"The Gifted" by Katie Galvin presents an intriguing concept centered around individuals with extraordinary abilities, but my experience with the book left much to be desired.

One of my main frustrations was with the protagonist. I found her unrelatable and at times frustrating, which made it difficult to invest in her journey. Her decisions often felt inconsistent, and I struggled to understand her motivations, which detracted from the emotional weight of the story.

Additionally, the worldbuilding felt a bit lacking. While the premise of a society grappling with gifted individuals is compelling, the setting didn’t feel fully fleshed out. Key details that could have enriched the narrative and provided context were often missing, leaving the world feeling somewhat flat. This lack of depth made it hard to fully immerse myself in the story, as I didn’t get a strong sense of the rules or dynamics of this unique society.

In summary, while "The Gifted" has an interesting premise, it ultimately fell short for me due to the protagonist's unlikability and the insufficient worldbuilding. I believe there’s potential in the idea, but it didn’t come together in a way that resonated.

Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I enjoyed the romance element going on and how it worked with the world being told. The concept was strong for the fantasy romance novel, it was everything that I wanted and enjoyed getting into this world. I thought Katie Galvin wrote this perfectly and was glad it was everything that I wanted.

This one started out not great for me. It was just all around bleakness, the MFC seemed on the stagnant side, and I really considered putting it down. I'm glad I persevered. There is a sort of love triangle, and when the first dude was introduced I was so perplexed as to why the MFC was at all interested in him, though I think that came through later in the book - he seemed to be everything she was not: kind, trusting, not a killer. The story really picked up for me once we were introduced to the 2nd male lead. I love a good grey character and he was far, far more interesting to me than the first guy.

The ending was kind of over the top but there were some reveals that I did not see coming and I also appreciate being surprised. I'm definitely interested to see where this goes next.

Personally, I feel like some of this could have been fleshed out more - a bit more world building, more development of the secondary characters.

Chiara and Callum are great together. I like how they work together and they are both more than they seem.

Chiara is an annoying FMC but at the same time I did like her and her story. I wish the world building was fleshed out more as I really enjoyed the snippets I got to read about: the Gods and the Gifted. I hope we get to see more of what Chiara is capable of in the next book.

Callum was my favourite character, he has depth and I understand why he did everything. I think he deserves more credit for what he has been through and I hope he gets everything he wants.

I usually don't read books that reference dark triggering topics, however thankfully the author doesn't go into too much detail. Although considering all that Chiara has been through she trusted people a bit too quickly throughout but then during the finale she stopped when she shouldn't of.

Overall I liked it and I read in one day. Looking forward to continuing the series.

Thank you to Netgalley, the author and publisher for an eARC copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

The Gifted is a really fascinating and novel take on the pantheon of gods and goddesses and their human servants in the mortal realm. In this world, the pantheon will hand select humans to “gift” with special abilities that are prized by that god. I was drawn to the story because instead of being gifted by any number of the other more mainstream gods, the main character Chiara was gifted by the god of death. The characters throughout the book were morally grey - neither all good nor all bad. I really appreciated how the author made a heroine out of a “monster.” The plot was relatively straightforward with some very enjoyable twists and turns that I didn’t see coming. The final two pages were so true to the character— it was the perfect ending for Chiara… or rather- the beginning.

This book was a fun adventure, but it was very dark. I’m not sure how appropriate it is to be classified as a YA, and it should come with some major trigger warnings because there is no darkness that is off limits in this book. Some of the triggering topics include: rape, gruesome murder scenes, child abuse, child prostitution, etc.

I would like to thank HarperCollinsUK and NetGalley for the eARC in exchange for my honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I really enjoyed this book!! The plot was so interesting and full of adventure that I was never bored. The author did a great job with character development because I was full invested in there stories. I will be recommending this book to all of my friends and family.