Review: The Wish

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Maggie hasn't told this story in years. More than two decades ago, she fell in love. She was sixteen and far from home, waiting to give her baby up for adoption. Bryce showed Maggie how to take photographs and he didn't judge her for the way her belly swelled under her jumper. They had the perfect first kiss. Theirs was a once-in-a-lifetime kind of love. Now, as Maggie sits by the Christmas tree in her gallery telling her story, surrounded by the photographs that made her famous - the photographs Bryce never saw - her new gallery assistant asks her a question. If she had one wish, what would she wish for this Christmas? Maggie always thought she knew the answer to that question. But before she can say 'I'd go back to that winter with Bryce', she stops herself. It is all she has ever wanted but suddenly here, on this dark night under the twinkling stars, there is something else she wants. She wants to find her baby.

Genre: fiction

Publication date: September 2021

Mature content: yes

 

Review: I really wanted to like this book, but instead I found it depressing and, frankly, a bit boring. It's not a romance, it's more like a memoir - a memoir of someone who knows she's reached the end of her life and is going over her past choices. 

I also believe the book passes on a few wrong messages. Teenage pregnancy is dealt with by sending the girl away for nine months and then pretending it never happened - and apparently is only viewed as wrong, not because of health concerns or because it's disrupting lives, but because it goes against the girl's parent's religion. The same girl makes zero effort in her school work but still lands a successful career and becomes rich and famous - in her own words, mostly by sheer luck - not exactly the idea I want my kids to have...

There's a sweet teenage romance in between, but unfortunately I don't think it's enough to salvage the rest of the story...Honestly, I believe there are great books by this author out there, but in my opinion The Wish isn't one of them.

 

Happy readings otherwise,

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