Die For Me by Amy Plum
Release Date: May 5, 2011
Publisher: HarperTeen
Pages: 352
Source: Netgalley
Rating: 
Buy It: Amazon | Book Depository
When Kate Mercier’s parents die in a tragic car accident, she leaves her life—and memories—behind to live with her grandparents in Paris. For Kate, the only way to survive her pain is escaping into the world of books and Parisian art. Until she meets Vincent.
Mysterious, charming, and devastatingly handsome, Vincent threatens to melt the ice around Kate’s guarded heart with just his smile. As she begins to fall in love with Vincent, Kate discovers that he’s a revenant—an undead being whose fate forces him to sacrifice himself over and over again to save the lives of others. Vincent and those like him are bound in a centuries-old war against a group of evil revenants who exist only to murder and betray. Kate soon realizes that if she follows her heart, she may never be safe again – Official Site
Review:
Die For Me ended up being quite the pleasant surprise!
It would be impossible to not see the familiar tropes in the story, but I felt that Amy Plum managed to give the book its own charm. For starters, I appreciated the effort she clearly put into creating her revenants. It would have been easier for her to use any other ‘monster’ we’ve seen many times before, but instead she put her own spin on something different. The revenants were fascinating and I enjoyed getting more details on them as the story progressed.
Vincent and Kate were lovely! I would have loved to see more of their friendship, but their growing feelings for each other didn’t feel rushed. They both experienced tragedy in their past which only made their relationship all that sweeter to me. I felt that there was a perfect balance between the two and it was easy to see just how much they enjoyed being in each other’s company; it all felt very genuine. Plus, among all their coupley cuteness, there’s this crazy awesome scene towards the end which made it all that more clear that they’re a great team.
In addition to the above, there’s also a Paris backdrop, a great relationship with Kate’s sister, a fun dynamic with some of the other revenants…plus more. Though there are similarities to other YA novels, my enjoyment of Die For Me wasn’t affected which came as a surprise to me. A lot of times I want to bang my head against the wall when a certain aspect reminds me of something in another book. I won’t lie; I did experience some déjà vu here, but I also thought Plum managed to make things different in her character’s reactions and motivations. It may not work for others, but it worked for me.
Instead of leaving us with a horrible cliffhanger, Die For Me had a very sweet and satisfying conclusion. Still, I’m sure there’s much left to explore and I’ll be looking forward to the next book in the series, as well as having my own hard copy of this book next month.
About Stephanie
Glad you liked this book! I know what you mean about the similarities; but I think Amy Plum purposefully tried to make her book that bit different which I appreciated!
You have done a wonderful job summarizing/reviewing this story. I like how you’ve highlighted the main parts of the story, explaining how they worked well for you or how they didn’t.
I haven’t read Twilight, so the book doesn’t have any de ja vu problems which others have expressed. What I didn’t like is the instant romance between Vincent and Kate. I felt it was rushed and then too strong for the amount of time they’d actually known each other. I did enjoy the scene at the end, as you did. I hope the next book will be less about the romance and more about other aspects of Kate and Vincent’s lives.
You did point out a very important piece, the conclusion is a breath of fresh air – no cliffhangers in this book – yay!