Title: Ungifted
Author: Kelly Oram
Genre: YA paranormal/fantasy
Series: Supernaturals #2 (companion)
Expected Publication: March 2014
Even though her father is running for President of the United States, Grace St. Claire is as normal a girl as they come. She’s clumsy, shy, and an outcast among her peers. She even manages to nearly die in a freak accident in front of the entire school. But when Grace survives a vampire attack she quickly learns that she is anything but ordinary.
There’s something about human Grace that has all the supernaturals around her going crazy. Her best friend’s brother suddenly wants to date her. Her worst enemy has sworn to protect her even against her wishes. Someone with very powerful magic wants her dead, and the vampire that attacked her has developed an obsession with making her his eternal mate.
In order to survive—and not as Count Dracula’s undead bride—Grace dives head first into the terrifying world of the supernatural. She teams up with a charming but mysterious warlock who strolled into town causing trouble and spouting stories of a Prophesy and Chosen One that looks exactly like Grace. Together they must figure out why Grace is different, who wants her dead, how she’s connected to the Chosen One, and who they can really trust.
Review
5 stars
This book had a lot of elements that made it absolutely wonderful. It was funny and charming, yet deadly and serious which brought an underlining tension throughout the book. This book was so unexpected because of its depth and the fact that it’s different from the first book yet connected to Chameleon’s story idea.
The author was really adept at separating this book from the other book. The characters were different and faced with different problems had handled their situations differently. There were a lot of pressures in this book pertaining to the characters and how Grace seems to be this special person that everyone wants to use for their own purposes, it was just an amazing concept that was masterfully played out. Every part of this book had a purpose in the scheme of things and I thought it was great how the author managed to make each action and word an important set up for later events.
Overall this book was a great read and I loved every minute of it. This book didn’t clue me in on exactly what was happening in the book and I was left as clueless as Grace was. It made the book more intense and emotional.
Grace didn’t have a lot of self awareness in the fact that she didn’t see herself as anyone important.With her father running as president Grace is repressed as so much expectation is put on her to act a certain way and only draw positive attention and yet she seems to only draw negative attention. Throughout the book I was able to see that she was losing herself and was allowing others to break her slowly but thoroughly.
Grace had to learn to be strong in this book as other people were willing to let her fail. She was given the option to either give up or try harder and the emotions involved with this decision really hindered Grace. It almost seemed that no one was rooting for Grace to survive and the one who wasn’t willing to let her go was someone that didn’t even respect her.
One of the main supporters of Grace is her best friend Cynthia. She constantly pushed Grace into taking a stand against those who tormented her. Grace was dependent on Cynthia to be strong for her, but Cynthia has her own secrets that will put strain on their relationship. Yet, this helps Grace find herself and will help her grow without the use of a crutch.
Another characters that has a perverse affect on Grace is Ethan Dun. He is constantly saving Grace from trouble but seems to do it because he has to not because he cares about Grace. People actually think that Ethan likes Grace and that’s why he is always saving her when he actually has a very different opinion of her and how she lives her life.
The book ended on a dramatic note yet solved most of the problems presented in this book. I loved the idea for this book and the author finished it out with a beautiful flourish.
Kelly Oram wrote her first novel at age fifteen–a fan fiction about her favorite music group, The Backstreet Boys, for which family and friends still tease her. She's obsessed with reading, talks way too much, and loves to eat frosting by the spoonful. She lives outside of Phoenix, Arizona with her husband and four children.
