With Illumen Hall students Audrey and Ivy still on a mission to find out what happened to Lola Radcliffe last year, it seems they’ve got another almighty mystery on their hands and a whole lot more sorrow in Two For Joy…
After revealing she was closing in on Lola’s killer in her latest podcast, Clover is now missing. Can Audrey and Ivy solve the case before another life is claimed by the murderous Magpie Society?
Your soul will leave your body when you get to the plot twist of the decade. Find out what the team thought of the chilling conclusion to the Magpie Society duology.
But first, here’s a reminder of the blurb!
A deadly disappearance
A race against time
And, at the eleventh hour . . .
A shocking revelation
Audrey and Ivy, determined to bring their fellow student Lola Radcliffe’s killer to justice, find themselves in the middle of another mystery when a friend disappears in suspicious circumstances.
Their only clue is a mysterious card left by the enigmatic Magpie Society. With time running out and the police baffled, Audrey and Ivy must delve deeper than ever into the dark secrets that their school is hiding.
But someone is playing a deadly game. And to beat them, Audrey and Ivy have to start rewriting the rules…
Lareese
If you’re looking for an action-packed start to your 2022 reads with an ending that’ll leave you sitting in bed with your mouth agape, allow Two For Joy to have your attention. Zoe and Amy understood the assignment! As the mysteries keep on coming and the plot thickens with one tragedy after another, I found myself, once again, totally engrossed by Illumen Hall and The Magpie Society (new and old). Alongside the addictive murder mystery element which propels the story forward at breakneck speed as in One For Sorrow, I loved the characters fiercely – Minty will go down as one of my favourite unlikable characters! With more twists, turns and secret passageways than Illumen Hall itself, it’s impossible not to pick it up at every opportunity. Teddy, Mr Willis, Araminta, Mrs Abbott – everyone’s got a motive. Expect the unexpected!
Rating: 5/5
Would you recommend: Yes – The duology is gloriously unputdownable.
Charlotte
The read of all reads to end our 2021 book club- one from our very own Ms Sugg! One for Sorrow was one of my fave 2020 reads and I have been eagerly awaiting the sequel ever since- working in Team Zoella unfortunately does not mean I got any intel on the coming plot or what was going to follow after that cliffhanger from book one so I was eager to dig into TFJ over Christmas. All I can say is. THAT. ENDING. The plot, characters, pace and storytelling to me felt like an immediate step up from One for Sorrow, and in all honesty the dramatic conclusion of this duology was so intensely gripping that on multiple occasions was I sat in cold bath water after being transfixed with what would happen on the next page. To me the ending was completely unforeseen and I so rarely have that experience when reading which I would say is one of the main joys, amongst sadness, I found from the conclusion of our time at Illumen Hall. Warning: do not read if you have a long to-do list because approx nothing will be getting done once you start on this bad boy.
Rating: 5/5
Would you recommend: To everyone and anyone, yes!
Maddie
Zoe and Amy never gave anything away despite some heavy questioning they faced following the knife edge cliffhanger ending of the first book and let me tell you, this epic conclusion doesn’t disappoint. When they first submitted the prologue, which is written from the point of view of the killer, I knew this book was going to be a juicy nail biter! Thriller readers will love this fast paced frenzy of a book with all the gripping and at times frankly chilling twists and turns that will leave you wanting to just read one more chapter. Fortunately the story kicks off right where it left off so you’re in the thick of the drama straight away. It certainly kept me on my toes and just like book one it keeps you guessing and guessing making you feel like you can trust absolutely no one!
Rating: 5/5
Would you recommend: Absolute must read
Danielle
Darcey
I’ve become a bit of an E-Book gal now, who would’ve thought! Apple Books means you can read from your phone anywhere, which is super convenient and means instead of reaching for my phone and going down a social media rabbit hole I can get myself stuck into a book instead.
I couldn’t wait to get stuck into the final book of the series after the cliff-hanger in the last book! It’s one reason I love reading sequels because It instantly inserts you back to where you left, you already know the characters and the plot so you can really immerse yourself straight off the bat. In this book it is TENSE between Audrey and Ivy, you really are kept on the edge of your seat for the majority of this book, I was stressed! It’s full of so much mystery and dark twists which I thoroughly enjoy.
The ending though, boy oh boy! I didn’t see that coming AT ALL and without giving any spoilers away, it was not who I predicted… I’ll definitely be reading both again, back to back I’m sure!
Rating: 5/5
Would you recommend: Definitely a must read!
I LOVED listening to Two For Joy over Christmas and New Year, especially after waiting so long to know what happened! The book is voiced by two different people for Audrey and Ivy which I always find very engaging – similar to Beth O’Leary’s audiobooks. If you have a resolution to read more in ’22 I highly suggested getting some audible action in there! On to the review – a cracking follow up, I actually really enjoy sequels as you know the drill and so many of the characters that you can get into the meat of the book, which TFJ absolutely did! Illumen Hall is the perfect place to escape to and the twists and turns in this book kept me listening well past my bedtime. If like me, you love to binge, then I’m pretty jealous of anyone who gets to read The Magpie Society books back to back this year, the perfect January entertainment if you haven’t picked them up yet!
Rating: 6/5 as I preferred it to the first one and that was a 5!
Would you recommend: 100000% get both and blast them this January