Our July book club read was All Our Hidden Gifts by Caroline O’Donoghue.
We started a book club with a few friends in the fall of 2021 for a once-per-month book discussion. We don’t always agree, and we don’t always end up loving the books we choose, and we don’t always spend a lot of time talking about the assigned book. But, maybe even more importantly, we laugh a lot, and it’s a bright spot of camaraderie each month.
This is the next in our series of posts where we recap our thoughts on the monthly book following each meeting.
Amy
I found this month’s book club selection to be a really enjoyable story, with interesting characters and a plot that never really felt weighed down. I think it did a nice job of not trying to make the tarot theme “super creepy” and the author did a nice job of making you feel invested in each of the characters that play a central part in the story, as well. There were suspenseful points in the plot and somehow two conflict plot points that didn’t have to compete with each other for your attention because the author interwove them nicely. I think (as the Audible subscriber of the group) I was the only one who listened to the book and I super loved the narrator’s Irish accent, which really added to the experience for me. I am definitely planning to continue on to the next book because I’d like to see how the story gets resolved. I rated this one somewhere between 3.5 and 4.
Jaelithe
My favorite thing about this book was that it treated all of the witchy topics respectfully. Whether you do or don’t believe in casting circles, and intention, and consulting the tarot, this book is an interesting and practical look at these topics. There is also a negative force at work, and that force is coming from a fringe Catholic organization — I don’t know if that’s common in witchy books, as it’s the first time I’ve ever seen this dichotomy in a story, and it was exactly right because it felt very true to what Ireland is like, and frankly it matched with what the U.S. is like as well. The whole book felt true, like it’s maybe drawn from the author’s own experiences, but it was woven with a bit of fantasy and ‘real’ magic. I liked it a lot. I’ve already got the second one on hold, though I’d really love to listen this time because Amy says the Irish accents are delightful.
Have you read All Our Hidden Gifts? We’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments! Or, let us know whether you think you’ll try it based on our review.
P.S. If you’d like to follow along with our book club reads, stay tuned for the Thursday post where we’ll reveal our TBR selection for August book club!