Elana Johnson

In a world where Thinkers control the population and Rules are not meant to be broken, fifteen-year-old Violet Schoenfeld must make a choice to control or be controlled after learning truths about her "dead" sister and "missing" father.

Possession

Vicky  Nuñez 

Possession was one of those books I picked up with high expectations & that I really wanted to like. 

I had several issues with this book, but the biggest one was the character's credibility. I know people act strange sometimes, but Vi & Jag surpassed that. 

I don't think finishing this book would have relieved my confusion & frustration. Maybe someday I'll pick it up & give it another chance, who knows.

Lisa Collins

Anyone looking through Possession’s online presence will notice very quickly how mixed its reviews are. Many people love it or hate it. But there’s also people like me… in between, and unsure about it.

Possession is a very good book in theory. The idea is engaging and not quite like anything else, but half of the potential must have been lost in translation, because the book I read, to be completely honest, flubbed. The story kept me going and wanting to know what happened next, but I couldn’t shake the feeling of wanting more. This book was wonderfully fast-paced, but I fear the story sometimes suffered as a result. I wouldn’t have minded it going a bit slower if things would have been explained and thought out more thoroughly.

The writing didn’t do it for me. I feel like I could see way too much of the author in the characters. I don’t know anything about what Elana Johnson, but I get the feeling she like’s messy short hair in uncommon colors and guys who are “bad”, but good. (Sure, a lot of people could have the same type of interests, but that’s not my point.) I also wasn’t a fan at all of the “vi/jag-speak” nonsense. Maybe once or twice it would work… but it was used several times too many.

The characters… well, they weren’t terrible, but there wasn’t one character I felt connected to. Any one of them could have died and I don’t think I would have blinked an eye. Violet’s character (the writing of) made it seem like it was work to be sarcastic. The love triangle (Violet, Jag, Zenn) was only lukewarm and I wasn’t rooting for anyone. I would have loved to see more personality from the different characters.

As a whole Possession was interesting enough, but I’m glad I borrowed it from the library as opposed to buying. The whole production felt a little premature, like it needed more nurturing before it was released. There were a lot of unanswered questions, therefore the star rating won't be moving any higher than two-and-a-half or three stars. The story has a ton of potential that wasn’t acted on and I can only hope it gets better during the next book.

A. M. Johnson

Paige Simon was the only girl Declan ever loved. The only one capable of silencing his voices, the only person to ever have faith in who he was, until the day her faith turned to doubt and destroyed everything they'd made together. Declan O 'Connell was the only person Paige could be herself with. The only one she could rely on, until the day she was forced to make a choice that would condemn them both. They've had years apart, and second chances don't belong to the damned. But when you come face to face with your savior, it's almost impossible to walk away. In order to move beyond the sins of their past, and forever silence the demons in his head, they'll have to risk it all. But with love, there are real reasons to be afraid and, sometimes... your salvation is your damnation.

Cat Imb

I received an ARC of this book from Sassy Savvy Fabulous PR in exchange for an honest review. Thank you!

I want to start off by saying kudos to A.M. for writing a romance novel about someone with a mental illness. Not only original, but primordial to romance novel diversity, and demonstrating that everyone deserves to be loved. So for that, I applaud you.

Now here comes the hard part; I never got really into it. I just didn't connect with Paige and Declan. Maybe it was the religion aspect of it, or the fake feeling of Paige background. I wasn't able to really believe in the story - no matter how great the base of the story is. 

I think that what was off is that Paige and Declan just don't seem overly religious, yet it seems like religion is such an integral part of their lives - quoting from the scriptures, praying, lighting candles, etc.

Overall, like the concept, however was slightly disappointed that I didn't get into it.

Jessica Nottingham

Possession was a book that really took me some time to get into. At the beginning, I was enthralled with the dystopian world that Elana Johnson had built. Vi lives with the "Goodies" who are closely monitored by the Thinkers. They are told what to wear, where to live, and there are so many rules in place that Vi feels stifled. Of course that leads her to want to break them. Who else is worth breaking rules for than a boy after all? After walking in the park with her friend Zenn one evening, Vi is arrested, and that is where things started to get really confusing and I lost my sense of connection with the book.

I understood Vi's character. I can't say I particularly liked her, since her personality was really impulsive and kind of abrasive, but I understood her. She just wanted to be free of all the things that were holding her down and her anger was her defensive mechanism. Zenn was a interesting match for her as well, because he was more of a rule follower. I think. Sometimes it was tough to tell exactly what side of things he was on. There's periods in the book where it feels like he might be a mole, and then other parts it feels like he might be a traitor. I honestly never did figure out where his loyalty lies. Then there's Jag. The gorgeous bad boy who Vi is thrown into jail with. He was my favorite character, because his snarky attitude only slightly masked his sweet undertones. I think of all the characters he definitely had the most depth.

When I say that things were confusing, what I really mean is that there are a lot of things that happen that just don't click together. I won't deny that I loved the dystopian world that Elana Johnson built for her characters. The concept of having the Thinkers monitor literally everything was amazing. However the story line starts to break its own set rules after a time. Vi is thrown into a jail cell with Jag, after the book just finishes explaining that men and women are never put together. Then, as she starts to journey with Jag, I found myself even more lost by the chemistry between them. It seemed to me to be out of character for Vi, who initially thought Jag was bad news. I began to wonder if maybe I didn't know Vi's personality as well as I thought I did.

For me, the saving grace of Possession was the mystery. As Vi struggles to learn who she is, and why the Thinkers want her, the reader is treated to little snippets of information about her past and her future. I'll admit that there were still times where I wondered how Vi knew so little about herself, but I chalked it up to the fact that she grew up in a society that stifled her. Vi and Jag have special abilities, which I won't disclose to you, but really add an element of intrigue to the overall plot. It was this addition that really started to draw me back into the story, and helped me finish Vi and Jag's journey.

I realize this review is a rambling mess, but so are my thoughts on this book. I enjoyed the story for the most part, and of course fell in love with Jag, but there were a lot of times that I didn't feel like the plot line followed it's own rules. The dystopian world that was built was amazing, but there wasn't a lot of time spent on delving deeper into it, since Vi and Jag journey away. What I'm trying to say is that this is a good book. It really is. It's the little things, the parts that kept me from being fully immersed, that kept it from being a great book in my eyes. Overall I think Possession is a read that dystopian fans will enjoy. I'm crossing my fingers that we'll see more of Vi and Jag soon, so I can find out more about them.

Toe the line between rule-following and rule-breaking in this tense and twisted start to a smart and sexy dystopian trilogy. Vi knows the Rule: Girls don’t walk with boys, and they never even think about kissing them. But no one makes Vi want to break the Rules more than Zenn…and since the Thinkers have chosen him as Vi’s future match, how much trouble can one kiss cause? The Thinkers may have brainwashed the rest of the population, but Vi is determined to think for herself. But the Thinkers are unusually persuasive, and they’re set on convincing Vi to become one of them….starting by brainwashing Zenn. Vi can’t leave Zenn in the Thinkers’ hands, but she’s wary of joining the rebellion, especially since that means teaming up with Jag. Jag is egotistical, charismatic, and dangerous—everything Zenn’s not. Vi can’t quite trust Jag and can’t quite resist him, but she also can’t give up on Zenn. This is a game of control or be controlled. And Vi has no choice but to play.

Possession

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