Tori's Review: Possession by Elana Johnson

Hardcover: 416 pages
Price: $17.99
ISBN: 978-1442421257 
Released: June 7, 2011
Publisher: Simon & Schuster 
Author's Website: Elana Johnson
Buy it: Amazon
Obtained: Amazon Vine 
Genre: YA - Dystopian 
Series: Possession 
Book Order:
1. Possession

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.

My Rating: DNF

My Opinion:
I am a bad, bad girl... I requested this title solely because it looked pretty on Amazon Vine.

Hypocrite much? And here I was, "lecturing" readers not to judge a book by its cover on Stella's blog a few weeks ago. Oh I am ridiculous sometimes.

Despite how many attempts I made to sit down and read POSSESSION (at least five different times and couldn't make it past page 20), I simply could not get into this story.

Perhaps it's burnout again. It's possible that I'm getting sick of the same typical dystopian societies in YA now. The girls are either baby makers, zombies are eating brains, or love is forbidden and girls are paired up with boys they're initially madly in love with... until they meet "the bad boy." Then all bets are off.

I thought I had quite some time before I began complaining about dystopians, but apparently, POSSESSION was the final push to make me wary of yet another YA genre.

Honestly, I think the more likely culprit was the fact that the heroine's voice left me uninterested. I had no idea what the hell was going on in the world, and frankly, I could not get myself to care--even within the first ten pages.

I'm not one to give up on a book without at least getting through 50 pages, but I couldn't make myself continue. If I'm flipping back and counting down until I'm done with a book, I already know the author's lost me; it's like reading high school US history books all over again.

Unfortunately, this one's a DNF for me.