Gift ~ Andrea J Buchanan (eARC) review

Gift
Open Road E-riginal
March 27, 2012
ebook
add to Goodreads/buy on Amazon


Andrea J Buchanan's Gift is an enhanced e-rignal from Open Road Media. The way the novel will work, can best be understood watching the trailer:

 

when you get to certain parts in Gift you'll see, hear, etc the things that are part of the story at that point. I read an advance version from NetGalley so those elements were not included. My review is based solely on the text of the story, the few graphics included within and those at the end.

Daisy Jones doesn't want to draw attention to herself. She has a gift - or maybe it's a curse, that's still to be decided - that only her best friend, Danielle knows about that could easily draw a lot of attention to her. One that keeps her from owning a cell phone or even a computer. It also got her kicked out of her last school.

When a teacher sends her out of class to check on Vivi, the girl everyone considers at least a little bit weird and mysterious, Daisy and the girl in trouble soon start up a friendship. And Daisy learns she's not the only one with a a gift.

But between her new friendship, the wild claims Daisy's making, the dreams Daisy and Danielle both seem to be having, the cute senior paying attention to her, and a possible ghost, can Daisy really stay unnoticed?


I was curious if Gift would be good without its enhanced elements (the songs, images, etc) as just the text of the story. While I didn't love it, I didn't dislike it, either. The mysteriousness of what exactly it is that the girls are encountering - and how it relates to all of them, the dreams, and the other elements that are introduced - kept me wondering and interested enough to keep me reading.

I was also pleasantly surprised that when something supernatural was introduced at least one of the characters was skeptical and didn't just go with it right away. Even with paranormal/supernatural themed plots, I appreciate when characters question the sudden introduction of something otherwordly into their lives.

Daisy's gift was definitely different and I liked the way it affected different things. As she had it her whole life, it did seem like maybe it should have been a little bit less of a 'struggle' for her, but maybe not.

Danielle and Vivi were a bit underdeveloped. While they are secondary characters, they're also involved in a lot of the plot and action and I would have loved to see even more of - and about - them. I did like the 'More Gift' section at the end that gave us more insight into Danielle especially. I think it was a great way to keep the story focused where it needed to be, but still give us that at the end in the extras.

Rating: 7/10