1.83k reviews for:

Gifted & Talented

Olivie Blake

3.84 AVERAGE

mersede's review

2.5
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
dark emotional 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
slow-paced

book so bad it made the whole book club delay the meeting by a month
dark funny reflective slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes
funny mysterious reflective sad tense medium-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

Olivie Blake is Gifted and Talented at writing the most insufferable, pretentious, compelling, asshole-ry characters with realistic flaws and complex humor. 

When legacy, self-fulfilling prophecy, inhumane amounts of money, and attachment disorders galore collide, who can you really be at the end of your life? Can you find happiness within the tragic - and self-inflicted - mess? 

Gifted & Talented is a great analysis of can X buy happiness? Whether that be money, intelligence, destroying our enemies, or the concept of "daddy's love", at what lengths will we go to achieve it, f*ck the costs. 

In all honesty, the Wren siblings and their additional cast of less pretentious, yet still wildly odd characters are probably the most likeable assholes of Olivie Blake's so far. In consistent fashion, Blake's story thrive on chaotically assessing character dynamics within the plot versus the actual plot itself. The story here is less about Daddy™ Dying, and way more about the proverbial child-like question, no matter how old we get, "Did I Make You Proud?" 
dark emotional medium-paced
challenging dark emotional reflective tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: No
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes
dark slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: No
Loveable characters: No
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
dark emotional fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes