Feeling rejected, Charlie, an artist, is drawn into a destructive new relationship with her sexy older co-worker, a 'semifamous' local musician who's obviously a junkie alcoholic. But things don't go as planned in the Arizona desert, because sweet Mikey just wants to be friends. After spending time in treatment with other young women like her-who cut, burn, poke, and otherwise hurt themselves-Charlie is released and takes a bus from the Twin Cities to Tucson to be closer to Mikey, a boy she 'like-likes' but who had pined for Ellis instead. Seventeen-year-old Charlie Davis, a white girl living on the margins, thinks she has little reason to live: her father drowned himself her bereft and abusive mother kicked her out her best friend, Ellis, is nearly brain dead after cutting too deeply and she's gone through unspeakable experiences living on the street.

Yes, it’s the usual mishmash of romance and the supernatural, but the author keeps the narrative moving along at a sprightly pace and handles the suspense well.įormulaic but fun, which makes all the difference.Īfter surviving a suicide attempt, a fragile teen isn't sure she can endure without cutting herself. Plum includes fairly frequent tongue-in-cheek humor lampooning her own plot-“my safety was at risk because of an evil undead medieval teenager”-which helps lift the book above standard undead fare. Fortunately, this series doesn’t take itself completely seriously. The major plot point is the identity of a prophesied champion, destined to win the battle between good and evil, at least in Paris, for now, and of course, the heroine faces the usual insurmountable odds. Appropriately spaced romantic interludes provide variety. With or without Vincent, the book continues with preparation for battle, then actual battle, with plenty of well-paced tension. Luckily, Kate and Bran, the revenants’ healer assistant, unearth a ceremony that might restore him but only if they also can find the ancient, lost equipment necessary. Vincent can’t come back to life if his body no longer exists.

The Die for Me series about an American teenager involved with undead revenants in Paris concludes.Ĭourageous, loyal Kate mourns not the death, which is a normal occurrence for revenants, but the cremation of her undead boyfriend, Vincent, at the hands of Violette, leader of the evil numa.

If I Should Die by Amy Plum