Possess - Gretchen McNeil

Hardcover, 384 pages

Published August 23rd 2011 by Balzer + Bray

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.

4/5 stars!


Let me just start this review by saying that I wasn't expecting to like this book.

I don't know why. I just wasn't. I think it might have something to do with "the cute son of a local police sergeant" in the summary. That made me think that the story was going to be all about her and the perfect love interest. And I hate perfect. Now that I have actually read the book, reading the summary doesn't put me off as it once did, so I don't know what I was thinking.

I just thought I'd mention that just in case there's anyone else out there who shares my distaste in perfect love interests (because I remember high school...perfection does not exist there) and thought "the cute son of a local police sergeant" raised a red flag.

Trust me, Matt, the love interest, is actually a really nice guy who actually genuinely likes Bridget, and the evolution of their relationship is slow and adorable. I liked it a lot.

But unlike a lot of the paranormal YA out there, the romance isn't the point. Bridget is the point. She's gifted. She has the power to banish demons and detect ghosts and all sorts of amazing stuff. And she's getting pretty sick of it. Because, really, that's a lot to take on while she's still reeling from the death of her father and her mother's dual new love interests. Not to mention the fact that her little brother starts seeing ghosts too.

So Bridget's had about enough, and is ready to give up demon-banishing when she finds out that there might be a connection between the demons and her father's death, and her entire world gets turned upside down, and she's left trying to figure everything out while not knowing who to trust.

This book is part horror, part mystery, and part romance and all good. I enjoyed it so much!

Does anyone know if there's going to be a sequel?

I need to know!

-geekgirl