Possess by Gretchen McNeil

Title: Possess

Author: Gretchen McNeil

Reviewed by: Cassie

Rating: 3 glass slippers

Summary (from BN.com)

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

Terrified to tell her friends or family about this new power, Bridget confides in San Francisco’s senior exorcist, Monsignor Renault. The monsignor enlists her help in increasingly dangerous cases of demonic possession, but just as she is starting to come to terms with her freakish new role, Bridget receives a startling message from one of the demons. And when one of her oldest friends is killed, Bridget realizes she’s in deeper than she ever thought possible. Now she must unlock the secret to the demons’ plan before someone else close to her winds up dead—or worse, the human vessel for a demon king.

So I cracked open this book and I see this verse before the book starts-

"My name is Legion," he replied.

"For we are many."

                                             -Mark 5:9

If you don't know the story behind that, CRACK OPEN THE BIBLE! Or, if you're like me, ask someone you know who knows the Bible well, namely my dad. Anyways, it's a really interesting, "whoa" worthy story. And it sets very high standards for the book, because you think "Oh wow! This Gretchen McNeil really knows her Bible and possession shit!" Unfortunately, however, her story does not meet this Bible verse's standards.

The heroine-

Let me tell you, the first issue I think I had with the book was Bridget. Not really her attitude but her GENETICS. She is half-Irish and half-Chinese. Somehow, she has curly brown hair, freckles, and bright blue almond-shaped eyes. I know that half-Asians can have curly brown hair and freckles, but blue eyes? No. It is genetically impossible 99.99% of the time. Also- red curly hair + black Asian hair does not get brown curly hair. My brother, who studied this shit, said that black cancels out red automatically. I'm sure if her mom had BLONDE curly hair than it'd be fine, but... there are so many problems with her 'half-Asian' genetics and actual appearance. And I can judge because I AM one and practically all my cousins are half so I know a lot of diversity of half-Asian looks.

Then there's her attitude. The writing confused me, because usually the story was written like "she slammed the door" but then there were bits like "I am weird." Also, her personality was so messed up! She had this tough-girl vibe going, but really it's just a shell. So during one of her personality switches, I literally slapped the book down and wondered aloud as if speaking to Bridget, "What ARE you?!"

Funny Bridget:

"The familiar tingling ignited in the pit of her stomach. It spread faster this time, swamping her mind with its electricity, its power. It felt exactly like...

Bridget rolled off Matt and scrambled to her feet. She felt like she was going to be sick. [...] She turned her back and pretended to straighten her shirt so he couldn't see her panic.

She heard him sit up and clear his throat. 'Bridge, are you sure you're okay? I hope you're not-"

"I'm fine." She turned to him with a faint smile. "Really." Yeah, perfectly fine except apparently banishing demons and making out with you give me the same sick thrill. PERFECTLY FINE, MATT, THANK YOU! "  pg 287 (you have to read it to find it hilarious)

Revelation that Bridget is a hipster:

"The truck slowed as Matt pulled into her driveway.

"Are you going to Winter Formal?"

His question caught her so off guard, she burst out laughing.

"What's so funny?"

"I don't do dances."

"Why not?"

"Well, the lameness factor for starters."

"You ever been?"

"Hell, no." " pg 74-75 (combat boots and social pariah, too)

I think that she's a total beyotch on the outside but inside, she's a real softie. But sometimes her sudden personality changes would just throw me and so she was only an okay POV to read from, despite how funny she could be. Did I mention she has a hilarious phobia of dolls?

The guy-

Matt is Mr. Dreamy Eyes as a sandy-blonde with yummy hazel eyes. And that horribly perfect, always-winning smile. I thought he was boring and the basic "I will protect you!" boyfriend. However, I think he and Bridget go very well together. EXCEPT- why the heck do I want to read a love confession between a 15-year-old (almost 16) and a probably-17-year-old??? Wrong answer- I don't. Highschool relationships don't last, even IF there's supernatural crap going on. And especially so if the girl is freaking 15.

The BFF-

So... Hector's gay. And funny. And a little chubby. But a good best friend, usually.

The adventure/world-

So, they live in San Francisco but usually we see their Catholic school and random exorcism-related places. It was decent.

Basically it was a decent book that would have deserved a 2.5 for it's mediocre-ness but got 3 because of some hilarious moments.

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Cassie