Scan barcode
A review by couldbestephen
The Wishing Game by Meg Shaffer
2.0
As a debut novel, it’s fine. It’s a cute piece of feel good fiction I can see people really enjoying. Unfortunately, the writing never stood out as anything special and the dialogue was incredibly clunky at times. I was engaged throughout, finishing the book in about 4 hours of interrupted reading time, so I’ll give the author that. All in all, do not go into this book thinking that “The Game” is the biggest part of the book. This isn’t Charlie and the Chocolate Factory for adults. It’s fluff. And that’s fine. For me? A very aggressive 2 star read.
**Spoilers below**
The romance was weird. I liked Hugo as a character and Lucy was ok. Having them initially meet when she was 13, now 26, with a history of sleeping with older men who used her as a muse… I’m sure Hugo wouldn’t do that, but still.
The confrontation between Angie and Lucy was awful. No bark, no bite, this scene didn’t live in my head. It was just words in the page without any life. This should have been a huge moment of emotional catharsis for us the reader as well as Lucy, but instead we get cardboard cut outs and the trope of the “good girl who wishes she was like her rebellious sister,” complete with psychological babble.
The game… the gameeee. Why couldn’t this have been more interesting? This wasn’t Charlie and the Chocolate Factory for adults, cuz at least Charlie and Co explore the factory. We spend so much time in the House and Hugo’s place, with some little teases here and there. Dalton(?) leaves almost immediately, he would have been some good tension throughout. I know this isn’t that kind of book, but still.
**Spoilers below**
The romance was weird. I liked Hugo as a character and Lucy was ok. Having them initially meet when she was 13, now 26, with a history of sleeping with older men who used her as a muse… I’m sure Hugo wouldn’t do that, but still.
The confrontation between Angie and Lucy was awful. No bark, no bite, this scene didn’t live in my head. It was just words in the page without any life. This should have been a huge moment of emotional catharsis for us the reader as well as Lucy, but instead we get cardboard cut outs and the trope of the “good girl who wishes she was like her rebellious sister,” complete with psychological babble.
The game… the gameeee. Why couldn’t this have been more interesting? This wasn’t Charlie and the Chocolate Factory for adults, cuz at least Charlie and Co explore the factory. We spend so much time in the House and Hugo’s place, with some little teases here and there. Dalton(?) leaves almost immediately, he would have been some good tension throughout. I know this isn’t that kind of book, but still.