All Our Hidden Gifts! #bookreview.

Book: All Our Hidden Gifts
Author: Caroline O’ Donoghue
Pages: 400
Genre: Fantasy, Paranormal & Young Adult Fiction
Age Limit: 14 years and up

Maeve Chambers feels like an idiot between a family of geniuses. Her life isn’t going the way she wanted. She betrayed her only friend, Lily, who is not on talking terms anymore. She also has to clean the horrible Chokey in the school for hitting a teacher with a shoe. One fine day she finds a pack of old dusty tarot cards in the Chokey and started giving accurate readings to the girls in the school. When Maeve draws a strange card while doing a reading for her ex-best friend Lily, after two days Lily is nowhere to be seen. Now Maeve, her new friend Fiona and Lily’s brother Roe have to find Lily before she disappears forever…

This was an entertaining and addictive read for me. The magical aspect was the main part of the story, but the writing style made it surreal. The story goes into the past, but it connects well back to the present, where the characters are trying to bring Lily back. I found the side characters, i.e., Fiona and Roe, more likeable than the main character, Maeve. The other main aspect of the story was friendship. Maeve ditches her only best friend, Lily, and finds a new friend, Fiona, who is ready to help her find Lily. The author has done a good job representing Queer and teenagers dealing with a hate crime. The only problem with this book was the pacing. For the most part, it is fast-paced, but then in between, the story takes a slow turn. Other than that, this book is a perfect read if you are in a mood for magical, spookiness and adventure! The book ends on a cliffhanger, which will be covered in the next book, i.e., The Gifts That Bind Us.
Happy Reading!
Rabhya.