REVIEW | Gifted

Series: The Hayven #1
Author:
 J.A. George
Genre:
 young adult, contemporary, fantasy, romance
Publish:
 April 13, 2016 (first published May 10, 2015)
Purchase: Amazon

There is no chosen one in this story. 
Avery Gray was just in the wrong place at the wrong time and happened to make a decision that altered her future forever. It happens to us every day.
Avery is a size twelve university student with a penchant for dry humour, and she's as normal as they come. One rainy afternoon, Avery had to make a choice: go through the alleyway or around it. Two possible options. One would have had her future continue on as planned., the other would ensure that her future never remained the same again. She unknowingly went with the latter. 
Change can be good. It can bring new opportunities, new friends and a life you never thought possible. Change can be bad. It can bring you people determined to burn your city to the ground. 
It all depends on the decisions you make.
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I have no idea how to go around this book. It's wasn't bad. Yet it wasn't stellar. 

{ 5 Reasons why Gifted is an 'okay' read for me }

the pace.
I don't know. At the beginning it was slow. Okay, the first chapter was intriguing but after that, it felt that things started laying low. It was not until 20% of the book that Hayven was finally introduced then I was bombarded with info about the world. I was like: why!? But I don't want you to turn away from this book. Let me just tell you that there's a nice shifting among the exploration of Hayven to the romance to the fight against the evil. How's that?

the romance.
At first I was annoyed. I don't know. I think that there was a focus on the romance (too much focus right in the beginning, like what happened to the intriguing world shifting ability, man?). But reading further, I ended up really shipping Ava and Theo. Just... why not? I actually found myself hating Summer and wishing she gets sent to the outer space and die. Now let me tell you this, the romance annoyed me in the beginning. That's because I thought it was taking over the book. It shifted for me because of how much both Ava and Theo grew in me. 

the world.
Well this isn't exactly something I'd say I don't know because I liked it. I thought it was interesting and maybe something I'd even want to see for real. Anyway, I like the idea that gifts can be given or be acquired at birth, and that there are not identical gift. And the battle between good and evil? Right and wrong? It's mostly an 'okay' thing for me. I mean it was nice but generic. Here's another thing: I don't think there was any twist at all (if I missed it please tell me). For now.

the heroine.
Have I told you how awesome Ava's ability are? She can read people's thoughts AND she can know people's full names AND she can see the future. Okay, not always. For now. But she can see them in her dreams. Her humour is wow but she overthinks A LOT. Several chapters were probably filled with her thinking about something over and over and over. Over thinking about her gift. Over thinking about Theo. Over thinking about everything! But setting that aside, Ava is a determined heroine and she may have her flaws (like maybe forgetting her normal world friends, and obsessively overthinking about everything), she's still a heroine you'll root for. 

the secondary characters.
They were okay for me. At first, I felt that their relationship with Ava was a bit forced. It just came out that way for me. But after a few chapters and a few more interaction, I ended up liking them especially Baleigh. She's the badass female of this book and I LOVE her! Theo's a sweet and nice guy. Ollie is the smart guy who's also super nice. Then there's Lucas who's probably more than what's being showed for now. The rest were just 'meh' for me but hopefully the next books will allow me to like them more :)

OVERALL, Gifted is a contemporary fantasy young adult novel that's a nice chill read. It's not your thrilling, action-pack, adventure fantasy story. It has an interesting world that sucked me in and would really love to happen for real (haha) but I wasn't hooked. But I don't know about you, friends. If you like contemporary fantasy, you can try this one. If you like reading books about characters with unusual ability, go ahead and try this. If you want books that involves fight between good and evil, check this one out. Not a highly recommended one from me, but definitely a good read. I'm really interested to see how this series will go.


~I received this book from the author in exchange for an honest review~

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{ how about you }
Do you like books that involves people with unusual abilities - like 'powers' I mean? If you're in such a world, what ability would you like to get (i.e. mind reading, invisibility, flying, blah, blah, blah)?


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