Gathering Water

By: Regan Claire

Narrated by: Jennifer Swanepoel

Length: 6 hrs and 45 mins

Publisher's summary

Knowledge really is power when you don't know who you are.

Jane Doe. It was all Della ever knew of her mother. No identification. No family to tie her to. Then, on her 18th birthday, Della's life was flipped upside down by one thin manila folder.

Growing up in the foster system, she never really had anything to call her own, not even a last name. Now, the truth was exposed, but there was still so much she didn't know.

Hoping to learn more about the mother she never knew and maybe discover a bit more about herself along the way, Della travels across the country seeking answers - and finds far more than she bargained for.

An unimaginable world - one on the brink of war - is pulling her in and making her claim a birthright she never knew she wanted.

There's a storm brewing on the horizon, and as the pressure builds, it will take everything Della has not to drown in a destiny she didn't choose.

©2014 Regan Claire (P)2018 Regan Claire

AWESOMELY ENTERTAINING!

This one's a winner!
I wasn't sure if I'd like this, but I was VERY pleasantly surprised :) Lots of twists!

Very entertaining story! Della is a great characters, and I love the story/writing and narration.

I was swept into the action and wasn't spit out until the end. I loved it!
Excellent book, I highly recommend it :)

I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.
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Funny

I love books that have funny moments and this book does, it had me smiling quite a lot. I liked the herione but she is nothing knew but I did like the plot, I thought it was different and the author had me intrigued to see where the story would go. I would recommend this book to everyone since it is a clean read and I can't wait to read the next book in this series.

I'm hooked on this series

The world building in this book is fantastic, it's so realistic I feel like I could walk out the door and be in it. The characters are also well crafted and feel as real and the world.

It was a little slow to start for me, by about 30% I was wondering if I'd made a mistake with this book, but not long after that it took off with a bang and by the time I reached the end I wanted the next book which unfortunately isn't available on audio yet.

Della is a great character to get to know, she comes across as both vulnerable and strong. The glimpse of the foster care system I got through her is both sad and hopeful. Della seems to take whatever life throws at her and makes the best of it, I love how she's portrayed.

The character voices were interesting and distinct, they worked well with the different races of characters. The narration style worked well with the story, conveyed emotion and carried the mood of the scene.

I received a free copy of this book from the author and/or narrator and/or publisher and I voluntarily wrote this honest review.

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Wow...Just.Wow! What a book!

I wasn't sure what to expect with this book but so glad that I went outside of my comfort zone and listened to it. Della's mother died in childbirth and she grew up in the foster care system. On her 18th birthday, her social worker hands her a manilla folder and drops the proverbial bomb...Della learns the identity of her mother and has an inheritance. She travels from CA to an island in the Outer Banks, NC to claim her inheritance. What she finds will blow you away...not only does she have family, but there is a HUGE family secret. Being the evil person that I am...I will not share that secret...just know that it is AWESOME!! This book is about discovering oneself, trusting oneself, and learning to discern good from evil. I really enjoyed it and, since it IS a trilogy, there is a cliffhanger...so now I need to get my hands on book 2! Narration was on point.
I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

Wow!!

This one started out with a bang. An orphaned child suddenly finds out she has family out there. The narration was awesome, I felt all of Della's emotions. I was right there with her through it all. Absolutely loved it from beginning to end. I can't wait torrid the next one. I am so invested in this story. Excellent. I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

A must-read YA

As an adoptee, any book that starts out with an adopted young woman facing her eighteenth birthday is going to pull me in immediately. I was lucky enough to be adopted by a great family and therefore had a fairly normal childhood. The ever-present question of my roots was there in the background and I often wondered about the people who loved me enough to give me up to people who pledged to love me and care for me as if I were their own blood. Even if I never found my biological parents, my life was good. In the end I did find some of my relatives and I was lucky to have a good reunion.

Della was not one of the lucky ones. Her mother died giving birth to her and Della was put in the foster system, never managing to get adopted. She shuffled from foster home to group home and then another foster home, never finding a place she could call her own. Her final placement for the last few months before she aged out was with a nice older woman who treated her with respect. The kindness didn’t make up for the years of heartache but it did go a fair way to soften the blow of aging out. On her eighteenth birthday Della meets with her social worker and her whole life changes in a way she never could have predicted.

Her mother is no longer a Jane Doe. Della has family. Family who didn’t want her, but family nonetheless. She also has an inheritance. For a girl who has never had more than a couple of dollars, the thought there’s money and a house waiting for her is unfathomable. To claim what is rightfully hers she must leave California and head to North Carolina. She’s never left the state, so this whole process is daunting, but she’s looking for answers to questions she’s been asking her entire life. Who was her mother? Why did she die alone? What is Della’s place in the world?

North Carolina proves fertile ground for answers. Many of Della’s relatives embrace her, forced to face guilt that not only is Della’s mother dead but that her daughter lived in foster care for eighteen years. As times passes that guilt lessens and as Della spends time around her relatives, she learns she has special powers. This part surprised me but I was pulled in for the ride of discovery and found it fascinating. I always admire authors whose creativity allows them to move seamlessly into the paranormal realm and this book was a great one for that. I enjoyed learning about Della and her powers. A few of them made me jealous.

As Della learns more about herself, she quickly discovers her existence is not as simple as she’d first thought. She’s not just a former ward of the state of California – she’s an extraordinary person with powers exceeding even those of her family. So where does that leave her? Facing a world she never imagined.

I really enjoyed this book and part of me was disappointed it’s part of a trilogy because there wasn’t clear resolution at the end of this book but I’m looking forward to the next instalment. Jennifer Swanepoel is a new narrator to me and I loved her performance. She has a younger voice that was perfect for Della but she also handed the other characters really well. I’m glad I listened to this book and can recommend it.

Excited to continue this series!

This book started off slowly, and then just took off! I ended up absolutely loving it. The characters were fun, and I loved the relationship between Della and Cash. I loved the magical world that the author described in such detail. It was very different from previous books I've read and I found that very refreshing. The book was very well written and had a nice flow to it. I liked the role of the elements and magic that Doe comes into and tries to figure out. The relationships in the novel were definitely more family driven, so I am hoping to see some romance come around for Doe in the upcoming books. I would absolutely recommend this book to any Fantasy readers.

I received an arc of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

Far more than expected!

I didn't see the entire fantasy take on this. The plot is really clever and I adore how the author made the world she designed seem so natural. Della spent her life as a ward of the state. She'd never even met her parents so on her 18th birthday its a shock to know she has family and a house waiting for her. At first she and family don't mesh but soon enough she's learning to trust them and enjoying her time with them.

When she starts developing "powers" her family takes her under their wing as they all have powers similar to hers. Della soon finds that her family along with the elves are partners against a most menacing race of supernaturals. The plot moves along at a steady speed and the suspense ramps up as it builds. Both narrator and author do a lot for building the characters. I love character driven stories and this is a good one.

Had Me Hooked!

Della Doe spent her life in the foster care system after her mom passed away during childbirth, unidentified as a Jane Doe. For eighteen years Della was shuttled from family to family, never finding a home, never quite fitting in. On her 18th birthday, Della learns her mother's name and where she came from, and travels to the small seaside town in North Carolina to claim her inheritance.

I really enjoyed this coming of age supernatural YA! There's a lot to love here, a strong heroine just discovering her family and her powers, a smart alec best friend who puts a smile on your face, a great small town setting, and a unique take on supernatural powers. Della was portrayed really well, I felt like I got to know her. She's so detached in the beginning but gradually loses that reserve. I liked the slow reveal of her powers, I thought it was built up well. This was a clean read I'd recommend to young teens on up. It definitely had me hooked and waiting for the next one!

The narration was well done, with separate voices for each character and a voice that fit Della perfectly. I requested a copy of the audiobook, and I'm voluntarily leaving a review.

Great story

I’ve read this story before and loved it so when the author offered me the audio version to try I jumped at the chance. Now the story is wonderful but I did have some issues with the voice. I found her country twang for the males a bit stilted. It didn’t flow as easily as the females for some reason. I don’t know why. And because of that sometimes I would get confused as to which make was speaking because they all sounded the same to me.

But the story flowed on in spite of the voice issues I had. Della is an awesome heroine. And Cash is one of my favorite supporting characters of ALL time. I love how they first meet and she wacks him in the groin with a lantern. LOL, I knew this was gonna be a great relationship. And I was so happy that he was not a love interest, it was almost as if the author knew that the first mlae introduced in YA paranormal is usually the love interest and she thought to herself, “Hmm, how can I fuck with my readers? Muahahahha” It was awesome.

Della catches on pretty quickly in this story, being bombarded with so much family ties and background after being in the system her whole life should have screwed with her. Since she has her own secret makes it more easily digested. The family aspect of this book is very involved and I really liked that. We don’t see a lot of YA with strong familial support systems in place. Usually the MC is isolated in the story and the family doesn’t get the face time for the reader to care, not so in this book. The opposite actually, another aspect that makes this story unique.

I would recommend this book to YA readers, whether you listen or read it, its worth it.