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busyreading's review against another edition
5.0
Charlotte Blake (Charli) who is seventeen lives in the small town of Piper's Cove in Tasmania with her brother, Alex. From a very young age, Charli has been cared for by her brother, Alex after her mother passed away. Charlie is doing her last year in school and once it's over she's looking forward to leaving Piper's Cove with her best friend, Nicole. This has been their dream and they can't wait to leave and travel the world. Charli will miss her brother as they get along really well and spend quite a bit of time together. Both of them love surfing and most mornings this is where the pair can be found.
Gabrielle Décarie is Charli's French teacher who she doesn't get along so well with. Charli not only doesn't get along with Gabrielle nor does she like doing French. Then one day out of the blue, Gabrielle's cousin, Adam Décarie who lives in New York comes to visit for a couple of months. The day that Charli and Adam paths cross there is an instant connection between them. Meeting Adam will turn, Charli's world up side down. Spending time with Adam and getting to know him has been a wonderful time in Charli’s life and the pair now have very strong feelings for one another, but it's time for Adam to return home. Will Charli change her mind about traveling the world with her best friend to be with the love of her life?
I thoroughly enjoyed this book. This was truly a beautiful story and I'm really looking forward to reading the next book in this series. A very enjoyable read which I know will be enjoyed by many especially YA readers. HIGHLY recommended.
Gabrielle Décarie is Charli's French teacher who she doesn't get along so well with. Charli not only doesn't get along with Gabrielle nor does she like doing French. Then one day out of the blue, Gabrielle's cousin, Adam Décarie who lives in New York comes to visit for a couple of months. The day that Charli and Adam paths cross there is an instant connection between them. Meeting Adam will turn, Charli's world up side down. Spending time with Adam and getting to know him has been a wonderful time in Charli’s life and the pair now have very strong feelings for one another, but it's time for Adam to return home. Will Charli change her mind about traveling the world with her best friend to be with the love of her life?
I thoroughly enjoyed this book. This was truly a beautiful story and I'm really looking forward to reading the next book in this series. A very enjoyable read which I know will be enjoyed by many especially YA readers. HIGHLY recommended.
taylorfennerwrites's review against another edition
5.0
I discovered this author when I picked up the 4th book, Secret North, at the library. While reading it I wasn't entirely sure I liked Adam or Charli at all. Then I needed something to read and I saw Saving Wishes for free in the Nook store. All I can say is that I was blown away. I couldn't bear to put it down and every time I had to I was looking for a way to sneak in a little more reading time. Saving Wishes was amazing and I can't wait to dive into the next book.
baelien69's review against another edition
1.0
This wasn’t terrible but it wasn’t good either. I won’t be continuing the series because I don’t care for any of the characters or the plot.
kerrikins's review against another edition
2.0
I honestly don't understand how this has such good reviews... Boring, cliche and trite, in my opinion. It had potential but things either moved too fast or moved at a glacial pace. I almost put this down as DNF, but I wanted to see how it ended - but then surprise! It's part of a series. Of course.
barbi7's review against another edition
4.0
This was quite an enjoyable read. The story is nice, the twist was unexpected and the ending was perfect.
I think it would make a perfect stand-alone! But considering it's a six-novel series I will probably checking second book out sometimes in the future. :)
I think it would make a perfect stand-alone! But considering it's a six-novel series I will probably checking second book out sometimes in the future. :)
lenoreo's review against another edition
3.0
Well...I just don't know what to think about this one. It started off really slowly for me...I was having a hard time getting sucked in. It's the kind of book where the author doesn't really explain much right away, but talks like we know what's what....which is not my personal favourite. And in the end, I still don't necessarily get why she thought she was so crazy. Charli just seemed spirited to me. I was very interested in the Adam/Charli romance, even if it started off kind of slowly and in a weird direction. Then the book went where I didn't expect, and I guess I can honestly say I didn't realize this wasn't a stand alone novel. About 60% in I started getting super into it, and I was feeling more for Charli and understanding her a bit more (at the beginning she just seemed...wow, crazy. Huh. I just threw myself for a loop there). Loved the Alex side story. In some ways it was about a real life person, with slightly more normal problems (not huge dramas)...and the romance was kind of real life for a 17 year old too. But maybe I didn't necessarily want real life. Or, I don't even know. I read the first few teaser chapters of the next one and I admit I'm intrigued, but...well, I guess we'll see how much it is when it comes out. And here ends the babbling non-sensical review that will have helped no one....
sgarrett27's review against another edition
3.0
I really struggled through this book. I'm not sure what it was but the characters drove me nuts. For me the book got really interesting at the end but I can't make myself read the next book.
booksandcoffee415's review against another edition
5.0
The whole Wishes series was amazing. I couldn't wait to read the next book (10 books in all) to see what happened next. It was a cute little love story.
jessiquie's review against another edition
5.0
Every now and then you stumble across a truly fantastic author who is able to capture not only your attention, but your heart as well within a matter of a few pages. Australian born and bred GJ Walker-Smith is one of these authors. I first reviewed this book early last year (2013) when I signed up to be part of this book’s blog tour just after it’s initial release. Little did I know back then (in my early blogging days) just how much this book and author would come to mean to me and what it had the capacity to do to me not only as a person, but as a reader and a dreamer.
Saving Wishes is the first book in the Wishes Series by Australian author GJ Walker-Smith. It’s the story of Charli Blake, a seventeen year old girl who dreams of places bigger and better than her small coastal home town of Pipers Cover in Tasmania. Having dreamt her entire life of seeing the world, its no wonder that she’s itching to leave in the last few months of High School, and yet even her wildest imaginations/daydreams couldn’t have thought up what these months would hold in store for her. For just before she finishes school, 21 year-old Adam Décarie arrives in town and despite a less than stellar start (Adam may have almost run her down on his arrival in town) the pair turn each other’s worlds upside down as they navigate the world and learn to find out who they both are away from prying eyes and small towns constructs and overbearing parents.
Charlotte ‘Charli’ Blake is one of the most unique and fascinating characters in any young adult book I have ever had the pleasure to read. She’s strong, sassy, charismatic, unique, quirky and a free spirit. In many ways she reads like an ‘old spirit’ trapped in a small town where her world views and opinions are not necessarily taken kindly. She’s strong and spirited when she needs to be, but underneath all those quick and witty comments lies a vulnerable seventeen year old who is trying frantically to find her place in the world. Considered too ‘out there’ at times, and potentially ‘strange’, Charli is a day dreamer who knows the world by an alternate set of beliefs and stories compared to the kids she has grown up with, for Charli’s older brother and guardian Alex has raised her on stories of magic, fairies and hope.
In many ways my passion and love for this character and thus the book stems from the way in which I was drawn to GJ Walker-Smith’s portrayal of Charli in this small town setting. Right from the start I was drawn to Charli’s mind; she is one of the strongest intellectual characters I’ve read, which was a fantastic change for a contemporary young adult (YA) character. What’s more Charli is different from those around her. She’s a dreamer and frequently inhabits a world her and her brother affectionately named La La Land where anything is possible and magic not only exists, but is the reality through which she can understand the world. Although Adam’s arrival in town sparks a series of interchangeable events in her life that will forever alter her as a person and her life long beliefs, he isn’t there to save her like other YA male main character. In fact, I believe that Adam is saved by the spunky little firecracker that is Charli, as she challenges his beliefs in everything he has ever known about his world when Charli invites him to see the world through her eyes.
Adam Decarie is a 21-year-old French-American who couldn’t be more different from Charli if he tried. Born in to the world of money and destined to be sensible lawyer back home in New York City, he came to the Cove to visit his Aunt Gabrielle (Charli’s French teacher) and the last thing he expected to find was a summer romance with the Queen of La La Land herself. As a whole Adam is an… interesting character who is sure to make you angry and frustrated one minute with his narrow mind and selfish ways and yet makes you swoon the next with his romantic antics and the love he has for a certain rebel. And for that, I think I want him as my book boyfriend!
I absolutely loved GJ Walker-Smith’s writing which not only blew me away, but took me away with Charli to a world that I think I can understand better than the one I inhabit. The narrative was beautifully constructed, and despite having been able to predict a certain moment in the book, I found it completely touching and true to life. In fact, over a year later I still think of the power of THAT scene and the way it moved me and transformed the book. It haunts me with its beauty and emotions and left me gushing for most of last year. In fact it took me weeks to write my original review because I couldn’t form words to explain it’s power.
Ultimately Saving Wishes is a coming of age story which promises to bring change and romance to the world of its readers. Much like the stories themselves, the reader will be enchanted by Charli’s tales and her mischievous adventures and Adam Décarie will delight your senses in ways only a Décarie can do.
Over a year later, Saving Wishes is still one of my stand out YA books. There’s just something about this quirky, imaginative and romantic contemporary tale that ticks every box for me and speaks to me on a level deeper than just words on a page. The character’s spoke to me as tangible people and at times felt like they could have been members of my own family; their struggles were real and easy to relate too, but most of all the narrative was beautiful, both in it’s portrayal (craft) and its events. Seriously, this book was something else entirely; Saving Wishes is a book like no other I’ve read before.
Saving Wishes is a stunning début by a must watch Australian Indie Author whose career I’m sure will prove to long and lustrous. With this book, GJ Walker-Smith became my one-click must buy author and I’ve never looked back since. I personally couldn’t wait for the second book in the series Second Hearts.
Originally reviewed in 2013, then updated 22nd June 2014 on blog: http://nevendbookshelf.wordpress.com/2014/06/21/review-saving-wishes-by-gj-walker-smith/
Saving Wishes is the first book in the Wishes Series by Australian author GJ Walker-Smith. It’s the story of Charli Blake, a seventeen year old girl who dreams of places bigger and better than her small coastal home town of Pipers Cover in Tasmania. Having dreamt her entire life of seeing the world, its no wonder that she’s itching to leave in the last few months of High School, and yet even her wildest imaginations/daydreams couldn’t have thought up what these months would hold in store for her. For just before she finishes school, 21 year-old Adam Décarie arrives in town and despite a less than stellar start (Adam may have almost run her down on his arrival in town) the pair turn each other’s worlds upside down as they navigate the world and learn to find out who they both are away from prying eyes and small towns constructs and overbearing parents.
Charlotte ‘Charli’ Blake is one of the most unique and fascinating characters in any young adult book I have ever had the pleasure to read. She’s strong, sassy, charismatic, unique, quirky and a free spirit. In many ways she reads like an ‘old spirit’ trapped in a small town where her world views and opinions are not necessarily taken kindly. She’s strong and spirited when she needs to be, but underneath all those quick and witty comments lies a vulnerable seventeen year old who is trying frantically to find her place in the world. Considered too ‘out there’ at times, and potentially ‘strange’, Charli is a day dreamer who knows the world by an alternate set of beliefs and stories compared to the kids she has grown up with, for Charli’s older brother and guardian Alex has raised her on stories of magic, fairies and hope.
In many ways my passion and love for this character and thus the book stems from the way in which I was drawn to GJ Walker-Smith’s portrayal of Charli in this small town setting. Right from the start I was drawn to Charli’s mind; she is one of the strongest intellectual characters I’ve read, which was a fantastic change for a contemporary young adult (YA) character. What’s more Charli is different from those around her. She’s a dreamer and frequently inhabits a world her and her brother affectionately named La La Land where anything is possible and magic not only exists, but is the reality through which she can understand the world. Although Adam’s arrival in town sparks a series of interchangeable events in her life that will forever alter her as a person and her life long beliefs, he isn’t there to save her like other YA male main character. In fact, I believe that Adam is saved by the spunky little firecracker that is Charli, as she challenges his beliefs in everything he has ever known about his world when Charli invites him to see the world through her eyes.
Adam Decarie is a 21-year-old French-American who couldn’t be more different from Charli if he tried. Born in to the world of money and destined to be sensible lawyer back home in New York City, he came to the Cove to visit his Aunt Gabrielle (Charli’s French teacher) and the last thing he expected to find was a summer romance with the Queen of La La Land herself. As a whole Adam is an… interesting character who is sure to make you angry and frustrated one minute with his narrow mind and selfish ways and yet makes you swoon the next with his romantic antics and the love he has for a certain rebel. And for that, I think I want him as my book boyfriend!
I absolutely loved GJ Walker-Smith’s writing which not only blew me away, but took me away with Charli to a world that I think I can understand better than the one I inhabit. The narrative was beautifully constructed, and despite having been able to predict a certain moment in the book, I found it completely touching and true to life. In fact, over a year later I still think of the power of THAT scene and the way it moved me and transformed the book. It haunts me with its beauty and emotions and left me gushing for most of last year. In fact it took me weeks to write my original review because I couldn’t form words to explain it’s power.
Ultimately Saving Wishes is a coming of age story which promises to bring change and romance to the world of its readers. Much like the stories themselves, the reader will be enchanted by Charli’s tales and her mischievous adventures and Adam Décarie will delight your senses in ways only a Décarie can do.
Over a year later, Saving Wishes is still one of my stand out YA books. There’s just something about this quirky, imaginative and romantic contemporary tale that ticks every box for me and speaks to me on a level deeper than just words on a page. The character’s spoke to me as tangible people and at times felt like they could have been members of my own family; their struggles were real and easy to relate too, but most of all the narrative was beautiful, both in it’s portrayal (craft) and its events. Seriously, this book was something else entirely; Saving Wishes is a book like no other I’ve read before.
Saving Wishes is a stunning début by a must watch Australian Indie Author whose career I’m sure will prove to long and lustrous. With this book, GJ Walker-Smith became my one-click must buy author and I’ve never looked back since. I personally couldn’t wait for the second book in the series Second Hearts.
Originally reviewed in 2013, then updated 22nd June 2014 on blog: http://nevendbookshelf.wordpress.com/2014/06/21/review-saving-wishes-by-gj-walker-smith/