Die for Me

By: Amy Plum

Narrated by: Julia Whelan

Length: 9 hrs and 20 mins

Publisher's summary

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?

©2011 Amy Plum (P)2011 HarperCollins Publishers

Unique Characters, great performance!

Would you consider the audio edition of Die for Me to be better than the print version?

I did not read the print version

What other book might you compare Die for Me to and why?

It definitely has some similarities to twilight. The forbidden love, the dude only has eyes for the super special human chick. She ends up protecting him with her super special humanness...etc.

Have you listened to any of Julia Whelan’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

No.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

I was hanging on the story line.

Any additional comments?

I really enjoyed the French descriptions that were placed throughout the book. It made it very easy to visualize Paris.

Great First Book in a Trilogy

I enjoyed this book. The take on the supernatural with something I've never seen before was quite engrossing. The revenants were quite an interesting concept. I liked the love story between Kate and Vincent, the slow beginning of it. I'm looking forward to the next two books and learning more about the revenants. Julia Whelan did a fantastic job of narrating the story. Her french pronunciations were amazing. I think I'll look for her as a narrator again.

A Twist

As much as I love stories about vampires....this wasn't it. And I'm glad. it was something else, worth the read entirely. The "love" story a but typical in the head-over-heals department but sincere considering Kate's circumstance.

Die for you

love the storyline the characters and the narration overall pretty good story so I'm going to give the book play thumbs up and also venture to the next book to see if it lives up to the first.

OMG Loved this book!

When started I was unsure if this was going to be for me but after the first few chapters I was hooked! The narrator was phenomenal and brought the characters to life! I was ruiting for Kate the whole time! Great story!

Teenage Romance

This is suitable and entertaining for a 13-year-old girl. For anyone over 13 years of age this is a pass.

An instant favorite.

A lovely, beautiful book. Fresh paranormal concept. Engaging, well-written characters whose feelings, reactions and personalities felt authentic. Just absolutely fell in love with this book...and maybe fell in love a tiny bit with Vincent as well. How could I not? He is after all...to die for ;) Kate too was a wonderfully dynamic character with great strength despite, or perhaps because of, her own personal tragedies.

The narrator for this book was phenomenal...Whelan did a wonderful job of using her voice to uniquely define each of Plum's characters. I'd like to get a hard copy of this book at some point, but I think hearing it for the first time with the French and the accents made this book even more magical.

Buy it. Try it. Read it. Love it. Seriously.

Creative YA zombie series

I listened to this on audiobook. The second book, Until I Die, has already released and the final book in the series, If I Should Die, is scheduled for a May 2013 release. It was a very well done paranormal book that’s Parisian setting and creative take on zombies make it something special. While I loved the beginning of the book, I wasn’t as enamoured with the ending.

Kate and her sister Georgia move to Paris to live with their grandparents after their parents are killed in a car crash. Kate is struggling with her grief and drifting around reading books in cafes when she meets Vincent. Vincent is beautiful and somehow different from everyone she knows. Her and Vincent start to spend time together, but then Vincent’s best friend is killed in front of Kate and Vincent doesn’t seem to care. When Kate sees Vincent’s friend walking around the next day she suspects that Vincent and his friends aren’t as human as they seem.

I loved the idea behind the zombies in this book, it was fascinating and super creative. Basically Vincent and his “family” are Revenants. These are humans that die when sacrificing themselves in place of someone else, because of this sacrifice they rise as Revenants. The Revenants have an urge to sacrifice themselves to save humans. They do this over and over to help save humans’ lives. The rules behind how the Revenants work are interesting and really well done.

Kate makes an excellent and down to earth heroine. She is struggling with grief but doing her best to dig her way out. There are multiple places in this book where her sadness just about broke my heart. She really loves art so there is a lot of art-talk in this book.

Vincent is your typical super sensitive, yet dark and mysterious type. He is sensitive and romantic to the extreme. There were parts of the book where I felt that he was too perfect and so syrupy sweet that it was a little sickening. Still the romance between Kate and Vincent is touching and full of mutual respect; I really enjoyed it.

The setting is awesome. The whole book takes place in Paris. I loved hearing about the beautiful sights and it made me want to travel back there to find all the beautiful little nooks and crannies that Kate and Vincent found. I wish more YA paranormal books were set in international locations; they are just so fun to read and learn about.

The story focuses mostly on Kate discovering what Vincent is and how to deal with it than anything else. This is more of a mystery type book than an action-based one. Although, the Revenants do have enemies and there is a pretty well done fight scene between the two groups at one point in the book.

The book is well written and engaging. I ended up enjoying the beginning of the book more than the end. Plum did an excellent job of building and unfolding the mystery about Vincent. The ending where they fight the enemy Revenants felt a bit forced and rushed.

As you might imagine there is a heavy theme of death throughout the book; death is very prevalent in Kate and Vincent’s life. So those sensitive to the topic of death be warned.

Overall an excellent YA paranormal. This book presents a very creative take on zombies and I enjoyed it a lot. I also enjoyed the down to earth heroine, the sweet respect based relationship between Kate and Vincent, and the exotic Parisian setting. I enjoyed the beginning of the book more than the end, the ending felt a bit rushed. I can’t wait to see what the next book holds for this truly bizarre couple. Highly recommended to those who love YA paranormal reads without cliched love triangles and insta-love.

will buy sequel

It's a YA novel and not particularly deep. The plots very simple as are the characters. Sometimes that's all I want, though. The good guys are good, the bad guys are bad and love triumphs in the end.

French Zombie Ghost LOVE!

Alright if your looking for a YA "Paranormal Romance" LOOK NO FURTHER! This my friends is the first truly original story in said category I have seen in quite some time.

The narrator tipped this one right off the edge of good to great. She manages three separate accents and two languages without missing a beat. Too often the narrator is a distraction but in this case she is a gem.

This book is no literary genius and won't have you pondering life and the human condition BUT it will be fun and oh so romantic.

I recommend Die for Me to anyone looking for a good time.