100 Pages A Day...Stephanie's Book Reviews

Everyone is born with a gift, some people have a gift of dance, music or color; but some people are born with the gift of nightmares, time-shifting, godliness, or heart, the ability to make everyone around you feel any emotion.  These gifts are highly coveted by those who would like more power and child trafficking has grown.  Ever-Jezabel, Fox, Demmi and Sinna were all stolen at birth and have been locked in an abandoned mall bookstore waiting for their gifts to achieve full potential.  Ever is supposed to have the gift of heart, but being blind all she believes that she can do now is see out of the eyes of others.  When the four teens try to escape into the strange streets of New York City, Ever's gift of heart may be a the key to their way out or her demise.  

This book had a really unique premise.  I liked all of the different gifts and how the presence of these gifts brought out the worst in people.  Ever's situation is very intriguing, the only life that she has known has been locked in a mall with four other kids her age, all with potentially dangerous gifts.  The teens have paired off and Fox has formed an almost unhealthy obsession for Ever. Ever is also dependent on the others for sight.  Ever and Fox's relationship added another layer of danger.  When the group does make their escape, it is into an almost an impossible version of New York, which they must now try to find their way out of.  It had a feeling of Alice in Wonderland and was ruled by a Queen with the power of heart and had buildings that shifted around every night.  Through Ever's point of view, I was able to figure out part of the twist pretty early on; however the ending still held a lot of suspense and a chance for the characters to surprise me.  I really wanted to know more about this world and the gifts, there wasn't much explanation of how the gifts came to be or how those with the potentially dangerous gifts are controlled.