All Our Hidden Gifts

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I read this book as it came up as a dark academia rec online. It’s definitely not dark academia and I would class it as more of a paranormal, witchy mystery with hints of horror and folklore.

I enjoyed the concept of this book when Maeve discovers a tarot deck and the mysterious housekeeper card appears in said deck, with a haunting vibe to it. When she gives a tarot reading to her ex best friend Lily and this particular card is drawn. There’s a fight and then Lily disappears. When Lily goes missing your immediate thought is how is this linked in any way to this tarot deck. What is so special about this card and where did it come from?

As Maeve tries to solve this mystery, she delves deeper into witchcraft and the paranormal. She was once a pretty normal teenager and she embraces the supernatural quite quickly. Maeve’s intuition is telling her the housekeeper is involved but she just has to convince her friends that this is real. There are nightmares involving the housekeeper that continues to haunt Maeve’s dreams.

I thought the characters had so much representation from the Filipina best friend Fiona, and Roe exploring his sexuality. There was definitely heavy topics covered in this story and considering this is a YA read, it gave the teenage characters more maturity. You will need to check the triggers as it does deal with homophobia in parts of the story, as well as racism towards the end when Fiona mentions her experience.

There were times when Maeve was frustrating and bratty but she’s a teenager, so I kind of expected it. I enjoyed Fiona and Roe more than Maeve. I thought the characters were developed well and I like them enough to want to keep reading the series.

The book was slow in some parts but overall the story flowed well. I am not sure how the story will continue as I can only suspect that we haven’t seen the last of the housekeeper. Liked how folklore was tied into the story which made it an interesting read.

Secretly Yours

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I read this book as part of a tandem readalong and it’s my first Tessa Bailey book. It’s a 3.5-3.75 for me.

The whole concept of secret admirer letters is a bit childish to me, but I didn’t mind what was written by Hallie. It was obvious she had built up a picture of Julian from high school but didn’t really know him.

I was trying to figure out if Julian had OCD or autism. Some of his traits do fit, but when it was mentioned that he had anxiety, which was catapulted by the fire, it made sense. He had built his routine all around time, that he got so lost in it and wasn’t really living.

Hallie was fun and bright, though if she were a real life friend, her tardiness would get to me. I thought she opened Julian in ways that he didn’t know he needed. Early on in the book, I did notice her mentioning (ever so slightly) that she hadn’t had sex and for whatever reason, I thought it was a typo, only to find out it was correct. I wouldn’t have minded Julian being my first.

The big conflict just seemed like a miscommunication / misunderstanding and that is a trope I do not like. Then again, I didn’t really know where the story was heading, so it needed some form of conflict before the end scene resolution.

It was a good read. I do want to check Tessa’s other work to see if I like any of those reads better.

This Place is Still Beautiful

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I really enjoyed this book as I could personally relate to it. From the racial slurs, to having a passive family that didn’t talk about serious issues, to wanting racism to go away, to feeling shame when I’d fallen to racist remarks, to wanting some form of justice or karma fall onto those that wronged me. It’s great to feel represented and this book highlighted not only a hate crime, but subtle racism or micro aggressions that people are ignorant to, or choose to gloss over, which can be offensive for some.

Didn’t read or watch any reviews on this book, so I was going off the cover, which was beautiful by the way. I wasn’t expecting the love stories for each sister, but I think it adds to the fact that even when falling victim to racism, life still goes on, even all the petty problems that any of us worry about interweaving throughout the day.

I understand the perspective of Annalie and the mum wanting to keep quiet and not deal with the issue - I’m used to this in the past with my own family. It highlighted for me that no matter how much you assimilate into a country, that there are still people out there that won’t like you just for being a particular race. Ignoring it and hoping it will go away, or even hoping it will never happen again, doesn’t really address the issue and discussion should be had. Everyone should feel safe, no matter where they live. With Margaret being a social justice warrior, it’s how I would defend myself these days. I’ve been in too many situations where keeping quiet and bottling these issues just leaves unresolved trauma. I guess I’m used to some Asian families sweeping issues under a rug and never facing a challenging or difficult discussion.

I did find it frustrating that Annalie took a long time to tell her loved ones of who committed the crime when she found out it was her boyfriend’s friends. Pretending everything is okay doesn’t make it okay. The fact that the culprits said because she didn’t look Asian (being half white) that they thought she wouldn’t get offended, touches on the ignorance that we still see today. Because they were targeting her sister who looked more Asian, didn’t make it okay in the slightest, even if a joke. Glad Annalie came to her senses in the end.

If the story continues, would love to know how Margaret and Rajiv go with their relationship, if their mum excepts Rajiv (since she has her own discriminatory tendencies), if we find out more about their dad that abandoned them, see if Annalie explores a relationship with Daniel, how they recover once the culprits are charged and just how life in general goes. I feel this was just a stand alone book so it may not ever happen.

Verity

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Wow! This book had me engaged the whole time! I read it in a few hours because I just wanted to know how this disturbing tale would end. This is my very first read of Colleen Hoover’s work. I hope this hasn’t set the bar too high because I really enjoyed it.

The whole time I thought “wow verity is so manipulative”, thinking that was the twist and how would Lowen deal with it, only to be surprised that another twist was coming. Despite the letter at the end, Lowen must be a morally low character because she encouraged Jeremy to kill Verity. She is basically turning a blind eye to the fact that Jeremy could be a psycho, but maybe like meets like. Lowen was okay with murder, so maybe they are suited to one another. I guess the truth doesn’t really matter as she has blood on her hands regardless.

Haven’t read the bonus chapter that was recently released and unsure if it would add any beneficial story. I liked how this book ended as it is. I’ve seen how this is unlike colleen’s other books, so might be a shock for me as I venture into her other reads. Thought that this was a great mystery thriller.

Twisted Love

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3.5 stars

I had a hard time with the first half of the book. I felt like Ava was reading like a high schooler, so I wasn’t really connecting with her as a character. She just seemed so young, like a late teen based on her internal dialogue. I know she’s young and in her early twenties but something about her perspective put me off.

I didn’t see the twists coming about Michael and how the trauma was so much more than what Ava was told as a child. I did end up figuring out Alex’s uncle was controlling him and he would double cross him. Didn’t realise Alex was playing a long game with Josh and Ava’s dad. He could have ended it way early on rather than establishing such a close friendship with Josh.

The last half of the book was more interesting for me. It was sweet that Alex finally woke up and did all that he could to prove his worth to Ava. After their break up, I figured they would end up together, but it was good that he worked for it after lying and stuffing Ava around.

I’ve bought this whole series, so hoping the others deliver!