Review: All Our Hidden Gifts by Caroline O'Donoghue

All Our Hidden Gifts by Caroline O'Donoghue

Published:1st July 2021 | Publisher: Walker Books | Source: NetGalley
Caroline O'Donoghue's Website

I'll give up the tarot readings. I'll apologize to Lily. But Lily doesn't come to school on Monday. Or Tuesday. It's not until Wednesday that the police show up.

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? The StoryGraph

I received this eProof for free from Walker Books via NetGalley for the purposes of providing an honest review.

Trigger/Content Warnings: This book features bullying, a missing person, a religious cult, racism, homophobia, transphobia, and suicide attempts.

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Review: All the Murmuring Bones by A. G. Slatter

All the Murmuring Bones by A. G. Slatter

Published: 9th March 2021 | Publisher: Titan Books | Source: NetGalley
A. G. Slatter's Website

'My mother was a witch and she left me behind...'

Miren O'Malley was orphaned as a young child and brought up by her grandparents on their isolated, rambling estate, Hob's Hallow. Long ago her family prospered due to a deal struck with the mer: safety for their merchant ships in return for a child of each generation. But for many years the family have been unable to keep their side of the bargain and their fortunes have suffered as a result. When Miren's grandfather dies, her grandmother plans to restore their glory - but at the price of Miren's freedom.

All the Murmuring Bones is an irresistible tale of family secrets, dark mysteries, magic and witches, and creatures of myth and the sea. A spellbinding story about strong women and the men who seek to control them.

For readers of Naomi Novik and Katherine Arden. The StoryGraph

I received this eProof for free from Titan Books via NetGalley for the purposes of providing an honest review.

Trigger/Content Warnings: This book features violence against women, murder by burning alive, and mentions of forced marriage and incest.

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Review: The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern

The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern

Published: 6th August 2020 | Publisher: Vintage | Source: Bought
Erin Morgenstern's Website

When Zachary Rawlins stumbles across a strange book hidden in his university library, it leads him on a quest unlike any other. Its pages entrance him with their tales of lovelorn prisoners, lost cities and nameless acolytes, but they also contain something impossible: a recollection from his own childhood.

Determined to solve the puzzle of the book, Zachary follows the clues he finds on the cover - a bee, a key and a sword. They guide him to a masquerade ball, to a dangerous secret club, and finally through a magical doorway created by the fierce and mysterious Mirabel. This door leads to a subterranean labyrinth filled with stories, hidden far beneath the surface of the earth.

When the labyrinth is threatened, Zachary must race with Mirabel, and Dorian, a handsome barefoot man with shifting alliances, through its twisting tunnels and crowded ballrooms, searching for the end of his story. The StoryGraph

Trigger/Content Warnings: This book mentions hands being cut off, eyes being plucked out, and bodies pulled apart, but there is very little description.

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Review: Christmas: A Short History From Solstice to Santa by Andy Thomas

Christmas: A Short History From Solstice to Santa by Andy Thomas

Published: 1st October 2019 | Publisher: Quarto Knows | Source: Gift
Goodreads

Have you ever wondered where Christmas comes from? Or why and how it has been celebrated throughout the centuries? This book takes you on an intriguing and entertaining journey through its social history.

Learn about the:

• astrological associations
• symbolism of the Nativity
• excesses of the Roman festival of Saturnalia
• Puritan ban of Christmas
• Victorian-era revival
• introduction and rise of gift-giving
• origins and developments of Father Christmas
• food and traditions from around the world
• history of its stories, songs and symbols

Beautifully illustrated, this book tells the fuller story behind the sparkle and the merriment, and shows why Christmas has survived and still has meaning for us today. From Quarto Knows.

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Review: Paris By Starlight by Robert Dinsdale

Paris By Starlight by Robert Dinsdale

Published: 5th November 2020 | Publisher: Del Rey | Source: NetGalley
Robert Dinsdale's Website

Every city has its own magic...

Every night on their long journey to Paris from their troubled homeland, Levon’s grandmother has read to them from a very special book. Called The Nocturne, it is a book full of fairy stories and the heroic adventures of their people who generations before chose to live by starlight.

And with every story that Levon’s grandmother tells them in their new home, the desire to live as their ancestors did grows. And that is when the magic begins...

Nobody can explain why nocturnal water dogs start appearing at the heels of every citizen of Paris-by-Starlight like the loyal retainers they once were. There are suddenly night finches in the skies and the city is transforming: the Eiffel Tower lit up by strange ethereal flowers that drink in the light of the moon.

But not everyone in Paris is won over by the spectacle of Paris-by-Starlight. There are always those that fear the other, the unexplained, the strangers in our midst. How long can the magic of night rub up against the ordinariness of day? How long can two worlds occupy the same streets and squares before there is an outright war? From Goodreads.

I received this eProof for free from Del Rey via NetGalley for the purposes of providing an honest review.

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Change is Ahead

 

What a year 2020 has been, huh? It's definitely been a bit of a wash out for Once Upon a Bookcase for various reasons - partly due to a lot of re-reading, and partly because I just couldn't face it. As the year draws to a close, I've started to reflect on what I want in the New Year generally, and I thought I would share what I'm thinking for the blog.

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Review: The Once and Future Witches by Alix E. Harrow

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The Once and Future Witches by Alix E. Harrow

Published: 13th Octover 2020 | Publisher: Orbit | Cover Designer: Lisa Marie Pompilio | Source: Publisher
Alix E. Harrow's Website

In 1893, there's no such thing as witches. There used to be, in the wild, dark days before the burnings began, but now witching is nothing but tidy charms and nursery rhymes. If the modern woman wants any measure of power, she must find it at the ballot box.

But when the Eastwood sisters--James Juniper, Agnes Amaranth, and Beatrice Belladonna--join the suffragists of New Salem, they begin to pursue the forgotten words and ways that might turn the women's movement into the witch's movement. Stalked by shadows and sickness, hunted by forces who will not suffer a witch to vote-and perhaps not even to live-the sisters will need to delve into the oldest magics, draw new alliances, and heal the bond between them if they want to survive.

There's no such thing as witches. But there will be. From Goodreads.

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Goodreads

I received this eProof for free from Orbit via NetGalley for the purposes of providing an honest review.

Rep: Disabled protagonist; lesbian protagonist; Black, lesbian main character, trans woman secondary character, Native American secondary characters.

Trigger/Content Warnings: This book features a (vague) sex scene; a description of an open wound; birth; abortion; mention of stillbirth; ableism; racism; homophobia; transphobia; an abusive, homophobic conversion school/prison; child abuse - physical violence; sexual assault; an angry, violent crowd; violence against women; torture; use of scold's/witch's bridles; a witch trial; discussion of burning witches, with descriptive detail.

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