The Wedding Gift Paperback – October 7, 2011

Ok, first things first. The Wedding Gift sounds like a love story, it is anything but, well ok it is surrounding a relationship, marriage and so on and so on, but it is misleading if you are looking for a Nicholas Sparks happy love story.The Wedding Gift is a post-murder/suicide ghost story, about a home given to a newly wed couple.Second, on paper when you read the book synopsis this should be right up there with Peter Straub's Ghost Story. The story is simple yet elegant, as elegant as a woman murdering her family and haunting their former residence can be.The potential seems endless. Then the book is introduced in journal format, almost seems like it can't lose....And then you meet Leann, the main character/protagonist/author.The book's failure revolve solely around the main character. You don't need to love a character, but by god you should never despise a character this much. When you are rooting for the ghost to take out the hauntee then the author has made a mistake and taken much of the suspense out of the story.Miz Leann makes the Kardashians look humble when it comes to her self-centered behavior and vanity. Even beginning to explain the levels of her self-love would look silly."To be strictly honest" is a term you will hear far too much. Honest, she says it at least 2 dozen times. I understand she is trying to put a real-life repetitive nature into the writing of the journal, but damn it was a phrase that just grew ridiculous to be strictly honest.And speaking of the journal, while it was a great idea the execution was poor. I don't blame the author, she is responsible for a story, the editors should have caught the missed tenses in the writing. There are several spots where the journal foreshadows events because they don't recognize that if you are supposedly writing a journal you can't know what happens tomorrow without actually writing it after tomorrow.Now I can't hate on the author for making Leann an idiot and I mean never heard of Rhode Island or diabetes idiocy. And thinking Emily Dickenson was someones friends name, is just asinine. (But yet Leann uses the words "masticate" and "caterwaul" as just any old verb.) Got to keep it consistent.While the book had so much potential, it failed so miserably on so many fronts. The writing, the 45 slow middle chapters. That is 45 out of 50.The book is not all that bad, Leann's BFF is hilarious and saves the book, but I would not encourage reading the book just for her, in fact I would not encourage reading the book unless you want to meet the worst character you could ever imagine. Unreal.I think the levels of my disgust grow from my anticipation for greatness from the book. Kathleen Mckenna wove a good story, the editors and proof readers really should have salvaged this disaster.2 1/2 stars out of 5

I am not going to include a synopsis in this review because plenty of others have done that. If you have read any of the other reviews I expect you have a pretty good grasp on the storyline. So, instead let me begin by listing the things I liked about the book.I thought the characters were well developed. I thought the pace of the story was well done and I liked the concept of the whole, "Haunted house as a wedding present." It was a quick fun read and since I got the Kindle edition for free, I was able to overlook certain things about it and just enjoy the story. I never got bored with it; in fact I finished it in a couple of days.That being said, had this book not been free I would be a bit disappointed. I see the Kindle edition normally runs for $7.99. I would not feel good about spending that much on this book. Here's why... The book's style and the quality of writing could have suited a young adult novel, except for the language and certain subject matter. I thought the southern speak was overdone to the point of cliche'. I tried to ignore the speach patterns of Leanne since she was supposed to be so young.The book was supposed to be a journal and I would liked to have seen it done in more of a journal-ish format. The story was almost all tell and no show. I found several punctuation errors along with some word useage problems that lead me to believe the editing was done with a simple spell check. The Author is very repetative, from her choice of words to her storyline. For example, the newspaper excertps aren't necessary in the beginning of the book since all the backstory comes out during the story.All in all, I feel like this story had promise, but it needed a better editor. It felt like reading an early draft of a work in progress. It just wasn't ready yet. I feel like McKenna has real potential as a writer. And for a first book it's not half bad. I wouldn't however, pay $7.99 on it. It is not THAT good. I would read this Author again, if I run across another book for free.

The best thing about the Kindle is the choice of books, I got this book as it was free...can't go wrong with a free book !I have to say im an devout horror/thriller reader. I have been for the past 15 or so years, but i really enjoyed this book. I was hooked after the first chapter ! A nice break and an intresting read. I really enjoyed the style of writting and the plot, a well thought out book. Well recomended

I absolutely loved this book. I was hooked from the first page, and couldn't put it down until I'd finished it!! It's got such a good storyline, great characters, plenty of scares, twists and turns, and a good many laughs too. I got so into the story and really cared about what happened to the characters (the good ones and the bad ones!!). A really excellent book - I'd highly recommend it.

on reading the intro to this book i very nearly didnt continue reading it, as im not a fan of thriller or horror type books, but im so glad i did.fabulous from start to finish. great storyline, lots of surprises in this one. loved it. well worth the download.

I Loved every line of this book, though it was written from a point of view totally at odds from myself.Imagine the Mother-in-Law from hell, plus a murderous ghost and a young southern girl all caught up in it, a GREAT read.

Great little spooky book!