Title: The Wishing Game

Author: Meg Shaffer

Publisher: Ballantine Books 2023

Genre: Fiction

Pages: 304

Rating: 3/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Unread Shelf; BOTM Cleanout

Make a wish. . . .

Lucy Hart knows better than anyone what it’s like to grow up without parents who loved her. In a childhood marked by neglect and loneliness, Lucy found her solace in books, namely the Clock Island series by Jack Masterson. Now a twenty-six-year-old teacher’s aide, she is able to share her love of reading with bright, young students, especially seven-year-old Christopher Lamb, who was left orphaned after the tragic death of his parents. Lucy would give anything to adopt Christopher, but even the idea of becoming a family seems like an impossible dream without proper funds and stability.

But be careful what you wish for. . . .

Just when Lucy is about to give up, Jack Masterson announces he’s finally written a new book. Even better, he’s holding a contest at his home on the real Clock Island, and Lucy is one of the four lucky contestants chosen to compete to win the one and only copy.

For Lucy, the chance of winning the most sought-after book in the world means everything to her and Christopher. But first she must contend with ruthless book collectors, wily opponents, and the distractingly handsome (and grumpy) Hugo Reese, the illustrator of the Clock Island books. Meanwhile, Jack “the Mastermind” Masterson is plotting the ultimate twist ending that could change all their lives forever.

. . . You might just get it.

People described this as the perfect love letter to the love of books, but this one fell pretty flat for me. Right away, I was super annoyed with Lucy. She was just a pushover and a bland person. I wasn’t really connecting with her at all. And her internal commentary about wanting to be Christopher’s mom got old very quickly. We didn’t need to be reminded every other paragraph. The book picked up once she arrived on the island for the contact, but then we had the dynamic between Hugo and Lucy. I never really bought it. I could not figure out their chemistry. I wish that the author had not put them together for anything romantic. And in reality, nothing really romantic every actually happened in the book. Overall, this story felt a little too twee for me.

Next up on the TBR pile: