POSSESS by Gretchen McNeil

The blurb:

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.


The afterglow:

Honestly, I didn't know what I was going to think of this book. From everything I'd heard, it was written very well, but it just didn't quite sound like something I would enjoy. But my online book group (YA Today on goodreads, they're awesome!) decided they wanted to read this spooky book for October, so I gave it a go.

It was so not what I was expecting. Even though there were plenty of scenes that made me jump, I was still able to sleep last night because of the humor she included. The characters were believable, and all unique--I especially liked Hector, who I hope we see more of if there's a sequel (I hope there's a sequel)!

And here's the gold: Gretchen McNeil did her research. It's true that I am not a member of the Catholic Church, but from reading others reviews and just from the consistency in the book, it's obvious that she put a lot of hard work into making sure she was accurate. I admire that so much and it made the story so much more enjoyable to read.

There was a little too much language for me at some points, and some of the adults acted too young for their age, but I've been seeing both a lot in YA nowadays. If you're looking for a thrilling read for Halloween, or any other time of the year, pick this book up! I couldn't put it down!

♥tg