Reaping Me Softly by Kate Evangelista

Title: Reaping Me Softly

Author: Kate Evangelista

Release Date: 30th October 2012

My Rating: 3/5

Blurb:

Ever since a near-death-experience on the operating table, seventeen-year-old Arianne Wilson can see dead people. Just as she’s learned to accept her new-found talents, she discovers that the boy she’s had a crush on since freshman year, Niko Clark, is a Reaper.

At last they have something in common, but that doesn’t mean life is getting any easier. All while facing merciless bullying from the most powerful girl in school, Arianne’s world is turned upside down after Niko accidentally reaps the soul of someone she loves. This sends them both into a spiral that threatens to end Arianne’s life. But will Niko break his own Reaper’s code to save her? And what would the consequences be if he did?

In A Nutshell:

Reaping Me Softly is about the things people do for love, loyalty, strength and the ability to overcome the terrible things that can happen in life. An enjoyable read but be prepared that the ending may not be your cup-of-tea.

My Review:

Reaping Me Softly is about the things people do for love, loyalty, strength and the ability to overcome the terrible things that can happen in life.

I liked Ari. I thought she was strong and while I was annoyed with her for putting up with the bullying, I admired her ability to do so and her values that prevented her from exposing why she was getting bullied by Darla in the first place. I liked the relationship between Ari and Ben. It was nice to have a boy-girl friendship without the usual romantic tension that tends to show up in YA novels as a love triangle. Theirs was a true friendship, one of honesty and loyalty and I’m glad that this dimension was included in the novel.

I liked the reaper world and the hierarchy that Death created. The different personalities of all the reapers made Niko’s world ‘real’, rather than him being part of a world we knew nothing about, and in their weird way they were family to each other. I even liked Death. His character was quite amusing, as were Niko’s minions (Ha! ‘Minions’ still makes me laugh, maybe I’ll just call them his helpers?).

Ari and Niko’s relationship was sweet and predictable. What was not predictable was the ending! Don’t worry, I’m not going to spoil anything. What I will say is that I loved the whole book, until the ending. Suddenly, I was in tears. It just felt so…extreme. I mean, I know we are dealing with Death but I kinda got to the point where I liked the guy, and then BAM, he went all brutal!

Don’t let my shock at the ending deter you though. I know some people think it was a fantastic ending and I really did love the rest of the book. So I suggest you give it a go.

I also highly recommend Kate’s first novel, Taste, which was really, really awesome. Read my review here.

 

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This review has been part of the Reaping Me Softly Blog Tour, hosted by AToMR Tours. There are 10 ebooks of Reaping Me Softly to win so enter below.a Rafflecopter giveaway

There are lots of other people participating so click here to see what others thought of Kate Evangelista's latest book.

Links

Reaping Me Softly on Goodreads
Kate Evangelista on Twitter
Kate Evangelista's Website
AToMR Blog Tours Website
AToMR on Twitter

October Housekeeping

So...

You may have noticed I've been a bit absent the last few weeks. Fear not, I'm back! I've just handed in my last uni assignments for the year and I now have five glorious months off to spend however I want.

First off, I'm still yet to email the winners of my Melina Marchetta Giveaway which finished two weeks ago. I HAVE NOT FORGOTTEN YOU. You are on my list of things to do today so keep an eye on your inbox (and junk too).

 

Meanwhile, Aussie authors Ursula Dubosarsky, Jackie French, Morris Gleitzman and Melina Marchetta have been nominated for the 2013 Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award, which is the world’s largest prize for children’s and young adult literature. They are four of 207 candidates from 67 countries around the world who have been nominated for this prestigious award. The winner will be announced 26 March 2013.

Coming up on The Tales Compendium...

I will be reviewing a heap of really cool books which have been my motivation to get my assignments finished. Having all these books staring down at you is a great reminder to hurry up!

  On  26th October I'll be guest posting over at Following the Reader for Amy's Halloween Spooktacular and on 30th October I'll be participating in Kate Evangelista's blog tour for Reaping Me Softly. 

Also, while I was busy studying, my page views surpassed 100 000 so a big thankyou to everyone who continues to visit The Tales Compendium.

Thanks for hanging around and I look forward to appearing in your news feeds once again :)

Author Interview: Katie McGarry

Katie McGarry, author of Pushing the Limits

Debut author Katie McGarry burst onto the YA scene in July with her amazing novel, Pushing the Limits. Readers were instantly pulled into the devastating lives of Echo and Noah as they strived to find 'normal', something they both desperately wanted. We fell in love with them and they are arguably one of our favourite YA couples this year.

My Review In A Nutshell:

Pushing the Limits had me staying up until the early hours just to read a bit more of Noah and Echo’s story. First of all, the chemistry between the two… Yeesh! It was fiery, highly charged and fever inducing and totally had me blushing at some points. But, it is an emotional roller-coaster as two lost, lonely and broken people attempt to rebuild their destroyed lives. Does that  sound  too depressing? Never fear, you will fall in love with this book and the characters within.

You can read the rest of my Pushing the Limits review here.

For those of you who want questions about Noah and Echo answered, Katie answers a fan question on her blog each week.

For those wanting to know what Katie plans to write next, she will be writing a companion novel to Pushing the Limits, featuring Beth. This will be called Dare You To and will be released in 2013.

I would like to welcome Katie to The Tales Compendium and thank her for answering a few questions about herself.

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I was the kind of kid who... had a million make-believe friends and I went on make-believe fabulous adventures with them. I was a storyteller before I knew what a storyteller was.

My mother always told me... that you’re lucky if you can count on your hand the number of true friends you have—those people who will stick by you no matter what.

The biggest lesson I learnt at school was... to stick by your friends, regardless of other peoples’ opinions of them.

My first big crush was... in first grade. I didn’t know his name so I nicknamed him Ronald McDonald. He never corrected me when I called him that and when I gave him my phone number he called.

I earnt my first pay cheque... babysitting in middle school.

I really hate it when... my characters won’t talk to me. That leads to writer’s block.

I’m very good at... remembering lyrics to songs.

The hardest thing I’ve ever done is... say goodbye to my best friend. She died when we were twenty.

I’m frightened of... cemeteries.

When I’m in the shower I sing… um, lately? Harder to Breathe by Maroon 5.

The last book I read was... Alice in Zombieland by Gena Showalter. I LOVED it. Go buy it. Now.

I would love to meet... S.E. Hinton. The Outsiders was my favorite book when I was a teenager.

When I get the munchies I eat... cheddar flavored rice cakes.

I hope I never... stop laughing at myself.

Life is... good today.