A review by salimah
Making Wishes at Bay View by Jessica Redland

3.0

There's a lot about this story (comprised of two novellas) to recommend it; however, the well-meaning, meddlesome heroine at the center is given all the moral high ground despite some supporting characters' very real criticisms of her approach. But, as it stands, any legitimate criticism is voided because the narrative ends enable/validate her methods. The message is that her overreach and lack of tact are always justified. At times, it was too much.

I like it best when characters are given room to evolve without one person being the divine instrument for everyone's growth and evolution. This book might have been even more charming if everyone in Callie's (the heroine's) orbit wasn't utterly dependent upon her to be a moral guidepost/the divine catalyst for change.

And can we stop with some of the unhinged/evil woman tropes this book traffics in? It's even more insufferable that the toxic model in at least one of the instances (the duplicitous friend) is that one needs to forgive and support no matter what someone has done to you because of their past trauma.