The Army of Ten

There is a recruitment going on. It is to promote Gretchen McNeil's new book TEN. If you would like to help spread the word, then join her army at Army of Ten!

What is TEN all about?

Shhhh!
Don't spread the word! Three-day weekend. House party.
White Rock House on Henry Island.
You do not want to miss it.

It was supposed to be the weekend of their lives—three days on Henry Island at an exclusive house party. Best friends Meg and Minnie each have their own reasons for wanting to be there, which involve their school's most eligible bachelor, T. J. Fletcher, and look forward to three glorious days of boys, bonding, and fun-filled luxury.

But what they expect is definitely not what they get, and what starts out as fun turns dark and twisted after the discovery of a DVD with a sinister message: Vengeance is mine.

Suddenly, people are dying, and with a storm raging outside, the teens are cut off from the rest of the world. No electricity, no phones, no internet, and a ferry that isn't scheduled to return for three days. As the deaths become more violent and the teens turn on each other, can Meg find the killer before more people die? Or is the killer closer to her than she could ever imagine?

Why don't you buy it? Sounds good, doesn't it! I know I'm planning to buy it very soon! I read Agatha Christie's "And Then There Were None" which was one of the influences in writing TEN. I really enjoyed Agatha Christie's book so I am looking forward to the modern spin that Gretchen McNeil has taken for TEN. It would make for a great read before Halloween!

Recently, I also read and reviewed her other novel, Possess. For that review please click here: Possess!
And if you want to buy Possess, then you can find it here!

Possess by Gretchen McNeil

Possess by Gretchen McNeil

378 pages
2011, Balzer + Bray
My Rating: 4/5

Description(From Goodreads.com - shortened):

Rule #1: Do not show fear.
Rule #2: Do not show pity.
Rule #3: Do not engage.
Rule #4: Do not let your guard down.
Rule #5: They lie.

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.

My Review:

I really enjoyed this book. I was a bit hesitant at first because of the major Catholic themes in the book, but it all worked out. I am an atheist so I tend to roll my eyes over religious talk and I was worried that there would be a lot in this book that I didn't care about. I was very pleased to see that there wasn't much of a religious agenda at all and that the plot was great!

Bridget is our protagonist. She is half Chinese, which is something I haven't seen in a protagonist before (in books, obviously), and her personality is quite spunky. She has a gay friend so I enjoyed that there were pro LGBTQ themes. The other characters were realistic and likable. I liked the variety of characters.

I was worried about romance, but I liked the direction this book took it. In particular, Bridget's mom is involved in a love triangle that involves Bridget's best friend's dad. I thought that was an interesting touch because it isn't often that we see a love triangle that involves the parents!

The plot was really well done and I think this was my favourite aspect of the book. Some bits were predictable, but there were so many layers to the story that I couldn't help but try to anticipate what was going to happen next. The book read like a creepy mystery, and I found I especially loved the creepy scenes. There were several instances where I was creeped out and I really enjoyed that. Alongside the creepy scenes, there was a phrase that jumped out at me a few times for comic relief: "Sweet cartwheeling Jesus!"

This was a really nice read to have right before Halloween. I would definitely recommend it to anyone looking to read a YA horror/paranormal story. Plus, look at that cover! It is so beautiful. :)