Full Review on NetGalley
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A futuristic Cinderella story, great for YA. ( )

http://romancebookie.blogspot.com/2012/03/gift-by-andrea-buchanan.html ( )

This is a concise review. Read my full review HERE
I started this book with a little bit of less enthusiasm than usual, and yet I don’t know why. Well maybe the title of the book didn’t appeal to me much. It seems to be an appropriate title, related to the storyline but somehow it just didn’t seem to fit for me. However I must admit that the storyline proved me quite wrong. As I started going deeper, I realized it really is good story. The only problem to me was that I don’t like stretching things up like chewing gums where there is not the need of doing so. In some places of the book, I felt the story being dragged I don’t like skipping any part of a book so I had to go through that dragging as well.
About the characters, I really liked Kevin, and yet again for no particular reason. I found myself visualizing a cool charming good-looking senior year student when reading the description. Daisy seems to be always in trouble with her ‘zapping’ issues (unless in the end) , but to be honest I really liked the idea of her problem with electronic gadgets, wishing I could sometimes have it too, in order to avoid certain things (but then again, I won’t be able to use my PC or read e-books can I?) I liked Daisy’s mom, somewhat reminds me of mine.
Of this book of four ‘Parts’, it’s actually Part 3 from where I found ‘things’ happening and the story taking a pace. There were so much going on around and all, it was amazing!
In the ending, I liked the other ‘gifts’ of Kevin, Vivi and Danielle but wish Kevin’s one was longer. And dude, Danielle is girly, pink ink and all?
Overall a nice read. Recommended. ( )

To start off, I have to say the blurb is very misleading. It sounds as if Daisy's gift is at the center of the story, but really this is a story about three girls being haunted by a ghost, and I think the blurb does an injustice to the real heart of the story.

Gift was a really quick read. I finished it in about two days, and that's both good and bad. It's good because the pace was fast, things moved quickly and I didn't have time to get bored. But it's also a downfall because I think there was a lot of missed opportunities to develop the characters and their relationships more.

Daisy is likable enough (despite the whining about being so poor), as are the other characters, but I couldn't quite figure out why they were so connected. The exception is the budding romance between Daisy and Kevin, as the more we learn about him the more understanding it is that he, a senior, is willing to hang out with a sophomore. I especially like how Buchanan has Kevin deal with Daisy's actions, it felt very realistic in a book of paranormal events. It's really the relationships between the three girls or at least their relationships with Daisy that I struggled with, especially between Daisy and Vivi. I wish there had been more individual interactions between them that could make me understand why they so easily made some of the choices they did.

There are so many twists in the story, that it was hard to put down, simply because it always felt like I was on the verge of learning something else that would be vital to figuring out what would happen in the end. Definitely a recommended read for people looking for a quick non-horror ghost story. ( )