Possessions
by Nancy Holder
pub: Sept 2009
304 pages
Synopsis:
New-girl Lindsay discovers all is not right at the prestigious Marlwood Academy for Girls. Ethereal, popular Mandy and her clique are plotting something dangerous. Lindsay overhears them performing strange rituals, and sees their eyes turn black.
It doesn’t help that the school itself is totally eerie, with ancient, dilapidated buildings tucked into the Northern California woods, a thick white fog swirling through campus. There are hidden passageways, odd reflections in the windows at night, and scariest of all is the vast lake rumored to have captured the ghost of a girl who drowned many years ago.
What Lindsay doesn’t yet realize is that Mandy and her cohorts are becoming possessed by spirits who have haunted the school for two hundred years. Spirits who want someone dead...And that someone is Lindsay.
Lindsay and Julie are both sympathetic and believeable. Mean girl Mandy is realistic and doesn't go into cliche territory. However, there is the whole other crowd of Mandy's minions that I had a hard time keeping track of because...there were just so many. And since most of them didn't have much to do with the plot, I wasn't sure why they were there and why we had to know so much about them.
Lots of parties and pranks took up pages and quite frankly I kept wondering when the paranormal aspect was coming in. When if finally did, it was great. But I need more paranormal in my plot, and please give it to me sooner.
The book blurb tells us that Mandy and her clique are possessed by deadly spirits who have haunted Marlwood for two hundred years, but Lindsay doesn't have any ghostly confrontations until after page 230. I kept skimming, waiting for the urban fantastical excitement to start and became hooked at page 262. Unfortunately, the book ended about 40 pages later.
Holder writes well and readers who like a generous dose of teenage drama and high school angst will be happy to possess Possessions. I know it will find a good home with one of our lucky winners. It just isn't for me. The paranormal situations that Lindsay found herself in were very interesting, but there weren't enough of them for those who prefer a stronger dollop of supernatural in the plot.
My thoughts on the cover:
I'm not a fan of seeing a character's actual face, but she's cute. Overall the cover seems a bit Photo Shopped to me also. I do like the creepy haunted house in the background and the idea of the girl-in-peril, I just would have preferred to have most of her face shrouded in shadows.
We have a copy of Possessions available in our MegaBook Giveaway so go to the contest post to win this or a choice of over 20 other wonderful books!
66 comments:
Nice review girlie! I'm still on the fence about this one...yay I got more entries for your giveaway!
Great review--but not a book I'd pick up.
Perhaps it's because I loathe the cover...
Eleni - I know what you mean. Glad you got more points!
TJ - I'm with you on the cover. With all the great ones I've seen lately, this one pales. Covers influence me big time.
Great review. I have mixed feelings on the cover. But her books are at the top of my wishlist so I would still read it.
This book has been on my TBB list but I'm still not sure about it.Is this a start to a series?
Great review! I actually kinda like the cover.
I like that you were reviewed honestly about this book. I'm sorry to hear it didn't get good until late in the story.
Great review! I think I'll wait awhile to get this one.
Not really sure if I like or don't like the cover, though. I think I'm sick of seeing faces all the time... Thanks for the wonderful review!
Boy are you going to have a good old time with all these entries :)
Pity it dosn't seem to have much in the way of supernatural trouble. Oh well, it still sounds interesting. :)
This seems to be the new trend with covers...putting a close-up head shop of the character. I'm not sure I'm that into it. I want to imagine my characters and not have to go by the character. Great review, thanks for the info. I think I entered the contest...LOL
I share your feelings on the cover. A close-up face shot tends to take away from the mystery of the novel. And I like being able to imagine the characters for myself. Plus, me being me, I initially find myself judging the book by the character on the cover rather that the story itself, haha.
Great review!
Donnas – Thanks. I’m a bit mixed on the cover but overall I don’t care for it much.
Elaing8 – I don’t know but it could be. I haven’t checked it our.
Throuthehaze – see, everyone is so different! I love that!
Jessy – thanks. I like to explain what I don’t like because someone else might enjoy it. We all have different tastes.
Krista – you can always get it from the library. I’m never one to like the faces on the cover. Yes lots of entries but we’re loving it! Thanks!
Orchid – it was disappointing to get to little paranormal, which is my fav!
ParaJunkee – I agree on wanting to imagine my characters. Intertwined worked for me because you couldn’t see his face. Yes you entered…Good Luck!
This book looks so good. I love creepy-esk books.
I don't think by any means this cover is one of the best covers I've seen but I do actually like it. Mostly due to the purple:)
-Dani
The reason I don't like shot like that of the character is because a lot of times they don't look nothing like the description..I am not sure abou this book.
I like the idea of her face being covered in shadows, right not it's too, dunno-
But sounds cool
The book seems good, but i'm not very interesting in it..
And you are right the cover is totally "photoshopied"
Excellent review :)
Oh no, Alyssa. If you didn't like it, I don't know if I would. For the most part, we seem to have similar taste in books :)
Yeah, and the front cover looks amateur and unprofessional.
I don't think I would choose this book to receive if I had the choice.
This book looks good, I agree with characters on covers, though I usually end up imagining a different looking character anyway. =P
boarding school, mental breakdown. . .this totally sounds like a book for me.
Great review!
This sounds like a book I'll have to check out from the library (: Worth reading once? Good review!
Looks pretty good, and the cover is very interesting. ^^
Hmm... I'm not sure about the cover either, but I do like your review. :)
It's too bad that you only had about 40 pages of "hooked" reading.
Dani – yes it can be creepy. And I like the purple too.
Stormi – I like to come up with a character visual on my own too.
Blodeuedd – I think a lot of people would enjoy this.
Sheere – It wasn’t for me either.
Juju – thanks!
Bhumi – You might give it a try at the library!
Mandy – me too! Or I at least like the chance to do so!
Brizmus – Thanks, I know this will appeal to lots of readers.
Faith – Can’t go wrong with a library read!
Mariana – you might like it.
Jessica – I was bummed too!
Wow, Alyssa, you're on a roll!
Oh I really wanna read this one...I do like the cover, but it's not "the best I have seen ever" LOL :)
Bhumi - I'm trying. We've been swamped with so many things!
Jenn - I so glad this book can get to people who will enjoy it!
I want to read this book really bad and your review made me want to even more thanks!
this is on my list of wishes. :)
I have not read this book by Nancy Holder yet. Great review.
Great review! I love the cover!
the book sounds good.. i like to read it!
I love the word 'haunted' on the reviews so i'm sure i'm gonna like the book :D
I love it when people are completely honest in their reviews. I've read a couple of reviews on this and they all seem to say the same thing.
I didn't like the cover from the beginning, so another ok review makes me happy I never picked this one up.
:D Nikki
Great review. I'm not sure whether I'd like this book or not.
Gorgeous book cover! I really liked it. The girl reminds me of Vanessa Hudgens lol
Since I don't discriminate much on books, would love to read this, if I've got enough time to do so :P
I've heard good things about this book! Can't wait to try it out for myself. Sorry it wasn't your cup of tea though.
Mariah – I’m glad it’s something that works for you!
GF – we love to grant wishes!
Elnice – Holder has a several popular books.
Giuly – I’m happy this book will find a good home.
Mariska – I love paranormal too!
Nikki – thanks for the support. I hate to be negative but my negative can be someone else’s positive.
Rebecca – there’s always the library for those question marks.
Ruby – I see the resemblance! I envy you so much time. Hope you get to read this one and enjoy it!
Llehn – my flavor could be yours…that’s what I love about discussing books!
Good luck to everyone and thanks for participating!
This book sounds so good and the review is great.
Good review! Does seem like the type of book I wouldn't really enjoy. You're right about the cover too!
Milka - thanks!
bunny B - Thanks! It's not for everyone but I'm hoping it gets the right home!
I find the cover model's expression less scared more awkward- I think they could have picked a better image of her.
Seahn - yeah, the cover could have been so much better!
This book sounds very good. Pity about the cover, which could've been so much better.
Nice review but almost sounds like the "B" rated movies I grew up with. Still I am interested in reading it for myself
Sounds like a great book. Hate the cover though...
Btw, thanks for the extra entries!
Sounds interesting! :D
You know what - maybe I'll borrow it from the library. Although I already have enough books to read at home...
I'm a bit unsure about the cover...but since it's paranormal, i'll give it a try :P
Great review! I have been looking forward to reading this, I won a copy so hopefully I'll enjoy it more than you did when I get it. I like the idea for the story, so fingers crossed!
Something seems kinda off about the cover, but maybe that's just me not liking huge faces on covers?
Thanks for the review, doesn't sound like my kind of book though.
Great review for the book. I'd have to agree with many here on the cover though. If I saw that in a bookstore, without a review to guide me, it would probably make me pass it up.
I really enjoyed this book as well!
Sounds great! Sounds like something I would enjoy reading.
Yeah, the cover kind of threw me off too, pepsivanilla.
Thanks for the interview! I've seen a lot of Nancy Holden's book around the blogospehere lately, but not too many actual reviews!
I dislike the cover a lot but the story sounds pretty good, will keep this one on the "possible" list LOL
Good review- bad cover.
Yes, more entries for you giveaway!
What do you think of this book's cover? I hate the cover. It looks like some cheesy advertisement or hallmark movie... sorry if that's harsh but I HATE this cover.
I feel the same way about the cover, but the book itself sounds pretty good.
Sorry it wasn't your cup of tea.
Nice reivew. I haven't read any of Nancy's books yet but this one sounds good.
nice review.
too sad to know that there's very less paranormal aspect !
Hmmm I don't know. It seems to be that not only was the cover unsatisfactory but so was the plotline of the book.
Either way, I tend to like books with nice covers, and this isn't one of those books, unfortunately.
we're getting these in at the library soon, I'm excited to read them!
Is it a series, BrittLit?
Great review, I've heard a few different things about this book. :o)
-Lisa
alifeboundbybooks@hotmail.com
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