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The Queen's Gift

T.R. Allardice

3.82 · Rating details · 11 ratings · 9 reviews

Fifteen-year-old, late-bloomer Jean Elliott dreams of becoming a Genie like her mom. When her family relocates to Tokyo, Jean is forced to use sleight-of-hand tricks to fool everyone at school into believing that she’s a normal Preternatural or risk expulsion. When her power finally appears, it comes in the form of the Queen's Gift--an unspeakable magic that strips power f ...more

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Published December 15th 2014 by Smallbites Online Learning, Inc.

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Jan 19, 2016 ❀Aimee❀ Just one more page... rated it really liked it

Recommended to ❀Aimee❀ Just one more page... by: @CaraMangini

Shelves: netgalley, series, fairies-pixies-trolls-ogres-etc, girls-kicking-ass, high-school-setting, mythological-creatures, running-from-the-bad-guys

3.5 Stars

I had a lot of fun reading this one. I've recently been through a slew of books I either didn't care for or were just "eh". I haven't had a good paranormal romp in a bit and this had a genie's daughter as the MC.

Some themes are recognizable, but somehow there was a certain charm to it.

There's a mean girl lion shapeshifter, the ghoul best friend, the fey silent type, siren teachers, the shapeshifter hot jock, and a lot more. There's mystery, monster-hunting, sleight-of-hand trickery, sna ...more

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Feb 13, 2015 Camly Nguyen rated it really liked it

Shelves: arc-and-requested-reviews

This review contains spoilers.

When Jean's parents decided to move to Japan, they thought it would be a good thing to send Jean into the TIPS, a school made for people with special powers. The only problem is, Jean has no powers. Her parents know it, her brothers know it and Spider, a Fey acquaintance, knows it. Not wanting to dishonor her mother that happens to be one of the best Spell teachers of TIPS, Jean has to use normal human magic to try to fit in. But when a mysterious palace door random ...more

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Feb 18, 2015 Kelly Gunderman rated it really liked it

Shelves: netgalley-reads

I received a copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

When I first started reading this book, I was on the fence about it. It was, to me, such a typical high-school drama book that I didn't think I could stand. But, I kept reading, and truth me told, I found it was a fun, light read, and I was easily drawn in after a few more chapters. I didn't want to put it down.

The book starts off with fifteen year old Jean, who has a genie for a mother, and want I received a copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

When I first started reading this book, I was on the fence about it. It was, to me, such a typical high-school drama book that I didn't think I could stand. But, I kept reading, and truth me told, I found it was a fun, light read, and I was easily drawn in after a few more chapters. I didn't want to put it down.

The book starts off with fifteen year old Jean, who has a genie for a mother, and wants to be like her. However, she has no powers yet. This is a cause for concern, as she begs her parents to allow her to attend a high school for other Preternaturals, because they all have powers. If she is found out, she will be expelled. So she uses certain "common magic" tricks, such as hiding things in her sleeves, so she can fool everyone into thinking that she does have powers, while she waits for her powers (and desperately hopes she gets them soon). She befriends a ghoul, a spark, and a vampire, as well as a member of the fey, and a shifter.

Let me stop here for a minute. The whole thing between the shifter (Michael), and the Fey (Spider) was a love triangle that made me roll my eyes a few times. She has feelings for Michael, and it starts off with the whole cliche thing where she thinks Spider hates her, and she doesn't like him either, blah blah blah. And while I hated this whole triangle at first, I slowly found myself coming around and really hoping the best for her and Spider, since I didn't like Michael all that much (he was portrayed as your typical high school jock-jerk).

Anyway, there is a strange creature being sighted at night, and Jean and her friends run into it on a monster hunt, and from there the book takes off.

It was a great, fun, book. Aside from the things I already discussed, the only problem I had with it was the fact that as the book started to wrap up, events were really being rushed, and I started wondering..."Is this book supposed to be part of a series?" Apparently, it is. I didn't realize this at first, which is a bummer, because I thought it was just a stand-alone novel, but at least I know for sure that the story will be wrapped up in the future.

If you're into Young Adult fantasy, this is a good book to try out. I haven't read much in the way of this genre, but I find myself slowly getting into it, and this book was a good way to dip my toes into the water to see if I enjoyed it. I really did. It was something that I didn't want to stop reading, and I was actually sad when I got to the end. ...more

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Feb 12, 2015 Jessica rated it really liked it

Shelves: arc-1st-ng

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Feb 15, 2015 Shay VanZwoll rated it it was amazing

On the surface, Jean is a standard Preternatural: The daughter of a Genie and a Half-Incubus, she seemingly has minor powers destined to someday match her the glory of her mother's. Unfortunately, Jean's life is a lie. Hiding the fact that she is powerless with slight-of-hand and other "Common" stage magic, Jean just wants to attend a Preter school in the hopes that something will spark her power, wakening in her the magic of a Genie.

They always say that you should be careful what you wish for.

A On the surface, Jean is a standard Preternatural: The daughter of a Genie and a Half-Incubus, she seemingly has minor powers destined to someday match her the glory of her mother's. Unfortunately, Jean's life is a lie. Hiding the fact that she is powerless with slight-of-hand and other "Common" stage magic, Jean just wants to attend a Preter school in the hopes that something will spark her power, wakening in her the magic of a Genie.

They always say that you should be careful what you wish for.

Attending her new school, Jean finds herself surrounded by friends and circumstances beyond her expectations. When monsters appear in Tokyo and the Queen's Door appears, Jean starts to realize that instead of hiding in the shadows, she is somehow in the center of the whirlwind. For what she wished has come true, and her powers have started to awaken...Unfortunately, no one expected her to have The Queen's Gift.

The author has created a complex world of preternatural beings, pulling from legend and expanding to make them feel like real children, teenagers, and adults. Add in the politics of an Assembly grasping to keep their power, others who would prefer to have a Queen rule again, and even the petty jealousy of a teenage shifter, and you have a whole lot of turmoil that the main character must navigate through...And somehow the author keeps it from being too overwhelming. Yes, the cards are stacked against Jean, but the author manages to thread hope and possibilities throughout the story.

While I wasn't so fond of Michael as a character, he does feel like a real teenage boy, complete with hormones. Ashley is the epitome of the spoiled girl in high school that everyone hated but wanted to be, and pitting her against Jean gives us a real glimpse into the differences between a popular "Common" twit and the beast that Ashley really is...While this may feel like a stereotypical cast of high school teens, we quickly see their differences, and the politics when dealing with the different preternaturals gives us a larger glimpse into the actual Preter world that Jean finds herself in.

This review wouldn't be complete without a mention of Spider. Spider is in fact my favorite character of this book, both complex and yet at times obvious in his actions and affections. You can tell that the author put a lot of thought into how he would interact with the different Preters in his school, and with Jean in particular. With each chapter, you learn a little more about Spider while realizing how much you still don't know. I look forward to reading more about him in the next story.

My only complaint about this book is that I want to read the next...And it's not here yet! Write faster, T.R. Allardice, please!

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for providing me with a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. ...more

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Feb 09, 2015 Jaclyn rated it liked it

I received a copy of this book from the publisher through Netgalley in exchange for my honest review.

You can read more reviews on my blog, My Life as a Bookworm

Jean and her family moved to Tokyo to start again and she convinced her parents to allow her to enroll at the Preternatural school even though she has no powers of her own. She uses slight of hand tricks like Houdini to fool everyone though not everyone is fooled. When white creatures start showing up around town and being seen by Commone I received a copy of this book from the publisher through Netgalley in exchange for my honest review.

You can read more reviews on my blog, My Life as a Bookworm

Jean and her family moved to Tokyo to start again and she convinced her parents to allow her to enroll at the Preternatural school even though she has no powers of her own. She uses slight of hand tricks like Houdini to fool everyone though not everyone is fooled. When white creatures start showing up around town and being seen by Commoners (people who have no power), Jean is pulled into chaos. She has no idea whats going on, The Assembly wants to bind her powers, her parents won't talk to her and she is an outcast in school for being friends with a Ghoul.

It's a typical high-school drama story but with a hint of magic throughout. There is a love triangle but it disintegrates by the end of the book (which I'm fine with..I liked Spider more anyway). Jean came off as being very naive and annoying but she had great other qualities. She stuck by her friend, Karen the Ghoul even though everyone else was too scared of her ( I mean she will eat you if she became hungry enough but she adds in humor and wit). The main issue I had with that relationship is that Karen is bulimic and Jean knows about it and knows its wrong but feels like she has no right to question her friend on what she does with her body. It then gets pushed to the side and doesn't really come up again in the story. I feel like that is a rough issue to bring up in a teen book and then for Jean to ignore it and not be brought up again is wrong (don't know if that's the right word to use...wrong). I don't know if the author plans on bringing it up again in the next book but it felt out of place in the story. There was so much going on in the story itself and to bring in an eating disorder that affects a lot of young girls might have taken it too far and I just worry how it will play out in the later books or if it will be ignored? I hope that it won't be but we shall see. Spider and Michael are the boys and of course one is another outcast but a Fey while the other is the school jock and is beyond beautiful. You KNOW who Jean falls for first! (rolls eyes) I felt like the foreshadowing was a little weak and there really wasn't any twists that surprised me at the end except maybe one when the blue ball of light showed up.

This was an enjoyable short book and teens would like it and it's a good one to start out with if you are new to the YA/Fantasy world but it's not quite my cup of tea. I felt like it was too high school drama for me but if you are into that, then this is the book for you! ...more

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Dec 09, 2015 Alyce Hunt rated it it was ok

Shelves: young-adult, netgalley

Jean Elliott hasn't had the easiest start in life. Her mother is a Genie, her father is an Incubus... But Jean is completely powerless in her magical family. For years she attended school with the Commons (regular people, muggles, whatever you want to refer to them as) but Jean begs her parents to allow her to attend school for Preternaturals, hoping that being in the same vicinity as magical beings will encourage her powers to appear.
After uprooting the family, Jean starts school at T.I.P.S - Jean Elliott hasn't had the easiest start in life. Her mother is a Genie, her father is an Incubus... But Jean is completely powerless in her magical family. For years she attended school with the Commons (regular people, muggles, whatever you want to refer to them as) but Jean begs her parents to allow her to attend school for Preternaturals, hoping that being in the same vicinity as magical beings will encourage her powers to appear.
After uprooting the family, Jean starts school at T.I.P.S - the Tokyo International Preternatural School. Her mother gets a job teaching, and Jean finds the perfect way to make friends: there's a mysterious monster roaming the streets of Tokyo, so she gathers a band of people together to go on hunting trips. She makes friends with a Ghoul, a Spark and a Vampire, and is instantly fascinated by Michael, a lion Shifter who she's enamoured with the second she meets him.
Jean attended a school for Preternaturals - or Preters - when she was younger, but had a terrible experience with the Fae. This means when she meets Akio "Spider" Takahaski, Fae extraordinaire, she's understandably apprehensive. When he starts helping her out on a regular basis she gets even more suspicious about his motives. Spider's father is the leader of the Assembly (the Preternatural government) and they are investigating Jean's affiliation with the monster she's been hunting, and the random appearance of a palace door in the school corridor.
Due to Jean's flirtation with Michael she's on the receiving end of the hatred of his ex-girlfriend, Ashley, so when Spider starts helping her out against Ashley she can't understand why. Spider seems to want to be friends with her, but she finds it hard to trust him so their relationship is strained. When Jean thinks she's developing feelings for him, things get even more tense: why would she like him, when she had a chance with the "yummy" Michael?
But then Jean's powers appear, and they manifest in the form of the Queen's Gift.

Read the rest of my review here! ...more

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Mar 13, 2015 Ashley Dotson rated it really liked it

The Queen's Gift was a very intriguing book that, in a few ways, sort of reminded me of Monster High, but more for older teenagers. There's a lot of types of Preternaturals, including genies, ghouls, fey, incubi, sparks, vampires, shifters - the list goes on. There's enough information given about all of them that I feel I mostly understand what they are.

I wasn't very sure what the plot was at first, other than Jean being a powerless teen in a school full of Preternaturals, using Common sleight- ...more

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Feb 23, 2016 Dana rated it it was amazing

I enjoyed reading this young adult supernatural fantasy story. Fifteen year old Jean is a preternatural, daughter of a genie who should have magical powers, but so far, her powers have not shown up yet. Her family has moved to Tokyo where she is going to a preter school for magical kids, and even though she has no powers yet, she plans to fake them. To her surprise, her powers finally show up, and they are not what she was expecting or hoping for. There is friendship, a little romance, mystery a ...more

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About T.R. Allardice

T.R. Allardice

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I write young adult, new adult, and humorous horror. I have a hard time coloring inside the lines. Most of what I write incorporates several genres. The content won’t always be ‘safe’. What’s the fun in that? I am a member of the Horror Writer’s Association, Novelist Inc. and the Author’s Guild. I have thirty-one books published under another pen name.