first person from Katie's point of view. At 16 she has gone to live in Paris with her sister and grandparents following the untimely death of her parents in a car crash. Her grief and desperation are palpable from the pages, so realistic and identifiable, instantly bonding me with her, especially where she prefers to escape into a fantasy world to relieve the pressure of the real one. She has such a strength of character that really progresses her character through the prose, level headed and mature in her attitude.  She embarks on an emotionally turbulent journey with extreme highs and lows.

The rich descriptive imagery brought Katie's world to life in my imagination. The reference to Armani underwear models had me snorting with laughter, lightening the atmosphere. Her grandparents are what I imagine to be typical older generation french, very laid back and elegant, wonderfully supportive yet surprisingly liberal in attitude. I was irritated by Georgia, Katie's sister, she was shallow, narcissistic and immature but you could not escape the fact that her love for Katie was her real driving force.

The plot is revealed in little nibbles spaced tantalising apart, perfectly spaced for compulsive page turning; I practically devoured this feast of a book in one sitting only putting it down at 2am in order to get some sleep before school the next day.

Although the Revenants are referred throughout as zombies I just could not reconcile the idea of them being zombies to the image I had in my head. To me the Revenants were akin to Guardian Angels - giving their lives to save others souls - doesn't get more guardian angel than that. OK so they are the walking living dead with the ability to regenerate - who cares - to me they are definitely angels. Making the Numa (the evil zombies) the devils. So if you have angels and devils fighting for the souls of humans what kind of story that I love do we have - yes you guessed a giant battle of good and evil *sssswwwooonnnn*

Be warned there are some serious romantic moments throughout, thank goodness it's a paranormal romance cos I am pretty sure I have not met a man can live up to this kind of ramance. I tip my imagery hat to Katie for being so level headed and not going all completely gushy. She is determined to take her time with the relationship she and Vincent are forging. Savouring every moment of their time together.

As I stated at the beginning of this review I didn't take many notes so I hope my review makes some sense. Unfortunately I am struggling with how to sum it up unless I use the note words I had written - OMG, awesome and *swoon*. And on a personal note to Amy and Atom - you guys are killing me by making me wait an entire year for the next book [ ; D ]