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The Gift - Louise Jensen

19/12/2016

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Book Description
The perfect daughter. The perfect girlfriend. The perfect murder?
 

Jenna is seriously ill. She’s lost all hope of getting the heart transplant she needs to live. But just as her life is ebbing away, she receives a donor heart from a girl called Callie. 
Who was Callie and how did she die? Jenna is determined to find out. 

The closer Jenna gets to those who loved Callie, the more questions arise about her untimely death. Someone knows what happened to Callie. Why won’t they talk? 

Jenna is about to uncover the truth, but it could cost her everything; her loved ones, her sanity, even her life. ​

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4/5

​Having read and loved Louise Jensen's debut thriller 'The Sister', I did not think twice to download and read her second offering, 'The Gift'. As with the first book, I was immediately attracted to its beautiful cover and the very intriguing blurb.

​"A heart is not just an organ. The heart stores secrets and lies. Hopes and dreams. It's more than a muscle."

Soon after Jenna recovers from a heart transplant, she starts to experience frequent, short but tense episodes of panic and fear, dreams and an overwhelming sense of danger, as if someone is following her. What's happening to her? Does this has anything to do with the strong meds she's taking? Or is it something to do with her new heart? Or more properly her donor? 

Against all advice to the contrary, Jenna decides to track down her donor's family to express her gratitude at being given a second chance at life. She learns that her new heart belonged to a young woman named Callie. Who was Callie? How did she die? Was it really an accident as she's told, or is someone trying to cover something much more sinister? Jenna wants to find out. Guided by her new heart, she becomes utterly obsessed with this need to find out the truth. But someone is not happy with Jenna's inquiries and is prepared to do anything to stop her. 

Okay, I really enjoyed reading this captivating read. I can say that I found it even more engrossing than 'The Sister'. The story immediately grabbed my interest, and even though I usually find it rather difficult to give credence to unproved theories, I found myself fascinated by the brilliant original concept brought about by the author in this thriller. You'll understand what I'm writing about once you read the book.

In 'The Gift' all characters are well portrayed and given depth. I liked Jenna, the main character. The author did a great job in depicting her sense of loss, her misery and anguish and her sense of helplessness. On some occasions I feared for her life but there were times when I wished I could give her a good shake too. Couldn't she see where her fixation with Callie was taking her? With her heart pumping inside Jenna's body, it almost felt like Callie was another living character. She and her heart are everywhere in the book! I admired Sam for his unwavering love for and patience with Jenna.

Littered with numerous tense, heart-pounding moments, twists and turns and finally a great ending, all weaved together within a clever original plot, I think this book is fab and I highly recommend it. 

As always, this is my unbiased opinion. With thanks to Bookouture for approving my request to read this book through Netgalley.

About the Author
Louise is a USA Today Bestselling Author, and lives in Northamptonshire with her husband, children, madcap spaniel and a rather naughty cat. 

The Sister is Louise's debut novel and it reached No.1 on the Amazon Kindle chart in both the UK and Canada and No.1 on iBooks. Louise's second book, The Gift, will be published on 16th December 2016.

Louise loves to hear from readers and writers and can be found at www.louisejensen.co.uk, where she regularly blogs flash fiction.

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The Sister - Louise Jensen

3/7/2016

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Book Description
Grace hasn't been the same since the death of her best friend Charlie. She is haunted by Charlie's words, the last time she saw her, and in a bid for answers, opens an old memory box of Charlie's. It soon becomes clear there was a lot she didn't know about her best friend. 

When Grace starts a campaign to find Charlie's father, Anna, a girl claiming to be Charlie's sister steps forward. For Grace, finding Anna is like finding a new family, and soon Anna has made herself very comfortable in Grace and boyfriend Dan's home. 

But something isn't right. Things disappear, Dan's acting strangely and Grace is sure that someone is following her. Is it all in Grace's mind? Or as she gets closer to discovering the truth about both Charlie and Anna, is Grace in terrible danger? 


There was nothing she could have done to save Charlie ...or was there?


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4/5

The stunning cover was the first thing that attracted me to this book. Whatever the story within, I think I would have read this book blindly just because of its cover. The blurb was then tantalizing enough for me to go ahead. I love the idea of mysteries involving some hidden box of secrets as we have in this case.

"I did something terrible Grace. I hope you can forgive me."

The story revolves around two inseparable friends - Grace and Charlie. Some ten years earlier the two friends buried a box filled with their memories, hopes and dreams in the woods, vowing to be the only ones to reopen it together at some time in the future. However, we know that in the meantime Charlie disappeared for six whole years, then something terrible happened to her and she died. Her last words have haunted Grace ever since. Determined to find out what terrible thing Charlie did to require Grace's forgiveness, Grace starts by finding and reopening the hidden box. Reading through a letter written by Charlie, she discovers that one of her dreams was to find her father. Who was this man? Could he answer some of Grace's questions? Grace decides to try and find him.
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"Can you ever really know someone? Properly know someone?"

Soon after setting up a blog to find Charlie's father, Grace and her boyfriend Dan, receive a reply from a young woman called Anna, claiming to be Charlie's half sister. Upon meeting her, Grace is sure this woman is telling the truth and they immediately click and become friends. Grace invites Anna to live with her and Dan till she finds a new job and a place to live. From then on, strange and awful things start happening to Grace. Is it just a coincidence that these things start happening now? Who is Anna? Is she really who she says she is? And why is Dan so against Anna's presence at home?

Well this book is so brilliantly written that I couldn't believe it's just the author's debut thriller. It starts off immediately with a number of mysteries. The author fills the reader's mind with many, many questions that make it impossible not to continue reading. For example, we know that Charlie wasn't the only one to have done something wrong. Grace too did something terrible for which she feels guilty and because of which she has been sent to live with her grandparents in another town. But what did she do?

The plot is densely weaved and at times very tense. I could feel the oppressive aura portrayed throughout the plot. Chapters alternate between 'Then' and 'Now', that is when Charlie was still alive and the present and each one leaves the reader with more questions than answers as the mystery is slowly unraveled.

All characters are realistic and strongly portrayed. I felt sorry for Grace. She's edgy and paranoid all the time. She didn't deserve the horrible things happening to her, but I thought she was a bit too naive at times. I didn't much like Dan and his aloofness and I was immediately suspicious of Anna's behaviour. I wanted to give an almighty shake and slap Lexie hard on more than one occasion! 

At times I thought the plot was maybe a bit too slow, for example I couldn't wait to see what was in Charlie's letter as much as Grace, but it took the author almost 15% of the book to tell us what's in it! However, other than that I really enjoyed reading this book. It's a great debut and a fab mystery with ongoing tension, twists and turns. And I'll be looking out for more books by this new author.

With thanks to Bookouture publishers for approving my request to read and review this book through Netgalley. 

About the Author
Louise lives in Northamptonshire with her husband, children, madcap spaniel and a rather naughty cat. The Sister is Louise's debut novel.

Louise loves to hear from readers and writers and can be found at www.louisejensen.co.uk, where she regularly blogs flash fiction.


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