SSRC: Never To Sleep

This is oh so strange. I am really going through the motions right now. On the one hand, I am super ecstatic because I will get to read Before I Wake very, very soon - THANK YOU, FIKTSHUN!!! - and on the other hand, this is going to be my last post for the Soul Screamers Reading Challenge and thinking about that makes me really, really sad...

Though, I guess dwelling on won't make the inevitable go away, so here are my thoughts on re-reading Never To Sleep by Rachel Vincent.

Goodreads description:

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 the third Soul Screamers novella and takes place during the events of If I Die. I highly recommend to read Never To Sleep AFTER you have read If I Die since it contains one major spoiler.

The GR description pretty much sums the plot up, so I won't go into detail about it and just concentrate on my thoughts while re-reading it. I have never been Sophie's biggest fan, though I would never outright say I hate her either. She is the way she is because of the way she was brought up - she got spoiled, was very protected and left in the dark about a lot of things. She just doesn't know any better. I imagine it can't have been easy for her at school either with the things people kept saying about Kaylee. Obviously, they aren't true, but Sophie didn't know that because nobody would tell her anything. If she would have known, I am convinced she would have been different. At least, that's what I'm telling myself. She is definitely not being mean just for the sake of being mean.

In this novella, Sophie catches her first glimpse at what Kaylee has to deal with on a pretty much daily basis. Sophie doesn't know this, of course, and has her ever so delightful snarky comments/thoughts the whole time. It was so nice getting to know her a  little bit better and see how she really "ticks". Yes, she can still be superficial in some ways, but there is more to her than meets the eye - she does have a deeper side to her as well.

Then there is the introduction of a new character, Luca Tedesco, who is very charming, handsome, and definitely mysterious.  I am not sure whether he is on the good or the bad side, but I'm hoping for the first, because I think he could be really good for Sophie. The way they interacted was so great and it was nice to see a slightly different side to Sophie. There is one scene in particular, closer to the end, when he says something about her and Sophie seems genuinely surprised somebody could think of her that way. Everybody who has read this novella, probably knows what I"m talking about. I don't want to give it away because it really shows another side of Sophie and everybody should read that for themselves. Who knows, you might not even agree with me...

Either way, I am definitely looking forward to reading more about Luca - and Sophie. It will be very interesting to see how she is going to deal with everything in Before I Wake. 

Also, this novella opens up some major possibilities concerning someone who, I at least, thought they had gotten rid off forever. Now, I am not sure what will happen. To say I am extremely excited, would be a complete understatement.

My rating: 5 out 5 stars

My favorite quotes and passages:

So typically Sophie:

"[...]One freaky eyeless Netherworld guy in exchange for two normal, tragically beautiful people from our world?” 

Luca glanced back at me in surprise, and I rolled my eyes. 

“We’re about to be devoured by man-eating plants. Shouldn’t we at least acknowledge how attractive our respective bodies are before they’re digested from the inside out?”

*****

Sophie and Luca - Luca starts:

“But if there are bunnies here, you can bet they’ve got teeth like needles and an appetite for human flesh.” 

“Is that a joke? Please tell me you’re joking.” 

“I never joke about carnivorous bunnies.”

*****

Luca knows when to just outright say it as it is:

“No.” Luca frowned at me and his hand tightened around the doorknob. “This isn’t some stupid dance competition, Sophie. This is real life, and if you miss a step, you don’t get a bad score. You get dead. Like, bleeding, screaming, eaten-alive dead. Do you understand?”

 *****

Turns out, this might not be my last SSRC post after all. Rachel from fiktshun announced a few hours ago, there will an extra month for Before I Wake reviews/thoughts. I cannot even put into words how happy that makes me. One more month of SSRC and we also have another spoiler chat with author Rachel Vincent coming up. I couldn't be more ecstatic if I tried.