This book takes a little bit to get into but once you dive in you are hooked! The setting is beautiful and eerily perfect. The mystery takes hold of you and the lies, deceit, and twists take you for a wild ride! I would definitely recommend this and add this author to one I want to read more from!

Wow! This book was incredible from the very first page. It is one of those books that you don't want to put down and when you do put it down to continue on with real life, it's all you can think about. The Gift is a psychological thriller that really affects your own personal thoughts. This was the first book I've read by Louise Jensen and immediately I want to read anything else she has written. The book follows main character Jenna as she goes through the first 6 months of her life after a heart transplant. All Jenna can think about is the donor and quickly she weaves her way into the lives of the donors family only to find out things may not have been so simple as she thought.

With every twist and turn, Jensen makes you fall in love and out of love with many characters. You will find yourself thinking you have the mystery all figured out and then Jensen seamlessly throws a wrench in everything you started to believe to be true. If you enjoyed books like Gone Girl, Girl on the Train or other psychological thrillers, then you will love The Gift.

Note: I received a preview copy from Netgalley. This is not a paid review.

Jenna receives a donor heart from Callie. She is determined to find out what happened to Callie. This is the second Louise Jensen book I have read. I have also read The Sister. Both are really good books. The Gift is a fast paced page turner that I read in one afternoon. The plot is a fascinating topic. Would a donor heart give you feelings and memories? Would you want to know who your donor was and how they died? Whilst reading I really wanted to know what happened to Callie and if Jenna got her happy ending.

Sadly this novel was too far-fetched for me and I found it hard to get into it. The start seemed too repetitive, and the end too over the top. Not for me.

Another corker from Louise Douglas
I loved how this story had not only the sad and touching insight into transplants and how they affect people's lives but it had a gritty edge, with twists and turns at every corner
It's very hard to review without giving away any of the story
Brilliantly written that kept me hooked right from the beginning

I absolutely adored Louise Jensen's debut novel, 'The Sister', and was incredibly eager to read 'The Gift'. I am happy to say it was just as gripping, enigmatic and thrilling as I hoped.
The premise behind the book is instantly engaging - can someone who has received a donor organ also gain the donor's memories? I think it would be completely natural to wonder about the donor. I can't begin to comprehend how grateful you would be to receive a lifesaving organ, how curious you would be and all this whilst knowing that in order for your life to be saved, someone had died.
No matter whether you believe the transplanted organ can carry memories with it or not, Jensen weaves a convincing story around Jenna who received a heart transplant from the deceased Callie, and has become somewhat fixated on who Callie was and how she died.
I lost count of the number of characters I suspected of being 'baddies', the number of unexpected plot twists and the number of times I got frustrated with characters, particularly Jenna (which I think is testament to how realistic and three-dimensional Jensen's characters are).
If you loved 'The Sister', I'm sure you will be enthralled by 'The Gift'.

Thanks, NetGalley and Bookauture for the chance to read this book in exchange of a honest opinion.
Jenna’s has been given the second chance of life, when she is the recipient of a donor heart. As part of her recovery she is seeing a therapist, this comes in handy when Jenna begins to have vivid dreams, which she is convinced are cellular memories, her therapist Vanessa has tried to convince her that what she is seeing and feeling are a normal part of the recovery process.
Jenna is not convinced d an of her own back makes arrangement to meet the donor family, she learns that her new heart came from Callie, however knowing the name of the person who died, sets Jenna on a mission to find out exactly what happened to Callie.
I loved this book, the descriptions of places felt so real I could almost feel like I was there. As things happened.
There was no way I could have guessed how the story would conclude. A real rollercoaster of a read which I highly recommend,

Really enjoyed the beginning and middle of this book, but I thought the ending was a bit rushed and contrived. Enjoyed it overall though.

Well written but I didn't find that it hit with me. I found myself hoping for so much more because of her first book which was great

Wow! Another amazing book! Super author who writes exceptionally well considering this is only her 2nd novel. Please hurry up with the third!

This book is so good! I had to go to sleep because I had to go to work the next morning, but I just had to finish this. And the first thing I did as I arrived at the office was to buy her first book. Even when is it half as good as this one it will keep me up late too.

I'd describe this as enjoyable although not a massive page turner.

There were a lot of threads, storylines and characters, and I'm afraid it was all too implausible (the memories, Amanda's bit, the relationship with Nathan for example)

Also some unanswered questions and threads (Callie's boss what was that about?)

I realise I'm in the minority with his review so maybe this just wasn't to my taste.

Three stars.

Thank you Netgalley, the author and publisher for this copy.

So we kick off the new year with another Bookouture author and yet another 5 star review for a truly great book.

I can only imagine what it must be like to be given another chance at living because someone else has died, although you may have been gifted the chance to live, the physical and psychological side effects must be life changing. The daily reminder that you have someone else inside you would be enough but to then suffer from Cellular Memory, giving you flash backs and memories from the organs donator would be enough to drive you mad.
Wether or not Cellular Memory is real or not, Being the skeptic that I am I have my doubts, doesn't really matter and Louise Jensens writing is so persuasive that if she wrote to me telling me the world was flat or a Businessman and reality TV star was President of the USA, I would believe her.

Its a brilliantly crafted story that had my emotions and thoughts all over the place. I changed my mind over and over undecided on what had happened and who could of done it. Was Jenna Psychotic? Was it Murder? Was it important to get some sleep or feed the kids or just read one more chapter?. The ending was perfect for me. Totally unexpected. The Book has also made me think about Organ donation and I have now signed up to the NHS Organ Donation Register

This is that book that you stay up reading because you don't want to miss it and you don't want it to end!

Great thriller, couldn't put this book done and felt my heart pounding along with Jenna. The insane story of Callie and how Jenna is connected, will keep any reader connected.

I think the first chapter of The Gift should come with a bit of a warning, because it certainly serves to unnerve the reader from the start. I honestly was a little out of breath by the time I'd read it; there was no easing me in gently that's for sure!

I found the whole premise of cellular memory a really interesting idea to underpin the story. Whether Jenna's new transplanted heart could in some way hold the memories of the donor Callie. In fact this sense of uncertainty pervaded most of the book; was Jenna responsible for all the mistakes, or were events just down to her own imagination? Personally I don't think cellular memory is such an out-of-field idea as to be impossible, though I'm not entirely sure whether I'm totally convinced. I do accept that we don't know or understand everything of which we are capable, so I am more than happy to accept it as a possibility, and thus I was intrigued by what was happening to Jenna.

The italicised flashbacks only served to further unnerve me. I was left wondering what had happened to cause Callie's death and I understood completely why Jenna had to find some answers. The book was well-crafted enough to engage me, and the writing evoked tension and questions which kept me engrossed until the end.

Being completely honest, I found Callie's ending just a little bit twee, but not enough to disappoint me in any way (and in fairness I don't know any other way in which Louise Jensen could have resolved Callie's story, so perhaps it isn't fair to mention it!). I would recommend not reading it piecemeal like I did because it did make me a little confused by the end action-scene. It was totally my fault though because for some bizarre reason I thought starting it before Christmas was a good idea. It wasn't. Give this the luxury of time and attention.

I did like Jenna as a main character though, she was feisty yet flawed enough to be interesting and engaging. And I did care enough about her to be worried what her own ending was going to be. And I guess the same could be said about Callie, as the two of them are so intrinsically linked.

I really enjoyed this second novel from Louise Jensen, and I have to say I'm already looking forward to the third! They are definitely proving themselves to be great reads.

Underwhelming compared to The Sister

Jenna received a heart transplant from Callie. Callie's death has allowed Jenna to live. After the transplant, Jenna is having weird dreams about memories that she believes is from Callie. She then becomes obsessed with finding out what happened to Callie.

I know nothing about Cellular Memory (personality changes that some people experience after a transplant), but to me I didn't find it believable that you can obtain someone's thoughts and memories once you receive their heart.

I didn't like Jenna and how she turned into a totally different person after her transplant. She wanted to distance herself from her family and friends, but then would call them as soon as she needed something, as long as they didn't judge her.

The whole novel was very unbelievable and it just didn't grab me like it did the other reviewers. I still would highly recommend the author's debut novel, The Sister

This is the first book I've read by Louise Jensen. Her first book, The Sister, hit number one in the charts and was all over my Twitter feed. At the time of release of The Sister I was really busy with writing a dissertation and planning my wedding so I still haven't gotten around to reading it yet but I will definitely be changing that soon after being introduced to this amazing author!

The story is written in first person of Jenna and after she has a heart transplant she begins to have dream sequences that are not her own memories but of her donors. The book focuses on the mystery surrounding cellular memory. Now cellular memory hasn't actually been proven yet but it is a fascinating topic that Louise has used for her psychological thriller and it is a unique one!

I've never really heard of cellular memory before but putting aside what I think about it, Louise manages to convince you it is definitely a real and scary thought.

The fact that Jenna was such an unreliable narrator made me not trust anyone and I love this trope in psychological thrillers. I love not trusting anyone and being pulled from pillar to post with all the twists and Louise didn't disappoint in this sense!

Most thrillers I have read tend to have a few twists and then a massive one at the end and I'm usually wondering (if I'm on my kindle) how I don't already know the ending by 92% and wonder how they can wrap it up so quickly. However, Jensen has jam packed this novel with twists and cliffhangers galore so I was gripped to the story throughout the entire book right until the last 20% when she plays out her final dramatic scene. I was reading this part on a plane and I hate flying but instead of being scared of the turbulence I found myself so immersed into the plot that I didn't realise my surroundings. For that last 20% or so I was Jenna and I was just as scared as she was. My husband tried to speak to me and I told him to shush because I couldn't stop reading.

I also love how Louise Jensen adds a little extra touch to help you imagine the scenes she lays out with her music. I had Hold Back The River in my head for days after reading that a character was listening to it.

All in all this is a fantastic thriller and I was gripped from beginning to end. I highly recommend this book and I'm kicking myself that I haven't read The Sister yet.

Fabulous can't put down book. Just couldn't work out what was going on. Excellent

The premise of this book is pretty far-fetched but as soon as my 'willing suspension of disbelief' kicked in, I enjoyed the book a lot. Lots of suspense that kept me turning the pages. The bad grammar of the characters was irritating and distracting (I cringed every time I saw "me and her" or "her and me" etc.) but I tried to just ignore it.

There were some obvious red herrings thrown in to make guessing the outcome more difficult (and fun) all the way until the book reached its stunning conclusion. The epilogue was a nice addition.