Possess by Gretchen McNeil + Giveaway! (CLOSED)

Published August 23, 2011 by Baizer + Bray - ARC
5 Stars
DAC 2011

Goodreads Review
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:  Possess is one of those rare books that has it all: a likable heroine, a thrilling story, lots of great humor, and some very steamy romance.  The plot is a perfect balance of charming banter and creepy demonic possession.  Possess is always interesting, covering all of the plot points well with clear description and interesting writing style that will have readers jumping to read the next page.

First I have a lot of cover love for Possess.  It's what initially drew me to this story.  The cover art and title font fit the book perfectly and really add to the experience of reading Possess.

The best part about possess is the writing style.  It's conversational and even though it's in third person there were a lot of interjections that really added to the story and the overall tone of the book.  Also, the make out scenes in the book were spicy and hot and I loved them.  Possess is constructed well with a plot that moves along and is well supported by the characters.  There is also a clear beginning, middle, and end which a lot of authors seem to neglect.  There wasn't a cliff hanger ending, it felt complete and whole.  However, the ending did leave some room for a sequel if McNeil ever feels like dipping back into Bridget's world, which I sincerely hope she does. 

Bridget is a great character who is well rounded and realistic.  She makes mistakes but learns from them.  Her voice is clear and it is sassy, sarcastic, and full of awesome.  Bridget and her gay BFF Hector would differently be my friends in real life.  I also really liked the love interest Matt Quinn.  He was so sweet and gentle with Bridget  and he never gave up on her.  I also really liked their teenage romance scenes.  That was some HOT making out and I was into it.

This book isn't all fun and games though.  There are some majorly creepy events taking place.  I have always been fascinated by demonic mythology and exorcisms.  The journey Bridget goes on as she tries to find out about her dead father's past and control her special powers is exciting and dangerous.  I thought the descriptions of the possessions and the battles with the demons were very well done and quite scary.  I also loved the explanation of why the demons were there, their objective, and how to defeat them.  The mythology was well explained and very interesting.  I was really invested in this story and could not put the book down because I had to know what was next.

Overall Possess is a creepy mystery that has a funny and intriguing voice and is a complete book that will appeal to many different readers.  Possess appeals with a mysterious plot, snappy dialogue,  and freaky ass possessed dolls.

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