What do you think?
Rate this book
The Gift
STARTING OVER-At thirty-one Jamie is just looking for a quiet place to hide and get through the hurtful time following her divorce.. MIDNIGHT MUSIC--But the boisterous lifestyle of her handsome upstairs neighbor keeps getting in the way. Will Montgomery is a musician who seems to be at his most creative during the midnight hours. HELLO, BABY--Just as Jamie begins to enjoy Will's attention and rebuild her shattered self-confidence, the unexpected arrival of a baby changes everything. In an effort to get revenge, Will's ex-girlfriend, who is going on tour, leaves her three-month-old baby behind. PROMISES--Will turns to Jamie for help, but she knows she shouldn't become involved in his problems. When tragedy intervenes, he is left with hard choices, and Jamie must decide if his promises are real or just a matter of convenience.
220 pages, Kindle Edition
Published September 5, 2019
626 people are currently reading
118 people want to read
About the author
Elizabeth Smith
9 books37 followers Artist, former teacher, advertising/creative director.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 28 of 28 reviews
October 14, 2019
The Gift by Elizabeth Smith is a great story that I have read. This great stroy is writen by a brand new author for me and I can not wait to see what will be writen next. I recommend this story to everyone who wants a great story to read.
I voluntarily read and reviewed an Advance Reader Copy of this book
I voluntarily read and reviewed an Advance Reader Copy of this book
November 21, 2019
Overall I liked this book. Jamie is trying to move on from her bad divorce. She has low self esteem and is convinced she will never be happy. In comes Will her loud neighbor. He ends up needing her help and while she helps him they end up falling for each other.
July 11, 2022
Boring & Impractical
This may be the most boring book I've ever read!! The righting is dull & the story is just impractical. I literally had to force myself to finish it. It had promise but the writing was just so boring. Even the parts that should be exciting just fell flat. I absolutely hated this book.
This may be the most boring book I've ever read!! The righting is dull & the story is just impractical. I literally had to force myself to finish it. It had promise but the writing was just so boring. Even the parts that should be exciting just fell flat. I absolutely hated this book.
January 23, 2021
Beautiful story.!!
I couldn't put this book down? Emotional- you go from laughing to crying and frustrated to excited!!! Such a beautiful and happy story! Twists and turns from the very beginning! Very interesting and easy to relate to all the characters in this book!!
I couldn't put this book down? Emotional- you go from laughing to crying and frustrated to excited!!! Such a beautiful and happy story! Twists and turns from the very beginning! Very interesting and easy to relate to all the characters in this book!!
July 26, 2020
Finally Happened
Moved a little slow, but beautiful story! The love, care and concern truly showed through, on so many levels. A true love be story.
Moved a little slow, but beautiful story! The love, care and concern truly showed through, on so many levels. A true love be story.
May 9, 2022
It's a cute love story
It was a cute love story with just a little sadness young teens up would enjoy easy to get into
It was a cute love story with just a little sadness young teens up would enjoy easy to get into
May 20, 2022
The Gift
A beautiful story. The book needs a more thorough edit as there are a few typos and missing words.
Thanks for a good read on a snowy/rainy day in May.
A beautiful story. The book needs a more thorough edit as there are a few typos and missing words.
Thanks for a good read on a snowy/rainy day in May.
July 16, 2022
the beginning was beautiful and even though it was a slow book I made an effort to read it. after the 50 percent mark or so it came dull and boring and the ending was just plain stupid.
December 6, 2023
Good from the first page
This book was great from the beginning! Love the characters and love the author! I would recommend to all who lime to read
This book was great from the beginning! Love the characters and love the author! I would recommend to all who lime to read
March 15, 2024
all kinds of love
I loved the fact that love for a baby, love for best friends and romantic love all played a part in this story.
I loved the fact that love for a baby, love for best friends and romantic love all played a part in this story.
October 25, 2024
Heart warming and romantic
I loved meeting the characters in this book! I fell in love with the family they become through the book
I loved meeting the characters in this book! I fell in love with the family they become through the book
January 5, 2026
Great story
I couldn't put it down. Found the book by chance and it was a great story with a great ending.
I couldn't put it down. Found the book by chance and it was a great story with a great ending.
October 11, 2019
Here is another wonderful book by Elizabeth Smith!
Jamie, on the mend from a painful divorce, moves into a small apartment building in Charleston. Her older and quirky neighbors, (think the fairies in Sleeping Beauty), throw themselves in her path but it is her upstairs neighbor, Will Montgomery, who makes her heart beat faster. Will is a musician who works into the night composing music. After Jamie confronts him about losing sleep, they start to develop a friendly relationship.
Things evolve slowly until Will's ex-girlfriend literally drops a baby on Will's doorstep. Jamie and Will's relationship goes into fast forward as Will tries to cope with and then adopt the baby boy. With the adoption at risk, Will asks Jamie to marry him. Is it a proposal of love or convenience? Read the story and find out!
I love Elizabeth's characters, they are so real you feel as if you know them. Jamie is strong and feisty, Will is kind and generous. Yet, they both are damaged by their pasts and working to overcome their insecurities. Her secondary characters are well developed too. The setting of Charleston is vivid in Elizabeth's descriptions. Most of all, the circumstances are possible, her characters never get involved in something that couldn't happen.
Throughout her books, Elizabeth Smith has grown as a writer. Her writing is crisp and clean and her storytelling skills are superb!
Jamie, on the mend from a painful divorce, moves into a small apartment building in Charleston. Her older and quirky neighbors, (think the fairies in Sleeping Beauty), throw themselves in her path but it is her upstairs neighbor, Will Montgomery, who makes her heart beat faster. Will is a musician who works into the night composing music. After Jamie confronts him about losing sleep, they start to develop a friendly relationship.
Things evolve slowly until Will's ex-girlfriend literally drops a baby on Will's doorstep. Jamie and Will's relationship goes into fast forward as Will tries to cope with and then adopt the baby boy. With the adoption at risk, Will asks Jamie to marry him. Is it a proposal of love or convenience? Read the story and find out!
I love Elizabeth's characters, they are so real you feel as if you know them. Jamie is strong and feisty, Will is kind and generous. Yet, they both are damaged by their pasts and working to overcome their insecurities. Her secondary characters are well developed too. The setting of Charleston is vivid in Elizabeth's descriptions. Most of all, the circumstances are possible, her characters never get involved in something that couldn't happen.
Throughout her books, Elizabeth Smith has grown as a writer. Her writing is crisp and clean and her storytelling skills are superb!
January 8, 2020
The Gift
Set in historically rich Charleston, SC, The Gift centers on recently divorced Jamie Bennett, a high school librarian, and her wealthy musician landlord, Will Montgomery. Their lifestyles could not be more diverse, but their mutual attraction was instantaneous. However, the likelihood of their becoming a couple was slim.
It’s all a matter of timing. As Jamie begins a new phase in her life, she hopes to regain whatever self-esteem she has lost, including her dreams of becoming a mother. In contrast, Will travels extensively, composing and producing in his field, and when at home, he regularly hosts social gatherings. However, Cupid is at work in the persona of a trio of elderly women--longtime tenants—who give their all to encourage a romance between Will and Jamie.
The arrival of an unanticipated ‘gift’ appears to thrust the couple together, but things are not always what they seem, and soon after, Will and Jamie are compelled to redirect the course of their lives.
Novelist Elizabeth Smith has portrayed a vibrant, credible cast of players placed in an unusual situation. From the very beginning, the reader is taken along on a journey, rooting for Jamie’s dreams to be fulfilled. As in her other novels, Ms. Smith does not disappoint. Rather she displays considerable skill in creating good, satisfying fiction.
Set in historically rich Charleston, SC, The Gift centers on recently divorced Jamie Bennett, a high school librarian, and her wealthy musician landlord, Will Montgomery. Their lifestyles could not be more diverse, but their mutual attraction was instantaneous. However, the likelihood of their becoming a couple was slim.
It’s all a matter of timing. As Jamie begins a new phase in her life, she hopes to regain whatever self-esteem she has lost, including her dreams of becoming a mother. In contrast, Will travels extensively, composing and producing in his field, and when at home, he regularly hosts social gatherings. However, Cupid is at work in the persona of a trio of elderly women--longtime tenants—who give their all to encourage a romance between Will and Jamie.
The arrival of an unanticipated ‘gift’ appears to thrust the couple together, but things are not always what they seem, and soon after, Will and Jamie are compelled to redirect the course of their lives.
Novelist Elizabeth Smith has portrayed a vibrant, credible cast of players placed in an unusual situation. From the very beginning, the reader is taken along on a journey, rooting for Jamie’s dreams to be fulfilled. As in her other novels, Ms. Smith does not disappoint. Rather she displays considerable skill in creating good, satisfying fiction.
November 18, 2019
Jamie is recently divorce, and the blow to her self confidence after finding out her husband was cheating has left her with a need to find a safe, quiet place to heal and recover. Will Montgomery is a musician, a night owl, and a host of late night, spontaneous parties. Jamie is a school librarian and needs to at work earlier than the rest of the staff, and her new upstairs neighbor is making it impossible to get the sleep she needs. She quickly gets fed up with her inconsiderate neighbor and decides to confront him, and convince him to keep the noise to a minimum. She definitely wasn't prepared for Will's charm and good looks, but his interest in Jamie gives her self esteem a much needed boost. When an ex girl friend leaves her three month old child in Will's custody, and he turns to Jamie for help, their fledgling relationship becomes strained.
Compelling, well written, and unique characters that are brought together by a baby, and their need to protect him, and they will both get an important lesson in love. Great book, with some laughs, and some tears, I thought this was a wonderful romance with plenty of twist in the plot that made this read hard to put down. Fantastic story with a happily ever after, I loved it!
I am voluntarily leaving an honest and non-incentivized review of this ARC.
Compelling, well written, and unique characters that are brought together by a baby, and their need to protect him, and they will both get an important lesson in love. Great book, with some laughs, and some tears, I thought this was a wonderful romance with plenty of twist in the plot that made this read hard to put down. Fantastic story with a happily ever after, I loved it!
I am voluntarily leaving an honest and non-incentivized review of this ARC.
November 18, 2019
With "The Gift," Elizabeth Smith has once again provided a thoroughly delightful contemporary romance to her fans and future fans. The relationship between two hesitant lovers, one normally confident and self-assured in his approach to the opposite sex, doubts his ability to provide his new lover the stability she hungers for. The wounded heroine, in turn, is certain the love and family she offers are two things the hero does not require from her. The catalyst drawing the two together is an orphaned baby boy who steals their hearts and thrusts them together. The protagonists are strong individuals in their own right, suffering painful pasts mitigated by a determination to forge new friends and promising futures. Both need what only the other can supply to ensure self-completion. The romance, of course, is their figuring out what those are. The novel is a quick, satisfying read, not without a degree of angst and heartache, but one which reaches the denouement appreciated by the true adherent of sweet romance.
November 17, 2019
What a tearjerker! You will definitely need tissues for this one I must admit, The Gift was a much richer and fulfilling than I first thought. I knew the story would be difficult in places, but I never expected the author to deliver such angst and painful truths! The storyline is rich with detail; the characters are fully developed; the plot twists and turns were mind boggling. The HEA? Ohmigod...it was totally amazing. You definitely want to add this one to your TBR list today! (I voluntarily reviewed an advance reader copy of this book and thoroughly enjoyed it.) ❤️❤️❤️
November 22, 2019
This story will leave you feeling emotional. Jamie Bennett a school Librarian and Will Montgomery a musician live in the same Apartment building and do not get off to a great start but what she does not know is he owns the building. Then a gift named Charlie comes into Will's life through his ex girlfriend. Charlie will change and enrich so many lifes, of the people he comes into contact with. A well written beautiful story. This is a new Author to me. I received a copy of this book through Hidden Gems and I am voluntarily reviewing.
November 21, 2019
I like this book by Elizabeth Smith for the most part. It had heart and some lovable characters.
There were a few things I didn't really like but that could just be my personal preference. At times I felt like their relationship was too rushed. I also didn't feel like there was much of a connection between them which was disappointing.
If you want a quick, heartfelt read, then go for it.
I received a copy of this book for an honest review.
There were a few things I didn't really like but that could just be my personal preference. At times I felt like their relationship was too rushed. I also didn't feel like there was much of a connection between them which was disappointing.
If you want a quick, heartfelt read, then go for it.
I received a copy of this book for an honest review.
November 29, 2019
I received this book free as an ARC reader for review.
Uptight and controlled Jamie moved into Will’s apartment building, never suspecting that she would get a new family of sorts in the process. Her stilted personality is evident in her awkward interactions with others and her perfunctory journal entries. Or perhaps the book is just poorly written. In either case, although the premise is tried and true, the execution is a little off. Seriously, no baby is that easy.
Uptight and controlled Jamie moved into Will’s apartment building, never suspecting that she would get a new family of sorts in the process. Her stilted personality is evident in her awkward interactions with others and her perfunctory journal entries. Or perhaps the book is just poorly written. In either case, although the premise is tried and true, the execution is a little off. Seriously, no baby is that easy.
September 16, 2019
This book was an amazing read, captivating. I loved the characters and the suspense. I couldn’t put this book down. Beginning to end you didn’t know the final outcome and for me that is always so intriguing. Elizabeth Smith is a great author and she brings you such wonderful characters and exciting storylines. Thank you for another wonderful, exciting read.
Read
October 2, 2019I am not very good at expressing my thoughts but The Gift by Elizabeth Smith has made me cry, I have laughed especially thanks to the three old ladies Helen, Millie & Shirley. It is a light romantic book where you can feel a part of it. You can not do anything wrong in choosing The Gift as your next reading book.
November 20, 2019
Jamie and Will's story is compelling, real and heart touching. Their past makes them wary of their attraction but when a baby is thrown into the mix Jamie starts to wonder if she's just a convenient fixture or if Will's feelings are real.
I'm voluntarily reviewing this after receiving from Hidden Arcs.
I'm voluntarily reviewing this after receiving from Hidden Arcs.
September 27, 2019
Read this as an ebook. I’m so glad I did. What a wonderful story, the characters were awesome, the story was awesome I’d recommend this book to everyone. I was hooked from the first page all the way through. I’ll be reading more from Elizabeth Smith.
November 28, 2019
I really enjoyed this book, it was different from what I was expecting and so lovely, I am not going to say too much as you really need to read it yourself and I don’t want to spoil it, the characters are great and it has the most perfect of endings
Read
December 10, 2019Great book
I really enjoyed reading this book . When two people are brought together to raise a baby but then the baby is taken away they try to move on with their own lives but realise there is something missing . A sweet romance
I really enjoyed reading this book . When two people are brought together to raise a baby but then the baby is taken away they try to move on with their own lives but realise there is something missing . A sweet romance
September 15, 2019
What a delightful warm hearted read. Couldn’t put it down. I related to the characters and was hoping for the best!
November 23, 2019
I enjoyed the majority of this book and found I didn't want to put it down. The characters were lovely, the story was lovely. The ending was a little lacking, maybe too quickly wound up for me.
Displaying 1 - 28 of 28 reviews