A really great book, that has kept me enthralled the whole way through. I loved how this book kept me gripped, although I would have liked to have known what happened to Nathan in the end.

After reading and thoroughly enjoying The Sister last year I couldn't wait to read the latest offering from Louise Jensen.
This is another fast paced, well written thriller investigating the cellular memory theory. Can organ donors do more than just save lives? Can you take on personality traits, food cravings, and memories of the donor?
If you want a can't put it down thought provoking read then look no further.
I give this book 5 stars and highly recommend it.

A different kind of thriller that is part medical story, but I found it rather drawn out

Now that I have finished crying, I can finally see my laptop screen to write this review. Not that I have the words just yet . . .
Louise has done it again.
She has completely knocked it out of the park and has brought us all another utterly amazing thriller!
It's a pet hate of many readers and bloggers when books are packaged as psychological thrillers when they are not, this time however, Louise has nailed it! AGAIN!!!!
The Gift brings us the story of Jenna, a heart transplant patient who sets out to discover what she can about her donor, however all is not as it seems, and as she starts to meet the people involved with Callie, the donor, she starts to realise that perhaps Callie's death wasn't the accident everyone claims it was.
I completely fell in love with Jenna; Louise writes in a such a detailed and descriptive way that you cannot help but be drawn into the world of her characters, you feel for them, you love them, you hurt for them. AS much as this IS a psychological thriller, it will mess with your head, there is no denying it, there is also an exceptionally clever undertone of something more, not chick-litty romance, but something deeper, something that grabs your heart and doesn't let go, something that takes you into the lives of characters in a way that doesn't happen with other books. Something that makes you want to keep reading, something that stops from you from being able to put it down, something that makes you never want the book to end. And when it does, you are utterly bereft, you just want more, more words, more pages to turn, more everything!
From the thriller point of view, Louise builds up to such an utterly horrifying ending you will be left shocked and stunned by the revelations! With constant twists and turns, she takes us on a journey that leaves you breathless and desperate to read the next page (ahem, chapter . . .  who am I kidding . . . I read it in one sitting!!) As the tension builds and the suspicions mount, you will be kept guessing at every step of the journey as to who has done what and why, but I promise, you will not guess the ending!
My God! It's a bloody corker!!!!
Louise is an exquisite writer, the emotions on the pages are so raw, you can almost feel them, almost put yourself in that situation and feel the things going on as if they were happening to you.
There is no denying that Louise Jensen is THE best new author we have had the pleasure of being introduced to this year.
I know that she was worried that book two wouldn't be as good as the first, that perhaps she hadn't done her new characters justice as she still had Charlie and Grace (from The Sister) on her mind, Louise has documented this on her blog, however, she had no need to worry. The reviews so far by us lucky advanced readers have already been amazing, and I think this shows just how good a writer Louise is, whilst worrying and fretting and sometimes obsessing, that no one will like her new characters, she has written a book that has jumped straight into my Top Ten Books of the Year (I'm not telling you where though, that will have to wait until that blog post!) but not just mine, many, many others too! I've yet to hear a negative comment about it, and why would I?
The Gift is perfect. So perfect in fact that, following my decision to give Frailty by Betsy Reavley 5-Stars . . . I'm pulling out this one for Louise:
MY FIRST EVER GOLD STAR AWARD
I can't think of any other book, or author, who deserves it more!
Louise is fast becoming a household name and I am so excited to see what the future for us, how else she will captivate, shock, stun and thrill us, because, I am in no doubt, this lady is here to stay.

Three and three quarter stars
Jenna (who it has to be said is pretty annoying) has a heart transplant and that should be that, but she is determined to find out who the donor was despite advice to the contrary. There's some mystery about this donor, Callie and Jenna being Jenna refuses to give up until she knows what it is. Great story and writing and I loved it until it started veering on the incredulous plus not all the ends were tied up ie some of the other characters. Despite that I was still gripped and thought it was a good, exciting thriller which was different from normal.

Jenna has receive the gift of life as the recipient of a donated heart. As she is recovering from her surgery she finds that she is obsessed with learning more about the person whose heart now beats in her body. Jenna has been having strange dreams and memories and she believes that this is "cellular memory". She is feeling the fears and emotions of her donor, named Callie.
The story progresses as Jenna meets Callie's family and Jenna believes Callie's death was not an accident. She is determined to find out if Callie's death was a homicide.
I found Jenna's character to be a bit unrealistic at times and not always that likable. There is suspense and mystery in this novel as Jenna investigates Callie's death on her own. The conclusion holds the most suspense but I felt that there were some holes in the story as it came to an end. One character in the story also had a dramatic personality change that left me a bit baffled. The ending was not at all predictable so that had me give this novel a solid three stars. I received an advanced readers copy of this book from Netgalley and the publisher and this is my honest review.

The Gift

Louise Jensen





I've never read Louise Jensen before and I'm so glad I took a chance on a new author and read THE GIFT. Wow! What a fascinating story and one that kept me on the edge of my seat the whole way through. Jenna is in desperate need of a heart transplant. She receives a new heart and six months after the surgery, against the advice of her counselor, her doctors, and even the transplant team, she tracks down the donor family. This is the part where I wanted to take Jenna and just give her a good shake! Seriously, why would she want to bring all that pain of losing a loved one back in the faces of Callie's parents? Once you start reading, you will understand what is driving her to get to he truth!


All she wants to do is thank them and give them some closure. She thinks it will help them to see Callie's heart living and beating in Jenna. Once Jenna goes and meets them, she finds out that Callie died in a car accident, but Jenna believes there is much more to the story. THE GIFT is going to have you flipping the pages like crazy, trying to figure out what really happened to Callie. I've never hear of cellular memory, where memories stay with the heart, and I was constantly thinking about that while reading and even after I put the book down. The tension and heart stopping situations Jenna finds herself in are going to grab you by the throat and never let you go.


THE GIFT is filled with chills, thrills, twists and turns, that you won't be able to get instantly caught up in all that Jenna is going through. Your heart will be pounding and you will be sitting there shaking your heard going "no way, no way" over and over again. I was completely emotionally invested in Jenna and what she was going through and my heart was breaking for what she was learning about Callie and all she went through. What was it that Callie was trying to tell her? She had to get to the truth! Jenna felt that Callie deserved at least that much for the gift she gave to her. I found myself holding my breath right up until the very end and after reading THE GIFT, I'm excited to read Louis Jensen's debut novel, The Sister.

This is an excellent thought provoking novel by author Louise Jensen.
This novel is a gripping psychological thriller that steadily builds up the tension throughout.
The lead character Jenna is hospitalised with an heart condition and is in urgent need of a transplant when she receives a donor heart from a girl called Callie. While recovering in hospital after the transplant she decides to end her relationship with her boyfriend Sam and is determined to start a new life. After being discharged from hospital Jenna suffers from strange dreams and panic attacks and focuses on trying to find out more about her donor Callie and how she died. She contacts Callie's family and tries to uncover the truth behind her death by getting close to them.
There are some twists and turns and also the subject of cellular memory which is a very interesting side issue. All in all I enjoyed this novel very much and will look out for more from this author in the future.

I would like to thank Net Galley and Bookouture for supplying a copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.
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“…My vision begins to mist and the room fades away until I’m shrouded in darkness. Where am I? There’s shouting. My heart is pounding. Sweet trickles down my face. A shadow looms towards me… I’m scared. So scared. Something very bad is happening and I am not safe…”
This is how Jenna feels now. From the moment she has her heart transplanted her fear and paranoia for some inconceivable danger has risen and it is so tangible she can’t shake the feeling off.
The Gift is a psychological thriller by Louise Jensen.

My thoughts: - Jenna has suffered from viral Myocarditis and had a heart transplant. And now after the transplant she is having dangerous visions of something, some people she doesn’t know. She talked to her therapist but to no avail. Are those really her donor Callie’s memory? Can a heart store memories? Is there really something called cellular memory? And if the heart really stored Callie’s memory how did she die?
I must say that the plot is amazing; very intriguing and full of suspense. This novel is truly a page turner. Each chapter has been woven deftly with utmost care.

Drawbacks and ratings: - The ending though is a bit obscure. I mean Callie’s death. How did she die is not stated clearly. And when we see Amanda turning into a monster well…that was scary. But was it really so necessary to try to kill Jenna? I don’t know.
I wanted to give it a 5 but 4 only, for the ending.
But I am glad that at last Jenna was happy with Sam. He is perfect.

Thanksgiving: - Thanks to Netgalley and Bookouture for giving me the opportunity to read and review the book.

This book is extremely well written and delightfully creepy. I'll admit it took me most of the book to warm to Jenna, it didnt stop me enjoying every single page of it.

The Gift is the new novel by Louise Jensen, author of The Sister. Even though I have yet to read The Sister, I've heard very good things about it, so I'll definitely be picking it up soon. I felt drawn to The Gift, particularly due to its rather interesting premise.

Jenna's life is changed when, after an illness, she has to undergo a heart transplant. Now recovered and facing many more years of life, rather than feeling lucky about her situation, Jenna is unable to shake off the guilt she feels. Guilt that she is only still alive because someone else is dead.

Worse still, Jenna has been experiencing strange dreams and thoughts since her operation - thoughts that don't seem to belong to her. And since leaving long-term boyfriend Sam, it's proving difficult for Jenna to share her worries. The dreams won't stop, leading her to believe that this isn't simply a coincidence.

Despite the warnings of both her therapist and best friend, Jenna tracks down the family of her donor. Her heart, she soon discovers, had belonged to Callie, a young woman who died in a car crash. Even though the investigation was closed, with Callie's death ruled as accidental, there are still some unanswered questions about what happened. Why was Callie driving in that particular area? Was her boyfriend involved? When Callie's distraught father admits that the uncertainty keeps him awake at night, Jenna decides to investigate the case herself.

Feeling as though Callie's heart is attempting to give her answers, Jenna sets out to solve the mystery surrounding her donor's death and finally bring closure to her family. The strange dreams that Jenna experiences provide clues to Callie's life - people, places, glimpses into her final days. Jenna is even starting to like foods that she didn't like before; foods which Callie loved.

Jenna researches the odd goings-on, leading her to discover the theory of Cellular Memory - a hypothesis that memories can be stored in cells. By inheriting Callie's heart, has Jenna taken on a part of Callie herself?

Whilst her therapist and friends are concerned about her new 'obsession', Jenna is getting ever closer to working out what happened on the night of Callie's death. She even tracks down and befriends Callie's boyfriend Nathan after her suspicions grow, but can he really be responsible? Meanwhile, as Jenna focuses her efforts on Callie, other aspects of her life are starting to become difficult. There's her relationship with Sam, and the job as a veterinary nurse which she once loved. Her constant mistakes are driving her to believe that returning to work so soon was a bad choice. As Jenna learns more about her donor's life, her own is falling by the wayside.

But she has to find out what happened - and figure out what Callie is trying to tell her.

The Gift is an addictive, fast-paced read. It was impossible to put down. I enjoy thrillers and had expected to be taken with this one, but it was much more gripping than I had envisioned. I personally loved the concept of Cellular Memory in The Gift, which was such an original premise. It gave the novel a slightly supernatural feel, which I loved. There were various possibilities when it came to Callie's death, and plenty of ways to keep the reader guessing, but I thought the outcome was unpredictable. Obviously I don't want to give spoilers here, but I felt that the ending was perfectly written. Nothing was left out, nothing left me disappointed (something I've experienced with a few thrillers recently.)

Great pacing, well-developed characters and an original plot make The Gift a fantastic thriller. Louise Jensen is a very talented writer, and I'm looking forward to reading her future releases as well as The Sister.

Rating: 5/5

I had not heard of this author but the blurb of the book definitely captured my interest. Jenna is recovering from heart replacement surgery. She is seeing things and hearing voices in her head. The donor heart seems to be speaking to her, and against advice she wants to meet the parents of the young girl who's heart she has received. She learns about Callie and the tragic way she died, but something just doesn't add up and Jenna is determined to find out what really happened to Callie and whether her accident was just an accident or was it murder.

This book had me captivated from the beginning and had some real twists and turns in it that you didn't know what or who to believe. Thank you to Net-galley and Bookoutre for the ARC of this book and I have not hesitation in recommending it to people to enjoy psychological thrillers and domestic noir novels.

I loved this book. I thought the plot was fantastic and so unique. The story begins with Jenna, a young woman who recently had a heart transplant. Soon after the transplant she notices that she has memories of things that didn't happen to her and starts to wonder just who the heart came from.
The Gift felt like a game of cat and mouse, the pace slowed and sped up at all the right points and the ending felt like such a climax.
I've read loads of thrillers recently and my interest in them had drooped a little because they all seemed to go in the same direction but Louise's style of writing kept me hooked until the very end. I would love to read more from this author.

For a first novel this author is dead on. I would recommend this book to all my friends. It's fast moving, characters you like and always has you guessing.

Initially I found this a little hard to get into, however if, like me you find it slow to start, persevere! It slowly pulls you into the story and all of a sudden you cannot stop reading - the need to find out what is happening is so strong!

Found this book a fascinating read and a real page turner . The main character Jenna is 6months after having heart transplant and ready to return to work but she keeps getting dreams and flashbacks from another life .. love Louise's easy style of writing. My thanks to netgalley and bookouture for my arc which I have chosen to review

Jenna is given a second chance at life when she is given a new heart thanks to Callie who tragically died too young. But Jenna suddenly starts seeing things in her dreams that seem to be have happened to Callie. Happy dreams then dreams full of fear. Feelings of panic and fear when she meets Callie's friends and family. What happened to Sophie her sister? Can Jenna find her and help her parents to heal. A book that takes you on a roller coaster of a ride with quite a few heart stopping moments. One of the things I enjoyed was the exploration of the belief of some people that having a heart transplant can change memories and tastes of the recipient. It also explores the reasons behind not contacting the doners family without proper support and counselling. A really well-written story with a few red-herrings. Great read.

Jenna was happily living her life, she was a vet nurse and in a happy relationship with Sam. But all that changed in a flash when Jenna got sick, so sick that her heart was giving up and she needed to have a heart transplant. Having been happy and healthy, life is suddenly very different for Jenna, she’s reliant on medication that has difficult side effects, the strain of her illness caused her parents to separate and for Jenna to break up with Sam, believing that he was better off without her.

Jenna also wants to know more about her donor, whose heart now beats in her chest? Frustrated with the boundaries that rule any official contact between the recipient and the donors family Jenna hires a private investigator and contacts the donors family herself. At first she feels positive about this, she just wants to know more about Callie, the donor, and there can’t be too much wrong with that?

But gradually Jenna starts to loose her grip on reality, she is having dreams and flashbacks that she is sure are Callie’s memories. Is Callie trying to tell her something? Jenna researches this and comes across cellular memory a theory that supports Jenna’s belief that she is experiencing Callie’s memories. Everyone Jenna tries to tell about this thinks that she is simply experiencing the side effects of her medicine but she remains convinced that Callie is trying to tell her something, especially when she learns that there are some questions around how Callie died.

I found the premise of The Gift really interesting, I firmly support organ donation and both myself and my children are on the register for this, and the idea that the recipient changes because of the donor’s organ is fascinating.

I have to admit that when I was reading The Gift I couldn’t help but think that it would not be a good book for someone who is waiting for an organ to read, and I did wonder whether it would put people off donating. However, I have read that the author has been contacted by people who say that after reading The Gift they have joined the register which is blooming fantastic.

As the book progresses Jenna really loses her grip on reality, she thinks that she is being followed, she is obsessed with Callie and her fiance Nathan and she can think of little else. An attempt at returning to work doesn’t go well and Jenna is gradually pushing everyone around her away.

Things come to a head in a gripping finale and I have little doubt that by the end of the book Jenna wishes that she had respected the boundaries when contacting Callie’s family. It is definitely a case of all not being as it seems.

The Gift is a great read, it is gripping and keeps the reader guessing. Definitely a good choice for any fan of the psychological thriller genre. Louise Jensen skillfully weaves a tale that keeps the reader engaged and wondering.

I received a copy of The Gift from the publishers, Bookouture, via Netgalley but was under no obligation to review the book. All thoughts are my own.

The Gift by Louise Jensen is the follow up novel to her phenomenal success, The Sister. I had high hopes for The Gift, but I felt, on a few levels it fell short. Jenna the main character is in dire need of a heart transplant, and a donor finally becomes available. The donor heart is from a young woman named Callie. After Jenna has her transplant and begins the healing journey, she begins to experience something called cellular memory, i.e., she can feel some of the same emotions the donor felt, wants to eat the same foods, very strong strange dreams, etc. This was something I wasn't completely aware of, and for that reason, it was sort of interesting. Beyond that, Jenna becomes determined to meet the donor's family, even though she is strongly advised against doing so, even by her therapist. It just doesn't seem like a good idea, and I do concur with that. However, that finding of, and getting to know the donor's family is an integral, if flawed part of this story. A false premise so to speak. Jenna became obsessed with Callie, obsessed with finding out how she died, and ultimately solving a great mystery. While a strong story on the surface, I could not overcome that storyline bias, and also found the writing needed some more editing for the book to read more smoothly. Netgalley kindly provided me a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.