80th book of 2021
Reading period: October 02nd 2021 – October 04th 2021
Summary
Maeve Chambers doesn’t have much going for her. Not only does she feel like the sole idiot in a family of geniuses, she managed to drive away her best friend Lily a year ago. But when she finds a pack of dusty old tarot cards at school, and begins to give scarily accurate readings to the girls in her class, she realizes she’s found her gift at last. Things are looking up – until she discovers a strange card in the deck that definitely shouldn’t be there. And two days after she convinces her ex-best friend to have a reading, Lily disappears.
Can Maeve, her new friend Fiona and Lily’s brother Roe find her? And will their special talents be enough to bring Lily back, before she’s gone for good?
Trigger Warnings:
Homophobia, hate crime, bullying, racism
Rating
Review
I had a great time reading this book. It’s an easy and page-turner young adult story.
In this story, we follow Maeve, who found a tarot cards deck following a punishment at school and started to feel a pull towards it. After reading for her classmates, she finally understands that she has a gift. However, a strange card shows up, and some days later, her ex-best friend disappears.
In this book, you have two main plots. I’m never a fan of it as they sometimes never merge. So, I was afraid it would be the case here as they seem to be two entirely different plots. However, as you go through the story, they start to merge. However, one of the plots is complete at the end of the book, and the other one finishes as a cliffhanger, and I’m not okay with it as it’s the most interesting for me.
The most annoying thing is that this mysterious card is present, as Maeve talks about it a lot, but you don’t have any real research. She searched for it once or twice at the beginning and didn’t find anything at all. However, at some point in the book, everyone around her knows about this card and what it represents. So it’s a bit info-dumpy at this point in the book, which is frustrating as you could have all the information space out in the book.
The character of Maeve can sometimes be irritating as she spends her time thinking she is worthless. When others surround her, it’s worse as she starts to victimize herself and feel jealousy until she imagines some future that will not happen.
The last thing is the relationship between Maeve and Roe. I wasn’t fond that they finished by being a couple at the beginning as I was okay with just a friendship. But I started to like them together, so I’m now okay with it. I was just skeptical at some point as they argue for no reason or none that I understand. It feels like it was just to create some tension between them.
I’m now waiting for next year and the second book: The Gifts that Binds Us.
Liz.
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