Good Morning!
I hope everyone had a delightful and haunted Halloween!
Today I am happy to participate in the Reaping Me Softly by Kate Evangelista blog tour! This tour is hosted by AToMR Tours. You can visit the entire schedule of this fantastic tour here.
"To live is to choose.
But to choose well,
you must know who you are
and what you stand for,
where you want to go and
why you want to get there."
- Kofi Annan
Prepare to become lost in a sweet story of love, death, sacrifice and most of all - living for a reason!
Love!
Reaping Me Softly is a sweet, gentle love story between two likable characters. Arianne and Niko are inherently caring characters that provoked my instant appreciation. While their love connection was a bit too instant for my taste, I adored the overarching chemistry between the two.
Darla was a character that at first seems a stereotypical hateful girl. As the story progresses, Darla progresses. I find her nasty attitude reason - unrequited love - helped give her depth. She was not a good person and her bulling to Arianne and other characters are unredeemable but I do understand the predicament that lead to her cruelty.
Death!
My favorite character of this book is indeed Death. I was throughly delighted how Death was not the evil and terrorizing monster I usually envision for Death. Instead Death was the merciful Death. A being of compassion, confidence and respect. A true leader. I feel sorry for Death too because, as you find out through the story, he never really lived.
As a person unused to the world of reapers, I am thankful for the splendid world-building in this story. I liked the meetings and interactions between the reapers in this story. Especially the fights between the villainous Janika and Niko and the private meeting between lead reapers Travis and Tomas, and Death. The friendship of respect between Travis, Tomas and Death was evident through their delightful banter.
Sacrifice!
Living for a reason!
A certain character in this book commits a sacrifice that was brilliantly written in this book. I re-read that scene many times and feel heartbrokenness each time. It is a sacrifice to be remembered.
Most of all, this book is about the motif of the above Kofi Annan quote that Arianne says to Niko in the book. Its a book about living for a reason and struggling to find a place in the world. The book's message in my mind is 'Do not live with hatred and loneliness, live with love.'
Thanks for reading!
Lovely review, Rachel! I've been curious about this book so it's good to hear you mostly enjoyed it. Despite the insta-love, I'm glad there was likeable chemistry in the rpmance. :)
ReplyDeleteAside from the instant love, this book sounds awesome! I love when Death is an actual character, for some reason I find that intriguing and I'm always drawn to him. Looking forward to giving this one a try, though the one character's sacrifice makes me nervous:( Lovely review Rachel!
ReplyDeleteWonderful review, Rachel. My feelings mirrored yours in this. I wasn't thrilled with the insta-love but they did have chemistry. I wasn't a fan of Death myself. Didn't like what he did to Niko in the end. :)
ReplyDeleteGorgeous review Rachel, it sounds like this book has so much to offer! I really like the sound of it! I'm glad you had fun reading it too! :)
ReplyDeleteYour enthusiasm is contagious. :) Insta-love is a turnoff for me BUT the rest of the elements you enjoyed sounds pretty wonderful, especially the character of Death. Great review :)
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for participating in the tour! *hugs*
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed Kate Evangelista's other novel, Taste, and this one sounds fantastic too. I'm not very much into reaper-themed books but I might try this one out soon. Great review, Rachel! :)
ReplyDeleteWhat a beautiful cover! I haven't read that many reaper book, but this sounds fantastic! ^^
ReplyDeleteI think I just fell in love with Death. ;) This does sound really interesting, so I'm gad you enjoyed it overall. Wonderful review, Rachel! :)
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