Review - All Our Hidden Gifts (All Our Hidden Gifts, #1)

 

 

 

Title: All Our Hidden Gifts (All Our Hidden Gifts, #1)

Author: Caroline O'Donoghue

Pages: 400

Publisher: Walker Books

Release Date: 27th May 2021

 

Blurb from Goodreads:

A dark and supernatural contemporary teen debut by multi-talented author and journalist Caroline O'Donoghue.

Maeve Chambers doesn't have much going for her. Not only does she feel like the sole idiot in a family of geniuses, she managed to drive away her best friend Lily a year ago. But when she finds a pack of dusty old tarot cards at school, and begins to give scarily accurate readings to the girls in her class, she realizes she's found her gift at last. Things are looking up – until she discovers a strange card in the deck that definitely shouldn't be there. And two days after she convinces her ex-best friend to have a reading, Lily disappears.

Can Maeve, her new friend Fiona and Lily's brother Roe find her? And will Maeve's new gift be enough to bring Lily back, before she's gone for good?

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My Review:

*I received an eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. Thanks to Walker Books and NetGalley*

Teenager Maeve Chambers doesn't have a best friend since she pushed Lily, her former best friend, away, and she also feels like the dunce of the family with how she struggles at school compared to her high-achieving older siblings.

Then Maeve finds an old, forgotten pack of tarot cards at school and discovers that she is able to give readings that are extremely accurate.

Glad to have found something that she is good at, Maeve thinks things might finally be going her way. Until Maeve comes across a card in the deck that has no place there and gives Lily a reading that results in her ex-best friend disappearing days later.

Where has Lily gone?

Can Maeve bring her back with the help of Lily's brother Roe?

Going into this novel I wasn't sure what to expect, but there ended up being a lot more to it than I thought there would be.

While Maeve wasn't one of my favourite protagonists, I still found her to be relatable and I could understand her motivations.

Roe and Fiona were probably my favourite characters and I enjoyed finding out more about them.

The setting of Ireland was interesting and I enjoyed the themes of discovering who you are and being true to yourself, which I thought the author handled well.

One of my favourite things about the book, possibly my favourite thing, was the diversity of the characters. I also liked the mystical/witchy vibes the book gave me.

The plot took a little while to get going, but once it did it was enjoyable and held my attention. There were some things that happened that didn't quite have the intended impact as I didn't feel as invested in the book as I could have, and nothing that happened blew me away or had me on the edge of my seat needing to know what would happen next.

The writing style was easy to follow but took me a few chapters to acclimatise to. In fact, after the first chapter I wasn't sure if I would even end up finishing the book. But luckily after a few chapters I settled into the story.

I am a little disappointed that I didn't enjoy this more.

Overall, this was an enjoyable and unique read.