14 September 2014

Book Review: Possess by Gretchen McNeil

(Click image to take you to Goodreads)

Format: Paperback
Publishers: Balzer + Bray
Published: 21st August 2012
Pages: 400
Genre: YA, Paranormal Romance
Main Characters: Bridget, Matt
Date Read: 2nd September - 9th September 2014
Rating Given:
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Synopsis:
Fifteen-year-old Bridget Liu just wants to be left alone: by her overprotective mom, by Matt Quinn, the cute son of a local police sergeant, and by the eerie voices she can suddenly and inexplicably hear. Unfortunately for Bridget, the voices are demons—and Bridget possesses the rare ability to banish them back to whatever hell they came from. Literally.
Terrified to tell her friends or family about this new power, Bridget confides in San Francisco's senior exorcist, Monsignor Renault, who enlists her help in increasingly dangerous cases of demonic possession. But just as she is starting to come to terms with her freakish new role, Bridget receives a startling message from one of the demons. And when one of her oldest friends is killed, Bridget realizes she's in deeper than she ever thought possible. Now she must unlock the secret to the demons' plan before someone else close to her winds up dead—or worse, the human vessel for a demon king.


Rule #1: Do not show fear.
Rule #2: Do not show pity.
Rule #3: Do not engage.
Rule #4: Do not let your guard down.
Rule #5: They lie.


I have had this book sitting on my shelf for a couple of years now and finally I picked it up and I did enjoy it but I didn't love it...

I love the cover for this book is it one of my all time favourite covers as it stands out over most covers. I love the use of colour but most of all I love the creepy feel to it as it ties in with the book which is always a plus for me.

For me this book I only enjoyed it while I was reading it as when I put it down I didn't feel like I wanted to pick it back up. I haven't read many creepy books so this was new to me and I do feel like I could try more creepy books as this one was a good start. There was a lot of dark and sad moments but there was some funny and sweet moments that balanced everything out. I loved the suspense throughout this book as you never knew what was going to happen next and sometimes I was surprised with some of the outcome. With the romance side of the story I'm still not sure what to think as one minute it seemed like Bridget didn't like Matt then the next thing she didn't hate him anymore. I kind of liked the end as things were cleared up but I do feel like it was left open for a series but I'm not sure that is going to happen anytime soon but I will keep my eyes open to see if there is another one as I'm sure if there was it would just get better as this seemed more like a world building book.

With these characters I liked them but there wasn't one that I loved they where just nice enough. Bridget had a lot to deal with so I could forgive her whiny moments but I did think she was a bit self indulgent. I liked Matt he was sweet even when he had every right not to be considering the way Bridget treated him in the beginning of the book but no he was just always there for her.

Overall for my first Gretchen McNeil book it was a good start and will gladly pick up her other books.

“She felt like a baton getting passed along in a relay race, completely devoid of any control over her destiny.”