Review: Possess by Gretchen McNeil

Title: Possess

Author: Gretchen McNeil

Series: No

Finished or ARC: Finished

Source: Won....I think

Goodreads:

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.

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.

Review (Thank God I saved this in Word): 

This book was AMAZING! If you haven’t read this book yet, do so ASAP! While I do sound like a fan girl right about now, I have every right to be. I mean, once you read the book, I think you’ll be gushing about it to. Well, maybe not as much as me and sound as crazy as me. Anyway….

Looking at the cover, you’d think ghosts, right? Well, you’d be mistaken. The book is about demons and exorcisms and evil. All that good jazz. Yes, for those who love a little romance in their YA tale, there is some. Nothing extremely cheesy (except for one part), by romance nether the less. So to begin…

Bridget is your average teenage girl dealing with bullies and a boy who loves her just too much for her liking. This whole thing with her ability to hear and banish demons is pretty cool. Too bad this all had to manifest within the year of her dad’s death. Sounds like she should be a bit depressed, but she wasn’t.

What I loved about this book was despite all the crap Bridget was dealing with, she still found the time to be with her little brother, Sammy. And when she wasn’t, she had that badass attitude that we all know YA heroines have despite their whole world going crazy. She was able to stay strong and blah blah blah. Yet, unlike some of the other cheesy YA stories, eventually Bridget was able to let out all that emotion she was feeling, but not onto her love interest. Yes, she told Matt about some of the stuff she is dealing with, but nothing that she used his shoulder to cry on. I love that Bridge was that strong.

The whole plot to this story was creepy. Not in the sense of horror movie creepy, but it was close. I was thinking one thing, but then BAM, something else hits me and sends chills up my spine because now I’m in the dark. In addition to the creepy plot, the setting. It was creepy in general. Bridget lives in a fog-covered part of San Francisco. The creepy church with angels starring down at everyone. And then the doll shop. *shivers* That scene was wrong in so many ways, but yet so thrilling and exciting to read about. While there are some parts that are a bit predictable, the whole book is basically a guessing game. Who’s going to die? Is she going to pick that boy or this one? Is she going to blow up and yell at the crazed guy that’s obsessed with her? Yeah, this book was great.

Romance wise…small love triangle. Well, more like a love L. At the bottom, two people really like each other, but unfortunately, there is someone hanging on to the middle person (Bridget) that just won’t let go. The chemistry between Bridget and Matt was cute. Of course, there is the old cliché that she is fighting him off because of some reason that the readers wish wasn’t an issue, but in this case, I think an exception can be made. After all, it deals with her mom and Matt’s dad…get the picture? No, it’s nothing gross, but it gets to the point that it makes things awkward when Matt finally finds out. It’s hilarious.

Matt. Matt was interesting, yet a very stereotypical YA male. I loved him, but wish he was bit different. Star athlete, popular, but falls for the heroine who isn’t popular herself. No, he’s not an anxious jock, but he’s like the boy next door basically. (He actually was at one point before he moved away.) But of course, what girl isn’t looking for that boy next door to sweep her off her feet? (Girls that want bad boys, duh. But not me in this case.) I loved his humor and the way he conned Bridget into things. That was funny.

Can’t really hope for a sequel. Gretchen isn’t known for doing sequels (wish she was!). But the ending was great (for once).

Rating & Cover: