Review: Die For Me (Revenants #1) by Amy Plum

Read from January 1, 2012
to January 2, 2012

Book: Die For Me (Revenants #1) by Amy Plum

Publication Date: May 10, 2011

Publisher: Harper Teen

Number of Pages: 341 pages

Genre/s: Young Adult, Paranormal Romance

My life had always been blissfully, wonderfully normal. But it only took one moment to change everything.

Suddenly, my sister, Georgia, and I were orphans. We put our lives into storage and moved to Paris to live with my grandparents. And I knew my shattered heart, my shattered life, would never feel normal again. Then I met Vincent.

Mysterious, sexy, and unnervingly charming, Vincent Delacroix appeared out of nowhere and swept me off my feet. Just like that, I was in danger of losing my heart all over again. But I was ready to let it happen.

Of course, nothing is ever that easy. Because Vincent is no normal human. He has a terrifying destiny, one that puts his life at risk every day. He also has enemies...immortal, murderous enemies who are determined to destroy him and all of his kind.

While I'm fighting to piece together the remnants of my life, can I risk putting my heart—as well as my life and my family's—in jeopardy for a chance at love? - From Goodreads

Excerpt: "I can't promise you an ordinary experience, Kate. I wish I could transform myself into a normal man and be there for you, always, without the trauma that defines my life as 'the walking dead.' Since that isn't possible, I can only reassure you that I will do everything in my power to make it up to you. To give you more than a normal boyfriend could. I have no idea what that will mean, exactly, but I'm looking forward to finding out. With you."

After her parents' death, Kate and her sister Georgia moved to Paris to live with their grandparents. Filled with overwhelming sadness and grief, Kate spends her day in a routine and immersed herself in books. As per advise of her own sister to spend more time outside and read books somewhere in broad daylight, she met Vincent. The uber gorgeous Vincent who seemed to be also interested in her. But Vincent, isn't what he seems. Dangerous and full of secrets, will she choose to be with Vincent in exchange of her safety and sanity or will she learn to live without him and live forever in regret and sadness?

First and foremost, I'd like to say that the cover is very pretty. It's what actually made me pick up this book, the moment I saw my classmate reading this at class, I just have to borrow Die For Me. When I started reading this, I was immediately interested in Kate and Georgia's story. They lose their parents in a tragic accident and they have to cope with the grief and sadness in their own way. Georgia by partying and Kate by reading classics and visiting museums. I had some fair share of swooning too earlier in the book but it was immediately replaced by indifference on the later half.

Vincent definitely has charm and humor, but something about him just turns me off. Maybe it was his immediate dismissal to Kate when something close to being dangerous arises. Kate also has a lot of potential to be something less cliched. She reads classics, she goes to museum, basically the author is trying to say that she's an old soul, that she's mature for her age. And it really shows, because her sister was in direct contrast to her personality. But as soon as she met Vincent, the plot lines became reminiscent of Twilight.

It was not a torture though, because for starters Kate was more tolerable than Bella. But what they do have in common was their prowess in whining. Kate keeps telling us readers, that she's no damsel in distress and at first it's believable. However, as I turned the pages I realized that she believes she's that, but she's really not. She whines about how unfair her life is because everywhere she goes, she encounters death. But she should know that hanging out with Revenants will always remind her of death because it's inevitable in their "job". She stayed away for a while and keep her head leveled but she have to whine constantly about how he misses Vincent and how miserable her life is away from him. And it's just tiring to hear that. 

And what's up with the grandparents? They are almost non-existent. Almost. And the moment her grandmother graced us with her presence, she just have to ruin what could be the moment to show us that Die For Me does not suck in the parental guidance department. She basically allowed Kate to sleepover with Vincent! The boy she has not met before. The boy who they thought send Kate back again in her depression. And this is also taking into consideration that Kate barely made it through her parents' death and need more supervision than ever. She even allowed Kate to not go to school the next morning when she feels like it, so they could patch things up. No parent/elderly/guardian will do that. Even Clara's mother or Tucker's dad for that matter, flipped out when they discover Tucker and Clara in bed fully clothed. 

There is also a shady description of Revenants. Although, the concept of Revenants were indeed intriguing, I can't help but feel that it's just a more glamorous version of zombies with missions. There's also no definite rule  about why they existed or how they were chosen to be reborn.  The explanations given were pretty much "I don't exactly know what we are" or "We've kept our identities secret. Have you heard of us?" We also get some "supposed" to be kick-ass scene but Vincent had to go all exorcist on Kate, which is just disturbing. 

Also, I raised this question a lot when I'm reading Paranormal Romance: What makes the female lead character that special to be the object of attention of Mr. Gorgeous Immortal? Would it really take a lot of effort just to give a little detail or highlights of her characteristics that'd make every guy like her? Am I missing something here? 

Die For Me, has an interesting concept and has the potential to be more. But it went for the "love" aspect instead and I've just seen this plot line way too many times. So I can hardly blame myself if I was not impressed. I'm a reader who likes to see balance between the paranormal stuff and the "love" and for me having that balance would really make an amazing unforgettable read.

Will I read the sequel? I would. But will I expect too much? Not really. It's more of a follow-through read than jumping-up-and-down-can't-wait-to-read read. I really do hope that the sequel would make up for the insufficient attention to the concept of zombies-slash-guardian angels. Revenants have a noble cause and I'd like to see more of them in action with the numas(bad zombies). And please, no more second helpings of New Moon, OK? I might just not live through reading another version of that.

Cupid's Verdict:

3 Cupids