Rachel (aka Ms4Tune)'s Reviews > Reaping Me Softly

I would like to thank Kate Evangelista for giving me a copy of Reaping Me Softly in exchange for an honest review.

I had seen Kate’s requests for reviewers on YA/NA fanatics and while this book sounded interesting I had read a few books like this before (the most recent being The Reapers Novice and the one that stood out the most being Croak), and I’m not a big fan of insta-love so considering these things I decided not to request a copy of Reaping Me Softly. But, thanks to a happy accident Kate sent me a copy anyway. And gosh how FATE must have been smiling on me! :)

I was mistaken to make my snap assumptions about Reaping Me Softly. Reaping Me Softly was nothing like Croak or other Reaper novels, like I’d presumed. Rather than writing from the point of view of the Reaper, Niko, the main focus was on his ‘ANGEL’ Arianne Wilson, the human who saves his life. Arianne is a seventeen-year-old girl who has had a crush on the beautiful and popular Niko Clark forever! But he’s never even noticed her. Niko is a Reaper, who has to blend in with society, but finds himself depressed with his life. He has lived many lives and all are the same, so why continue, he may as well give up and fade away. He comes to this decision while sitting on a bench outside the hospital, the hospital where Arianne’s sister Carrie (suffering from kidney failure) is. Arianne, after visiting Carrie, finds Niko and saves his life. Finally Niko notices Arianne and suddenly has found a reason to live.

While this story may be a little insta-lovey at the beginning, it did have its reasoning, so I could gloss over that. My main annoyance with the beginning of this story was Ben! Ben is Arianne’s best friend and while I understand the bond between life-long friends, I still didn’t get how Ari’s confession to seeing naked ghosts of dead people was so easily accepted! To be honest all her confessions to Ben seemed unbelievable.

Niko and Ari were great characters, and Kate had put a lot of thought into the development of their relationship and their characters. I loved the obstacles they had to overcome and how Ari wanted to figure out what Niko was without him telling her. But I wish there had been a little bit more development in some of the other characters, such as Darla, or Janika. I think that is just me though, as I wanted to understand a bit more about who they were, and why they acted the way they did.

Overall, I really liked Reaping Me Softly, yes it had its niggling flaws but it was a promising start to a series and as my expectations where blown out of the water I couldn’t help but give it 4*s.

As my second Kate Evangelista book I will from now on not underestimate her ability to find new and interesting twists on paranormal stories! And I will be reading the rest of this series :)