Title: As You Wish
Author: Chelsea Sedoti
Genre: YA Fantasy
Summary:
What if you could ask for anything- and get it?
In the sandy Mojave Desert, Madison is a small town on the road between nothing and nowhere. But Eldon wouldn’t want to live anywhere else, because in Madison, everyone gets one wish—and that wish always comes true.
Some people wish for money, some people wish for love, but Eldon has seen how wishes have broken the people around him. And with the lives of his family and friends in chaos, he’s left with more questions than answers. Can he make their lives better? How can he be happy if the people around him aren’t? And what hope is there for any of them if happiness isn’t an achievable dream? Doubts build, leading Eldon to a more outlandish and scary thought: maybe you can’t wish for happiness…maybe, just maybe, you have to make it for yourself.
<b>Received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review</b>
This book is an intriguing premise. What would you wish for if you could wish for anything and get it? (As long as it doesn’t impact the outside world).
It seems like an easy answer, but unfortunately the language you use matters, and it shows in this novel as Eldon, one of the main characters tries to figure out what his birthday wish will be.
You can wish for a business, but it might not be successful. You can wish for unlimited donuts, but it won’t stop you from gaining weight if you don’t specify (no this is not an example of a wish in the book).
The struggle in this novel is extremely well written, even as Eldon is almost irredeemably arrogant and immature. But then, some teenagers are. However he is not without growth, even as he naivete takes him to some interesting places emotionally.
The characters I liked most were Eldon’s father, who is a warm, put sad character, stuck in Madison like most of them, and Merrill, Eldon’s best friend who is loyal even when he should probably walk away.
I would recommend this book to anyone who likes their YA sprinkled with existential crisis’ as I definitely enjoyed this.
