Novella Review: Never to Sleep

Don't Close Your Eyes.

Sophie Cavanaugh is not going to let her freak of a cousin's strange psychiatric condition ruin high school for them both. Not after all the work she's put into cultivating the right look, and friends, and reputation. But then, Sophie sees something so frightening she lets out a blood-curdling scream—and finds herself stuck in a bizarre parallel world where nothing is safe and deadly creatures lurk just out of sight, waiting for her to close her eyes and sleep...forever.

Could this world be real? Or does insanity run in the family...?

Never to Sleep is Rachel Vincent's newest novella in the Soul Screamers series. I am sooooo in love with this series and Rachel's writing. It's one of my favorite YA series ever. So I may end up gushing a bit. Never to Sleep is narrated by Sophie Cavanaugh... Kaylee (the regular main character's) cousin. Kaylee, her father, and her uncle are all bean sidhes (banshees). Kaylee's mother was as well, but not Sophie's mother. And it seems to have skipped Sophie as well.

Sophie doesn't like her cousin. To her, Kaylee is a freak who screams uncontrollably for no reason. And she believes Kaylee has something to do with, or at the very least knows something about, her mother's death. The supernatural world is around her and close to her, and finally she's introduced to it. While at Eastlake High, trying to escape another instance of being embarrassed by Kaylee, she crosses over into Netherworld... with new hottie Luca. While trying to escape the crimson creeper, hellions, and more, Sophie and Luca grow closer. But who and what is Luca? And how did they cross into the Netherworld?

I wasn't sure if I'd like this one very much. I don't like Sophie in the series, so I was pleasantly surprised to find I liked reading through her POV here. If you haven't read the Soul Screamers series, definitely check it out. If you have and haven't picked this one up... what are you waiting for?