The Gifts That Bind Us

April 1, 2022
A group of Irish teens contend with their newly acquired magical powers while also navigating shifting relationships in this follow-up to All Our Hidden Gifts (2021). Maeve; her nonbinary first love, Roe, who uses both he/his and they/them pronouns; and their friends, Fiona and Lily, have spent the summer honing their paranormal talents on the grounds of St. Bernadette's, the private all-girls school where Maeve, Fiona, and Lily are soon returning for their final year. Maeve feels anxious both about Roe's departure for college and his impending European band tour as well as about Fiona and Lily's deepening friendship and plans to leave their small city of Kilbeg. She's further plagued by encounters and strange dreams involving Aaron, the creepy, hateful leader of conservative Christian youth group the Children of Brigid. This smart, poignant drama is spot-on in its portrayal of a realistically pivotal time in these deeply likable characters' lives as it winds its way slowly into the mystery around what supernatural forces are at play below the surface. The lengthy building of tension eventually gives way to unexpected twists, and the novel's resolution is satisfying while also clearly laying the groundwork for a sequel. Main characters are White; the previous entry established that Fiona is Filipina and White, and there is realistic diversity in race and sexuality among supporting characters. Another gripping, magic-filled installment in this rich contemporary fantasy. (Paranormal. 14-18)

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May 1, 2022

Gr 9 Up-In this sequel to All Our Hidden Gifts, Maeve, Fiona, Lilly, and Roe have settled into a lovely, lazy summer, but as it winds down, the friends decide it's time to really master their magical gifts. And just in time-something strange is stirring in their town. Time starts to run differently in the school, with classes going backward, and the friends' magic begins behaving erratically. With the reappearance of Aaron, the leader of the hate-fueled youth group that squared off with Maeve and her friends in the previous book, the friends latch onto the idea that he is to blame for the oddities surrounding them. Maeve focuses her energy on stopping Aaron, unintentionally binding his fate to her own. When the real mastermind behind the magical manipulations reveals herself, Maeve and her friends are caught unprepared for the violence of the struggle to regain control of their magic and their lives. With the same deft narrative style that made the previous book shine, O'Donoghue now offers an introspective take on what privileges and responsibilities come with magic, and a more nuanced exploration of the ways in which the characters are bound, involuntarily and by choice, to one another. The pacing is slower here, but the mystery just as delightful, and the ending beautifully twists the success of Maeve and her friends into a catalyst for the return of the revenge spirit they defeated at the end of the first book. VERDICT Fans of paranormal reads will be on the edge of their seats.-Jen McConnel

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July 29, 2022
Grades 8-10 Maeve and her now-magical friends are back in this sequel to All Our Hidden Gifts (2021). And they are definitely gifted: Maeve has gained telepathy; her significant other, Roe, is telekinetic; her ex-friend Lily has wild electrical powers; and Fiona has healing powers. The return of bad wizard Aaron sets Maeve off as he insists that she is the same as him, an assertion she doesn't want to believe. The Children of Brigid are back, too, and that can't mean anything good; the last time they were seen in Kilbeg, they started a wave of anti-LBGTQ sentiment that was especially dangerous for genderfluid Roe. The members of the foursome practice their magic whenever they're alone, though it seems to be getting harder and harder. The presence of the Children seems to be causing a magical disturbance as well as a social one, since the friends are arguing more than ever now. As in the first series installment, each chapter is accompanied by an image of a tarot card that hints at the characters and situations within.

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