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mackenzieparker_'s review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
fast-paced
5.0
sarah_elise's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
lighthearted
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
heatherw25's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
inspiring
lighthearted
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Loveable characters? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Abandonment
Minor: Emotional abuse and Miscarriage
jfontaine's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
csnurr's review against another edition
2.0
This for me is a one-star and probably one of my biggest let downs of the year. I went into this expecting a whimsical read a-la adult Mysterious Benedict Society and what I got was a kind of upsetting read about a deeply unhealthy codependent relationship between a 26-year-old woman and a 7-year-old boy.
I worked in child-care for five years and there is no way in hell the relationship between Lucy and Christopher would be allowed to go one. She is constantly hugging, kissing and touching him and even sitting with this kid on her lap in a school setting (there is even a scene where another person is present and Christopher shies away from sitting on her lap and she has to talk herself out of being upset!!! WTF?? You’re not related to him! Someone I worked with got fired for letting one child sit on their lap once!! This isn’t okay behavior). Basically every single red flag of an inappropriate relationship between an adult and a child is waving wildly but it’s completely shrugged off and even encouraged because Christopher is a remarkable but traumatized child.
Lucy spends so much of her time with Christopher convinced that she is the only one who can ever truly care for him and love him and she basically trains him to believe that as well. Lucy has no money, no car, no resources and not even a second bed yet convinces herself and by association Christopher that all of their problems will be solved if the state just blindly gives her custody of this kid who’s just lost his parents in a deeply tragic way (and in a way related to poverty no less). The social services worker is treated like an antagonist for not just blindly awarding custody but she’s just doing her job! She’s trying to make sure this kid isn’t living in squalor!
Not only that, but the book isn’t even really focused on the game. The reader gets a couple riddles, they play monopoly but we don’t even really get to the game until 100 pages in.
The tone of this book was also way off for me. Lucy was a neglected child because her older sister was a deeply sick kid and their parents only had time for their sick child. Lucy mainly grew up with her grandparents raising her and was deeply hurt by her parent’s lack of care (despite the fact that it seems like her grandparents did their absolute best to treat her well??). Lucy moved out on her own relatively young and the books spends a good amount of time saying how she’s fine without them in her life but there’s so much bitterness there that it completely threw off the rest of the tone of the book. She won’t even consider reaching out to her sister now that they’re adults because of one mean the sister said when she was 16 and Lucy was 12.
I worked in child-care for five years and there is no way in hell the relationship between Lucy and Christopher would be allowed to go one. She is constantly hugging, kissing and touching him and even sitting with this kid on her lap in a school setting (there is even a scene where another person is present and Christopher shies away from sitting on her lap and she has to talk herself out of being upset!!! WTF?? You’re not related to him! Someone I worked with got fired for letting one child sit on their lap once!! This isn’t okay behavior). Basically every single red flag of an inappropriate relationship between an adult and a child is waving wildly but it’s completely shrugged off and even encouraged because Christopher is a remarkable but traumatized child.
Lucy spends so much of her time with Christopher convinced that she is the only one who can ever truly care for him and love him and she basically trains him to believe that as well. Lucy has no money, no car, no resources and not even a second bed yet convinces herself and by association Christopher that all of their problems will be solved if the state just blindly gives her custody of this kid who’s just lost his parents in a deeply tragic way (and in a way related to poverty no less). The social services worker is treated like an antagonist for not just blindly awarding custody but she’s just doing her job! She’s trying to make sure this kid isn’t living in squalor!
Not only that, but the book isn’t even really focused on the game. The reader gets a couple riddles, they play monopoly but we don’t even really get to the game until 100 pages in.
The tone of this book was also way off for me. Lucy was a neglected child because her older sister was a deeply sick kid and their parents only had time for their sick child. Lucy mainly grew up with her grandparents raising her and was deeply hurt by her parent’s lack of care (despite the fact that it seems like her grandparents did their absolute best to treat her well??). Lucy moved out on her own relatively young and the books spends a good amount of time saying how she’s fine without them in her life but there’s so much bitterness there that it completely threw off the rest of the tone of the book. She won’t even consider reaching out to her sister now that they’re adults because of one mean the sister said when she was 16 and Lucy was 12.
bobinsbooknook's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
Truth be told I was pretty disappointed in this book. The plot premise was super intriguing and had been on my TBR for a while and was excited to see it being picked as this May’s book club pick for the month.
From the outset I struggled to enjoy the characters of Hugo and Lucy which made it a struggle to enjoy at times. The characters interactions were incredibly cringey for the majority of the book to the point it almost felt like a heavy YA.
The plot whilst intriguing was quite predictable at times - though did enjoy the riddles and the end resolve sadly the writing style let it down.
The YA writing style but with more adult themes and chapters which just didn’t build the atmosphere or emotions coupled with characters I couldn’t really get behind … just made this hard to push through sadly.
thenovelbook's review against another edition
4.0
My brain has not been friendly to long-term concentrated reading this week, but The Wishing Game was perfect in having an easy-to-follow plot and just being extremely readable.
I will say, I felt that the plot sat very comfortably in YA territory, making the sporadic profanity or innuendo just feel really surprising and jarring. So that was odd, but overall the concept was great and I really enjoyed the story!
I will say, I felt that the plot sat very comfortably in YA territory, making the sporadic profanity or innuendo just feel really surprising and jarring. So that was odd, but overall the concept was great and I really enjoyed the story!