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

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Links

Reaping Me Softly on Goodreads
Kate Evangelista on Twitter
Kate Evangelista's Website
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