Julianna Scott

It's hard to forgive and forget. It's hard to give up the role of protector. It's hard to know whether the choices made are the right ones or the wrong ones. Becca knows all about these hardships and it's something she battles with from the moment they arrive at St. Brigid's. If only that was the only thing she had to face.

I really love this story and here's my reasons why.

The Holders by Julianna Scott tells the story of Becca, a seventeen-year-old, as she protects her brother Ryland from show more the people that seem to only want to take him from her. Ever since he began hearing voices or rather thoughts, psychiatrists and doctors have been constantly trying to take him away but of course, it is for his own good. They can help him. Becca doesn't buy it. So when she comes home from work to find him hiding because their mother has decided to send him away, she is extremely angry. But these two men claim to be different. She is about to find out just how much. Determined to not leave Ryland alone with these men, she convinces them to let her come along until he is settled. But quickly it becomes clear that as relationships, friendships, and feelings of security developed, the desire to go home is blurred to the point that she questions whether she should leave at all. Will she? Or rather, can she?

Becca is strong willed, feisty, protective, and very loving. I guess the whole love and protect thing intertwines but I think love is the a very soft emotion while protectiveness can be a hardening emotion. From the beginning, I could tell how much of a parental role she had taken in her family. If her father wasn't going to be there to protect them, she was going to do his job. Her attitude is less stubborn and more strong willed, she isn't outright stubborn just to be stubborn and she is open to all the other options out there but once she's formed an opinion, her ideas are hard to sway. Honestly, I love her. I like that she is an open, forgiving person. It's not to say that she can't hold a grudge, because she can, but she doesn't get upset over the little things that people typically freak out over. She is the type of character that I love reading and wish that I could be more like.

I was excited that the romance or rather the potential romance was introduced basically from the beginning. I mean, it's not like I am all about the romance but when there is some, I like when it's set up right and not delayed until the middle of the story. Plus, it's a great subplot throughout the whole story. Alex actually had a big part outside of being the love interest of Becca and I love that. It's hard when the love interest is simply the love interest and that's their only purpose. During the story, I got to realize what role he played in the Holder world and why his loyalty to the race is so important. The blossoming relationship between Alex and Becca takes a toll on him though sometimes I think his actions are completely necessary. Anyway, he's gorgeous and wonderful. Totally swoon worthy.

I think Becca has a tense relationship with both her parents but it's pretty understandable. Sadly, her mother didn't play as much of a part as I would've liked and in fact, after awhile she isn't really mentioned. I think I would've liked to see more of the dynamic of the mother daughter relationship. Although, her father, Jocelyn (LOL it's such a girl name), plays a lot bigger part despite the fact that Becca hates him. Her father abandoned her as well as her mother and brother just after Ryland was born and that cut her pretty deep. Mostly because he hadn't told them he was leaving like a normal person, no instead he had left a letter meant to tear her mother apart. How can she forgive that? She is forced to face him once again when she travels to St. Brigid's and all of the hurt resurfaces. Throughout the story, she determines he doesn't care that much for her and he is controlling like he knows what she should do with her life. She worries that he wants her to be like him and that is why she pushes him away.

Chloe can be described as Becca's best friend. She is super bubbly which makes her just plain entertaining to read. I've met a lot of people who fit her description and it can be overwhelming as well as exhausting, for it is hard to keep up with them. Chloe is great though, I was glad that Becca wasn't surrounded by men the whole time and that she had a girlfriend like Chloe. They balanced each other out very well.

Ryland is a great little brother. In the beginning he is super shy and scared of everything which makes him depend on Becca a lot throughout the beginning. But once they arrive at St. Brigid's, he grows into a greater person. He has found people that understand him and his condition and with a charm made to help him control his powers, the voices disappeared. He finally has a chance to be normal. I love that I got to see how much he grew through that short period of time. I love that he didn't necessarily need Becca to fight his battle or protect him from everything.

Min, Mr. Anderson, Mr. Reid, and Cormac are all Holders that either work at St. Brigid's or work with the Order, which is basically a whole bunch of powerful Holders. They all provide needed comedic relief for the tense scenes when I knew that Becca might break down or collapse from being overloaded with information. I love all the wisdom and power that these characters bring to the story even if they don't play a huge part. It's a wonderful group of characters and I adore them all.

The bad guys honestly didn't play that much of a part in most of the story besides being mentioned. Even when a threat of danger is mentioned, the real bad guy didn't play any part in it. The character, though, is set up in such a way that I can't wait for him to be introduced in future stories and see what happens when all my favorite characters must make hard choices. All of the bad guys have been set up wonderfully and the anticipation will kill me until I get to actually read the next book.

I really love this book. I want the sequel... if only. It's an addicting read that keeps you hanging on until the last page and leaves you entirely enchanted with the whole story. If you weren't planning on reading it, I think you should. It's a must read. Don't miss this story! show less

The Holders is Julianna Scott's début YA novel. It's a secret magical race living hidden in the modern world type of novel, set mostly in Ireland with an American main character. It wasn't my favourite read of the year. This review contains spoilers. If you don't want to be spoiled, I suggest not reading past the blurb. Blurb exerpt:


17-year-old Becca has spent her whole life protecting her brother - from
their father leaving and from the people who say the voices in his head
are unnatural. show more When two strangers appear with apparent answers to
Ryland's "problem" and details about a school in Ireland where Ryland
will not only fit in, but prosper, Becca is up in arms.

She reluctantly agrees to join Ryland on his journey and what they find at St. Brigid's is a world beyond their imagination.
I thought The Holders started promisingly enough: Becca's younger brother is recruited by a boarding school in Ireland that doubles as a magical training school for Holderkind. Becca goes with him to the school for a few weeks to look out for him and make sure no one wants to hurt him (like the shrinks who've previously wanted to institutionalise him). One of the school recruiters is an attractive, more-or-less age-appropriate guy who Becca quickly develops a crush on; par for the course in YA. An additional complication is that Becca's estranged father happens to be the principal of the school, opening the story up for some familial angst.



The further into the story I got, however, the more various aspects bothered me. On the one hand, it was a change of pace to have Becca's ten-year-old brother be the special one in the family. It wasn't a huge surprise when the twist turned out to be that Becca was the really special one, but that was OK. What I found slightly problematic at best, however, was the assertion that women don't usually have as strong/useful magic as men, except not Becca because she's special. I think it was initially used to make it more surprising when Becca did turn out to have magic, but it didn't exactly rock my boat. There were some good female characters along with Becca in the book, however they pretty much included every single female Holder nearby, ie all two of them.



A small thing that wouldn't have bothered me if it was the only issue I had with the book, was the arch bad guy and his powers. Sort of. Apart from the assertion early on that none of the Holders can fly, they're basically superheroes particularly as they exist in a modern setting. Which made me think of other group of superhero narratives which brought me to Heroes (the TV show), particularly when the arch bad guy is revealed to be similar to Sylar, the arch bad guy of Heroes. And then what does special Becca's power turn out to be? (Hint: very similar to Peter's in Heroes.)



But the thing that really pushed my buttons was the imprinting/soulmate trope. The idea of having your free will to love whoever you want taken away is kind of repulsive to me. The only justification in The Holders is that Becca has a crush on her love interest before magic imprinting binds them together. The idea is not deconstructed at all. The closest we got was Becca's dad, who had imprinted on her mother, leaving the family for their own safety. It all irked me. Even Twilight did a better job of analysing moral implications of imprinting with Leah/her ex and later Jacob imprinting on a baby. There was something to dig into there, but in The Holders it was all too saccharine with Becca waxing too lyrical too often about how awesome her love interest was after the imprinting event. On the other hand, I suspect issues of free will are going to be confronted in a different context — mind reading — in the sequels (and were a little in the first book), but I just don't have confidence that the imprinting thing will be.



The Holders wasn't one of my favourite reads. Stylistically it wasn't poorly written, however, it was more the content that bothered me. The ending leaves it open for sequels and I would be tempted to read the next book if it had a promising blurb. I am interested in watching Becca defeat the bad guy, and I would hope that Becca's love interest relationship wouldn't not take centre-stage, having now been established (well, one can hope).



I recommend The Holders to YA fans who aren't bothered by the things I discussed above. It happened to push a lot of my buttons at this point in my life, but I suspect that if I'd read it some years earlier I probably would have been less annoyed. The timing, of course, is not the book's fault.



3.5 / 5 stars

You can read more of my reviews on my blog. show less

Second read February 2020: 4 stars

You know those books who stay with you long after you've read the last page? The kind of book you want to re-read the second you finish it. The Holders is that book for me. I adored it from the very beginning. It's almost a mix of X-men and Ireland which is just perfect!

The writing is amazing and I had a hard time putting the book down (sleep and food is overrated, right?). Even though the story has a slow pace at times, it's still riveting and filled with show more Irish myths and life on a boarding school.

I loved Becca. She is an awesome protagonist. She is so much fun and very sarcastic, but she is also friendly and hardheaded. Becca is very smart and I loved finally reading about a protagonist, who dares to speak her mind and who doesn't depend on anybody. I adored the chemistry between Becca and Alex - they are so funny together and their friendship develops slowly and realistically. Their relationship is predictable, but I stilled loved being on the side watching them getting to know each other and falling in love. Their conversations and inside jokes are fantastic.

Almost all the people in this book have depth and individuality and I cared for most of them. My favorites were Min, Mr. Reid and Mr. Anderson - I loved their bickering and weirdness.

My only real problem with this book was the cover - It just doesn't do anything for me. Had I seen it in a book store I probably would have ignored it and that's such a shame - guess I need to stop judging the books by their covers, huh? Anyway, read this book - you won’t regret it! show less

This book sat on my NetGalley shelf for quite a while before I read it, and I'm ashamed to admit that it is because the cover didn't do too much for me. Well, that teaches me a lesson because this book was ... yes, I'm going to say it... awesome! I loved the characters, the plot and the setting (gorgeous Ireland!). The writing kept me glued to the page, and although I figured out some plot points, others were a delicious surprise. This was a unique YA paranormal romance book.

I loved the show more heroine, Becca, for many different reasons - her love for her little brother, her tough and cynical outlook on life, her snarkiness, her need to keep Alex at arm's length until she knows him better, her acceptance of Chloe's overzealous efforts to be friends, and her courage and desire to protect her loved ones. I thought Alex was almost as perfect as a Julianne Donaldson hero. He wasn't a crazed stalker, he didn't pressure Becca at all, he cared about her feelings and didn't try to prove her wrong when he didn't agree, and he took such good care of her little brother. Ryland was adorable, I even appreciated how he wanted to spend time with his new friends instead of his big sister, because it was so nice that he was turning into a normal boy instead of the freak he thought he was. Chloe was so endearing, I wanted to be her friend too. The duelling professors were hysterical, and it was nice to have a grandmotherly presence in Min. It will be interesting to see how the relationship between Becca and her father plays out. I hope they can come together in the next book. The author definitely created interesting characters that you both believe in and like.

Areas of concern: There is quite a bit of cussing (no f-bombs) and some serious kissing in one part. There is some violence and a kidnapping. (view spoiler)

I definitely recommend this one and have ordered 2 copies for my middle school library. Bring on book 2!

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Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC! show less