Review: Possess

Title: Possess
Author: Gretchen McNeil
Publisher: Balzar + Bray
Find it here: Amazon, Goodreads
Source: Purchased

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.

My take:

I bought this book for three reasons: 1.  I saw a whole bunch of bloggers get advanced copings and they all said they were super excited to read it and that it would be really good to read around Halloween because it sounds scary.  2. Gretchen McNeil was going to be at the Orange County Book Fair, signing and promoting her book on a panel of authors.  3.  The cover is incredibly creepy looking!  Honestly, these reasons aren't very good reasons to buy a book.  I hadn't actually read a single review before I purchased this book to gauge whether or not I would like it.  And let me tell you, my standards are not very high for horror books.  If it scars me, I like it.  

I'm not going to outright say it was a terrible book because it had it's scary parts like the room full of porcelain dolls scene.  But I could also tell that it was a debut novel and the authors very first book.  The setting was good, in my opinion, which helped to give it an ominous effect.  I'm pretty sure is was set in San Francisco so it was always foggy and added to the whole creep factor. 

The reason why it just didn't seem all that scary to me is because the main character never seemed genuinely scared.  Bridget is very snarky, which I normally like, but if all this crazy demon stuff was really happening, any normal person would be scared out of their pants, instead of constantly making funny remarks.  I would definitely classify this book as very light horror.  Side note: what priest in their right mind employs the help of a teenage girl to help him exercise demons!?!

In conclusion, it was an okay book, but if you're a hard-core horror fan such as I, skip this book.  It was disappointing.  Another book added to the "don't judge a book by it's cover shelf". 

Review- Personal Demons

Title: Personal Demons
Author: Lisa Desrochers
Series: Personal Demons #1
Publisher: Tor Teen
Find it here: Amazon, Goodreads
Source: Purchased

Frannie Cavanaugh is a good Catholic girl with a bit of a wicked streak. She has spent years keeping everyone at a distance---even her closest friends---and it seems as if her senior year is going to be more of the same . . . until Luc Cain enrolls in her class. No one knows where he came from, but Frannie can’t seem to stay away from him.

What she doesn’t know is that Luc is on a mission. He’s been sent from Hell itself to claim Frannie’s soul. It should be easy---all he has to do is get her to sin, and Luc is as tempting as they come. Frannie doesn’t stand a chance. But he has to work fast, because if the infernals are after her, the celestials can’t be far behind. And sure enough, it’s not long before the angel Gabriel shows up, willing to do anything to keep Luc from getting what he came for. It isn’t long before they find themselves fighting for more than just Frannie’s soul.

But if Luc fails, there will be Hell to pay . . . for all of them.

My thoughts: 

When I heard that Lisa Desrochers was going to be at the Orange County Children's Book Fair, I knew that I Had to at leas read one of her books.  So I picked up Personal Demons and I ended up liking what I read.  I had a hard time getting into the flow of the writing style but the story was just too interesting to give up that easily.

I felt the characters are very distinct and there's no question of whose good and whose evil.  It's very laid out from the start.

Surprisingly, the main character Frannie was my least favorite character.  Mainly because I don't like people who can't make a decision.  And let me tell you, Frannie can't decide between Luc and Gabriel.  To me, there's no need to make a decision at all! I'm with Luc all the way.  But of course, I always go for the bad boy types.  

So we have Frannie who is, more often than not, making out with both of these boys, one a demon and one an angel.  Now I can expect this kind of behavior from a demon but seriously Gabriel! You're supposed to be making sure she remains pure and that her soul is not going to hell! 

Luc's character is very dynamic and he changes dramatically through the novel which makes him one of my favorite characters.  Towards the end he finds himself lost and questioning his purposed and mission.

Personal Demons is definitely one of the more hot and steamier novels in YA right now.  I hope in Original Sin that we get to see some of the scenes from Gabriel's perspective.  

Review- Hex Hall

Title: Hex Hall
Author: Rachel Hawkins
Series: Hex Hall #1
Publisher: Hyperion Book
Find it here: Amazon, Goodreads
Source: Purchased

Three years ago, Sophie Mercer discovered that she was a witch.  It's gotten her into a few scrapes.  Her non-gifted mother has been as supportive as possible, consulting Sophie's estranged father--en elusive European warlock--only when necessary.  But when Sophie attracts too much human attention for a prom-night spell gone horribly wrong, it's her dad who decides her punishment: exile to Hex Hall, an isolated reform school for wayward Prodigium, a.k.a. witches, faeries, and shapeshifters.

By the end of her first day among fellow freak-teens, Sophie has quite a scorecard: three powerful enemies who look like supermodels, a futile crush on a gorgeous warlock, a creepy tagalong ghost, and a new roommate who happens to be the most hated person and only vampire student on campus.  Worse, Sophie soon learns that a mysterious predator has been attacking students, and her only friend is the number one suspects.

As a series of blood-curdling mysteries starts to converge, Sophie prepares for the biggest threat of all: an ancient secret society determined to destroy all Prodigium, especially her.  

My thoughts: 

Hex Hall was a really fun read and a cute series that I can't wait to finish.  The aspect I enjoyed most about this book is the boarding school.  I love books that take place in boarding schools because there aren't any parents to have to worry about, there's only a few teachers and not all that many chaperons and a lot of crazy things can happen.

I also like that there is a mix of supernatural beings in this book and they all seem to get along, more or less.  But I would think that there would be crazier things happening since they are all attending the school  because they've been unable to control their powers.  So in the beginning, you have the normal antics of high school, the mean girls picking on the new girl and so on.  But then things start to get interesting when other students start making innuendos about Sophie's dad, three other girls practically force her to join their coven and her classmates are almost being murdered.

I really enjoy books that bring family history into the characters.  Sophie's family history is rich with extremely dark magic that has effected her whole hereditary!  Even by the end of the book, we've only scratched the surface of what has happened in the past leaving much more to be discovered in coming books.  There's also so much mystery and action going on that it left me wanting to read Demonglass right away!

Although it was a little surfacey and shallow, it was still a thoroughly enjoyable read.

Review- The Devouring

Title: The Devouring
Author: Simon Holt
Publisher: Little, Brown Young Readers
Find it here: Amazon, Goodreads
Source: Library book

"When dark creeps in and eats the light,
Bury your fears on Sorry Night.
For in the winter's blackest hours,
Comes the feasting of the Vours,
No one can see it, the life they stole,
Your body's here but not your soul..."

THE VOURS: Evil, demonic beings that inhabit human bodies on Sorry Night, the darkest hours of the winter solstice.

When Reggie reads about the Vours in a mysterious old journal, she assumes they are just the musings of an anonymous lunatic.  But when her little brother, Henry, begins to act strangely, it's clear that these creatures exist beyond a madwoman's imagination, and Reggie finds out what happens when fears come to life.

To save the people she loves, Reggie must learn to survive in a world of nightmares.  Can she devour her own fears before they devour her?

My thoughts:

I loved this book! I was a little hesitant to pick it up for a couple reasons. 1. It's a little bit older of a book and I hadn't heard much about.  2. It's a bargain book on Amazon (sometimes a bad sign). 3. The synopsis makes it sound kind of weird and definitely different.  I was completely thrown off by all these factors and ended up falling in love after only a few chapters.  I was so engrossed that I read it in one sitting!

The Devouring is a horror novel so for all of you who don't like horror, you will most likely not like it.  But I love horror!  Ever since I read Carrie by Stephen King in the seventh grade, I have loved horror books! It's something about not knowing what's lurking around the next corner that sucks me right in.  Not only is the Devouring horrifying, but it's also somewhat gruesome.  Author Simon Holt does not spare on the details.  Since I read this whole book in broad daylight, I wonder if I would have had a hard time reading it at night.  It makes me think about all my worst fears and what it would feel like to be overwhelmed by them.  It kind of gives me the creeps.

The Devouring is also part mystery, the characters trying to figure out how the Vours work and where they come from while trying to save the life of a child.  There's also the mystery of the journal and trying to figure out if the scenes depicted actually happened or if they were just the ramblings of a crazy person.  Then there's something mysterious going on with the bookshop owner that he's not letting on just yet.  Which of course means I can't wait to read the next one so that I can find out more!

I just loved this book so much because it was a mix of the two things I love the most: mystery and intrigue with horror.  I can't wait to dive right into Soulstice and find out more about the Vours!