WOW #5

 

Hosted By Breaking The Spine

I'm waiting on...

Before I Wake (Soul Screamers, #6)

by Rachel Vincent

Expected Release Date 

June 22, 2012

Since there is no official description yet, supposed to be coming in March, I'll just put what Rachel Vincent said on her blog 

You see...If I Die was a game-changer in the Soul Screamers series, in several different ways. It's also gotten the best critical response (at least from readers and blog reviewers) of anything I've ever written. (Which probably means it'll be a commercial failure. I'm pretty sure commercial and critical success are mutually exclusive.) What that means is that If I Die was INCREDIBLY hard to follow. Why? Because each book in a series needs to be better than the previous book and the plot must flow naturally from the conclusion of the previous story. But everything has to be taken up a level. Everything. Bad guys. Drama. Plot. Emotion. Angst. And the characters have to develop or evolve. For the main character (at least), that evolution must be in the form of maturity. 

BUT... (You knew there was a but, right?) But, the next-levelness of the whole thing can NOT be over-the-top. It must all be believable and feel natural. 

Let me just say, that's HARD. And I have no idea whether or not I succeeded. I had several goals in mind for Before I Wake. 

They are these: (Do not read what's below if you haven't read If I Die. It's not overtly spoilery, but it hints at stuff. If you have read If I Die, you can highlight the text below to read.) 

Put Nash and Tod back on speaking terms, and begin the healing. Show what a powerful force the Hudsons can be, working together. 

Put Kaylee and Nash back on speaking terms, and begin the healing. 

Show the consequences of Tod's heroics in If I Die 

Show the results/consequences of Kaylee's new...everything. 

I took a shot at all of that. NONE of it was easy. I have no idea how successful I was. 

Now all the teaser quotes from her Twitter and Facebook 

“Forever used to feel like a curse. Now it feels like a promise," -Tod

Kaylee: "I'm trying to do the right thing here." 

Tod: "I'm not." 

[Note: In the current incarnation of the ms, "right" has been replaced with "mature."] 

"There's nothing funny about being locked up with only your personal demons for company. In Scott’s case, the demon was real." - Alec 

Kaylee: “You didn’t back off, you tried to kill me!” Sabine: “Well, I had to TRY, didn’t I?” #complicatedfriendships 

"Of every moment I’ve ever not-lived through, this one is the best." -Tod 

“Because he knew it would traumatize you, and your trauma is like his chocolate fudge brownie. It’s yummy.” - Alec 

Nash: “You want me to be your understudy? I’m not sure I have the dark wit to pull that off.” 

Tod: “Nor the tragic backstory." 

"Shouting in the Netherworld was like ringing a dinner bell in the Old West." 

[Note: This is from the narration. So technically, Kaylee's saying it to the reader.] 

Tod: "You know, there's an easier, simpler way to sedate her." 

Kaylee: "No, you can't knock her out." 

"I’d thought that if I could stuff the shell of my former self with the pieces of my former life, everything could go back to the way it was." - Kaylee 

“Fine. But if I have to stay invisible the whole time, I can’t promise to be on my best behavior. There's no telling what I might do." -Tod 

"I can sit here and list everything that happened, every mistake either of us made, but when I do the math—I add it all up over and over—it never works out like this in my head.” -Nash 

“My shirt got torn in a fight. Yours evidently has a fast-release tab.” - from Kaylee to Sabine 

“No, you should stay right where you are, or my estranged brother and I will settle our differences by seeing who can break more of your bones.” 

Tod glanced at him, brows raised. “You want to settle our differences?” 

Nash frowned. “No, I want to break every bone in his body, and I didn’t think you’d let me do it alone.” Tod nodded. “Good call.”

[Character name removed] glanced at me, brows [more details removed]. “Are they always like this?” 

I shrugged. “Sometimes they’re less subtle." 

“He’s kind of obsessed with Kaylee,” Em said, by way of an opener. 

“With her soul,” Sabine corrected. “Because it’s all purer-than-thou, with her being both a martyr and a virgin.” 

 More quotes than I thought once I pasted them all in one spot. Hope you enjoyed them! 

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