This book is perfect for those who loves thriller novellas, Christmas-y vibes and sinister plot. The ending had me shocked. The narrator did an exceptional work for the audiobook
Thank you Netgalley, Dreamscape Select and Freida McFadden for providing me with this audiobook.

📖My Thoughts📖

We all know and love the story of The Gift of the Magi. However, this version comes with a twist, Freida McFadden style. At first, I thought ok, it’s going to be completely different than her normal work. Man, was I completely wrong! I don’t believe I’ve ever read a novella by Freida, so this was a first for me and it did not disappoint! It was fast paced, easy to read, had some twists, then BAM! You know it’s coming, but it’s always a surprise! I received the audiobook version of this and I thought the narrator, Alyson Krawchuck did a great job keeping the pace up as well as holding my attention. She always knows how to bring Freida’s books to life! If you’re looking for something short and intriguing, this is perfect for you!
Thank you Netgalley, Freida McFadden and Dreamscape Select for the opportunity to read/listen and review this fun novella! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

This book was mediocre in my opinion. The good things are that it’s short, the audio narrator is great, and the plot twist is decent. Not Freida’s best work but since it’s so short it’s not a waste of time to read/listen to

A quick story transition from halloween to Christmas! McFadden never fails to shock me with the twist! Its my first audiobook to listen to and I had a good experience.

A sinister thriller!
🌟🌟🌟🌟
I listened to this audiobook without noticing it was a short story. When it finished so quickly, I listened to it a second time, thinking there was a playing error the first time, lol.

This dark thriller examines the deep love Stella has for her husband. The lengths she takes to support him. And the rage she feels when she realizes it isn’t reciprocated. It has a different atmosphere than other books I’ve read by Ms. McFadden but I loved the sinister undertones!

Sincere thanks to Dreamscape Select and Freida McFadden for providing this complimentary audiobook through NetGalley. As always, all opinions are my own and left voluntarily.

#TheGift #freidamcfadden #DreamscapeSelect #netgalley #shortstory #audiobookreview #justfinished #giftedARC #thriller #honestreview #thrillerbookloverspromotions #thrillerfriendsunite #thrillerobsessedbookishclub #suspense #lovetoread #bookworms #lovebooks #lovetoreadbooks #fortheloveofbooks #booknerd #bookreviewer #booksbooksandmorebooks #instabook #readaholic #igbookreels #newrelease

This is going to be a crazy review so sit back and fasten your seatbelts! My Netgalley app was glitching. It wouldn't play. Someone suggested to delete the app and reinstall, BIG mistake! The books that were past archive date that I had downloaded disappeared. I have read this book before and I knew I liked the author, so I took a chance on using my audible credit on it. That was not a big mistake at all. This was a very good life decision. The story is a wonderful, yet twisty Christmas tale. I have read the book and I know FM writes crazy plot twists and I was still surprised by the ending. My memory is the size of a gnat, so that's good for making rereading books an enjoyable past time. The narrator did a good job, I listened to it at 2x the speed and was able to follow along easily. It's a quick read. Thanks Netgalley and Dreamscape Select for offering me the listen, even if I had to get it for myself. #TheGift #NetGalley

Thank you, NetGalley and Dreamscape Select for this advance copy.

I enjoyed this quick little story.
It’s a typical Freida book but wrapped into an hour listen. I’m a fan of the Christmas time thriller.

🎧📖 note: I cannot hear Alyson Krawchuk be any one other than Dawn in a post The Co-Worker world. I was waiting every few minutes for her to say the world turtles and will never be able to separate her from that character ever again 😂

5 stars! Loved this as I love all of Freida’s writing. Highly recommended. Thank you NetGalley for this arc.

Thank You to NetGalley for the free digital audiobook.

I loved the book. The narrator did an awesome job reading. She used her voice well creating drama and interest to suck the reader in to keep on listening to the very end.

A lovely short Christmas read, that isn't your usual read. It has twists, turns, and surprises with a little creep factor thrown in.

The plot line resembles ' The Gift of the Magi' by Henry partially. As a reader, it felt like a retelling to me with a dark twisty end. I wish the writer extended the story from where it ends currently. I do like the writing style of the author and feel I could have some more of this story.

Thank you @netgalley @dreamscape_media @fmcfaddenauthor for the Audio ARC novella

Genre: #thriller #mystery
Rating: 3/5 ⭐️

"I can't go home without a Christmas present... what's the worst that can happen?"

I have no words to express the shocking end to the short story The Gift by ingenious mystery author Freida McFadden. Stella finds the perfect gift for her first Christmas with her new husband but has no money so the mysterious pawnshop owner offers her a trade; with revealing consequences that left my jaw on the floor.

Voice actress Alyson Krawchuk played each character with unabashed gusto. In just over an hour this writer turns the classic The Gift of the Magi on its head...no its backside. Have fun!

I received a free copy of this audiobook from the publishers via #NetGalley for a fair and honest reviews. All opinions are my own.

This is a wonderful short audiobook. I was hooked. It is a play on the classic story about the woman who sells her hair to get her husband a watch chain.
But this is 2023 so the man is super ungrateful.
It is beautiful and hilarious and I loved it

The Gift is a novelette inspired by the classic tale, The Gift of the Magi by O. Henry. This was a fun, short, Christmas themed read. The audio is a little over an hour in length and offers an entertaining story with a twist. The narrator did an excellent job and kept me engaged throughout. It is very odd and creepy in parts, but I couldn't stop reading/listening. Pick this up if you want a creepy Christmas thriller that's short and sweet but twisted. It will leave you wanting more!

Want a fun little Christmas novella!
Audio was just released last week. I absolutely loved this little gem.
A retelling of the Gift of the Magi, with a fun twist of course. Because… well, it’s Freida!!
Just a little over an hour long. I loved the young narrator who was upbeat, yet exhausted with life. Highly recommend if you need a fun break this holiday season!

Thank You NetGalley for an this audiobook.

I really enjoyed this book and the narrator. I also liked the twist at the end.

This is bizarre and entertaining at the same time. A lot of it is insane and doesn’t make sense but for some reason i couldn’t put it down. I had to know what was going to happen at the end.

🎁 𝙈𝙮 𝙏𝙝𝙤𝙪𝙜𝙝𝙩𝙨 🎁
This is a short novella length audiobook that you can enjoy on a car ride or a relaxing afternoon, except it is a little bit of a thriller!

Stella is broke and just wants to do something nice for her husband on their first Christmas as a married couple. She hasn’t gotten a gift for him yet and meets someone that is willing to help her out. What Stella does to make her husband happy shocks me and I knew right away that it wasn’t going to turn out wonderful.

This novella is roughly an hour to listen to. But it takes you on a short thrilling ride and makes you question what you would do to make your significant other happy. Would you do too much?!

🎧 𝙉𝙖𝙧𝙧𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣 🎧
Alyson Krawchuk voices the character of Stella very well. She is a hard working young lady with a bright outlook, and it shows in her voice, enunciation, and her cheeriness. She also does a chapter of another character at the end of the book, and that character is quite fun with a completely different accent that comes across really well. The last chapter was probably my favorite to listen to!

🎧 𝙔𝙤𝙪 𝙬𝙞𝙡𝙡 𝙡𝙞𝙠𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙗𝙤𝙤𝙠 𝙞𝙛 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙡𝙞𝙠𝙚:
♥️ Novella Length Thrillers
♥️ Christmas Thrillers
♥️ Domestic Suspense
♥️ Mysterious Strangers Meetings

OK so it wasn't until after I read it that I found out it was based on The Gift of the Magi - it made so much more sense after that. Originally I thought it was very odd, and it reminded me of Gremlins! 😄 I've never read this author before and am intrigued enough to try another of her books. The audio did not seem as high quality as usual.

Perfect! I love the Gift of the Magi-esque theme to this book with thriller changes. For such a short book, it really packed a punch and I didn’t see the ending coming at all!

I thought I knew exactly where this short story was going. Until I didn’t. 💀 It ended up being just okay.