Book Review: The Possession by J.D. Spikes

The Possession (Secret Journals #1)

J.D. Spikes

ARC Disclaimer: I was not paid in any way by the publishers to review this book favourably. The review is my own honest opinion (Whether or not it is agreed with).

Publisher: Lachesis Publishing

Pages: 212

Genre:  Paranormal, Romance, Horro, Young Adult

Daphne Wentworth is almost seventeen, definitely a red head, and most likely the tallest girl in her class, which is awkward to say the least when it comes to dating boys in her school. But she doesn’t have to worry about school for the next two months since she’s spending the summer at her aunt Dwill’s lighthouse in Maine. What she does have to worry about is seeing ghosts in the lighthouse cemetery, having strange dreams, and hearing the voices of star-crossed lovers who lived two-hundred years ago. And then there’s a local boy named Zach Philbrook who works for her aunt. He’s too gorgeous for his own good. He’s also very tall, with midnight black hair, and the most beautiful indigo blue eyes Daphne has ever seen. Zach is treated like an outcast by the local teens in town. He’s Micmac and therefore not “one of the gang”. Daphne can’t help being drawn to his strength, especially considering that he’s had to live his entire life dealing with ignorance. But the local teens aren’t the only trouble-makers in town. As Zach and Daphne get closer, the lighthouse ghost lovers begin haunting them. When Daphne and Zach try to figure out how to fight them, the spirits get bolder and more dangerous. So how do you protect yourself from something that isn’t really there?

The Possession is a book about curses, ghosts and prejudices. It is set in a small town and lighthouse where the main character, Daphne is helping her aunt out. She meets the Native American, Zach while helping to clean the lighthouse’s graveyard and then everything starts to go crazy.

My main issue with The Possession is the suddenness of the romance. There is absolutely no build-up or courting it is just BAM they meet for the first time (despite her having visited this area for years) BAM they are in love and act as if they are girlfriend and boyfriend. Excepting that, they did have a rather good portrayal of relationship that is going from new to serious, so if Spikes hadn’t just skipped to there it would have been done quite well.

Lack of build-up was also at fault with the mystery as well. It felt like we went straight from nothing to everything. I did enjoy the mystery, however. I loved reading about the ghostly couple and the troubles they went through trying to have a bi-racial bi-cultural relationship in that time period. I also enjoyed how the “curse” caused this relationship to repeat itself generation after generation.

I also loved the setting of the old lighthouse. It was something different and highly interesting.

I have to mention the ridiculousness near the end of this book. All the kids who had been very discriminatory towards Zach pretty much since the moment he arrived in the town, added with how predatory and rude they had been to Daphne. There is no way I could ever believe that they would have a complete change of heart and suddenly just want to help. Life doesn’t work that way. Not so suddenly and it made for cringe-worthy reading, I’m sorry to say. It knocked me completely out of the book. It also throws out the theme of racial issues that can happen, writing it off as something that solves itself in an instant.

Maybe, with the one main girl from town it could be somewhat believable, we deal with her for much of end bit and her coming to terms with the ghost I can understand, but those kids who went straight from hard core bullying and sexual advances to “I WILL HELP YOU!”, not so much.

I thing I did enjoy was how our main couple dealt with the issue of sex. It felt very real. It’s not always a clear-cut easy decision especially when you’re younger and you’re getting advice from all sorts of places. I like how they had both brought condoms, showing that they kind of wanted to, but how in the end that indecision made Daphne decide she just wasn’t ready quite yet. I really do think that was an interesting touch.

Do you like ghostly mysteries? Do you like lighthouses? Do you like fated romances at are bi-racial, bi-culture? Then it doesn't hurt to pick up this book and give it a try

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