The Gift is the second book in The Others Trilogy. It greatly expands on the concept of a secret society of people with magical paranormal abilities including Witches, Shifters, Fairies, and Vampires, by taking place in a new setting and introducing new characters. However, it also relies on some cliches like a love triangle to unnecessarily enhance the plot.

The Gift goes global and takes the characters to Europe. The change in setting puts them, especially Olivia, at a disadvantage since they are on Nikolas’ turf and are playing by his rules.

The setting is one of glamor and Old World intrigue. Olivia and her friends visit various Medieval style villages and castles so the architecture calls to mind Gothic stories and legends where characters like The Others, particularly Witches and Vampires would have been whispered about, feared, and treated as outcasts by society. That these legendary monsters and paranormal creatures not only formed a thriving global community and many are now wealthy enough to buy these places is a bit of karmic irony against the humans who judged them.

There are many times when the suspense is reminiscent of a psychological thriller. Olivia and her companions attend some wealthy gatherings where they are bound to run into Nikolas. With Nikolas' cool, manipulative charisma, fancy suits, international contacts, and big picture vision, he isn't too far off from a James Bond villain, a character who compliments his adversary while using his vast wealth and power to do away with them.

There are some interesting new characters and plot twists that keep the series fresh and make the Readers look forward to the next volume. Nadia is a Tarot Card Reader and Clairvoyant whose predictions have a way of coming true that disturbs Olivia and in one key moment, Nikolas. Nikolas has a private network of Shifters who act as spies and assassins.

The returning characters also go through development. A personal loss devastates Olivia causing her to question her decisions and current path. However, she finds her strength in taking charge of some unfinished business and pursuing Nikolas. Both Gabriel and Josef reveal some dark secrets about their pasts, revealing themselves to be men who suffered great loss and heartache in their long histories.

William doesn't get as many moments as he had in the previous volume but his time with Olivia acts as a much needed emotional release. Lily and Elsa have an interesting subplot that elevates their characters and relationship.

There are many things that work well but one that doesn't and that is the love triangle between William, Josef, and Olivia. There are some interesting parts such as Josef expressing his affection for Olivia and her acknowledging that she is not exactly appalled by his confession. It adds an interesting wrinkle, but love triangles are so overdone.

It is possible for characters to just be colleagues and friends and not be attracted to one another. Couples can have conflicts that don't involve a third party. Two male characters of different personalities don't have to fill different needs for the female character where one is a devoted partner and the other is dark-tempered and sexy. A strong female protagonist’s life does not always have to revolve around the conflict over which guy she should end up with. The trio don't always have to act in reckless hormonal ways that make them more like immature love struck teenagers than intelligent professional adults who are on an important mission. But that's what happens here.

Love triangles are an easy conflict for authors to create and develop the character’s relationship. But for a series that has a unique concept of a thriving alternate society of paranormal creatures alongside humans and explores the precarious inner workings of this world and how some of these people use their abilities to manipulate and control others, a love triangle is boring, ordinary, and ironically lacks the magic and mystery of the rest of the book.