Review: Well written, excellent premise
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 02 25, 2014
Ungifted by Kelly OramGrace St. Claire was a klutzy, unlucky young lady who seemed to embarrass herself no matter how hard she tried to lead a quiet, orderly existence. This wouldn’t have been an issue if her father weren’t about to be the next President of the United States. So each and every failure, fall, and personal upset became fodder for the opponent and fuel for her father’s disappointment. She kept to herself at school, stayed out of trouble, kept her mouth shut, and her head down. As a result, she had only one friend, Cynthia.On the day of the last Presidential debate, an attempt was made on her life. As usual, her personal shadow, Ethan Dunn, rushed to her aid and saved her life. Of course, this made the entire incident more humiliating, since Ethan despised her. She, in return, despised him. She couldn’t understand why he always helped her out if he hated her so much. For six years, Ethan had been around, bailing her out of trouble of one sort or another, ever since her father became a serious figure in the political arena.Ethan even carted Grace to the hospital and stayed with her for the entire 12 hours she was stranded, waiting for her father to appear to rescue her, since she had to have a parent sign for her release. He refused to leave her side, except for a brief moment to get coffee. In that moment, Grace met an eerily handsome young man who frightened her to her very core. He was pale, as only vampires in novels are pale, and he wouldn’t release her hand once he’d touched her. She began to panic. Just at that moment, her father and his entourage arrived to escort her home. The man vanished as quickly as he’d appeared. What, exactly, was going on? What had he felt when he’d touched her that made him hesitant to relinquish her hand? Is Grace really just a disgrace as the students at her school say, or is there something more to her after all?Kelly Oram is an excellent author, managing to craft a novel with many characters that never loses its focus. The characters are all developed to just the correct degree to continue to entice the reader to turn the pages. The primary characters, Russ, Ethan, and Grace are tantalizingly underdeveloped, with tidbits dropped here and there, like crumbs on Hansel and Gretel’s forest trail, leading the reader deeper into each character’s psyche, as the author wishes, when she wishes. It’s a journey that is intense and fulfillingUngifted is a refreshing twist in the paranormal genre. What power does the Ungifted One have? Will the Ungifted One have any strength in the coming years that will aid the supernatural world? Is she to be a dangerous pawn in a game yet unknown? These and other questions arise as knowledge of what the Ungifted One is in relation to supernatural beings.Kelly Oram has written a definite winner in the YA realm of paranormal books. This is an excellent addition to a great series.I give this a solid 4 stars out of 5.I received this book in exchange for an honest review. The opinions offered are my own.