Caroline O'Donoghue

La gouvernante

All Our Hidden Gifts

When her friend mysteriously vanishes after drawing an unsettling tarot card called The Housekeeper, Maeve uses her deep connection with the cards to search for clues the police cannot find.

loved all the twists and creepiness it had to it, definitely never something i’ve read before. So many conspiracies that had my head twisting 

Cameron Gleeson 

grace richards

the representation and the banter in this book are on another level, i am OBSESSED 

also this is like the 5th book set in ireland that i’ve loved im starting to think maybe i should solely read books set in ireland

Ellie Mai Bonass

This book was a very enjoyable read, however, I think the ending could have been a bit better as it felt a bit anti climatic, for myself anyway. On the other hand, I loved the themes of lgbtq+ and equality, but of course my favourite things about the book are the relationships between the characters, especially roe and maeve's. With the sequel coming out next year, you can 100% bet I am reading it.

Kira Del Caro

I don't really have much to say about this book. I found it very...underwhelming, it feel like there was progress in character development and story but it just ended in the same place as it started.

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?

laura

maeve really was willing to khs to stop hate crimes
4,25 stars

i really liked this book up until the ending. :Spoiler alert:

when lily says awful things to maeve after she tried to die to save her- i thought it was a little mean. when lily admits that she wanted to go too and says how it wasn’t all maeve’s fault i felt less bad for lily. and i know that the stuff maeve did to her before was super mean- but, if my best friend licked someone’s neck when we were around new friends, i’d be like wtf too! the fact that lily cut her in the river and said so much stuff to her, and was still rude to her after months i hated ://

mars opal barry

i really liked this book up until the ending. :Spoiler alert:

when lily says awful things to maeve after she tried to die to save her- i thought it was a little mean. when lily admits that she wanted to go too and says how it wasn’t all maeve’s fault i felt less bad for lily. and i know that the stuff maeve did to her before was super mean- but, if my best friend licked someone’s neck when we were around new friends, i’d be like wtf too! the fact that lily cut her in the river and said so much stuff to her, and was still rude to her after months i hated ://

Maeve’s strangely astute tarot readings make her the talk of the school, until a classmate draws a chilling and unfamiliar card—and then disappears. After Maeve finds a pack of tarot cards while cleaning out a closet during her in-school suspension, she quickly becomes the most sought-after diviner at St. Bernadette’s Catholic school. But when Maeve’s ex–best friend, Lily, draws an unsettling card called The Housekeeper that Maeve has never seen before, the session devolves into a heated argument that ends with Maeve wishing aloud that Lily would disappear. When Lily isn’t at school the next Monday, Maeve learns her ex-friend has vanished without a trace. Shunned by her classmates and struggling to preserve a fledgling romance with Lily's gender-fluid sibling, Roe, Maeve must dig deep into her connection with the cards to search for clues the police cannot find—even if they lead to the terrifying Housekeeper herself. Set in an Irish town where the church’s tight hold has loosened and new freedoms are trying to take root, this sharply contemporary story is witty, gripping, and tinged with mysticism.

Franzi

ONE OF MY FAVOURITES. I love the diversity of the characters, and the Tarot reading topic. The diversity isn't forced into the book at all, which is really important to me. I haven't read a book like this before, and I just know it will stick with me for a long time.

I always wanted to know what happens next, that's why I read it in one night. 

Maeve Chambers s’est toujours sentie médiocre et peine à trouver sa place au lycée. Un jour, pourtant, elle tombe sur un vieux jeu de tarot divinatoire et se révèle très douée pour faire parler les cartes. Ses lectures sont toujours d’une étonnante justesse et, soudain, tout le lycée s’intéresse à elle. Mais lors d’une séance avec son ancienne meilleure amie Lily, elle tire une carte inconnue – et terrifiante – et la rencontre tourne au psychodrame. Le lendemain, Lily disparaît sans laisser de trace. Rongée par la culpabilité, Maeve s’allie à deux autres élèves pour la retrouver : Roe, le frère de Lily, et Fiona, fascinée par la perspicacité de Maeve et persuadée que ses talents leur permettront de retrouver la jeune fille. La disparition de Lily est-elle vraiment liée à l’apparition de cette carte mystérieuse ? Maeve possède-t-elle réellement un don ou sa trop grande sensibilité lui joue-t-elle des tours ?

All our Hidden Gifts

Manon Lanzarotti

I liked that Maeve had flaws and keeps them all along the story, like a real 16 yo girl.
I wasn't expecting the book the end like that and I'm looking forward to reading the next book to learn more about Lily

Lily D

Dana

Honestly I did not expect to love this book as much as I did. I’ve become wary of the white cishet protagonist (for good reason obviously) and I genuinely didn’t expect much from it. Well-
I flew threw this book in about four hours it was so good!
The protagonist is a product of her environment. She is young, white, rich, delusional.  She is cruel, selfish, a bit of a bitch and shockingly un-self aware. The author however, never presents her as anything other than exactly what she is. We are introduced to Maeve in midst of her mistakes, and work slowly (so slowly lol) as she realizes the cost of her rashness and vanity and tried to fix it (with more rashness and vanity). As Maeve has to work to fix her supernatural mistakes she enlists the help of Roe (her next door neighbor and sibling of the girl who she’s apparently sent to some supernatural prison cell) and Fiona, a beautiful aloof girl she never expected to be friends with. 
This was a book that was written with care and it showed. The way that the author approached gender especially felt like a warm hug. The romance felt surprisingly genuine. I appreciated the surface look at psychology of cult members and leaders as well as the inclusion of the manipulative micro aggressions that queer and poc people face so often but find a hard time describing because they are so slick. 
As a graduate of an all girls boarding school O’Donaghue  hit the nail on the head with the character interactions.
In order to get undo her mistakes Maeve has to face some hard lessons. Laid bare this is a book about a teen with privilege realizing and confronting how she has centered herself in issues of race and gender and discovering her rightful place. Themes of growth humility self awareness friendship and gender are handled well without browbeating or condemnation  
Fiona, Maeve, Roe and Lily are strong precocious and absolutely precious characters. They are flawed and selfish (but what teenager isn’t) and I absolutely adore them. This had the potential to dissolve into the white protagonist, brown sidekick kind of book and I’m so glad it didn’t!
For the ultimate test: Would I buy a sequel? 100% yes
(cw: cult like organization, bigotry.)


Alizée Euphrosine

I had a great time reading this book. It's an easy and page-turner young adult story.

In this story, we follow Maeve, who found a tarot cards deck following a punishment at school and started to feel a pull towards it. After reading for her classmates, she finally understands that she has a gift. However, a strange card shows up, and some days later, her ex-best friend disappears.

In this book, you have two main plots. I'm never a fan of it as they sometimes never merge. So, I was afraid it would be the case here as they seem to be two entirely different plots. However, as you go through the story, they start to merge. However, one of the plots is complete at the end of the book, and the other one finishes as a cliffhanger, and I'm not okay with it as it's the most interesting for me.

The most annoying thing is that this mysterious card is present, as Maeve talks about it a lot, but you don't have any real research. She searched for it once or twice at the beginning and didn't find anything at all. However, at some point in the book, everyone around her knows about this card and what it represents. So it's a bit info-dumpy at this point in the book, which is frustrating as you could have all the information space out in the book.

The character of Maeve can sometimes be irritating as she spends her time thinking she is worthless. When others surround her, it's worse as she starts to victimize herself and feel jealousy until she imagines some future that will not happen.

The last thing is the relationship between Maeve and Roe. I wasn't fond that they finished by being a couple at the beginning as I was okay with just a friendship. But I started to like them together, so I'm now okay with it. I was just sceptic at some point as they argue for no reason or none that I understand. It feels like it was just to create some tension between them.

I'm now waiting for next year and the second book: The Gifts that Binds Us.

[The ARC of this book was provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.]

CN: queermisia, vomit, suicide attempt, hp references, use of the word ‘eskimo’

To be honest, I only requested “All Our Hidden Gifts” on NetGalley because I knew it would be translated into German and I was curious about the queer representation, so my expectations weren’t very high. But this book was actually really good! The plot was very interesting, I liked the way tarot cards were incorporated into the story, and the queer representation was surprisingly well done. “All Our Hidden Gifts” might even become one of my favorite fantasy books of the year. Now I can only hope the German translation won’t ruin the book…

Stefie 

4.5 stars

CW : Racism, homophobia, hate crimes, mention of suicide, self harm, violence, bullying, fanaticism of religion. 

When I read the summary of this book, I know that I had to read it immediately. 
What I love about this book:
- Diverse characters and the characters in general are just amazing. I love how complex they are. Especially Roe and Lily. They are mysterious, broken people, and I feel with them. 
- Our main character, Maeve (ok, I love this name), is a flawed character. The mean one, the one that we would usually hate or cause all the problem. And maybe I haven't read enough books, but for me it is so rare to read a book with a MC like Maeve. She is a relatable character. And her character building is great. 
- This book is packed with so many informations but it did focus on the religious fanaticism, homophobia and religion fanaticism. Plus the author manage to knit magic elements into it and make this story to another level.

It is so refreshing reading All Our Hidden Gifts. So so good! 

The reason why I gave it 4.5 stars not 5, it is because I was expecting something that is real creepy and dark. And even though THERE are some dark and creepy scenes, I feel like it could be even darker somehow. Especially with the theme and atmosphere of this book :) 

Anyway, you don't want to miss this one. And this book sets in winter time. Just in case you are a mood or seasonal reader like me :p But I couldn't wait this time haha. 


Thank you publisher for the review copy!

Joanna Rosenwink 

I really enjoyed my buddy read of this book with Amy and Beth. In fact it was hard to stop at the end of each days section! 

If you’re looking for a YA thriller with tarot and witchy elements I’d definitely recommend picking this one up.

Lisa Beasley

I really did enjoy this more than I expected to and I actually found the supporting cast to be brilliant and very interesting. The main character however had me wincing sometimes as she was so self involved. Her ex best friend is missing and she ends up focusing on whether or not a boy (missing best friends brother) fancies her, it just irked me sometimes that her priorities seemed really off. It was good but not one I would reread. Also I was left confused by the end, is there going to be another book or not?

Good and I'm glad I read it but not one I would read again.

All Our Hidden Gifts La gouvernante

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