Reviews tagging 'Lesbophobia'

All our hidden gifts - La Gouvernante by Caroline O'Donoghue

33 reviews

sharon_reads's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Hate crime

Moderate: Lesbophobia, Homophobia, and Hate crime

sorcha_rosa's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I loved this book. Beautifully, but simply written, the story captures so well what it's like to be a teenager and to have problems with friends and classmates. I loved the different friendships in this, so well done. The story was occult and funny and overall, just a really good time.
Some of the characters have to deal with homophobia/transphobia, but in my opinion (own voices review), it was handled super well, and didn't feel triggering to read at all, just validating.
I also loved the discussions of being non-binary in this book. They felt heartfelt and clumsy in an authentic adolescent way, that feels really real, in the way that you actually figure things out as a teenager.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Religious bigotry

Moderate: Death, Outing, Self harm, Homophobia, Lesbophobia, Transphobia, and Hate crime

Minor: Suicide

maartabarrales's review against another edition

adventurous funny mysterious slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Lesbophobia, Racial slurs, Homophobia, Biphobia, and Religious bigotry

Moderate: Hate crime

Minor: Self harm

The words gypsy and eskimo are used once each.

hann4's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I loved it

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Lesbophobia, and Religious bigotry

Moderate: Blood, Xenophobia, Bullying, Deadnaming, Dysphoria, Injury/Injury detail, Racism, Self harm, Sexism, and Suicide attempt

Minor: Toxic friendship, Xenophobia, Adult/minor relationship, and Suicidal thoughts

rinku's review against another edition

emotional funny mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

 All Our Hidden Gifts was a really nice urban fantasy witch story. For what it was, I enjoyed it and especially the diverse cast and modern themes that were thematized. Still, I couldn’t stop myself from comparing the book to the Engelsfors trilogy, an urban fantasy witch story set in a small city as well, and this one just executes this kind of story better.  

But those story elements are some of my favorites, especially the small city setting, so I still loved it. The story centres around Maeve who finds some tarot cards one day and becomes popular quickly at school since she can seemingly tell her schoolmates the future. When she reads her former best friend Lily some cards out of peer pressure, she lays the card of the Mamsell. After this, Lily disappears, and Maeve tries to find where she went while learning about her new magical powers. Thus, the magic system focusses on tarot cards and witches. I generally liked this witchy vibe, but some aspects were not explained properly, like how it was possible for Maeve to be suddenly in Roe’s head and vice versa. 

Besides those fantasy elements, the book also deals with many modern topics with a special focus on LGBTQ+ which I quite enjoyed. There’s a religious cult that is against a progressive society and full of bigotry. I also really liked the setting and there especially the catholic girls’ school. It was depicted so well and reminded me so much of my school life; for example, when there’s one guy that is a bit younger and decent looking, everyone in school freaks out lmao, or how fast fake rumours are spreading. 

Both the writing style and characters were nice as well. The writing style was funny most of the time but also serious and even creepy when it was appropriate. The diverse cast of characters the story had to offer was interesting as well and I liked our main characters. Maeve herself was interesting since she had both good and bad traits. I loved to see how her friendship with Fiona slowly started to bloom. 

Like I mentioned above, I had the feeling that this book was similar to Engelsfors, especially the second book Fire. I believe that those similarities are probably coincidental, but I still noticed them. Both stories take place a small city and a religious cult plays a big role. The character constellations are similar too, with for example an old lady that has an esoteric shop in town but is a witch in reality and becomes the mentor for our main characters. But there are of course differences: Engelsfors also deals with LGBTQ+ topics but All Our Hidden Gifts does it way more extensively and is generally more progressive. The stories also have very different vibes; Engelsfors is more strange and less funny which I personally just like more. 

As a sidenote, a little thing that annoyed me is how the author mixed up grunge and goth music – if you want to mention 80s/90s music in your book so that it sounds cooler, you should at least do your research. I find it a bit weird though that out of all musicians from the 80s, the author chose Morrissey, since he’s known to have controversial political opinions. The author is so careful with progressive topics generally that I think that she could’ve chosen another artist just as well. I also find it weird that it is never critically reflected but rather admired by Maeve that the underage Fiona has relationships with older guys. 

There’s definitely much potential for the sequel of All Our Hidden Gifts since there are many open plot lines, and I’m excited to read it and see in which direction it develops. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Hate crime, Homophobia, Religious bigotry, Transphobia, Blood, Lesbophobia, and Xenophobia

Moderate: Death

thesapphiccelticbookworm's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Religious bigotry, Homophobia, Lesbophobia, and Self harm

finn_nn's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Outing, Self harm, Violence, Toxic friendship, Transphobia, and Hate crime

Moderate: Biphobia, Lesbophobia, Kidnapping, Deadnaming, and Death

Minor: Blood

matheo's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Bullying, Death, Domestic abuse, Gore, Hate crime, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Lesbophobia, Medical content, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Religious bigotry, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Toxic friendship, Transphobia, Violence, Vomit, and Outing

Moderate: Alcohol, Child death, Dysphoria, Grief, Pregnancy, Suicide, Toxic relationship, War, and Adult/minor relationship

kelseydaffodil's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Hate crime, Homophobia, Religious bigotry, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Violence, Suicide attempt, Racism, Lesbophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Bullying, and Blood

Minor: Cursing, Death, Deadnaming, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Grief, Kidnapping, Medical content, Outing, and Sexual content

cyan_altaria's review against another edition

mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.75

This book is wonderful.  I liked how the magic was slowly woven into the story, and how real the characters seemed.  The characters were all likeable, even with their flaws (except for Aaron).  I would recommend this book to anyone who likes magic, witchcraft, lgbtqia+, or realistic characters.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Blood, Bullying, Homophobia, Lesbophobia, Suicide, and Transphobia

Minor: Adult/minor relationship and Alcohol