Collins's lilting Irish accent adds authenticity to the narration, drawing listeners into the Irish setting. The unhurried pacing builds tension and suspense as the mystery unfolds, engrossing the listener in the quest to get Lily back.” —Booklist
“[Alana Kerr] Collins is captivating as the voice of Maeve, a headstrong Irish high school student who discovers an old deck of tarot cards and unwittingly unleashes a malevolent being who targets her former friend, Lily. With a gentle Irish accent, Collins imbues Maeve with a full range of evocative expression, including hot-tempered swagger, quiet wonderment, breathless terror, and shocked tenderness.… Paranormal fantasy fans will be transported by Collins's strong characterizations and Maeve's quest to understand her power and repair the harm she's caused.” —AudioFile Magazine
“An immersive tale of brave, vulnerable teens facing threats both real and fantastic.”—Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
“Ghostly menace, queer liberation, and sweet nonbinary romance all find room in this modern Irish contemporary. . . O’Donoghue (Scenes of a Graphic Nature) infuses fierce integrity and an understanding of self-worth into a hilarious voice. . .the novel’s brilliant connections between friendship, boundaries, and the vulnerability of loneliness provide a vibrant compass for fans of Sarah Rees Brennan or Derry Girls.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review)
“There’s an air of creepy mysticism to this uncommonly well-crafted urban fantasy, and O’Donoghue deftly weaves real-world and paranormal story aspects together.”—Booklist (starred review)
“The book’s ending leaves the door open for a sequel, and readers are sure to clamor for one. . . . All Our Hidden Gifts is grounded and realistic, even when it’s got a foot in the supernatural, and it captures the complex, emotional nature of teen relationships with ease.”—BookPage (starred review)
“With a deft hand, O’Donoghue crafts a narrative that is steeped in both classic gothic atmosphere and contemporary representation. . .Stefanie Caponi’s tarot card illustrations are hauntingly perfect companions to the text. Much like the novel, the cards appear deceptively familiar at first glance. The stakes are high, the narrative is nuanced, and the climax and resolution are refreshingly unexpected. Expect readers to fall into this blurred tale of the normal and the paranormal.”—School Library Journal
“Maeve, the main character of this story, is conflicted. She is conflicted about the decisions she has made surrounding her friendships and conflicted about her place in society in general. . . .The story is well written and engaging. It also provides a perspective on how religious individuals, and the Irish community specifically, are working through the changing global perspectives of gender and gender fluidity. . . . This book is a recommended addition for high school readers interested in tarot, mysticism, and gender roles”—School Library Connection
“Fans of Derry Girls will immediately feel at home with these Irish Catholic schoolgirls who balance politics, religion, and adolescence with wry humor and sharp wit. While folkloric magic (it turns out, Maeve has more powers than just the ability to read tarot cards) is the central theme, O’Donoghue also weaves in elements of gender exploration, queer culture, and a nod to the evolving social climate in Ireland.”—The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books
“All Our Hidden Gifts is a magical surprise of a book, the perfect combination of heartfelt and thrilling, unpredictable and familiar. The startling and unique story lets us imagine and worry and love and reach for the truth right alongside Maeve. It is easy and exciting to get lost in this witchy, mysterious, and deeply layered story.”—Corey Ann Haydu, author of OCD Love Story and Ever Cursed
“An utterly seductive read, where the magical bleeds into the familiar.”—Melinda Salisbury, author of The Sin Eater’s Daughter
“Whether you come for the mystery, the magical hijinks, or the intense teenage feelings, All Our Hidden Gifts has a lot to offer. It takes friendship seriously and treats its queer and diverse characters with empathy and respect, all while frolicking off on a somewhat batty supernatural adventure.”—NPR
01/01/2021
Gr 9 Up—Getting detention is not out of character for Maeve Chambers, but when she is assigned to clean out the closet in the basement of her private school, she finds a mixtape and a deck of tarot cards that set her on a dark path. O'Donoghue expertly blurs the lines between the real and the unreal as readers are swept up in Maeve's journey to undo the wrongs she thoughtlessly causes, from causing the disappearance of her former best friend to unintentionally empowering the cultish leader of a conservative youth group that promotes hate speech and cruelty. With a deft hand, O'Donoghue crafts a narrative that is steeped in both classic gothic atmosphere and contemporary representation: Maeve, who is white, grapples with her privilege against the backdrop of the paranormal as she considers the ways in which Roe, her nonbinary love interest; Fiona, her Filipina friend; Jo, her queer sister; and Lily, her former BFF with hearing loss have to navigate the complex and sometimes hostile landscape of modern Ireland. Stefanie Caponi's tarot card illustrations are hauntingly perfect companions to the text. Much like the novel, the cards appear deceptively familiar at first glance. The stakes are high, the narrative is nuanced, and the climax and resolution are refreshingly unexpected. VERDICT Expect readers to fall into this blurred tale of the normal and the paranormal.—Jen McConnel, Queen's Univ., Ont.
★ 2020-12-10
An Irish teen grapples with past misdeeds and newfound ties to magic.
When 16-year-old Maeve discovers a deck of tarot cards stashed with a mixtape of moody indie music from 1990, she starts giving readings for her classmates at her all-girls private school. Though her shame over dumping her strange friend Lily during an attempt to climb the social ladder at St. Bernadette’s is still palpable, it doesn’t stop her from trying to use the tarot in her favor to further this goal. However, after speaking harsh words to Lily during a reading, Maeve is horrified when her former friend later disappears. As she struggles to understand the forces at play within her, classmate Fiona proves to be just the friend Maeve needs. Detailed, interesting characters carry this contemporary story of competing energy and curses. Woven delicately throughout are chillingly eerie depictions of the Housekeeper, a figure who shows up on an extra card in the deck, echoing the White Lady legend from Irish folklore. Even more disturbing is an organization of young people led by a homophobic but charismatic figurehead intent on provoking backlash against Ireland’s recent civil rights victories. Most characters are White; Fiona is biracial, with a Filipina mother and White Irish father. Roe, Maeve’s love interest and Lily’s sibling, is a bisexual, genderqueer person who is a target for intolerance in their small city of Kilbeg.
An immersive tale of brave, vulnerable teens facing threats both real and fantastic. (Paranormal. 14-18)