Teen Reads Week: Die For Me

Author: Amy Plum
Publisher: HarperTeen

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.

As with any debut author, you never know what you are going to get when you open to the first page.  Ms. Plum has written an engaging first novel that sucked me right in from the start.  Kate and her sister, Georgia, have moved to Paris to live with their grandparents after the death of their parents.  There, Kate meets Vincent and his friends.  The attraction is strong from the start, yet Kate has her reservations about Vincent.  He almost seems too good to be true.  What she learns about him and his friends changes her whole life.

I really liked Kate's character.  She is almost 17, yet she has a maturity that a lot of teens in YA novels don't have today.  I liked that she was cautious about starting a relationship with Vincent, especially once she finds out the truth about him and his life.  Instead of taking everything at face value and rushing into something with him, she admits that she has reservations and steps back for a while.  That really sat well with me.  

Die For Me has a unique take on the risen dead.  The kin joke about being zombies, but they aren't really. They can age, but once they die again they "reset" back to the original age they were when they first died.  They also don't eat human flesh or brains. (Thankfully!) I look forward to knowing more about the revenants and what causes them.  I also hope that the next books explores why Vincent and Kate seem to have a unique bond that hasn't been seen in other revenants and their human loves.  This is the first in a trilogy, so I hope these themes are expanded on in future books.

I really enjoyed this book.  I think it would be fine for any YA reader.  There is really nothing graphic and the romance is pretty mild.  There is even talk about waiting for the "main event" and just taking the time to get to know and enjoy one another.  Given the age of the main characters, I thought this was a plus.

--Kari