Possessed -- Kate Cann

It's late August, blisteringly hot in sixteen-year-old Rayne Peters' fourth-story flat, and the threat of violence hangs over the entire Estate. Her boyfriend relishes the idea of it, the drama of it, but all Rayne wants is space. And quiet. Not just space and quiet, but isolation.

So she applies for, and accepts, a job in the country. It doesn't pay a whole lot, but it'll take her away. Away from her demanding mother and her adorable (but equally demanding) younger brother; away from the heat and the noise and the London crowds; away from her boyfriend, who, in the rare moments that Rayne is completely truthful with herself, she knows she doesn't even like all that much.

Once she's settled, she finds the quiet she so desires. She even finds the possibility of a real, reciprocated romance. But the peace she finds comes with a price: There are dark secrets at Morton's Keep.

I loved Possessed. For one thing, Rayne isn't your typical Goody-Goody Paranormal Heroine -- in addition to lying and manipulating her way out of London, she's perfectly, unrepentantly, ready-and-willing to go after a guy that she knows someone else has her eye on.

Even more attractive to me was the tone and setting: It reads like the YA offspring of the Dark is Rising sequence and a Barbara Michaels novel. Sounds weird, I know, but it really did: It had the heavy, almost muffled atmosphere of The Dark is Rising, as well as the Discovering the Secret Truth Behind Old Traditions storyline, and like any Barbara Michaels novel, it starred an Outsider Heroine Experiencing Suspenseful and Dangerous Gothic Romance. 

My only complaints are that there's a borderline ridiculous Villain Explains All monologue and that the climax feels hurried (especially when compared with the rest of the book), but neither of those things are Major Complaints, as they both jive with the Barbara Michaels feel. TOTALLY looking forward to the sequel.

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Book source: ILLed through my library.