The Gifting

The Gifting Series Volume 1

By: K.E. Ganshert

Narrated by: Heather Masters

If the world is right, then I am crazy. And crazy is dangerous.

In a future where faith is obsolete and the mentally ill are removed from society, Tess Eckhart is terrified she’s losing her mind. After a public breakdown at a high school party, her parents are terrified too—enough to uproot their lives and move across the country, next to a private facility that might be her only hope.

Tess is determined to fit in at her new school, to ignore the whispers and stares. But when it comes to Luka Williams, a reluctantly popular boy in her class, she’s unused to a stare that intense. Then the headaches begin. The prophetic dreams. The creeping sense that something inside her is unraveling. As Tess fights to keep it together, she can't shake the suspicion that Luka knows what's happening—that he might even be responsible.

But what if she’s wrong? What if Luka Williams is the only thing standing between her and a madness too terrifying to fathom?

©2015 K.E. Ganshert (P)2025 K.E. Ganshert

The book captured my attention from the start

Overall Assessment:
This book really interested me because of the spin it takes on religion. Ganshert created a world that had completely eradicated religion and the supernatural and turned to only science and logic instead. With this, the government was able to begin mandated abortions (or ‘curing’ the pregnant women of ‘defective’ fetuses, as told by the government), take away all guns held by private citizens, and put any person suffering from mental illness into institutions-involuntarily.

What I liked:
– The narration was well done. Heather Masters has a great voice for someone as tortured as Tess, she has an almost 'haunting' quality in her voice.
– I loved to see an extreme version of the modern political and ethical dilemmas we face in our own society hashed out in this book.
– Tess was likable to me, her internal struggle of ‘am I crazy?’ was believable and genuine. I didn’t know if I could trust Luka either after some of the stuff she saw in her dreams/visions.
– The light on the treatment of patients struggling with mental illnesses. I’m a MH advocate, so I appreciated the scenes in two different institutions.
– To go with the above point, normally whiny and insecure heroines annoy me. However, Tess was being told her whole life that she was insane, which planted a substantial amount of self doubt into her. Her insecurity was realistic and expected, not done to make a doe-eyed little damsel in distress. Plus, she’s a black belt- so she’s pretty Bad A--. I’m interested to see how she transforms in the next couple of books once she becomes more confident!
– I really liked some of the supporting characters and am excited to see if they have much of a role in the second book.

What I didn’t:
– The only real critique I have here is that it got a little slow in the middle, but it picked back up after a few chapters.

Would I recommend this book to family and/or friends?
Yes, and I will be continuing the series

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has potential

Started out a little slow but picked up eventually... I'm in my mid twenties and a stay at home mom... there was kind of a lot of high school drama, I probably wouldn't have minded it as much when I was in high school but now I really don't want to relive the drama... otherwise it was pretty good. It picked up at the end and it sounds like the second book will be better.

Great story, but needs to get use to the narration

Where does The Gifting rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

Good

What three words best describe Heather Masters’s voice?

Breathy and Soft

Any additional comments?

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.

Now back to The Gifting. O, what a fascinating story! And I don't mean it with any sarcasm whatsoever! I truly mean how captivated I was. At first, it was more like "hmmm, what's going on?" and a bunch of other questions that popped into my head. I was so into it that I kept going, waiting to hear what's going on next and get some answers! The premise of a society where religion is frowned upon and churches are underground, and all sense of God is dismissive, seems so out of tune, but sadly have some merit to it. And then the idea that the government controls most aspects of your life seems ludicrous, yet, that also have merit. (I will refrain fom going into politics here).

O my, for some eye candy (ear candy?), the the brooding Luka with the intense stare can get any girl's heart beating faster than...than a roller coaster ride. As for Tess, you have the typical teenage girl shyness and insecurity that is very well written. However, I must say it took some getting use to hearing the narrator, Heather Masters narrate as Tess. The voice sounds "breathy" and the beat of the narration seems slow. However, in some time, around chapter 6, you'll get use to it all, and understand that she is shy and recluse to herself in many ways. Leela and Luka opened her up, a bit. It does have me imagining a very weak gal, not at all the supposedly strong-willed Tess with a black belt, of all things! Even for that, as time progress in the audio book, I was more and more engrossed. I need to know what happens and why things happen. Many times over, I wanted to jump right into the book and continue on, but I didn't. Then, for the last 2 chapters, I couldn'the help it and hopped over to the book and read it. I know! But I needed to know what happen and I couldn't wait for the next 20 minutes of so. So I read it and then went back to listen to it. Yes, I'm weird, but at least I went back and listened to it. It's good.


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.

The first 3 chapters of The Gifting is available on Katie's website. Check it out, or just go grab the currently free digital version (limited time). As to audiobooks, even though I still prefer a printed book in my hand, I must say audiobooks are convenient. In this case, I think it took me into Tess & Luka's world a little more visually with sound. I will need to try out some more audiobooks to have a better assessment of my interest.



This review first appeared on Just Commonly Blog.

NOTE: I received a complimentary audio copy of this book for an honest review. All opinions expressed are my own. For my review policy, please see my Disclosure page.

excellent start to a series

Great, captivating, hunting,. This book leaves you wanting more and anxiously awaiting from where you left off. riveting!

Wonderful

This is a great book! Excellent story and narration. I cannot wait to listen to the next one.