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

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Other: there’s appearances of evil spirits (demons?). Several gruesome deaths and suicide none of which are described in graphic detail (just enough to evoke the sympathy of the reader). The topic of mental illness and depression is spoken of throughout the book. From the imaginations of Kully Thiarai and Alan Lane, the co-directors of The Awakening, The Gifting is the final chapter of Leeds’ Year of Culture. 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. In all a great story of a far too possible society (that makes you think), great intriguing characters, a mystery you want to solve, a young adult novel with all the great teenage drama, and what's more? You'll have to find out. *wink wink. I must also mention that even though this is not categorized in the Christian fiction genre, K.E., aka Katie Ganshert, is a Christian (and she does write inspirational novels) and The Gifting does have qualities that seeps through from an inspirational point of view. I think that is also something I love about this series. I'm jumping the gun here, since I've yet to read or listen to the other 2 books, but I will. That's how sure I am. Just look at them! Pretty covers with a captivating story that will get you hooked. If I read it, I'd think I would give it a full 5 stars. Since I went the audiobook way, I'll have to take off 1/2 star for the narration that took some getting use to and didn't fit my image of Tess. So 4.5 stars! There was an earthquake in California, the second one in a month, another riot broke out at a fetal modification clinic in Chicago, a drive-by shooting in Tallahassee, which is like, twenty minutes from where we live, and the unrest in north Africa continues to escalate. Dad thinks it’s only a matter of time before the U.S. gets involved. Dad thinks if we don’t get Egypt under control as soon as possible, we’ll have World War III on our hands. I think he should read the newspaper to himself. But he insists Pete and I know what’s going on in the world.

The paper crinkles as Dad flips to the business section. “You gonna join me at work on Saturday, kiddo?”

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. This was a book club choice and I was a little wary as it is not really the sort of book I would normally read. It is part of a series, which is not so bad, but it also ends on a cliff hanger, which I really do not like. 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.”

Romance: the two mains charries (unmarried) spend the night alone in the same room (nothing goes on though), there’s holding of hands, and two brief kisses. 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.” My father thinks this is a good thing. He believes the human race has caused enough damage in the name of religion. We’re better off this way, more evolved, and anybody who thinks differently is a fool. He adamantly, wholeheartedly agrees with science. But I’m not as convinced. Because if science is right, then I’m crazy.When my brain tires from trying to tease it all apart, I grab my worn copy of I Know This Much is True by Wally Lamb—one of the many banned books I’ve come to own—and thumb to the place I earmarked the night before. The book’s about this dude with a schizophrenic brother. It’s not good for me. It makes me wonder. But I can’t stop reading. It’s nice to lose myself in somebody else’s messed up problems for a change, even if those problems are fictional. I tell my heart to calm down. I tell myself I’m being a spaz. I tell myself I will never, ever fit in if I can’t do a stupid séance with a group of teenagers on a Parker Brothers Ouija board. But then something moves in the corner of the room, near the hallway, and I squeeze my eyelids shut.

I’m sure there is a perfectly logical explanation for what happened.” These are classic my dad-isms. According to him, logic explains everything. And if it can’t, he dismisses it altogether. His world makes no room for the unexplainable. “Tess is sensitive. We’ve always known that. She probably got spooked and the other kids exaggerated.” 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. It’s August on the panhandle of Florida and I can’t get warm. The icy chill that woke me in the night refuses to leave. It hovers nearby when I get ready for my first day of junior year, and it follows me into the kitchen where Dad reads the morning newspaper. Over the course of an hour, you will be taken on a magical journey by host Khorin Khorin Gurav through twelve individual but connected tales that celebrate stories and the power they can have.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. 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?” The Gifting is, in part, inspired by Northern Dreaming. Northern Dreaming is a free book published by LEEDS 2023 and the British Library that will be gifted to every child in Leeds born in 2023. The book is a collection of poetry and stories by 18 early career and published writers. It will be available to collect, for free, from various locations in Leeds from Thursday 19 October 2023 including from all Leeds libraries. She leads Pete over to the small crowd lounging around a coffee table. There are five juniors. Two seniors. A bowl of candy, a bag of pretzels, and a half-empty bottle of Smirnoff. Pete squeezes in on the couch and Sydney sits on his knee like the two are a couple. Elliana—a girl with an eyebrow ring and fluorescent colored bracelets covering both of her wrists—shoots daggers at Sydney.

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.” But are these things she sees really hallucinations? Is it possible that these spiritual beings she sees and the dreams she has that come to pass are actually real? When her family moved to a new town to get away from an incident and she meets a boy who can see and dream the way she does the world she knew turns upside down.

Sydney puts her fingers on the pointer, the planchette. Whatever it’s called. And I have the same feeling I had in Mr. Greeley’s Current Events class, when that monster stared up at me from my folder—a coldness that won’t go away. A coldness so deep I can feel it in my bones. I fist my hands in my lap.