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A review by merlin_reads
Broken Wish by Julie C. Dao
4.0
Well this book was just impressed the hell out of me. I honestly wasn't sure what I was getting into when I started this as I had never heard of the book or author before, but once I started, I didn't want to put it down.
When the book first starts we meet Agnes, a lonely housewife desperate to have children. When she strikes up a friendship with her neighbor, the town outcast, her husband is furious and demands she stop talking to her for fear the other residents of their small town will notice. Torn between her new found friend and her husband, Agnes chooses her husband and sets in motion a curse that will haunt their family for generations.
Flash forward 16 years and we meet Agnes' daughter Elva who has been keeping a secret from everyone - she can see the future in reflections. Thinking this is part of the curse on her family, Elva strikes out to find Mathilda, her mother's old friend. But what she finds ends up being a true friendship. But alas, nothing good can come of this.
This book had so many ups and downs that it was like a rollercoaster - and it never seemed to go in the direction that I thought it would, which honestly was super refreshing. I adored Elva. Her relationship with her younger brother was so sweet and I just wanted to protect them both at all costs. Then there was her relationship with the "witch". To me, at the core, this book was about acceptance - of yourself and others. I felt for Mathilda. She wanted so badly to have someone who cared but every time she opened up she was shunned. Her life was so lonely and that loneliness just jumped off of the page. I rooted for her and Elva to succeed.
But oh my gosh, I did not predict that ending. Color me shocked.
And what a premise for this series: innovative four-book fairy-tale series following one family over several generations, and the curse that plagues it. Sign me up!
When the book first starts we meet Agnes, a lonely housewife desperate to have children. When she strikes up a friendship with her neighbor, the town outcast, her husband is furious and demands she stop talking to her for fear the other residents of their small town will notice. Torn between her new found friend and her husband, Agnes chooses her husband and sets in motion a curse that will haunt their family for generations.
Flash forward 16 years and we meet Agnes' daughter Elva who has been keeping a secret from everyone - she can see the future in reflections. Thinking this is part of the curse on her family, Elva strikes out to find Mathilda, her mother's old friend. But what she finds ends up being a true friendship. But alas, nothing good can come of this.
This book had so many ups and downs that it was like a rollercoaster - and it never seemed to go in the direction that I thought it would, which honestly was super refreshing. I adored Elva. Her relationship with her younger brother was so sweet and I just wanted to protect them both at all costs. Then there was her relationship with the "witch". To me, at the core, this book was about acceptance - of yourself and others. I felt for Mathilda. She wanted so badly to have someone who cared but every time she opened up she was shunned. Her life was so lonely and that loneliness just jumped off of the page. I rooted for her and Elva to succeed.
But oh my gosh, I did not predict that ending. Color me shocked.
And what a premise for this series: innovative four-book fairy-tale series following one family over several generations, and the curse that plagues it. Sign me up!