Alchemy of Secrets: A Novel by Stephanie Garber

4.09 AVERAGE

errkah's review against another edition

4.5
dark mysterious tense fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: No
Stopppp I enjoyed this so much! Urban legends, Old Hollywood, magical characters with a dash of dark academia? I’m so obsessed with this. The whole last third of the book I was thinking, “if there isn’t a sequel to this I’m going to choke.” Thankfully the book lends itself to continuing in the unique world that was created by Garber and I’m going to be first in line to get anything else written in this universe. If this sounds like your jam, preorder this baby. It’s a perfect October read as well! 
chaos_in_the_stacks's profile picture

chaos_in_the_stacks's review against another edition

4.75
adventurous dark emotional inspiring mysterious tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
brimcnull's profile picture

brimcnull's review against another edition

5.0
adventurous mysterious fast-paced
This book was a trip and I loved every second of it. 
kaylaruth715's profile picture

kaylaruth715's review against another edition

4.0
adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-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

aimee_aj's review against another edition

4.0
adventurous dark mysterious sad tense fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Plot
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: No
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: N/A
Overall, I enjoyed the book. It was fast paced and I liked the old Hollywood Glamour. However, I presume there will be a sequel as there are some glaring plot holes. Also, Holland was absolutely infuriating! 
misslovelylayla's profile picture

misslovelylayla's review against another edition

3.0
adventurous mysterious tense fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes
I feel like I’m going to need to sit with this one… I can’t tell if it was stupidly brilliant or brilliantly stupid😆 The concept was there and I didn’t dislike it as it had Garber’s quintessential whimsical and dreamy feel, but some of the plot lines felt completely random and thrown in. I also have so many questions about the characters as they all seem to be bad but only one was semi fully explained like what were the motives? What did her sister do? Also why is like, every male she meets a love interest 😅 I also don’t understand the time loop which felt random. Again, the vibes were there and it was giving whimsy Alice vibes meets The Blonde Identity meets spooky Hollywood glam. Do we know if this is a standalone? 

I’m well aware that this seems like I’m full on bashing the book, but I need more answers than this book gave lol. 
jules_elizabeth999's profile picture

jules_elizabeth999's review against another edition

4.0
adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring lighthearted mysterious reflective sad tense 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: Yes

end_pages's review against another edition

2.75
adventurous fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Plot
Strong character development: No
Loveable characters: No
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated
The first half of this book was good! It kept up a quick pace and had me turning pages and staying up to see what happens next. The world was starting to be built out well and the characters felt like they were being explored and set up for something bigger. But the last half (or really the last quarter) just wasn’t it. The ending was shoehorned in and didn’t really wrap up any of the loose ends that were left. It felt rushed and incomplete, like she ran out of time to write it. I do feel like her quality of writing has matured from Caraval (which makes sense as this is her first step into adult fiction from YA) but it was at the cost of muted emotions running through the book. 

emontressor's review against another edition

4.5
adventurous challenging tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Complicated
mcipher's profile picture

mcipher's review against another edition

3.0
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Plot
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated