“Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they aren't after you.” - Joseph Heller

There is a fine line between paranoia and fear. Does fear breed paranoia? Or, does paranoia breed fear?

Jenna McCauley is a thirty year old woman who has recently had a heart transplant. A victim of viral myocarditis, she was advised that a transplant was her only option. She is heavily medicated with anti-rejection drugs and is emotionally fragile. Jenna broke up with her fiance Sam telling him she doesn't love him anymore - while really initiating the break up so that Sam will be free of her, thus ensuring that he will find someone without all the baggage that now accompanies her.

Jenna's world has shrunken. Since the transplant she rarely leaves her apartment. She laments her breakup with Sam and the breakup of her parents who separated shortly after her illness. Now, six months have passed and it is time to return to her work as a veterinary nurse. To celebrate her return to work, her mother treats her to a new hairstyle. She chooses a much shorter pixie cut and dyes her hair red.

Against the wishes of her parents, friends, and psychiatrist, Jenna wants to make contact with the family of the donor, whose heart now beats in her chest. They warn that such contact will be not only unethical, but it could impede her own recovery as well. Ignoring their warnings, Jenna feels an intense need to know more about her donor, Callie.

She experiences survivor's guilt and wonders why she lived and Callie died.

Jenna begins to have dreams and memories that can only belong to Callie. She dreams of two little girls on a beach playing with a pink bucket and spade... She does some research online and she learns that "Cellular memory" is a 'thing'. A scientific theory that memories and preferences can be stored in cells of the organs as well as the brain. Her doctors dismiss this theory and tell her it is just the prednisone medication she is on - coupled with the stress and trauma of the transplant that is causing her paranoia and dreams.

"The heart remembers"

These dreams and memories become more and more disturbing until she questions that Callie's death was not just a car accident, but something much, much, more... She befriends Callie's boyfriend and parents who remark on her similar hairstyle and colour to Callie's. She becomes obsessed with the girl who gave her life. She visits where she worked, and talks to Callie's co-workers.

She begins to question herself and wonders if she is losing her mind. Her paranoia colours her days. She fears that someone is watching her, following her. When someone breaks in to her apartment and rearranges the magnetic letters on her fridge to read "Stop Digging", she realizes that the threat is not just in her head.

With plot twists and breath-taking suspense, the story moves quickly to a pivotal scene...

An epic plot climax in an abandoned fairground, causes the suspense to heightens even more and make the reader question who are the good guys and who are the bad guys. "The Gift" is a fast-paced novel that will be appreciated by all who love suspense-packed psychological thrillers.

Jenna is given another shot at life when she receives a donor heart from a girl called Callie. Eternally grateful to Callie and her family, Jenna makes contact with them. Seeing how Callie's family is still grieving over the loss and the not knowing on the why, Jenna decides to find some answers. But she soon discovers that Callie's perfect family is hiding some very dark secrets.

I thought the story was a little slow in the beginning but it picked back up and gets intense in the end. I've read some of the reviews and a lot of the low star ratings is because the reader thought the plot about cellular memory is far fetched. Well to me, that makes the story more believable. You can relate to the paranoia and confusion that Jenna is feeling as everyone around her thinks she is going crazy.

I would like to thank NetGalley and Bookouture for supplying a copy of Louise Jensen's "The Gift" in exchange for an honest review.

The gift of life. A heart donated to a dying young woman, Jenna, gives her her life back. But what about where the heart came from, someone had to die to be able to donate it, and what about their family.

“Oh Jenna. That's completely unethical. How did you tract them? I'm going to have to report this, you know” “You know it isn't encouraged . . . it can be incredibly distressing for everyone”

With the internet and social media it is very easy to find almost every accident and death and trace who they were and where they are from. Jenna has been experiencing dreams and visions which seem so very real to her, although they have actually happened. Some of the visions are a bit scary and she feels that her donor, Callie, was being chased, was in danger and that the accident she was killed in might not have been an accident.

There's a lot of speculation of whether cells have memory and Louise Jensen has given us a good fictional story based on Jenna's donated heart having memory of its life when it belonged to Callie. There are some amazing stories out there – just Google it – and this is a clever concept to use to write about the unfolding of a crime.

Interesting concept, and this book made me want to do a little research of my own on 'cellular memory'. It's a good read, with a compelling central character, and kept me guessing until the end. I would definitely read more from this author.

Review of a digital copy from the publisher.

Jenna needs a heart transplant and a donor heart is found from a girl named Callie. After a successful transplant Jenna wants to know everything about Callie.
When Jenna interacts with people from Callie's life, strange things start to happen to her heart. She keeps getting dreams, nightmares and flashbacks from another life she doesn't know. Is she experiencing Callie's memories? What is Callie trying to tell her? Is there more to her death? Noone will listen to her. Noons believes what she is saying.
Everyone is telling her to leave it alone but Jenna can't leave it alone.

Jenna is a complexed and well developed character. Louise Jensen really brought her to life.

I thought it was a great story with a very interesting idea. It was far from predictable. It kept me guessing to the end. I found it to be a quick read.

I want to thank NetGalley, the publisher and the author for the copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This book really interested me in the beginning , lots of hype and excitement so i was up and at em ready to go,
I got a bit lost in the storyline, i was really interested in the fact a heart had been given by a donor but then i became a bit confused with the imagery as there was a lot of repetition. I just thought it was me, having a read slump so I bought the audio book, and sadly it was exactly the same.
It was a great story in the beginning but it kind of turned into a strange sort of supernatural story. Possibly more for YA?
I loved Body on the doorstep , all authors try differen things I just wasn't mad struck on this one but thank you for creating it

I liked this book but I also liked her previous book the sister too. Good plot with decent characters, plenty of twists and fast paced enough to keep you hooked. Nice easy read though I thought not too taxing but interesting enough to keep you going. I loved the twist and enjoyed the ending I thought it was very fitting for the book!! Another success for Louise Jenson!

An unusual tale of a transplant patient "seeing" parts of her donors life flash before her. Some parts were heartbreaking to read and I think the author handled an emotive subject well, without it becoming too fantastical.

A very unusual story which I really enjoyed.

It was a very gripping read, although there were a few times I felt it was losing my interest, it soon got back on track.

Jenna's cold ended up being more serious than she could ever have imagined, causing her heart to become irreparably damaged. While on the verge of death, she received a heart transplant from an anonymous donor. Jenna ends up becoming obsessed with finding out about her donor and the donor's family, against the advisement of the hospital and her family. When she discovers who her heart came from and gets a chance to meet the girl's parents, she jumps at the chance. But something more is going on here, and Jenna is now involved.

This is a mystery (even though it was not very surprising to me) so I will make this review fairly short so as not to give anything away for others. I went into this story with pretty high expectations because I love mysteries, I love the (creepy) idea of residual feelings/motivations that a donor receives from a transplant, be it a limb or organ, and here are the two topics joined in one convenient package. Overall, I just thought this book was ok. And it is probably just me, because I was reading the reviews on Goodreads and a ton of people raved about the book, so let me just say that this book was not for me.

I could not connect with Jenna and I thought most of the choices she made were stupid; I did not really care what happened either because I was just not engaged with the book. I thought the mystery aspect was unexpected, so that was nice, but not enough for me to like the book. I know others will though so give it a try if you want a slightly paranormal mystery story.

I received this title in return for my honest review.

Loved this book. Well written and a great storyline. Bit spooky at times but certainly kept me hooked
Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC in return for an honest review.

When Jenna receives a donor heart after suffering an illness she starts to notice she's eating thing she used to detest and starts to have memories that aren't hers. While investigating she finds there's a term for what she's experiencing called Cellular Memory. She sets up a meeting with the donor's family against the wishes of her family. They seem to be a perfect family but when she begins to have memories and suspects that that her donor was killed and not an accident she puts herself in danger to avenge her death. This was an engaging read that I really liked up until the end which I didn't enjoy as much as the rest of book.

Thank you for the opportunity to read and review this title. Unfortunately, I was not able to finish this book which means I will not be able to review it. I truly appreciate the opportunity and apologize for the inconvenience the lack of review may cause you.

This book was good, just not great. I think I was disappointed in the way it all wrapped up at the end. I did like the premise of the book and found it to be exciting and intriguing, but just didn't love the ending.

Wow what a heart-pounding book. After I read Sisters (which I really liked) and saw this book by the same author I had to read it and boy am I glad I did. This book had me on the edge of my seat! It kept my heart pounding with each page. And some spots had my anxiety in over drive. I would have NEVER EVER thought of that ending!! This was a great book!

Without a doubt, this is an intriguing theme - cellular memory following a heart transplant -this book had me well and truly hooked from page one. The Gift is equally fast-paced and gripping. I would highly recommend this well-crafted psychological thriller and look forward to the next novel from this author.

I received an ARC of this book with the hope that I will leave an Unbiased Opinion. I was not required to leave a review, positive or otherwise, and my opinions are just that... my opinions.

I never read many thrillers before because I get stressed very easily. But last year I started reading some, and now every time I end one, it always leaves me with the need for more. They are quite addicting and this one was no exception!



The Gift has as a base for the story the concept of cellular memory. It says that the body can store memories outside the brain. Some believe that it’s possible to transfer memories trough the cells and that sometimes happens when a person has a transplant.

In the book Jenna inherited the memories of the organ donor. She starts having dreams about her life, liking or disliking the same things as the donor, … There are lots of stories about that and some are even present in the book, that our principal characters uses to backup her idea of it, that is received by her therapist with skepticism. But she doesn’t give up on the idea. She believed that the donor’s death wasn’t an accident, and tries to organize the dreams and resolve the mystery.

I really enjoyed the chapters on the memories. And that made me create my own hypothesis for what happened. But in the end i was deeply wrong. The book has a very interesting twist and gets very emotional as you read it. I am happy to say that everything I thought I knew, was in the end deeply wrong.

Jenna is a very interesting and complex character. She makes a lot of mistakes but it’s impossible not to like her anyway. She was quite damaged with all that was going on, and sometimes it was difficult to trust her. She was always forgetting stuff and it was difficult to know one of the girls started and the other ended. But the more dangerous the book turned, the more connection I felt with Jenna.

The only thing I didn’t like about Jenna is that she pushed Sam away. Sam is her ex-boyfriend, and although I fully understand why she did it, it was still difficult and I couldn’t agree. But honestly I don’t know if I wouldn’t have done the same… Sam is the best boyfriend anyone could have. He is sweet, loyal and always there when needed.

And of course the writing. That was wonderful and gripping. It held the mystery in a way that was fantastic and it kept me connected throughout the whole book. Although the beginning, if I’m being honest, wasn’t getting me very excited, as you can see that absolutely changed! Also, the pace was just right and I could just feel the character and their emotions resonating in me.



I would definitely recommend this book, especially if you like Psychological Thrillers like I do. You will not be disappointed! I really want to read The Sisters also by Louise Jensen. I heard great things about it! And since I liked this one so much… Why not, right?

Thank you to Netgalley for the opportunity to read this book.

I really liked this book. The first chapter hooked me, it has a woman running in fear and I had to read this book, I had to know what she was running from.

Jenna has recently had a heart transplant and is having nightmares or are they visions/memories; but if they are, they aren't hers. Jenna needs to find out about her donor and once she does it doesn't answer her questions, it leaves her with more. It's a great read. Jenna tries to solve the question of her donor's death and deal with her own obsession/paranoia at the same time as heal from a heart transplant.

It was a great story with a very interesting idea, cellular memory. It was a topic I didn't know that much about, but have since looked into it and it is such an interesting idea and the stories of people are amazing and defy explanation.

I was given a copy of this book by netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

This is the first book by this author I have read and it won't be the last. I was intrigued by the storyline and wanted to keep reading to its conclusion.

The main character, Jenna, undergoes a heart transplant from a female donor called Callie. Jenna struggles after her surgery to get back to her old life and becomes fixated on the donor of her heart, her family and how she passed. As time passes she starts to have visions and dreams she believes are from Callie and which cast doubt on how Callie died. Was it an accident or murder?

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and found the twist of organ transplants being entwined into a psychological thriller fascinating.

Gripping and fast paced, the story evolves around the ordeal of a heart transplant patient that is withing the first 6 month of receiving the new organ.
The psychological side effects, adding the fear of rejecting the organ and the guilty feeling of being alive because someone is dead conforms a scenario that can lead to a nightmare if we add the cellular memory concept.
Scary and thrilling, events unfold in a manner that will keep you glued till the end

The Gift explores the 'what if ' relationship between donor and recipient, it opens up a whole range of questions, can thoughts and feelings be transplanted along with the organ?..there are people who believe they can, and Louise Jenson has written a thought provoking subject matter.
Jenna desperately needs a heart transplant, and at the eleventh hour a donor is found, and this is where the story really begins. Jenna starts to question everything about her life, her family, and most of all, who was the organ donor?, the person who saved her life, she makes contact with the family against all advice given, initially things seem to be ok , but soon it feels like the family are hidding something, Callie ,the donor died in an accident, didn't she?...Is she trying to contact Jenner through her heart, now beating in Jenners chest?, what does she want Jenna to know?...This is such a sensitive matter, and is written with due care by the author, I loved the questions it raises and in the power of memory and beyond, this is a thriller that will keep you entralled, and a great psycological read that will keep you guessing right to the last pages.