Review: Possess by Gretchen McNeil

Book: Possess by Gretchen McNeil
Pages: 384
Source: Bought
Spoiler Free: Yes

Fifteen-year-old Bridget Liu just wants to be left alone: by her mom, by the cute son of a local police sergeant, and by the eerie voices she can suddenly and inexplicably hear. Unfortunately for Bridget, it turns out the voices are demons – and Bridget has the rare ability to banish them back to whatever hell they came from.

Terrified to tell people about her new power, Bridget confides in a local priest who enlists her help in increasingly dangerous cases of demonic possession. But just as she is starting to come to terms with her new power, Bridget receives a startling message from one of the demons. Now Bridget must unlock the secret to the demons' plan before someone close to her winds up dead – or worse, the human vessel of a demon king.

I've been waiting this book for over a month! The minute it came out, I rushed to B&N (Barnes and Noble) as soon as I could.

I really liked this book (shall I say love?) but I set my expectations a little too high. I read rave reviews about this book, all good. So, unfortunately, not all my expectations were met. However, it didn't stop me from really enjoying this book.

The prose was smooth and easy to follow. I liked the narration, as it was told through third person but through Bridget's point of view. Speaking of narration, I love Bridget. Bridget was a refreshing change in the seas of whiny heroines in the YA genre. She speaks her own mind, and doesn't give in so easily. I especially love her colorful, sarcastic language, it makes her own individual. She also doesn't give in to the tempting lures of the adorable Matt Quinn. I got to give props to Gretchen to making such a swoon-able character!

The romance in this book was great. I love how Bridget doesn't succumb to Matt at first, not like the regular girls who give in to a dreamy guy. She built up a hard shell and slowly shed it as she trusted Matt. Nothing screams better about this than "well developed relationship"!

All the possessions and exorcisms throughout the book weren't exciting as I hoped it would be. Maybe because I didn't read the book at night, but it definitely was not boring. Gretchen spun such creepy descriptions in each of the exorcisms, each of which left a grotesque image in my head. Actually, I think I'm glad now that I didn't read this when it was dark...

It was really interesting to see who was the bad guy in this book. Gretchen kept leading me to a door that suspected one person, that lead to another door that suspected another person! It was totally mind blowing to see who was the true villain.

The ending did pretty much wrap things up, leaving enough space for a sequel although I'm not sure if there will be one. It would be nice if there was.

In all, Possess was fast paced and addicting. The snarky, awesome heroine with her hunky sidekick and the trials she faces were just so fun to read! I can't wait to read what else Gretchen has in store for her readers, because she's just an amazing writer!

Rating: 4.7 Stars

Cover Love? YES! I'm a huge fan of the color blue. The girl on the cover is super pretty too.

Recommend It? If you'd enjoy horror/suspense paranormal with romance, this YA book is for you!