The Gifting: A Supernatural Romance (The Gifting Series Book 1)

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Elliana snuggles closer to Pete’s shoulder and wraps her arm around his elbow. “Are you going to save me from the big bad evil spirits?” I want you to promise me she’ll be okay. I want you to promise that we won’t lose her. I want you to promise that our daughter won’t end up like your mom.” Even through the semi-darkness, I can see Pete’s crooked, half smile—the one girls go gaga over—and a surge of jealousy stabs my gut. How can he sit there so at ease? How can two people born from the same gene pool end up so incredibly different? For crying out loud, we don’t even look the same. You’re right on time!” She grabs Pete’s hand and pulls him inside. “We just got out the Ouija board.”

Set in a not-too-distant future that feels frighteningly like home, this novel immerses readers within the heart of Tess’s fear from the very first chapter. This is not, however, a novel of horror. Guaranteed to leave you breathless, The Gifting is an eerie merging of Gothic-like dystopian mystery and YA romance within a pulse-pounding supernatural thriller. Expect to lose sleep over this book! A must-read addition to any YA reader’s collection, this one’s a keeper!” Characters. The characters in this book are splendid. Well rounded. Realistic. It felt real. I can feel their emotions right there with them. We invite you in.” Sydney’s voice has turned into an exaggerated moan. I peek at her through squinted eyes. “Tell us who you are.” If you could see the demons seeking to ruin—even kill—people, would you be terrified? What if no one else saw them? What if your family and peers think you’re crazy?Mom never complains about the moving, so long as Dad finds a house that is at least fifteen minutes away from the city. According to her, any place with a population over fifteen thousand is too dangerous for children. Plus, she thinks if Pete and I go to smaller schools, we’ll have an easier time fitting in. What she doesn’t realize is that smaller schools also make it easier to stand out. Especially if you’re me. Rose—a senior with beautiful ebony skin and a killer volleyball spike—wraps her long leg over the arm rest of the love seat. “You can light all the candles you want, the only thing this board can do is teach J.R. the alphabet.” Mom gives Pete and me a goodbye kiss on our cheeks and tells us to have a great first day. The icy chill follows me to school and remains while the principal of Jude High welcomes all 300 of us to a new year. It follows me into Mr. Greeley’s classroom, too. He teaches Current Events, a course every high school student in the country is required to take, because apparently, the government agrees with my dad. Ignorance is unacceptable. She’s going to have to speak with a government-mandated psychiatrist,” Mom whispers. “Nothing about this is safe.” No, listen, Tess. We found some really crazy stuff. Elliana thinks what you saw could’ve been real.”

The paper crinkles as Dad flips to the business section. “You gonna join me at work on Saturday, kiddo?” None of this would be so bad if my nightmares weren’t getting worse. Sleep offers no escape. Neither does home. As soon as I returned from the hospital, my parents sat me down at the kitchen table and asked me the same questions as the psychiatrist, only this time, they wanted the truth. My attempt at an explanation turned their faces to the color of ash. They don’t bring it up again. Instead, they tiptoe around me like I’m made out of glass. Like the wrong word or the wrong volume will shatter me to pieces. Or maybe they’re the ones who will break. Maybe I’m the one who’s dangerous.

Content warning. Language: mostly clean. There’s an instance of p*ssed off, p*ssed, and I believe dang or darn (I believe that’s all if there was something else I missed it. A storytelling ceremony, they will piece together new myths and old rituals that culminate in a farewell to the old year, and a joyful welcoming of the new. Despite taking two Excedrin Migraine pills, a headache pierces my left temple. Clasping my hands in front of my waist, I watch Missy set up the Ouija board while everyone else laughs and clowns around. Nobody has noticed me yet. Which means it’s not too late to turn around and leave. As soon as the thought occurs, Missy spots me in the doorway. “Hey everybody, look who’s here. It’s Teresa.” She raises a plastic red cup in my direction. I’m pretty sure she’s not drinking water. “Aren’t you going to come in? We’re about to have a séance.” I’m about to start another chapter when Pete pokes his head inside my room. For a kid whose life has been ruined all because I’m a freak, he doesn’t hold a grudge. He doesn’t walk around me like I’m made of glass. Instead, he’s grown curious. Like all of a sudden, I’m the most fascinating person on the face of the planet. Apart from Elliana anyway.

K.E. Ganshert brings a fresh new voice to the dystopian romance scene for young adults. Ganshert will wow her audience with captivating prose, a well-paced plot, and just the perfect amount of swoon!” The Gifting is an approx. 60 minute performance that involves moving around the performance space within Versa Leeds Studios. There will be moments of pause, where audiences observe activity taking place on various stages, however most visitors will be required to stand for the duration of the event. We’ll know more when your daughter wakes up. We can hear what she has to say about …” the doctor frowns, “the episode.” Their whispered conversation from the hospital clings to my thoughts like a stubborn dryer sheet. Jude High has its first football game tonight and Mom hasn’t even tried talking me into going. She lets me hide in my room. I lie in bed, trying to make sense of my growing confusion. I understand their concerns about the psychiatrist. I understand why they warned me to be careful about what I shared. What I don’t understand is why they’re worried I’ll end up like my dead grandma. You have to know where to look.” She wags her eyebrows. “I told Rose that this house was built on an Indian burial ground and she doesn’t believe me.”So I ignore my brother and fill my lungs with oxygen and wish for the one thing I want most, the one thing that’s constantly elusive.

But what if she’s wrong? What if Luka Williams is the only thing separating her from a madness too terrifying to fathom? That’s enough, Miranda.” The sharpness of his words slice through the air. “We can’t talk about this. Not here.” My temples throb around the response. Why would he be sorry? I slide my arm away and this time, I understand why the whiteness is so bright. Sunlight filters inside an open window. I turn my head on the pillow and spy my parents and a man in a white coat huddled together in the corner, near the door. My mom presses her fingers against her lips and shakes her head. “I don’t understand.”I'm not sure what I expected when I received this audio copy of The Gifting by K.E. Ganshert. I was excited, since I was just about to start on the print copy and with the chance to listen to the book first, and then see if I like audiobooks, sounds good. My first audiobook was The Fault in Our Stars, which I specifically borrowed, knowing that I've already read the book version several times. Since I'm familiar with it, I won't have a problem but to focus on what about audiobooks do I like. Now, with The Gifting, it will be my very first audiobook that I've not read the print version beforehand. My thinking was that I'd be able to jump onto the book if I really didn't like the audio version. So the verdict? I listened to the whole thing, until the last 2 chapters, for reasons I'll explain later. While most parents wouldn’t let their fifteen- and seventeen-year-old children go to a party on a school night, my mom practically shoves us out the door. Once starting this book I could not put it down. Although this book is your typical young adult story, the story-line is interesting and a little different. I liked Tess and Luka, who are the main characters but I also liked the other connected characters. There is depth to some of the characters but I feel as if there is more to come.