A review by zanm
All Our Hidden Gifts by Caroline O'Donoghue

adventurous dark mysterious fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75

I think a lot of people didn’t like the way Roe’s character was handled but I honestly thought it was realistic. He literally says “I don’t know” when asked about different pronouns and is clearly still figuring things out which is okay! I did feel a little weird that Maeve still id’ed as straight (yes I did dock points for this) however, her willingness to accept Roe because she loved him for his personality was very nice! 

I mean, I know nonbinary people in my life who use "binary" pronouns. Pronouns ≠ gender, blah blah, I am going to give the author benefit of the doubt with this one.

I also really enjoyed the talks about boundaries. I was so ecstatic that
Lily didn’t automatically forgive her and that Maeve accepted that. Obviously she was still upset (I would be too) but if Lily had been besties with her again that would have been so uncharacteristic.


Things I didn’t like: 

How homophobia/transphobia was just At The Center of so much of this book. At points it just felt…overdone and theatrical. 

I also feel like Maeve was pretty flat. She definitely changed (sort of) but she seems very much like she has a long way to go. However, there is a sequel (which I WILL be picking up ASAP) so there’s hope.

Overall thoughts: 
I feel like if I read this when I was 16 I would have enjoyed it a lot more. I can’t help but compare it to The Raven Cycle which I tore up in high-school but now I have to suspend a lot of my opinions to enjoy it. 

I still liked it but I wasn’t completely blown away. Good but not great. 3.75 :)
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