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bookswritingandmore's review against another edition
5.0
Ally thought her life was over about a year ago, when her boyfriend James dumped her. She was ready for happier ever after and James broke her heart on New Years Day with no explanation except to say they were over. All of Ally's family and friends are so tired of Ally moping about because of James. It has been long enough and Ally needs to just move on. To make matters worse, James has started dating again and guess what? James is dating Ally's spiteful co-worker. Ally has hit a new low and she isn't sure how to go on.
Then the unthinkable happens.
While Ally is out shopping with her mother at the flea market, she is drawn to a vintage style box. The little old woman selling the box tries to give it to Ally but Ally declines. The women proceeds to explain that the box "picked her." Of course, Ally is freaked out and quickly leaves the shop. Once home, Ally finds the box in her things and can't believe that the woman was able to sneak the box into her things.
But wait! We aren't up to the shocking part quite yet.
Ally opens the box and out comes a genie! Arthur is over one hundred years old and because of a curse someone put on him, he is destined to stay in the box until opened in order to grant five wishes. Ally can not believe this is happening and she is very skeptical at first, but Arthur is able to prove his existence and make Ally see that she isn't crazy, in fact she is lucky!
Ally can come off as self absorbed in the beginning of this book. However, reading on, I saw that Ally is just a very passionate person that really believes James was the love of her life. All the schemes she does just show the reader how committed she is to getting James back into her life.
Arthur is a respectable classic gentleman who helps Ally along the way but granting her wishes and offering friendly advice that is probably a bit outdated since he is over one hundred years old. The character of Arthur was funny, sweet and very old school. He really gave this novel that extra something that would have been missing had he not been a big part of the story.
If you want to read a quirky, funny fairy tale story, this is the book for you. I found this so funny and light hearted, the perfect read to make me smile.
I Wish For You is a sweet romance guaranteed to make you smile!
sarastar's review against another edition
2.0
This was cozy story, with hilarious moments of obsession..
Ally thinks she is still in love with James after he left her, is getting married and all this with the mean girl at work, and feels so down, she comes across a magical antique where she gets 5 wishes....and a handsome being to grant them.
All in all, it started slow and picked up a couple chapters in....Though it was not my kind of read, i stayed with it until the end. I expected abit more romance in there, way too much depressing moments and not enough love moments until the end.
Ally thinks she is still in love with James after he left her, is getting married and all this with the mean girl at work, and feels so down, she comes across a magical antique where she gets 5 wishes....and a handsome being to grant them.
All in all, it started slow and picked up a couple chapters in....Though it was not my kind of read, i stayed with it until the end. I expected abit more romance in there, way too much depressing moments and not enough love moments until the end.
tita_noir's review
2.0
2.5 stars
I see a lot of people have shelved this book as a romance. Fair enough. But for me this book barely passes the litmus test of a true romance novel. The heroine ends up HEA with the hero, but she spent the lion's share of the book thinking about, obsessed with, stalking, and loving someone else. Every single thing she does in this book is with the sole purpose of getting back the not-hero guy.
By contrast the hero does not figure in her mind as a romantic being until approx. the last 10% of the book and that isn't til she finally gives up on the other guy. Let's be clear, it isn't her feelings for the hero that prompts her to give up her feelings for the other guy. It is the realization that the other guy is not available to her and she gets closure on her relationship with the other guy that she has an 11th hour epiphany that it is the hero she now wants. A small distinction, but and important one.
So in my head this is pure chick lit with a heaping helping of fantasy/paranormal thrown in. It is first person POV of the heroine who has been dumped by her boyfriend -- the love of her life -- with no warning an no explanation. A year later (when the book opens) she is still desperately pining over him. What makes things even worse is he is now engaged to a co-worker of hers who is an avowed enemy.
Into her life comes a mysterious box that just so happens to house a genie who grants her five wishes. Her genie, named Arthur, is a British nobleman who has been cursed for centuries to this wretched life. After her five wishes have been duly wished and granted, back into the box he goes whereupon the box will mysteriously choose its next target.
After getting over the requisite shock etc. etc. and learning the rules etc. etc. Ally gets to wishing. I will admit I thought the first three wishes themselves, the way they were proposed and executed were clever and worked well within the framework of the story. All of Ally's wishes of course designed to get back with James (the ex) and to stick it to her romantic rival Vanessa.
On the one hand I could see why Ally could not close the book on James. he basically ghosted her and I could understand her need to know why. On the other hand, she was just so pathetic and needy about it. I wish she had used her wishes to -- in the words of Oprah -- lived her best life, without trying to win back James. Also a full star gets taken off the book because there is an air of.... fat shaming about it in places that made me feel uncomfortable.
In the meantime, Arthur, the genie, is a great character. I liked him quite a bit and you knew that he'd end up with Ally. Also his backstory was very engrossing. But most of the book he is simply Ally's magical helper. Thassit. Until of course all of her scheming both works perfectly and not at all and she realizes it is Arthur she really wants. The ending was rushed like almost literally the last chapter is when all this happens plus they magically break the curse to be together.
On a chick lit front it was kinda entertaining. On a romance front it was super disappointing and I just couldn't get past the pining and and stalking of another guy.
I listened on audio and I am not a fan of the narrator.
I see a lot of people have shelved this book as a romance. Fair enough. But for me this book barely passes the litmus test of a true romance novel. The heroine ends up HEA with the hero, but she spent the lion's share of the book thinking about, obsessed with, stalking, and loving someone else. Every single thing she does in this book is with the sole purpose of getting back the not-hero guy.
By contrast the hero does not figure in her mind as a romantic being until approx. the last 10% of the book and that isn't til she finally gives up on the other guy. Let's be clear, it isn't her feelings for the hero that prompts her to give up her feelings for the other guy. It is the realization that the other guy is not available to her and she gets closure on her relationship with the other guy that she has an 11th hour epiphany that it is the hero she now wants. A small distinction, but and important one.
So in my head this is pure chick lit with a heaping helping of fantasy/paranormal thrown in. It is first person POV of the heroine who has been dumped by her boyfriend -- the love of her life -- with no warning an no explanation. A year later (when the book opens) she is still desperately pining over him. What makes things even worse is he is now engaged to a co-worker of hers who is an avowed enemy.
Into her life comes a mysterious box that just so happens to house a genie who grants her five wishes. Her genie, named Arthur, is a British nobleman who has been cursed for centuries to this wretched life. After her five wishes have been duly wished and granted, back into the box he goes whereupon the box will mysteriously choose its next target.
After getting over the requisite shock etc. etc. and learning the rules etc. etc. Ally gets to wishing. I will admit I thought the first three wishes themselves, the way they were proposed and executed were clever and worked well within the framework of the story. All of Ally's wishes of course designed to get back with James (the ex) and to stick it to her romantic rival Vanessa.
On the one hand I could see why Ally could not close the book on James. he basically ghosted her and I could understand her need to know why. On the other hand, she was just so pathetic and needy about it. I wish she had used her wishes to -- in the words of Oprah -- lived her best life, without trying to win back James. Also a full star gets taken off the book because there is an air of.... fat shaming about it in places that made me feel uncomfortable.
Spoiler
One of Ally's wishes is that she can change to appearance of herself or others. So one of the the ways Ally gets back at Vanessa (the rival) is to make her gain weight in increments over weeks. Ally also causes a well liked but overweight co-worker to lose weight in increments as an act of benevolence. This felt condescending and rather awful, imoIn the meantime, Arthur, the genie, is a great character. I liked him quite a bit and you knew that he'd end up with Ally. Also his backstory was very engrossing. But most of the book he is simply Ally's magical helper. Thassit. Until of course all of her scheming both works perfectly and not at all and she realizes it is Arthur she really wants. The ending was rushed like almost literally the last chapter is when all this happens plus they magically break the curse to be together.
On a chick lit front it was kinda entertaining. On a romance front it was super disappointing and I just couldn't get past the pining and and stalking of another guy.
I listened on audio and I am not a fan of the narrator.
sechakecha's review
Did not finish the book - the writing felt incredibly juvenile and I couldn't get into the story.
paurw's review against another edition
3.0
Just what I was looking for
I'm mainly a fantasy/ sci fi reader, but everytime I finish an awesome book, I'm on the need of an easy going chick lit, and this one didn't dissappoint.
I had a great time reading about Ally and Arthur the Genie. Arthur was so awkward at the beggining, being him from the XIII century.
And Ally was such a stubborn main character, but I enjoyed them both. I loved the way they interact with each other and how everything turned out, even if it was pretty obvious hahaha.
Just a fun book to have a nice time.
I'm mainly a fantasy/ sci fi reader, but everytime I finish an awesome book, I'm on the need of an easy going chick lit, and this one didn't dissappoint.
I had a great time reading about Ally and Arthur the Genie. Arthur was so awkward at the beggining, being him from the XIII century.
And Ally was such a stubborn main character, but I enjoyed them both. I loved the way they interact with each other and how everything turned out, even if it was pretty obvious hahaha.
Just a fun book to have a nice time.
renee_conoulty's review
5.0
What a fun fairytale. If you are in the mood for a romantic comedy with a hint of revenge and a big dollop of magic, then give this a read.
I devoured this book in a couple of days. I enjoyed watching Ally mature as well have a lot of fun with her wishes. I found her to be a likable and relatable character. As for Arthur, Mmmmm, I'd like me one of those!
I received this book free in exchange for an honest review. Camilla Isley has done an amazing job for her debut novel. I think this book achieves exactly what it was supposed to. I'm looking forward to reading more from her. I'm sure Arthur has many interesting tales to tell from his past.
I devoured this book in a couple of days. I enjoyed watching Ally mature as well have a lot of fun with her wishes. I found her to be a likable and relatable character. As for Arthur, Mmmmm, I'd like me one of those!
I received this book free in exchange for an honest review. Camilla Isley has done an amazing job for her debut novel. I think this book achieves exactly what it was supposed to. I'm looking forward to reading more from her. I'm sure Arthur has many interesting tales to tell from his past.
aggeliki_obsolete's review against another edition
2.0
Spoilers ahead.
The story idea was interesting and fun but the execution wasn't great. Ally, the protagonist spends so much time pining for the man who dumped her, plotting how to get him back with the help of her magical wishes and being extremely rude to Arthur, her "genie" (not to mention her close friends,too!), that the romance between her and Arthur at the end seems almost forced. They've spent months living together and being with each other almost 24/7, yet we never get a glimpse of their day-to-day routine and all those little, every day things that would make feelings between them develop. Instead the only scenes between them that we get to witness in detail are all Ally crying about James and being irrationally short with Arthur and then apologizing for being insulting and rude. If their genders were inverted I'm sure most of us would feel sorry for the verbally abused slave girl, trapped in this situation. I know I felt sorry for Arthur, who was written as quite a lovely, tormented man and I really didn't see how he could have fallen in love with a selfish, self-centred, superficial woman like Ally. And the revelation that she was in love with him because she once gave him her last m&m, in a scene that we hear about second hand from her best friend, is just ridiculous.
The protagonist is supposed to have learned a lesson by the end of the book, that superficial things like money and good looks are worth nothing in the face of true love and I'm glad she did, but I really have no idea how, because we didn't get to see her learning those lessons and gradually shifting her world view, we're just told she did. And they lived happily ever after.
The story idea was interesting and fun but the execution wasn't great. Ally, the protagonist spends so much time pining for the man who dumped her, plotting how to get him back with the help of her magical wishes and being extremely rude to Arthur, her "genie" (not to mention her close friends,too!), that the romance between her and Arthur at the end seems almost forced. They've spent months living together and being with each other almost 24/7, yet we never get a glimpse of their day-to-day routine and all those little, every day things that would make feelings between them develop. Instead the only scenes between them that we get to witness in detail are all Ally crying about James and being irrationally short with Arthur and then apologizing for being insulting and rude. If their genders were inverted I'm sure most of us would feel sorry for the verbally abused slave girl, trapped in this situation. I know I felt sorry for Arthur, who was written as quite a lovely, tormented man and I really didn't see how he could have fallen in love with a selfish, self-centred, superficial woman like Ally. And the revelation that she was in love with him because she once gave him her last m&m, in a scene that we hear about second hand from her best friend, is just ridiculous.
The protagonist is supposed to have learned a lesson by the end of the book, that superficial things like money and good looks are worth nothing in the face of true love and I'm glad she did, but I really have no idea how, because we didn't get to see her learning those lessons and gradually shifting her world view, we're just told she did. And they lived happily ever after.
axcentstar's review against another edition
5.0
I enjoyed this book very much!!
Honestly I loved it.
It's a fairy tale set today and the character Ally is so relatable and funny.
This is a different kind of book but one you'll read happily.
Honestly I loved it.
It's a fairy tale set today and the character Ally is so relatable and funny.
This is a different kind of book but one you'll read happily.
katels's review against another edition
2.0
2.5 stars - definitely my least favourite of Camilla isleys books, it was still an ok read but just missed the beat for me