My Soul to Lose by Rachel Vincent Series: Soul Screamers #0.5
Published by Mira on April 1st 2012
Pages: 54
Goodreads
It was supposed to be a fun day, shopping at the mall with her best friend. Then the panic attack started and Kaylee Cavanaugh finds herself screaming, unable to stop. Her secret fears are exposed and it's the worst day of her life. Until she wakes up in the psychiatric unit.
She tries to convince everyone she's fine - despite the shadows she sees forming around another patient and the urge to scream which comes burbling up again and again. Everyone thinks she's crazy. Everyone except Lydia, that is. Another patient with some special abilities...
My Soul to Lose was a nice little introduction to the Soul Screamers series (even though I read this after finishing the main series). It is not a requirement to read this novella prior to reading the first book but it does set the tone for the series and answers a few questions which were never really fully explained in the books. It describes what happened to Kaylee when she was first overwhelmed by her bean sidhe (or banshee) abilities.
Kaylee is spending an afternoon with her friend Emma at the mall when she experiences a panic attack after seeing a sick child in a wheelchair. As Kaylee still has no idea that she is a bean sidhe, she understandably freaks out and winds up in a mental institution. Kaylee is desperate to be released but feels betrayed when her Aunt Val and Uncle Brendan decide that she must remain there for her own good (at least for the time being).
It is here that Kaylee meets a young girl called Lydia (who will crop up again later in the series) who helps Kaylee control her ‘panic attacks’. This gives Kaylee the opportunity to show the doctors that she is not crazy and can be released.
This novella was a compelling read. It did not feature many of the characters from the main series (although Nash gets a mention) but it was interesting to see what had happened to Kaylee before the events of the first novel. Kaylee being put in a Psych Ward is mentioned several times throughout the series and it is clear she still bears the scars from her experience. Well worth a read if you are a fan of the series.
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