I adored this book just as much if not more than the first book! I thoroughly enjoyed how this book developed plotlines that were established in the first novel and how the relationships between characters continue developing.
I love this series because it feels so homely and real. I think this is in part because of how intricate the characters are. Yes, these characters are teenagers who go through normal teenage drama and I'm reading the book as a 25 year old, but I just find myself relating to these characters and their struggles so much!
I love the magic system in this series and I was delighted to find out more about how it works in this second installment. The pacing was also fantastic and kept me intrigued the whole way through.
I definitely recommend this book to teenagers and adults alike! Can't wait to continue with the series.

I received a copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This is the sequel to O' Donoghue's fantastic YA debut, All Our Hidden Gifts. The gang are practicing their new found powers, but when school starts back, strange things start to happen and old enemies resurface. The stakes are higher than before. Who can they really trust?

They're all dealing with the everyday struggles and pressure that comes with being a teenager and having to decide your future, but that's the least of their problems.

This drama filled book kept me gripped the whole time, it's so much darker than the previous book and I loved it.

Can't wait for the next book.

Full review to be posted soonish. I'll update review with links to socials.
I would like to thank the publisher and netgalley for providing me a free copy in exchange for an honest review.

a wonderful addition to the first book.

I had recently bought the first book whilst on holiday and zoomed through it at superspeed, so when I saw that this book was up for request, I don't think I've ever clicked a button as quickly as I had.

Caroline O'Donoghue is an amazing author and her imagery is just incredible it is like you can see the book coming to life as you are reading it.
I can honestly say I wish I could read this book for the first time all over again just so i could capture and feel the same exact excitement and joy I had the first time I read it.

A must-read for anyone this year. A big thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for providing me with an ARC copy in advance for an honest review

This is a sequel to All Our Hidden Gifts, which is also amazing. This book follows the gang as they navigate mastering their gifts and also the aftermath of the events of book one.

I enjoy these YA books because even though they are about witches and magic and fighting the big bad, real life issues also need to be addressed for the gang. They are all trying to find their way with the end of school in sight and Roe starting college. There are important conservations about race, transphobia, consent, gender identity, and self-harm throughout the story. Maeve and Roe have open conversations about pronouns and consent.

If you are a fan of Charmed or The Craft I think this is the series for you! There is a third book to come yet and I already can’t wait to read it!

O'Donoghue's second installment of the All Our Hidden Gifts series is just as action packed as its debut, following the magical and mystical lives of Maeve, Lily, Roe and Fiona as they navigate their newly gifted powers amongst the backdrop of a turbulent small Irish town. In doing so, they awaken powers they couldn't have imagined and bring forth trouble that is sure to come back to bite them as the series progresses.

With the plot picking up from the end of book one, everything is set up for O'Donoghue to explore greater character development while continuing to further the storyline. While Maeve remains the central voice of the tale, we get greater insight into Lily's character and her development as a more reckless version of the quiet girl we had come to know. I particularly liked how this manifested in her powers which join her to the gang; but equally further her otherness and connection to bodies of water. Like Lily, we get to see some more of Fiona and Roe who, in turn, create the push and pull between the characters that creates the tension needed for Maeve to turn to the Children of Brigid for help (in a roundabout way).

Largely, this was my favourite part of book two of the series - seeing how the prophecies of book one began to come into play. Because, if your characters can foretell the future from their tarot cards, you know the narrative arc is going to be juicy! Maeve's connection to Aaron is an unusual one and, while it didn't make me sympathetic to his character, getting to know more about his background fleshed out his side of the story that I had been desperate to know more about. Following this reveal, their dynamic was particularly interesting and suspenseful in later parts of the plot. I'm really intrigued to see which side Aaron will take in what looks to be a battle for the well of magic in Kilbeg.

This coming-of-age novel is the perfect blend of witchy queerness with an empathetic although not always likeable cast of characters that I'm sure most people can identify with. Throughout the emotions are raw and the stakes high, making for compulsive easy reading and a guaranteed page turner.

An excellent fantasy that kept me hooked till the end. Great storytelling, world building and character development.
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine

I absolutely loved All Our Hidden Gifts and The Gifts That Bind Us didn't disappoint me in the slightest. Fantastic, vivd storytelling that left me thinking about the story and characters long after I'd finished! Would definitely recommend!

A follow-up to All Our Hidden Gifts, one of my favourite books of 2021. A witchy, switched on book that touches on gender, family, expectations and religious pressure, Caroline does a great job. I'm so keen to read the last one in the series!

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher.

This book! Not going to spoil it on anyone but if you haven’t read All Our Hidden Gifts, get on it! This definitely isn’t suffering from book 2 syndrome. It was even better than the first. More witchy, more powers, more drama, maaaaaan it was good!
Absolutely loved following Maeve and the crew as they get to grips with their new skills. There’s once again great rep but I really appreciate how it’s like woven in to the narrative which normalises it as opposed to it being the main focus (not that I mind that either!). Look and the Irish secondary school setting is always going to appeal too let’s be honest.
I can’t believe we’re going to have to wait ages to read the next instalment , ahhhhhh it’s so cruel!

What do you prefer doing, binging a series knowing all the books in it are all out or reading them as they come out?

If you think you won’t like this because of the witchcraft, you’re wrong! Be ready to be bewitched by it. Embrace it. Or shall I say:
“Feel the rhythm, feel the rhyme. Get on up, it’s bobsled tiiiiiime!”

Thanks to @netgalley and @walkerBooksUK for this ARC in return for my honest review.

We already stock the first volume @leoscollege , and it won’t be long before we get this one too, it’s too good not to share!

It’s very easy to step back into the world of Maeve and her friends in this sequel to the very enjoyable All Our Hidden Gifts.

Maeve and her friends are now in senior year, practicing and strengthening their mystical powers. They have their ordinary teenage problems – exams, young love etc. – but as the Children of Brigid, a right-wing religious organisation, start to gain influence throughout the city, they suddenly have bigger problems than the Leaving Cert to grapple with.

As easy to read as the first in the series, O’Donoghue delves deeper into the relationships between the friends in this one, and we see how the dynamics within the friendship group start to change as each person’s powers grow. And yet, while they might have magical powers, they’re all still dealing with the same insecurities and worries that all teenagers do.

I actually think this sequel is better than the original story. It’s scarier for sure, but we’ve also grown to love and care about these characters so the stakes feel higher. And the setup for the third and (sob!) final book in the series is so good.

If you’ve yet to read this series, I’d say get on it now! They’re a lot of fun with just the right amount of magic.

The Gifts That Bind Us by Caroline O’Donoghue is published today, 3rd February 2022, by Walker Books UK. Thanks to them, NetGalley and the author for my advance copy. This is, as always, an honest review.

A fantastic sequel to All Our Hidden Gifts, I really enjoyed it.

A mixture of witchcraft, friendship, love and something quite sinister.

Thank you NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read this.

This was such a great sequel! My favourite thing about All Our Hidden Gifts, by a long way, was the characters. They were SO crunchy and complicated and flawed, and yet completely relatable, and this absolutely continues in the sequel. Being so deep in the point of view of a character who is so incredibly flawed and still does bad things even when she's trying her best to be a good person can be uncomfortable, but also her struggles are so relatable and she's such an interesting character that I just can't stop reading about her. The supporting characters are also great; the only one I felt a bit disappointed about was Roe. I really wanted more of his perspective on what had been happening, and perhaps that's something we'll get more of in the sequel, but the resolution of his arc felt a bit out of the blue, even as I was relieved about it. But overall, the characters in The Gifts That Bind Us are an absolute delight; flawed and complicated in all the best ways. The plot was really excellent too. The stakes are higher in this book than in the first one, but still very grounded in the world we already know, and there are some great new characters as well as some interesting new aspects of characters we've already met, all making the story feel familiar but also new.

All in all, this is such a satisfying sequel and I'm already excited for the third book - and planning to reread the first too soon.

Really enjoyed the first book, and was excited to know there was a sequel to pick up with the familiar characters.

Unfortunately I can’t access the title using this platform as there isn’t the same options to send to Kindle to read. However I’ll look out for this title when it’s published soon and read then.

I ate this book up in a few sittings, and fell asleep with my kindle in my hands both nights I was reading it.

This is a really good sequel - it is not a rehash of the previous instalment, despite how easy that path would be to fall into. I loved the aftermath of the previous book and the main characters coming to terms with their 'gifts' and new relationship statuses to one another. The book is 6ish months from the ending of book one - enough time has passed that our characters have reached a new normal, only for the new school year to mess it all up again.

O’Donoghue manages to combine the everyday dramas of teenage life and the newfound supernatural problems with ease. There's no supernatural problem our teens have that can't be related to a real-world problem one may have.

(one gripe that has nothing to do with the book....but this is the second paranormal book set in an Irish school by an Irish author who have had the characters be in school on Hallowe'en....which just doesn't happen, the mid-term break always includes Hallowe'en due to the bank holiday....and it just needlessly annoys me.)

The Gifts That Bind Us is the second instalment in Caroline O’Donaghue’s tarot-inspired ‘Gifts’ trilogy and it has the same nuance, inclusivity and focus on the importance of female friendship that I loved about All Our Hidden Gifts.

Maeve, Fiona, Lily and Roe are back with a book that explores responsibility, expands the magical lore of the first book and examines the fear of being left behind when the world begins to move on once again. After a magical summer the coven are struggling - Maeve with her powers, Roe with his memory, and Maeve and Lily with rebuilding their friendship. Even worse, the Children of Brigid now have an insidious presence in school. Bonds are tested, magic is practised and the mentally traumatic events of the first book are explored in prose that makes these teenagers and their many falling outs authentic and believable. O’Donaghue has a knack for creating characters that may be flawed and in need of healing. but who ultimately the reader can care about and empathise with. Furthermore, the discussions of feminism, class divides, race and timely LGBTQ+ issues, which are often left unexplored in YA, are skilfully and sensitively dealt with.

This is a brilliant sequel and fans of the first book will not be disappointed.

Thank you to Netgalley and to the publishers for allowing me to read an ARC of this book.

Maeve and her friends are coming to terms with their new found powers, but they're not the only ones showing changes. Things at school are getting weird, old enemies are reappearing and once again it seems to be down to them to put things right.

Once again, Caroline O'Donoghue has blown me away, and once again I absolutely devoured this in a matter of hours. She also succeeded where a lot of sequels can fall down-the set up and reveal of the fallout from the previous book was really well done, it didn't feel derivative or repetitive, it managed to feel fresh while staying true to the characters and their world.
I enjoyed the further study of our main characters and how the events of the first book affected them both as individuals and in their relationships with one another. We see the bonding and the conflict, and the inevitable growth. While Maeve's tendency towards self-centeredness and self-pity could be grating at times, it was very accurate of a 16 year old trying to make and maintain new friendships (and a relationship) and mend old ones, with the added pressure of her 'future' hanging over her, it was really well captured overall.
And once again, O'Donoghue gives us a beautiful portrayal of queer identity, and the questioning and self-discovery that comes along with that. Not to mention how she touches on ideas of race, class divides and privilege in a really approachable and accesible way, especially for a YA audience.

I cannot recommend this series enough, it gives exactly what you could want from a supernatural, Irish, urban fantasy, and then some. Just beautiful.

Thank you to NetGalley and Walker Books UK for my e-arc of this title, received in exchange for an honest review.

When I read it last year, I adored All Our Hidden Gifts, the first book in the series of the same name. The sequel jumped straight onto my tbr list and as soon as I could get my hands on a copy, I jumped at the chance!

Perhaps surprisingly for the first book in a new series, there weren't many loose threads left hanging at the end of All Our Hidden Gifts. This meant I was left intrigued as to the angle that the sequel would end up following.

In some ways, The Gifts That Bind Us feels more like an extension of the first book than a separate book in its own right. It builds on the lore and the magic explained previously, delving into greater detail to add more richness to the story. All the familiar faces are back again too, yet with different relationship dynamics to explore. This book effortlessly balances magic and the supernatural with all the teen drama you'd expect from a YA novel.

Yet despite all that, I struggled to recapture the magic of the first book. I was captivated by the story, but I just wasn't spellbound. It's not you, it's me...

The Gifts That Bind Us is still an enjoyable read, although I do strongly recommend reading All Our Hidden Gifts first - if you haven't already - to get a flavour for the style, characters, and world.

Will I be back again for book three? Of course - I have to see where the story ends!

An amazing sequal , i read and loved the first one in the series last year and this totally kept the momentum.
The story , writing style and characters all of those things made this story a truly enjoyable read .

Sequel/2nd in series. Stands alone reasonably well, although some of the subtleties of the world in which it is set seem to be lost if you don’t know the back story. The reader is mostly filled in sensitively by the author, although a few plot devices seem a little forced in their attempts to impart knowledge of the previous book.

The characters are well drawn, and on the whole likeable and realistic. They certainly aren’t perfect or too stereotyped or clichéd. There was a full complement of characters to check the diversity boxes though, which again felt a little forced at times trying to make it clear to all readers that they were for example Asian or non-binary.

The plot is relatively slow, as much builds around the characters emotions, and their histories. However the conclusion seemed so quick it was over before it started… I felt that at times the conclusion was rushed to the detriment of the reader who is unfamiliar with the 1st in this series, and I actually had to read the last 8% twice.

Overall, I know a teenage me would have loved this, and I’d have battled between which character I wanted to be or most identified with. I am sure there are modern teen girls who will feel the same way.