It’s been six months since Reggie and her best friend Aaron fought to save Reggie’s younger brother, Henry, from the hands of the evil Vours, scary beings who prey on fear to enter and take over humans. The approach of summer should indicate better times ahead for them—but alas, that’s not to be. For some reason, the Vours, who used to only be able to enter our world during the Winter Solstice, have figured out how to enter humans at other times in the year, too, including the upcoming Summer Solstice.

With help and information from some unlikely allies, Reggie is certain that the Vours are plotting something sinister for Summer Solstice, and only she, with her mysterious ability to enter a person’s fearscape and rescue him or her from the their Vour, has a chance to stop the Vours. But Reggie’s attempt to do so may be more dangerous than anyone has anticipated…

The initial world-building and setup is behind us in the first book of the series, THE DEVOURING, and thus in SOULSTICE we are able to concentrate on much more important things: the development of plot and fear. SOULSTICE is a far scarier read than the first book, and that’s a good thing.

SOULSTICE is mostly action, which I appreciated. Through tense and terrifying scenes, we are actually better able to understand the characters than any long-winded explanatory conversations they might’ve had in THE DEVOURING. The story also becomes more intricate, delightfully complicating the characters and raising the stakes. I flew through this book, hardly able to put it down, unable to breathe out of my desire to simultaneously know what’s going on and to hide from the increasing suspense and horror.

SOULSTICE ends with a bang that will keep readers of the series still immersed and waiting anxiously for the third book. It is a marked improvement from the first book and will definitely expand the readership to more than just younger readers looking for a Goosebumps-like scare. ( )

Six months. That’s how long it’s been since Reggie found Macie’s journal and since Reggie freed her brother Henry from the Vour that had taken him. That also means it’s been six months since Quinn Waters has been missing.

In those six months a lot has happened, but the Vours have also gone dormant except in Reggie’s dreams. The Vours still haunt her there, until one night when an unexpected visitor becomes not a nightmare, but a reality.

Even though the Vour that had taken over Henry is gone, he still has nightmares, but he is now stronger than he was before. Reggie has also stopped trying to protect him all the time and finally begins being somewhat honest with him.

But what Reggie and Aaron, her best friend, don’t realize is there are more of these Vours than they ever thought possible in their little town. And once they start realizing that Henry and Quinn weren’t the only one’s Vourized, it becomes clear that things aren’t always how they seem, and that you better be careful who you put your trust in. You never know who might be a Vour, and who isn’t.

There was no loss in the creepiness from The Devouring to Soulstice. Unlike most sequels, Soulstice did not succumb to the “sophomore slump.” Soulstice not only held strong, but it also held its own fabulous story. There’s plenty of the same action and twists that you fell in love with while reading The Devouring.

I must admit though, Soulstice definitely ups the creep factor and imagery that once again puts you in a Hell that is not your own, but that is even more twisted than you can imagine. Despite it being a sequel, Soulstice could easily stand on its own. While skipping The Devouring would in my opinion be a mistake since you would miss out on a lot of important story points, but Soulstice does cover enough background points that you could still read it without reading book one.

Needless to say, this definitely lives up to its horror classification. I wouldn’t exactly call it “bedtime reading,” since when I tried that I laid in bed for an hour with the images of demonic creatures running through my head. But despite the creepiness, I loved every page! I found it to be totally fascinating and absolutely unputdownable! And now, I can’t wait for the third book in the series. I need to know where Reggie’s next adventure takes her, and us readers. ( )

The idea behind this series is a great one and this book did not disappoint. You get more history on the Vours as well as widespread they are and how easily they can assimilate into society. There were several nice twists and the cliffhanger ending was fantastic in my opinion. It was somewhat predictable in the page or two before it and though it was something that you see often, the ending line was perfect.

The details and descriptions as well as the design of the different fearscape...more The idea behind this series is a great one and this book did not disappoint. You get more history on the Vours as well as widespread they are and how easily they can assimilate into society. There were several nice twists and the cliffhanger ending was fantastic in my opinion. It was somewhat predictable in the page or two before it and though it was something that you see often, the ending line was perfect.

The details and descriptions as well as the design of the different fearscapes and their ties into the humans stuck in them is ingenious. The additional elements and the overall plot developed nicely, leaving me salivating for the next book while my mind runs rampant with possibilities of what could come. ( )

Reviewed by Samantha Clanton, aka "Harlequin Twilight" for TeensReadToo.com

Six months. That's how long it's been since Reggie found Macie's journal and since Reggie freed her brother, Henry, from the Vour that had taken him. That also means it's been six months since Quinn Waters has been missing.

In those six months a lot has happened, but the Vours have also gone dormant - except in Reggie's dreams. The Vours still haunt her there, until one night when an unexpected visitor becomes not a nightmare, but a reality.

Even though the Vour that had taken over Henry is gone, he still has nightmares, and he is now stronger than he was before. Reggie has also stopped trying to protect him all the time and finally begins being somewhat honest with him.

But what Reggie and Aaron, her best friend, don't realize is there are more of these Vours than they ever thought possible in their little town. And once they find out that Henry and Quinn weren't the only ones Vourized, it becomes clear that things aren't always how they seem, and that you better be careful who you put your trust in. You never know who might be a Vour, and who isn't.

There was no loss in the creepiness from THE DEVOURING to SOULSTICE. Unlike most sequels, SOULSTICE did not succumb to the "sophomore slump." SOULSTICE not only held strong, but it also held its own fabulous story. There's plenty of the same action and twists that you fell in love with while reading THE DEVOURING.

I must admit though, that SOULSTICE definitely ups the creep factor and imagery that once again puts you in a hell that is not your own, but that is even more twisted than you can imagine. Despite it being a sequel, SOULSTICE could easily stand on its own. While skipping THE DEVOURING would, in my opinion, be a mistake since you would miss out on a lot of important story points, SOULSTICE does cover enough background information that you could still read it without reading book one.

Needless to say, this definitely lives up to its horror classification. I wouldn't exactly call it "bedtime reading," since when I tried that I lay in bed for an hour with the images of demonic creatures running through my head. But despite the creepiness, I loved every page! I found it to be totally fascinating and absolutely un-put-downable! And now, I can't wait for the third book in the series. I need to know where Reggie's next adventure takes her, and us as readers. ( )

Title: Soulstice Author: Simon Holt Publisher: Little, Brown Number Of Pages: 266 Publication Date: September 1st, 2009

Synopsis from back of book: (WARNING: Don’t read this synopsis if you haven’t read the first book!!!)

The Vours: Evil, demonic beings that inhabit human bodies on Sorry Night, the darkest hours of the winter soulstice.

Six months…

Since Reggie first discovered the existence of the Vours in a tattered journal. Since her little brother, Henry, began to mutilate animals and turn against her. Since she learned to devour her fear and destroyed a Vour to save Henry.

The Vours still haunt Reggie, but only in her dreams—until one horrifying night, when an unexpected visitor turns her nightmares into reality.

Terrifying, nail-biting, and grossly intriguing, readers will devour this thrilling sequel.

Review: Soulstice, I have to say is a little disappointing. I loved the Devouring and didn’t love this one as much. Instead of it being creepy like the Devouring it was just disgusting. I thought the plot was well thought out and a cool idea, but I wished it was more creepy. I really, really hope that the third and final installment is better than Soulstice. It had good writing, great characters, but was a little too gross for me. Although, the ending was amazing and left off on a giant cliffhanger. Overall, it was sort of a disappointment.

I recommend this book if you like creepy(gross) books, demons, and young adult novels. ( )