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. Characters. The characters in this book are splendid. Well rounded. Realistic. It felt real. I can feel their emotions right there with them. But what if she’s wrong? What if Luka Williams is the only thing separating her from a madness too terrifying to fathom? 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.

There is a bit of everything in this book....teenage angst, romance, humour, with a paranormal / spiritual edge. It fairly fast paced with a bit of action and descriptive without being overdone. I want you to promise me she’ll be okay. I want you to promise that we won’t lose her. I want you to promise that our daughter won’t end up like your mom.”Even through the semi-darkness, I can see Pete’s crooked, half smile—the one girls go gaga over—and a surge of jealousy stabs my gut. How can he sit there so at ease? How can two people born from the same gene pool end up so incredibly different? For crying out loud, we don’t even look the same. A storytelling ceremony, they will piece together new myths and old rituals that culminate in a farewell to the old year, and a joyful welcoming of the new. 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.

Once starting this book I could not put it down. Although this book is your typical young adult story, the story-line is interesting and a little different. I liked Tess and Luka, who are the main characters but I also liked the other connected characters. There is depth to some of the characters but I feel as if there is more to come. 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.” You think Pete is exaggerating?” Mom’s voice wobbles. “James, our son said she was hitting and scratching herself. He said she was screaming for something to get off her.”Mom never complains about the moving, so long as Dad finds a house that is at least fifteen minutes away from the city. According to her, any place with a population over fifteen thousand is too dangerous for children. Plus, she thinks if Pete and I go to smaller schools, we’ll have an easier time fitting in. What she doesn’t realize is that smaller schools also make it easier to stand out. Especially if you’re me.

We invite you in.” Sydney’s voice has turned into an exaggerated moan. I peek at her through squinted eyes. “Tell us who you are.” Sydney hops off Pete’s knee and pulls the drapes across the large picture window. The swinging vertical blinds chop apart the waning daylight. 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. Give it a rest, Missy.” Sydney tosses the Ouija board box aside. “Will you hit the lights, Tess? I’m pretty sure this works better in the dark.” Mom gives Pete and me a goodbye kiss on our cheeks and tells us to have a great first day. The icy chill follows me to school and remains while the principal of Jude High welcomes all 300 of us to a new year. It follows me into Mr. Greeley’s classroom, too. He teaches Current Events, a course every high school student in the country is required to take, because apparently, the government agrees with my dad. Ignorance is unacceptable.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.