madeline @ The Bookish Mutant

Goodreads Monday (10/12/20)–Kingdom of Souls

Posted on October 12, 2020October 12, 2020 by madeline @ The Bookish Mutant

Happy Monday, bibliophiles!

Goodreads Monday is a weekly meme created by Lauren’s Page Turners. All you have to do to participate is pick a book from your Goodreads TBR, and explain why you want to read it.

Continuing the theme of paranormal and horror novels for this lovely spooky season, here’s one that I’ve been meaning to read for a good year and a half. It seems to have gotten quite a lot of hype last year, and it looks fascinating! I don’t see many books that deal with witch doctors, and Kingdom of Souls looks amazing!

Let’s begin, shall we?

GOODREADS MONDAY (10/12/20)–KINGDOM OF SOULS by Rena Barron

Amazon.com: Kingdom of Souls (9780062870957): Barron, Rena: Books

Blurb from Goodreads:

Magic has a price—if you’re willing to pay.

Born into a family of powerful witchdoctors, Arrah yearns for magic of her own. But each year she fails to call forth her ancestral powers, while her ambitious mother watches with growing disapproval.

There’s only one thing Arrah hasn’t tried, a deadly last resort: trading years of her own life for scraps of magic. Until the Kingdom’s children begin to disappear, and Arrah is desperate to find the culprit.

She uncovers something worse. The long-imprisoned Demon King is stirring. And if he rises, his hunger for souls will bring the world to its knees… unless Arrah pays the price for the magic to stop him.

So why do I want to read this?

Okay, first off, can we talk about the cover? No, coverS–plural–THEY ALL LOOK GORGEOUS. And the typeface on this cover…I JUST…AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH

[ahem] anyway…

Now, for the actual plot…I mean, COME ON, what’s not to love? Witch doctors, demons, POC rep, and impending paranormal doom? Of COURSE you have my attention! I also like the idea of a reverse Chosen One, if that makes any sense; instead of showing [ominous thunderclaps] Great Power™️ at a young age and being destined from birth to save the world and all that, we have a more relatable character who struggles to make her magic surface. I really wish we had more books like this–not only is it a bit more relatable (for me, at least), but it also makes for some great character development, if handled in the right way.

In short–I’m so glad I dug this up from my TBR. Excuse me while I see if it’s available at the library…

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Today’s song:

That’s it for this week’s Goodreads Monday! Have a wonderful rest of your day, and take care of yourselves!

Weekly Updates

Weekly Update: October 5-11, 2020

Posted on October 11, 2020 by madeline @ The Bookish Mutant

Happy Sunday, bibliophiles! I hope this week has treated you all well.

Now that all of the big tests and quizzes that I’ve been stressing out over are over with, I’m feeling a lot better. And now I have a long weekend to look forward to next week, which I’m ECSTATIC for! Just the break I needed.

I had another fairly lackluster reading week, but I enjoyed everything that I read. I only got around to reading two books (well, one, technically–I finished the first one on Sunday evening), and that’s all because of the sheer length of To Sleep in a Sea of Stars. (Expect a review next week.) I also had my school’s book club meeting for Aurora Rising, and everybody seemed to love it, which filled my heart with immeasurable joy…🥺

Too Much Beauty GIF by Much - Find & Share on GIPHY — Is this gif about *To Sleep in a Sea of Stars* or my AP Bio quiz/Precalc test this week? You decide…

Other than that, I went back to the library and got a good haul, caught up on Fargo, It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, and Raised by Wolves (nearly finished with the latter…), and I’ve finally gotten slightly back into the groove of outlining for NaNoWriMo. Oh, and The Other Side of the Sky and Skyhunter just came in the mail!

WHAT I READ THIS WEEK:

Showers, Flowers, and Fangs–Aidan Wayne (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️)

Showers, Flowers, and Fangs by Aidan Wayne

To Sleep in a Sea of Stars–Christopher Paolini (⭐️⭐️⭐️.25)

Amazon.com: To Sleep in a Sea of Stars eBook: Paolini, Christopher: Kindle Store

POSTS AND SUCH:

SONGS:

CURRENTLY READING/TO READ NEXT WEEK:

The Court of Miracles–Kester Grant

Amazon.com: The Court of Miracles (9781524772857): Grant, Kester: Books

The Bone Houses–Emily Lloyd Jones

Amazon.com: The Bone Houses eBook: Lloyd-Jones, Emily: Kindle Store

Chilling Effect–Valerie Valdes

Chilling Effect: Valdes, Valerie: 9780062877239: Amazon.com: Books

Dark and Deepest Red–Anna-Marie McLemore

Dark and Deepest Red by Anna-Marie McLemore

A Touch of Gold–Annie Sullivan

A Touch of Gold (A Touch of Gold, #1) by Annie Sullivan

Today’s song:

That’s it for this week in blogging! Have a wonderful rest of your day, and take care of yourselves!

Top 5 Saturday

Top 5 Saturday (10/10/20)–Books with Feminist Themes 🦸‍♀️

Posted on October 10, 2020 by madeline @ The Bookish Mutant

Happy Saturday, bibliophiles!

It’s time for another Top 5 Saturday! This was originally started by Devouring Books, and it sounded like such a fun post to take part in. Today’s topic is books with feminist themes.

UPCOMING SCHEDULE FOR OCTOBER:

10/3/20—Intimidating Books

10/10/10—Feminist Themes

10/17/20—Animal on the Cover

10/24/20—Wishlist

10/31/20—Vampires

Rules!

Share your top 5 books of the current topic– these can be books that you want to read, have read and loved, have read and hated, you can do it any way you want.
Tag the original post
Tag 5 people

Let’s begin, shall we?

Moxie, Jennifer Mathieu

Amazon.com: Moxie: A Novel (9781626726352): Mathieu, Jennifer: Books

An incredible and timely novel about fighting back against misogyny and toxic masculinity in a small town. Highly recommended for anyone who wants to take up the fight!

The Black Coats, Colleen Oakes

Amazon.com: The Black Coats (9780062679628): Oakes, Colleen: Books

I hardly see anyone talk about this one, and I highly recommend it! Not only is it about fighting back against injustice, it discusses a lot of morally gray topics.

Once & Future, A.R. Capetta and Cory McCarthy

Once & Future: Amy Rose Capetta, Cori McCarthy: 9781786076540: Amazon.com: Books

A queer, POC retelling of King Arthur with the female descendant of King Arthur wielding the sword? And fighting back against injustice and colonialism? What’s not to love?

Sawkill Girls, Claire Legrand

Review: Sawkill Girls by Claire Legrand | Vampire Book Club

A paranormal tale of sisterhood that’s truly unlike anything I’ve ever seen. I had average expectations for it, but it ended up being one of my first 5-star reads of this year!

Rebel Girls, Elizabeth Keenan

Amazon.com: Rebel Girls eBook: Keenan, Elizabeth: Kindle Store

A historical fiction novel set in the 90’s, rife with punk-rock feminism and picking up the fight against injustice in a conservative town.

I TAG ANYONE WHO WANTS TO PARTICIPATE!

power, action, gif artist, girl power, feminist, change, racism, equality, protest, hell yeah, campaign, riot, marching, gender equality, the future is female, women's march, thefutureisfemale – GIF

Today’s song:

That’s it for this week’s Top 5 Saturday! Have a wonderful rest of your day, and take care of yourselves!

ARC Reviews, Books

eARC Review: All These Warriors (Monsters, #2)

Posted on October 9, 2020October 9, 2020 by madeline @ The Bookish Mutant

Happy Friday, bibliophiles!

After finishing All These Monsters recently, I remembered that I’d seen the sequel floating around Edelweiss. I finished and loved book 1, so of course I had to request book 2–and I was approved for it! I read it last weekend, and while it didn’t quite pack as much of a punch as book 1, it was still a decent conclusion to the duology.

Enjoy this eARC review!

WARNING: This review contains some spoilers for book 1, All These Monsters, so tread lightly!

For my review of book 1, click here!

Amazon.com: All These Warriors (All These Monsters) eBook: Tintera, Amy: Kindle Store

All These Warriors (Monsters, #2)–Amy Tintera

Grayson St. John is dead. Julian has revealed his true intentions. And Team Seven is in shambles.

Without any leadership, Clara, Madison, Edan and the others are stranded in scrab-infested London, harboring a dark secret–scrabs are being trained in secret facilities, and if they fall into the wrong hands, they could become an unstoppable army. Scrambling for a foothold, Team Seven must beat the odds once more, facing not only the consequences of this revelation, but the pasts that they thought they’d left behind forever.

CrissColfer RPH — Below there are 50 gifs of ballroom dancing, as...

Thank you to Edelweiss+ and HMH Books for Young Readers for sending me this eARC in exchange for an honest review!

All These Warriors marks the end of the Monsters duology. It’s only been a week and a half since I read book 1, but I know that it’ll have a special place in my heart, what with a mixed race/Latinx protagonist and the best kind of monster fighting in YA. All These Warriors was a bit of a disappointing sequel, but that doesn’t mean that I didn’t enjoy it.

With everything that built up in book 1, I expected this duology to go out with a bang–and it certainly had the potential to, but didn’t quite hit the mark. Granted, it focused more on the human aspects than the monster-fighting that I enjoyed so much in book 1, so my mind was just going “haha monsters go brrrrrrr.” And while the aforementioned aspects were still just as well-written, it still made for a sequel that didn’t live up to the first book.

Let’s start off with the good stuff: just like in book 1, Tintera stuns with her authentic characters, and all of their individual developmental paths. I loved seeing Clara grow beyond who she was before and face her past traumas. There’s a lot of focus on the toxic relationship with Julian (EW), and Tintera does a great job of making me loathe him even more than I did in book 1, which is definitely saying something.

When He Couldn't Help but Tell the Truth | 25 Downright Brutally Honest David Rose GIFs From Schitt's Creek | POPSUGAR Entertainment Photo 2 — Me every time Julian showed up

All These Monsters had a lot of promise for a riveting, fiery conclusion, but personally, it ended up being a lot of scrambling all over the place, with some galas and scattered monsters in between. There were several instances that got me excited, but that ended up going out with a whimper and not the bang that I expected. Namely, there was an AMAZING plot twist about the origins of the scrabs (which I won’t spoil, for everyone’s benefit), and I was so excited to see the motive behind it, but it just…wasn’t resolved? It just floated there for a few pages and was never expanded upon further, which made me terribly sad. That was the most notable of said instances, but I feel like there were a few more.

And the ending? It wasn’t awful or amazing for me, it was just…there. It wasn’t quite satisfying, but I wanted a little bit more. I just wished that All These Warriors was on the level of its predecessor, but…sigh…

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All in all, a sequel that didn’t live up to the stunning gem of its predecessor, but was entertaining all the same. 3.5 stars.

Rogue One Verge Of Greatness GIF - RogueOne VergeOfGreatness - Discover & Share GIFs

Expected release date: July 13, 2021

Today’s song:

That’s it for this eARC review! Have a wonderful rest of your day, and take care of yourselves!

Book Review Tuesday, Books

Book Review Tuesday (10/6/20)–All These Monsters

Posted on October 6, 2020October 6, 2020 by madeline @ The Bookish Mutant

Happy Tuesday, bibliophiles!

Yeah, everybody has a different definition of happiness, but can we really deny the universal giddy joy of finding out that your preorder has reached the shipping department? SKYHUNTER WILL BE IN MY HANDS VERY, VERY SOON…[incoherent screaming]

Anyway, I put this on my TBR at the beginning of this year, but remembered it from Amie Kaufman’s recommendation of it in an episode of Amie Kaufman on Writing. Since it was available on the Kindle library, I decided to check it out, and I am SO glad I did! I didn’t think that anything would ever fill up the B.P.R.D.–shaped hole in my heart, but All These Monsters very nearly did it.

Enjoy this week’s review!

Amazon.com: All These Monsters (9780358012405): Tintera, Amy: Books

All These Monsters–Amy Tintera

For nearly a decade, the Earth that Clara knows has been decimated by the Scrabs, burrowing monsters that have popped up in cities all over the world and prey on any humans that stumble into their paths.

Clara feels confined in her home, considering dropping out of high school and trapped by her abusive father and absent mother. But when an opportunity to join an international scrab-fighting task force arises, she sees it as exactly the kind of escape she needs. Leaving her home behind, she joins the fight, but soon realizes that fighting monsters is more deadly–and lifechanging–than she ever imagined.

After B.P.R.D. came to a close last year, I thought that there wouldn’t be anything that could ever measure up to it. I didn’t even go into All These Monsters thinking that the two were all that similar, but somehow, this novel partially filled up the B.P.R.D.-shaped hole in my heart–and seeing how close those comics are to my heart, that’s seriously high praise coming from me.

First off, All These Monsters has some great representation–our protagonist Clara is half white, half Latinx [INTENSE HAPPY NOISES], and we have Black, Asian American, and Indian-American side characters. I loved Clara, and the team dynamic Tintera creates with her, Patrick, Edan, and all the rest is lovely! Those of you who have been following my reviews for a bit know that I’ll take found family any time of day, and All These Monsters portrayed it wonderfully.

And monsters. MONSTERS! I loved the scrabs–they gave me major Hell on Earth vibes, and I had so much fun going along for the ride with Clara and the rest of the gang. Not only does Tintera give us baseline physical descriptions of the scrabs, she goes in-depth to explore the international/political implications of them laying waste to the world. It’s certainly a lived-in kind of setting, so…come for the monsters, stay for the worldbuilding.

Beyond that, All These Monsters isn’t just about misfits fighting monsters–it’s a very raw exploration of abuse and toxic relationships. I’ll be clear–it’s not an easy read, but Tintera handles all of these tough topics with grace and aplomb, making you sympathize with some of the characters and hate some of the others with an appropriately fiery passion.

All in all, a dystopian sci-fi that delivers in both diversity and good old fashioned monster fighting. 4 stars!

The Mandalorian' 1x04: "Sanctuary" Roundtable | Fangirlish

All These Monsters is the first in the Monsters duology, concluding with the forthcoming All These Warriors, which is scheduled to come out in July 2021. (I got an eARC of it and read it over the weekend, so expect that review soon!). Tintera is also the author of the Ruined trilogy (Ruined, Avenged, and Allied) and the Reboot series (Reboot and Rebel).

Today’s song:

That’s it for this week’s Book Review Tuesday! Have a wonderful rest of your day, and take care of yourselves!

Book Tags, Books

My Life in Books Tag

Posted on October 5, 2020October 11, 2020 by madeline @ The Bookish Mutant

Hi again, bibliophiles! I have a little bit of extra time, and I haven’t done a book tag in what feels like ages, so I’ve decided to do this one!

I found this tag over at Bookshelf Life, and I haven’t been able to find the creator of the tag, so if you know, please let me know 🙂

Let’s begin, shall we?

FIND A BOOK FOR EACH LETTER OF YOUR NAME

M: Monstrous–MarcyKate Connolly

A: Aurora Rising–Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff (you all knew this was coming, didn’t you?)

D: Dune–Frank Herbert

E: Even the Darkest Stars–Heather Fawcett

L: The Life Below (The Final Six, #2)–Alexandra Monir

I: I Wish You All the Best–Mason Deaver

N: Night Music–Jenn Marie Thorne

E: Everything Grows–Aimee Herman

PICK A BOOK SET IN YOUR CITY/COUNTRY

All the Impossible Things: Lackey, Lindsay: 9781250202864: Amazon.com: Books

I’ve lived in Colorado for most of my life, and that’s where All the Impossible Things is set. There’s even a scene at the Denver Aquarium, one of my favorite places to go in Denver.

PICK A BOOK THAT REPRESENTS A DESTINATION THAT YOU WOULD LOVE TO TRAVEL TO

The Case of the Missing Marquess (An Enola Holmes Mystery): Springer, Nancy: 9780142409336: Amazon.com: Books

I’ve always wanted to travel to England, and Enola Holmes, along with Harry Potter (among other things) may or may not have spurred that on. (Oh, and David Bowie and the Beatles…)

PICK A BOOK WITH YOUR FAVORITE COLOR ON THE COVER

Amazon.com: Under Shifting Stars eBook: Latos, Alexandra: Kindle Store

I love teal and turquoise, and Under Shifting Stars has that in no short supply.

WHICH BOOK DO YOU HAVE THE FONDEST MEMORY OF?

Amazon.com: Heart of Iron (9780062652850): Poston, Ashley: Books

I read Heart of Iron for the first time just over two years ago. I was on a plane ride to Chicago, and I spent most of the ride eagerly reading through this one. It was my favorite book for a while, and I highly recommend it!

WHICH BOOK DID YOU HAVE THE MOST DIFFICULTY READING?

Amazon.com: The Odyssey (9780140268867): Homer, Robert Fagles, Bernard Knox: Books

We had to read The Odyssey for English in my freshman year. I liked it, but I had to read it in…[ahem] small chunks because I just kept getting tired…

WHICH BOOK ON YOUR TBR WILL GIVE YOU THE BIGGEST SENSE OF ACCOMPLISHMENT WHEN YOU FINISH IT?

I started reading To Sleep in a Sea of Stars last night. It’s about the same length of my edition of Dune, which took me a solid week to read, so it’ll be a relief to finish all 880 pages. (I’m about 200 pages in now, and…it went from “draws heavily from Aliens” to “wait, is this an Aliens fanfic?” very quickly, but we’ll see how it goes…)

I TAG:

& anyone else who wants to participate!

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Since I’ve already posted once today, check out today’s Goodreads Monday for today’s song.

That’s it for this book tag! Have a wonderful rest of your day, and take care of yourselves!

Books, Goodreads Monday

Goodreads Monday (10/5/20)–The Resurrection Fireplace

Posted on October 5, 2020October 5, 2020 by madeline @ The Bookish Mutant

Happy Monday, bibliophiles!

Goodreads Monday is a weekly meme created by Lauren’s Page Turners. All you have to do to participate is pick a book from your Goodreads TBR, and explain why you want to read it.

Since it’s spooky season, I’m going to try and do some more horror/paranormal reads for Goodreads Monday! I’d forgotten all about this one, and it sounds fascinating.

Let’s begin, shall we?

GOODREADS MONDAY (10/5/20)–THE RESURRECTION FIREPLACE by Hiroko Minagawa

The Resurrection Fireplace: Minagawa, Hiroko, Treyvaud, Matt: 9781939326423: Amazon.com: Books

Blurb from Goodreads:

London, 1770. Brilliant physician Daniel Barton and his students are pioneering the modern science of anatomy with cadavers supplied by the “resurrection men” who prowl cemeteries for fresh graves. But their position becomes precarious with the appearance of two unexpected corpses: a boy with amputated limbs and a man without a face. When magistrate Sir John Fielding and his Bow Street Runners become involved, Barton’s students must clear their teacher’s name by uncovering the origin of the corpses—and their connection to Nathan Cullen, an aspiring poet recently arrived in London’s coffee houses whose work attracts the wrong kind of attention from publishers. Unfolding across a lovingly recreated panorama of early modern London, this tale by legendary Japanese novelist Hiroko Minagawa was awarded the 2012 Honkaku Mystery Grand Prize in Japan.

So why do I want to read this?

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First of all, I just LOVE this title for some reason. Who wouldn’t be drawn in by such a quaint little combination of words? Resurrection Fireplace…that just sticks with you, doesn’t it?

Besides that, this is giving me major Frankenstein vibes, and I’m 100% here for it. I love the creepy implications of the London setting and the shady dealings with these resurrection men.

The Resurrection Fireplace encapsulates several genres that I don’t readily pick up–mystery, historical fiction, and horror–but I’m so excited to see how Minagawa weaves it all together!

Frederick Frankenstein GIFs - Get the best GIF on GIPHY

Today’s song:

That’s it for this week’s Goodreads Monday! Have a wonderful rest of your day, and take care of yourselves!

Weekly Updates

Weekly Update: September 28-October 4, 2020

Posted on October 4, 2020October 4, 2020 by madeline @ The Bookish Mutant

Happy Sunday, bibliophiles, and HAPPY SPOOKY SEASON!

This week was definitely…something. I had (and still have) a slew of exams and a project to do all week, so school-wise, very overwhelming. Not ideal. But October always makes me feel better, and spending the weekend in Vail among the changing leaves of the aspens definitely alleviated some of the stress from earlier in the week.

Somehow I managed to read…a bunch this week? I’m not sure why, but I managed to blow through most of my library haul AND an eARC in a week flat, and that’s definitely a…record of sorts for me. I mean, one of them was a short graphic novel, but still. I haven’t been able to outline as much this week, but it’s starting to have *some* semblance of structure.

And the first few episodes of season 4 of Fargo came out recently, and they were both SO GOOD! I also re-watched Coraline after not seeing it for…almost a decade? The first episode of Penny Dreadful too–SPOOKY SEASON!

WHAT I READ THIS WEEK:

Struck–Jennifer Bosworth (⭐️⭐️⭐️)

Struck (Struck, #1) by Jennifer Bosworth

Sea Sirens–Amy Chu and Janet K. Lee (⭐️⭐️⭐️.5)

Comic books in 'Trot and Cap'n Bill Adventure'

Star Daughter–Shveta Thakrar (⭐️⭐️⭐️.5)

Star Daughter by Shveta Thakrar, Hardcover | Barnes & Noble®

The Assignment–Liza M. Wiemer (⭐️⭐️.5)

Amazon.com: The Assignment (9780593123164): Wiemer, Liza: Books

All These Warriors (Monsters, #2)–Amy Tintera (eARC) (⭐️⭐️⭐️.5)

POSTS AND SUCH:

SONGS:

CURRENTLY READING/TO READ NEXT WEEK:

Showers, Flowers, and Fangs–Aidan Wayne

To Sleep in a Sea of Stars–Christopher Paolini

Today’s song:

File this under: Apples in Stereo songs from my childhood that have inexplicably gotten stuck in my head this week

That’s it for this week in blogging! Have a wonderful rest of your day, and take care of yourselves!

Books, Top 5 Saturday

Top 5 Saturday (10/3/20)–Intimidating Books 😳

Posted on October 3, 2020October 3, 2020 by madeline @ The Bookish Mutant

Hi again, bibliophiles! This is my first experimentation with scheduled posts, so this is technically Top 5 Thursday, but…shh, nobody else has to know…

And IT’S FINALLY SPOOKY SEASON!

Anyway, it’s time for another Top 5 Saturday! This was originally started by Devouring Books, and it sounded like such a fun post to take part in. Today’s topic is intimidating books.

UPCOMING SCHEDULE FOR SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER:

9/12/20—Science Fiction Books

9/19/20—Award-Winning Books

9/26/20—Guilty Pleasure Books

10/3/20—Intimidating Books

Rules!

Share your top 5 books of the current topic– these can be books that you want to read, have read and loved, have read and hated, you can do it any way you want.
Tag the original post
Tag 5 people

Let’s begin, shall we?

To Sleep in a Sea of Stars, Christopher Paolini

Amazon.com: To Sleep in a Sea of Stars (9781250762849): Paolini, Christopher: Books

The fact that it’s nearly 900 pages long is the only truly intimidating factor about this one for me, but if I handled Dune, I could get through this. I ordered it for my brother’s birthday, and it’s currently sitting in my room, so I could probably sneak in a read before I wrap it up…🤫

Beloved, Toni Morrison

After reading The Bluest Eye, I’m certain that this one will be amazing, but incredibly rough. I have several of Morrison’s novels on my TBR, and I think we’ll be reading Song of Solomon either this year or next year for school.

The Perks of Being a Wallflower, Stephen Chbosky

Amazon.com: The Perks of Being a Wallflower eBook: Chbosky, Stephen: Kindle Store

This one’s become a classic in the past two decades, and I’ve heard no shortage of high praise for it, but again–I’m going into it knowing that it may or may not destroy me.

Internment, Samira Ahmed

Internment: Amazon.co.uk: Ahmed, Samira: Books

Again–everyone that I know of who’s read this has loved it, but given the current political climate here in the U.S., I’m…okay, definitely not in the right headspace at the moment. I’d still love to read this, though.

The Handmaid’s Tale, Margaret Atwood

Another book that I really want to read, but really shouldn’t at the moment, given…well, 2020…

This one’s been in hibernation on my Kindle; my mom sent it to me, but told me to wait until the pandemic’s over to read it. I think I’ll stick to her advice.

I TAG ANYONE WHO WANTS TO PARTICIPATE!

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Today’s song:

That’s it for this week’s Top 5 Saturday! Have a wonderful rest of your day, and take care of yourselves!

ARC Reviews, Books

eARC Review: All Our Hidden Gifts

Posted on September 30, 2020September 30, 2020 by madeline @ The Bookish Mutant

Happy Wednesday, bibliophiles!

I don’t usually read seasonally (unless it’s Spooky Season, of course), and that wasn’t the reason that I requested this eARC, but I’m happy to say that All Our Hidden Gifts was a delightful read that’s perfect for this time of year! Though it wasn’t without its flaws, it was a sweet mix of paranormal fantasy, horror, and contemporary fiction.

Enjoy this eARC review!

All Our Hidden Gifts by Caroline O'Donoghue

All Our Hidden Gifts–Caroline O’Donoghue

Maeve’s sentenced to cleaning out the closet for her in-school suspension, but she soon learns that the job might not be as boring as she thought it was.

When mysterious tarot deck turns up the closet, Maeve pockets it, learning everything she can about it so that she can put her cards to good use. Her readings soon become the talk of her Catholic school, and soon, she has customers lining up outside of the closet. But after Lily, her former best friend, draws an unknown card, she disappears days later, causing a commotion in their tight-knit community. With the help of Lily’s sibling Roe, Maeve must find the secret of this mysterious Housekeeper card before its repercussions spread beyond Lily’s disappearance.

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Thank you to Edelweiss+ and Walker Book US/Candlewick Press for sending me this eARC in exchange for an honest review!

All Our Hidden Gifts had the feel of an 2000’s horror movie for a teen audience, but in the best way possible. There’s paranormal and high school drama in equal amounts, but O’Donoghue balances out both genres for a paranormal tale that teens are sure to love.

Let’s start off with my biggest complaint. I found the pacing to be rather inconsistent, especially when compared to the synopsis on Goodreads and elsewhere. The storyline with the tarot cards turned out to have less of the spotlight than I thought, and it seemed to go far too quickly–most of it was over by the time that I’d gotten a third of the way through the novel. However, the other story elements were enough to keep the novel afloat for the remainder, so it didn’t bog down the story as much as I thought it would.

Other than that, I don’t have too many complaints. O’Donoghue’s writing was fresh and cinematic, with all manner of fascinating twists and tense scenes. Even if you’re not familiar with the tarot, the story is gripping and the perfect kind of spooky, paranormal fun that you’d want to channel right around Halloween.

I didn’t get attached to most of the characters, but they were absolutely authentic; weirdly enough, I connected a lot with Lily, even though she wasn’t present for most of the novel. There’s also a lot of LGBTQ+/POC-friendly elements to the novel, most notably in Roe, who is genderfluid. So kudos for O’Donoghue for that! There’s also a prominent Filipina character as well.

All in all, All Our Hidden Gifts lacked a bit in pacing and lovable characters, but made up for some of it with a timeless blend of paranormal fun. 3.5 stars!