3/5 stars

The Mark starts with a bang as Cassie trails after the man with the mark and witnesses his death. It's gripping and suspenseful; it draws you in and doesn't let go. From the very beginning, Cassie presents herself as sympathetic character who has lost her parents and is now living with her grandmother. She's strong and independent and doesn't break down when faced with hardships. It's admirable.

There are many interesting elements in the story, including Greek myths, concepts of fate, an More...

Bottom line – The Mark left it's mark with me, I enjoyed Jen Nadol's writing and will be sure to be on the look out for more from her, I am hoping maybe a sequel, there's totally enough here for one, and maybe more of a resolution. It left me asking questions about my own life, would I want to know if today was my last day...and how might I feel if some stranger came up to me, telling me that today was my last day! Defiantly recommend picking it up! A 4 star read for me!
Read my full review - The More...

Slightly under a 4.


I had been hearing a lot of good stuff about The Mark, a debut by Jen Nadol, and I was intrigued by the premise which, though gaining in popularity and starting to crop up everywhere, was a bit fresher at the time. I have to say, overall I enjoyed it, but I do have some reservations.

It took me awhile to get into the story the way I wanted to. It was never that I disliked it, because I didn't, but it took me quite awhile to feel invested in Cassie and her story. It just felt a More...

Brought by OBS staff member Katlyn
http://openbooksociety.com/article/je...

Summary
Sixteen-year old Cassie Renfield has seen the mark since forever: a glow around certain people as if a candle were held behind their back.

The one time she pointed it out taught her not to do it again, so Cassie has kept quiet, considering its rare appearances odd, but insignificant. Until the day she watches a man die. Mining her memories, Cassie realizes she can see a person’s imminent death. Not how or where, only More...

I expected a little more out of this one. It felt like the prologue to a longer, move involved book, which, unfortunately, seems to be the trend in YA lit right now. It was one of those where the ending wasn't really any kind of ending at all.

The writing is pretty good, but I just didn't think the story was that great. I would have liked the story if it had explored the Greek mythology of the fates more. That was a more interesting angle for me, instead of spending the whole book with her debati More...

The Mark was not at all what I was expecting and I mean that in a good way. I’ll be honest, I wasn’t sure if I was going to be able to finish this one. I was about seventy pages in and I just felt like nothing was really happening. The story was slow, but even though initially I never had that “hook” moment, I found the story to be interesting.

I wanted to know more about Cass, her gift, and what it was like for her being almost utterly alone in the world.

There is a part in the novel where Cass More...

Okay... Again I'm really surprised at how different my reaction to a book has been from the majority of people on this place.

I really did not like it, it was one of the most frustrating books I've read in a long time! NOTHING HAPPENS!

So much of the book is her wondering what this gift is, why she has it, what she should do with it, why did people lie to her - she has the same thoughts over and over. There were parts where I skipped over entire chunks because I thought I've read this before.

Ca More...

Much as does the main character in Numb3rs, this character Cassandra (notice the nice allusion to the Greek fortune teller, was it, in The Iliad?)from her childhood occasionally saw a glow emanating from people, first a group of kids on an elementary school playground, whom she later learned died on a bus traveling from a field trip. She finally becomes sure of her foreknowledge and life throws her some additional challenges, as if being an orphan living with an elderly grandmother isn't enough. More...

I loved this young adult novel. When I first started reading, I was wary. Did I really need to read about another 16-year-old girl with paranormal abilities? But I was very pleasantly surprised. Cassandra Renfield has a gift, not of seeing dead people, but of seeing the mark on those who are going to die that day. After the death of Cassie's grandmother, she moves into live with an aunt she's never met (her parents died when she was young, as well) who's latch-key guardianship leaves her with th More...

Interesting book. Pretty evenly paced, interesting characters. The main character is 16 and does have sex (basically lives with a guy) who is a college TA, just so you're aware.

Product Description

Cassandra Renfield has always seen the mark—a glow around certain people reminiscent of candlelight. But the one time she mentioned it, it was dismissed as a trick of the light. Until the day she watches a man awash in the mark die. After searching her memories, Cassie realizes she can see a person’s i More...

Since she was a little girl, Cassie Renfield has been able to see a bright light around certain people. It wasn't until recently that she realized that the bright light or mark as she calls it, means that person is going to die that day. It is a horrifying ability and one she doesn't understand. Is it her responsibility to warn people that they are about to die or to try to prevent it? Would people want to know?

Cassie is a young teen who is being raised by her grandmother after the tragic deaths More...

Quick & Dirty: A well-written and thought-provoking tale that will have you intrigued.

Opening Sentence: There is nothing like the gut-hollowing experience of watching someone die, especially when you know it’s coming.

The Review:

Cassie Renfield has the freakish ability to see The Mark, an aura surrounding someone indicating that they will soon die. To make matters worse, Cassie sees The Mark around her grandmother and is haunted by the fact that she wasn’t able to save her. When Cassie’s gran More...

I first heard about The Mark by Jen Nadol at the 10_ers Live Journal community and knew I had to read it. I was pleasantly surprised that my library was able to get it so quickly!

I really enjoyed this book.

Cassie is a very sympathetic character who I liked and genuinely felt bad for. It was heartbreaking to watch her struggle with the knowledge that people, including loved ones, were going to die and the helplessness she felt as she wondered if she should let them know about her "gift" by inform More...

Quick PJV fact, my first year of college I went through like ten majors, psychology, ancient history, philosophy, english, and then finally landing on Fine Arts. This book gives a quick touch on most of my college obsessions, which is one of the reasons I liked it; probably more than I would if it didn't cover those topics. Most of the books I read usually have a bit of action in them, a climatic end, a little kung-fu - or maybe some other kind of action *leering mischievously*. This book wasn't More...

From http://www.readingteen.net/

Cassie Renfield has seen the mark since she was a child, but it's only been recently that she's understood what it means. When she sees the mark on her grandmother's friend, who dies that same day, she starts to realize that she is being warned that a person is about to die. Testing her theory, she follows a man with the mark until seeing his untimely death with her own eyes. Cassie is scared and confused, and when she loses her grandmother as well, she's left wit More...

I became interested in this book at first solely because of the cover. I really love the purple tones! When I picked it up to start reading, I had no idea what the story was about, but was able to figure it out pretty quickly.

Cassie, our main character, has the ability to see a mark that tells her someone will be dying that day. It was an interesting journey hearing about how she came to the conclusion that that is what the mark means. After that, the book gets very philosophical.

Literally.

Cassi More...

Okay, this book started off awful for me. It is about a girl who sees a "mark" (which is like a glow around the person) within twenty-four hours of that person's death. At first everything happened too fast and it just seemed convenient that this girl kept knowing people who died. However, once she starts taking the philosophy class it gets much better. Sure, you have to trudge through half of the book to get there, but the second half is well worth it. If the whole book had been the same pacing More...

This was a very thought provoking novel. If you knew someone was about to die, should you tell them? Could you tell them? Would they even believe you? Would it even make a difference? That's just some of the questions that will fly through your head as you read this book. Although there wasn't a lot of action or romance in this story, it was still a great read that I found myself struggling to put down.

Cassandra was instantly likable. She's had some hard knocks in her life, and this Mark she see More...

I’d heard really good things about The Mark but I wasn’t really sure what I was expecting. It sure wasn’t what I got!

The Mark was a great read, to say the least! It started off kind of weird, a bit boring, but intriguing all the same. It was a book I got really into and I read it in one day. I just didn’t want to put it down!

The characters are wonderful. Cassie seems like a girl I’d like to know. And her gift is one heck of a gift. Or is it a curse? This is what I felt was the main idea of this More...

I really wanted to like this one more. Really. But though The Mark was enjoyable to some extent, it just didn't suck me in the way I was hoping it would. However, The Mark does pose a very interesting question: if you know someone's going to die within 24 hours, what do you do? And as a side note, don't go in expecting an action-filled or even a fast-paced read because you won't be able to appreciate The Mark for the gradually developing and thought-probing story it is.

I'm going to divert from t More...

I was pulled in right away with the first line of this book "There is nothing like the gut-hollowing experience of watching someone die, especially when you know it's coming" but after that I just don't know. This was a super short book but i just don't know why it took me so long to read. There were a couple parts in the book that made me gasp just because I knew something was going to happen but I wasn't sure what.

The concept of having the ability to see when people died was like the book "Num More...

I'm not really sure how I feel about this book. I feel that the whole plot, barring the moral vacillation, could have been the first part of a larger book and I felt kind of incomplete when she finished. Or that this could have been a prequel and that the next book was really where the series started.

Despite the weird vibe, I was very intrigued by this book. I thought that the philosophical dilemma was a great place to take this paranormal, rather than the more popular route Nadol could have go More...

When you read the summary for The Mark you may think that there could be some action, at least if you think like me. I thought there could be some somehow with her ability. Maybe when she helped people with it or learned about it herself. But, I was wrong. So if go into reading this thinking like I did then you will be disappointed.

This was more of a book where Cassie deals with learning different truths, both about her family and about herself personally. She has to step into the “real world” b More...

The Mark is about sixteen-year-old Cassandra Renfield, a girl who has always seen the mark. The mark shines on certain people and is luminescent like a candle light - and it also tells Cassie that the person it's shining on is going to die during that very day. Cassie's unique ability is a gift as much as it is a curse. There are a plethora of questions that come with her predicament. How does the mark work? Is she the only one who can see it? Are her deceased parents involved? The final questio More...

I had heard such mixed reviews about this novel that I was hesitant to like it in the beginning. As I continued on, I discovered that it was a good novel and had a very promising plot. I enjoyed Cassie as a character and I felt for her when she had to go through some of her turmoil, but the ending left me wanting more. Not because it was an addicting series, but because I felt some of the plot holes weren't closed enough.

I'm sure there's going to be another book in the works (at least I hope so) More...

Overall, I did enjoy this book a lot and wish I could have rated it more than 3 stars, but unfortunately it left me wanting more and that was slightly dissatisfying. I had a little bit of trouble figuring out the main conflict of the story as the beginning of the book leads you to believe that Cassie is searching for answers to the Mark that may reveal some hidden potential, but then it takes a big turn in the middle of the story when she moves away for the summer. The middle of the book was ver More...

The plot is easily described by one question on the cover: If you had the power to see death, would you wish it away?

Cassie sees a glow around a person ... that person will die today. She has had this gift (or curse) since she was four years old; now she is sixteen and has just figured out what the glow means. How can she handle this?

Something I just remembered while writing this review, Cassandra, of Greek mythology, had the gift of prophecy. What an appropriate name for our heroine!

This is an More...

This is definitely a book that teens will enjoy. Cassandra can see a "mark" on people just before they are about to die. She isn't sure if, morally, she is responsible for telling them or if she should allow fate to take its course. I actually found it difficult to put this book down. It was extremely engaging for me. I also loved the integration of a philosophy class. I've always found philosophy to be fascinating and thought-provoking, and my philosophy professor was nowhere near as talented a More...