Die For Me
by Amy Plum
Genre: YA Romance / Paranormal
Description:
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 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.
My Thoughts:
I loved this book. It is not precisely the most original of tales, with a simple plot of good against evil, but it was absolutely beautiful. I was a little wary of it at first because of the title, but once I started I couldn't stop! The heroine reads books, the hero is self-sacrificing...in this case quite literally, as his very reason for existing is to save other people, even though it means dying over and over.
Vincent and his adopted family are revenants, undead heroes rather than monsters, which I found rather refreshing. For once the undead, sleepless immortals do not have to restrain themselves from murder. Isn't that lovely? Instead, they are instinctively heroic. I also loved how the revenants were created; they died in an act of extreme selflessness. Of course, no hero would be complete without enemies, which comes in the form of a group of revenants who were created in a method totally opposite to Vincent and his family; killed in an act of extreme betrayal.
Kate is a lovely, complicated character. She doesn't know much about fighting, but that doesn't make her weak. Shy and bookish, she never expected to find adventure in the form of enigmatic Vincent. Still, she takes it with remarkable aplomb and less screaming than I would have. I thought it was very realistic that at one point in the story she takes several steps back and has to make a decision whether she can live with everything that comes with loving someone like Vincent. I also liked that for once the romance is not forbidden, just extremely difficult. I like forbidden romance well enough, but YA seems to be inundated with it lately.
Vincent is handsome, charming and very French (not to mention utterly swoonworthy). He has a dark and mysterious past (also a plus) that is only revealed in small pieces through the book. I can't wait to read more about that in the second book. My only problem with him is that he could use a little more depth. I loved his varied adopted family, especially the artistic Jules. I also find Jean-Baptiste, their father figure, to be rather intriguing. He hasn't allowed himself to die for so long that he has become old, which makes me curious as to what he would be like young again.
One of the many things I loved about this book was Paris! I went to Paris a few years ago but only for a couple of days and this book makes me really wish I could have stayed longer. All of the museums and cafes Kate goes to...This story makes me think I could walk down the streets at night and imagine revenants around every corner. Die For Me lives and breathes Paris.
Anyone who likes the Mortal Instruments series will love this book. It has action, mystery, romance and peril in every chapter. It is well-written and fantastically entertaining. Book 2, Until I Die, comes out in the beginning of May and the wait is driving me crazy.
Rating System: Profanity, Sexuality and Violence
1 (mild) through 10 (extreme).
Profanity:
I give it a 3.10 for pretty mild swearing, I don't remember any worse words.
Sexuality:
I give it a 3.10 for some references and innuendos, mostly mild.
Violence:
I rate it a 7.10 for murder, attempted murder and some goriness.
Lieder Madchen
The cover of this book caught my attention, and like you it was the Paris setting that really saved this from ordinariness. Looking forward to reading the sequel!
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