Ashley Blake's How to Make a Wish is a powerful and poignant book I'd recommend to lovers of contemporary. We don't get many bisexual protagonists or f/f couples in fiction, and it was so wonderful to read this story. It felt so real, and Grace and Eva had a really wonderful relationship. I also loved that there was a platonic m/f friendship. We need more of those.
Grace's relationship with her mother also was a factor of this book that contributed to me enjoying it so much. It showed how complicated relationships like that are. We love our parents, and so we make excuses for them and we ignore what is going on and how it is affecting us. This book is definitely an important one more people should read.

HMH Books for Young Readers and NetGalley provided me with an electronic copy of How to Make a Wish. I was under no obligation to review this book and my opinion is freely given.

Grace Glasser has always lived her life according to her mother Maggie's wishes. Especially unpredictable when she is drunk, Maggie constantly uproots Grace when she meets her next "flavor of the month". Coming home from two weeks away to find herself living in another new house, Grace is at her wit's end. When she meets Eva Brighton, another lost soul, Grace starts to think that her life might just be coming into alignment. After her mother makes another crucial mistake, will Grace's life come unraveled for good?

How to Make a Wish is a YA romance/realistic fiction that also fits into the LBGT genre. For such an emotionally charged premise, I did not feel that type of connection to the story. The characters did not leap off the page and I never felt invested in their outcome. In a genre full of characters with similar stories, How to Make a Wish just did not leave a lasting impression with me.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an ARC of this book. Thanks to NetGalley and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt for the opportunity to read and review How to Make a Wish by Ashley Herring Blake. This story is about a dysfunctional flaky mother and her teenage daughter, Gracie, who is tired of how her mother acts. Her mother can't settle down in one place for long AND she's never in a relationship for long either AND she never takes the blame for her actions. This is all driving Gracie crazy because all Gracie wants is peace, happiness and contentment and to be able to focus on her goals. Gracie is a pianist and she wants to attend college in New York. She finally finds happiness with her friends, who are more of a family to her than her mother ever has been. Young adult content and LGBT diversity broaden the story to make an interesting realistic fiction read, 4 stars.

Is there anything better than meeting someone who changes your life for the better? This book made me ponder about friendships for a long time. When you're young, it seems like you may have a lot of friends--but are they friends of circumstance (ie you go to school together and share a lunch), or are they friends that will stand by you when you need them? Will they be the friends that last beyond high school, beyond college, beyond all of life's ups and downs?

“If you really want something, the stars won’t help you. You have to reach out and take it."
Grace is determined to keep her head low and just get through life until graduation. Things are not so great in her life. Things hurt. Her mom is immature (at best). Her mom is not villainous exactly, but she is abusive, and she makes a downward spiral in the book that not many teens are equipped to handle.

So when Grace meets Eva in this book, it warmed my heart. Eva is a game changer for Grace. She is a friend that wants her to have fun and adventure. And she is also a friend who has her own past that she is trying to get away from. They connect on so many levels, that it is no wonder that Eva is willing to share with Grace that she is a girl who likes girls. And Grace discovers that she is a girl who likes girls and boys. I love the bi representation because I believe that you love a person... not their gender, not their race, not their anything. You fall in love with the PERSON. The person that makes you feel something more, something extraordinary, and who, in turn, you want to do the same for. 

This book tackles a lot of topics including friendship, family, sexuality, mental health and grief. It also has all the earmarks of a summer read - the season, the setting, the romance. It's just a really good book! I liked it a lot. Highly recommended for YA romance seekers and those seeking diverse reads.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this arc in exchange for an honest review.

Excellent lesbian YA book, with many issues and coming of age themes. Grace and Eva have very different lives, not without their hardships. Eva's mother has just died unexpectedly, leaving her in the care of a family friend who they haven't been on contact for years. Grace's father passed away when she was two, and 15 years later her mother is still struggling- much to Grace's detriment. The girls find solace in each other.
I was pleasantly surprised that this book was not too cheesy or unpredictable. While there is some resolution, there are still some unanswered questions, leaving room for a sequel perhaps focusing on other characters. Great read, good for the summer!

This is a heart-wrenching story about the precarious balance between mother/daughter and child/parent. Grace has always had to take care of her mother, sacrificing her own happiness and well-being to keep her in a semblance of stability. With a new girl in town, Grace has to decide how much she’ll tell Eva, whose mother recently passed away, and how desperate she is to hide the depth of her mother’s problems.

It has always been just Grace and her mother, Maggie. Her father died when she was only two and she’s been taking care of herself and her mother for as long as she can remember. Things are never easy when her mother is stuck in a vicious cycle of no-good boyfriends, excessive drinking, emotional roller coasters, and general unreliability. When Grace gets back from a two-week program for musicians (she’s an excellent pianist), her mother has decided to move them in with her most recent boyfriend, the new lighthouse caretaker.

Grace now has to deal with her mother’s newest unstable relationship who happens to be the father of her ex-boyfriend, living in a new house, working to save up for school, practicing for school auditions, and hanging out with her best friend and the girl who moved in with his family after her mother died. Eva and Grace are undeniably tied to each other by the unspeakable grief of missing mothers. But when Eva admits that she’s into girls, their midnight adventures turn into something more; something that Grace has to acknowledge and be completely honest about before someone gets hurt.



Diversity: +15

Race/Ethnicity: +2 (Eva is biracial), +/- 1 ((I read) Luca’s family read as black, but their skin color was never specified)

Gender: +1 (Author), +4 (Grace, Eva, Emmy, Maggie)

Neurodiversity: +2 (extreme grief, unhealthy coping mechanisms, addiction)

LGBTQ+: +2 (Grace=bisexual), +2 (Eva=lesbian), +1 (Author)

Socioeconomic Status: +1





What I liked:

-TWO TEEN GIRLS ALLOWED TO LOVE EACH OTHER. We do not have enough of this and we definitely need more. They are adorable. They hold hands and have their first kiss and more kisses after that and they even mess around in some bwa (below the waist action) and it’s all perfectly acceptable and beautiful and not at all the complicated part of their relationship. It’s very refreshing.

-Grace is bisexual and Eva is lesbian. I loved how we’re introduced to the super cute boy who would normally be the romantic interest and instead he turns out to be the typical, jerk, ex-boyfriend who actually develops past the first scene. Then we are introduced to the funny and loyal best friend who might also be a romantic interest, but he has a chance to develop his own relationship outside of their friendship and their friendship doesn’t suffer (for that reason at least). And then we get the cute new girl that every male is interested in and guess what, she is unabashedly lesbian. Grace defines herself as bisexual and then goes on to say that love is more than labels (which it is). Given a more accurate label, Grace is definitely more into women than she is men, which is perfectly okay! Having a preference does not make her less of a bisexual and we DEF need more positive representation of bisexuality.

-Eva is a black, biracial ballerina. Her mother is a black woman that succeeded as a ballerina instructor with her own studio. Eva talks about how difficult it is to be biracial in a white-dominated field. It’s refreshing, accurate, without being bogged down with negativity. It’s just real and honest.

-The Mother/Daughter relationships. We have Maggie and her daughter Grace, Dani and her daughter Eva. We also have Emmy: Luca’s mom, Grace’s second mom, and Eva’s legal guardian (mom). Maggie also acts as Eva’s mom. They all have very different relationships, all based on love, but with different priorities. They are all somewhat flawed and imperfect, which is what makes this book so beautiful. Eva is dealing with the death of her mother, Emmy as her new guardian, and Maggie taking her in because they’ve both lost the biggest loves of their lives. Maggie has to watch her mother spiral repeatedly, treat Eva as a long-lost daughter while Emmy tries to keep them all safe. It’s so beautiful and heartbreaking and complicated. I definitely recommend this for everyone who’s had a difficult relationship with their mother and for those who have lost their mother and for those who have a strong relationship with theirs. Everyone read this!



What I didn’t like:

-The characters are definitely teenagers. It made reading this novel a bit tedious (probably because it brought up so many teenage feelings that adult-me has suppressed). There are a lot of emotional roller coasters and questionable actions.

It’s a beautiful book and I recommend it to everyone, but especially to young teens.

i wish i could read this but i cannot get it to open on my kindle or other devices

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

"How To Make a Wish" by Ashley Blake is an incredibly well written, and well thought out, story about two teenage girls who are each struggling through difficult and life changing situations within their lives. This is a story of how they were forced to grow up before their time and about how grief and loss changed and propelled them into new lives they did not expect. This is a story of hope and love and wishes. A story with meaning. It's a story about Grace and Eva and how their love for each other allowed them to live.

I enjoyed reading this novel. It had many real life situations which kept me engaged and vested in the character's. I believed in them and prayed for them and cried for them. I wanted them to persevere and succeed. I enjoyed every minutes of my time in this story.

I do want to caution all readers that there are some explicit adult content and that this book should be read by mature adults (no children). I would rate it R for sexual content; however, I did feel that the adult content was well placed and added to the overall strength of the book - it's just not meant for younger children.

I highly recommend this book to all who would like to read a great story that contains many issues that we all deal with each day in today's world.

Happy Reading and Enjoy!

Honestly, this book is probably better than a 3.5 rating. I just couldn’t get invested in the story. I love the characters, I laughed at the funny moments, and was wrecked by the sad ones, but I was never hooked. I could have just been in a weird mindset or off, I don’t know. This really is a great book, I just wasn’t as invested as I would have liked to be.

Things I Liked :
The relationships in this story were a highlight for me. I adored Grace and Luca’s friendship. They are the dynamic duo I aspire to be. I thought Grace and her mom’s relationship was really well executed. It was complex and heart breaking. I became emotionally invest in this story because of their relationship. Grave and Eva’s budding romance, while beautiful and everything you could want in a first love/summer love romance, was probably the relationship I cared about the least. All of the relationships felt real and pulled emotion from me and made me care about these characters.

This book is so SUMMERY! It begs to be read during summer. There’s beaches and the ocean and lighthouses. It fits perfectly this time of year.

I LOVED that Grace was upset at her mom. They have a dysfunction relationship at best and Grace has every right to be upset and angry and frustrated at her mom’s antics and how they affect her life. I was so happy that Grace allowed herself to be angry at her mom, while she still loved her deeply.

I also really liked that we got 2 explicit conversations where Grace discusses her bisexuality and actually says she’s bi. It was great to see her openly express herself.

Things I Didn’t Like :
I thought some of the dialogue between Grace and Eva was awkward. Not a cutesy flirty awkward, but this came out of nowhere awkward.

I wanted to see more of the buildup in Eva and Grace’s relationship. After their first night in the lighthouse we do a micro time jump, where they’ve spent every night talking and getting to know each other, but I feel like I missed it. I wanted to see more of their romance developing and more falling in love cuteness dammit.

I totally skimmed over a good 50 pages. Like I said, it wasn’t gripping me and I didn’t feel like I was missing anything so I skimmed because I wanted to get to the ‘more’ I was searching for.

This is a great book and I would definitely recommend it to everyone because this book was made to be read during summer. It’s full of great characters with complex relationships and a lot of heart.

Let me begin by saying that I am a total sucker for diverse reads, but especially those involving queer women. Being a member of the LGBTQ+ community who did not come to accept myself until far later in life than ideal, these coming-out stories resonate hard with me. Between that and the synopsis (I'm also a sucker for what I call "tough topic" plots, like neglectful family situations), I had barely finished checking out the Goodreads listing for this title before scurrying off to request an ARC. I was luckily granted one immediately, which I so appreciate! I have a commitment to my followers (and myself) to keep my reviews honest either way, but I would have loved this book just as much if I'd paid $20 for it in a bookstore.

This book, first and foremost, perfectly straddles the line between "tough topics" and "fluffy summer read". We get a taste of each, depending on who Grace is currently surrounded by, but it never feels as though it leans overwhelmingly in either direction. Given that Eva's mother has recently passed, there is even a sense of underlying heaviness in many of the "fluffy" scenes, but it rarely goes particularly deep.

All in all, I would call this a coming-of-age story more than anything: Grace must juggle coming to terms with her own sexuality, accepting her first relationship with another girl, pursuing her dreams of becoming a famous pianist, and most of all, learning how to navigate the treacherous waters of her relationship with a neglectful and scatterbrained mother who ranges anywhere from merely problematic to downright abusive. There's also a story arc regarding a traumatic slut-shaming experience Grace has undergone in the fairly recent past with an ex-boyfriend, who she has now been dragged to live across the hall from, thanks to her mother's flightiness. (Having been a victim of a similar experience to Grace's, I did find myself cringing more than a few times at how realistic it felt, and would probably throw in a minor trigger warning here.)

Regarding the characters, Grace was a delightful narrator. She felt authentically teenaged, sassy and frustrated and moody in the most understandable ways, but she also had a weight to her soul that aged her tremendously and fit perfectly with the idea of any child forced to grow up too fast. She struggles constantly between wanting to demand that her mother be a mother, or wanting to protect her at all costs. I think anyone who grew up with problematic family members could relate really well to Grace's conflicts in this aspect. I know, having grown up with a few extremely manipulative extended family members, she said a lot of things that I swore came from my own brain in the past.

Beyond Grace, we have her sadly authentic mother, the adorable Eva (who OWNS her race and her sexuality with pride - go girl!), the endearing-if-not-sometimes-overbearing Luca, and a slew of side characters who range from unimportant at worst, to surprisingly endearing at best. My favorite character was by far Eva, who perfectly played the quintessential quirky teen. She offers a role of someone who has seen adversity and overcome it with a well of self-assuredness that I envy, even now.

The real issue that I want to tackle in this review, however, and the biggest reason why I fell so quickly in love with the story and the characters... is the bisexual representation. My god, there were times that Grace was explaining her feelings and I swear, I was teleported back to my own teenaged brain, full of confusion and self-doubt and questions, and all I could think was, Shit, I wish I'd had this book ten years ago. Grace isn't quite 100% certain of herself, but she's accepted her sexuality enough to not be ashamed, and it was such a refreshing view point on the closeted teen scenario.

The quote I chose for the beginning of this review literally forced me to close the book and just breathe for a few minutes, because it was almost verbatim for the explanation that I have given my own friends and loved ones time and time again while explaining my sexuality to them. I found myself thinking, on multiple occasions, that I wondered if Ashley Herring Blake herself is a queer woman, because she fucking gets it. I just don't have enough good things to say about how authentic this representation felt, and I hope that AHB will write more LGBTQ+ fiction in the future, because in a world full of both homophobia and misogyny, dammit, young women NEED these books.

I would recommend this all day, every day, to anyone who enjoys a good YA contemporary. If you're a queer woman looking for a character to see yourself in, read this. If you're straight as a ruler and don't understand bisexuality in the slightest, read this. If you're just a human being looking for a damn good way to spend an afternoon, read this.

Another contemporary, another book I wanted to love but just didn't quite get there, and not necessarily the fault of the book so much as my own reading tastes.

This book was adorable and I'm a sucker for adorable contemporaries (see The Upside of Unrequited and Geekerella) but it didn't hook me like those did and I'm honestly not sure why.

I loved the cast. Grace is so strong despite the struggles she endures. She is the mature one in her family, having to take care of her mother instead of the other way around and it's a constant weight on her shoulders, something no teen should have to deal with. But she does and she's nothing short of amazing.

Eva has the stronger personality of the two with the sass to go with it and that drew me to her almost immediately. I wasn't really invested in the story until she was introduced.

And their romance is perfect. It's not necessarily the focus of the story but still plays a role and I don't think I've ever read a romance that was so... sweet (to be fair, most of the romances I read are adult so maybe that's the difference). Grace and Eva were goals.

I also really loved the friendship between Luca and Grace because more often than not I see the friend of the opposite sex become the love interest and it didn't happen. It was GREAT. I want more of this!! I don't understand why friendships are passed over so often for romances when they can be just as amazing, if not more so.

There were so many relatable moments that I started getting goosebumps imagining being back in high school which, for the record, is not somewhere I ever want to be again (as a student, at least). These characters have a little bit of everyone in them and it's hard not to connect.

The one thing that I didn't really get into, and which I see I'm likely the black sheep in this, is the writing. It just wasn't a style that worked for me but not in a distracting sense that took away from the story.

Despite my praises of this book and its wonderful elements, it wasn't something I devoured in one sitting. Or something that I connected with on a deeper level outside of select scenes. The characters were great and the dynamics well written but I didn't feel invested enough in them compared to other books I've read. Regardless, though, I would highly recommend this book to contemporary fans looking for a wonderful story of family, friendship, and romance featuring a diverse cast.

I’ve been hearing nothing but good things about this book since ARCs came out and I am so glad to say that all the people recommending this book are totally right!

The plot is intense. We follow Grace, who wants nothing more than a normal life with a reliable Mom. She meets Eva who is dealing with life after the death of her mother and they begin to lean on each other and begin a relationship. Like I said above, I probably could’ve read this book in a single sitting and it easily would’ve been 5 stars if I had. It was just such a powerful and emotional story. It’s so heartbreaking and raw. Reading was definitely a hit to the heart. The story just revolves around the lives of these characters and there’s no real linear plot to follow. We get a glorious glimpse at the struggles and triumphs of these amazing people whom they could totally be in real life. The relationships between the characters are the focus of the story, 100%. They are all so complex and real. You have familial relationships, friendships, romantic relationships and relationships between exes. Each one is developed and nurtured and expressed by the author in different ways and as a reader, it was just so easy to be able to imagine this little town with these people and their love or hate or frustration between one another. The story just felt genuine and it was such a joy to read, even with all the heavy topics involved and the heart wrenching things that are part of these relationships. I loved the writing style! I think that was one of the things that made the story so easy to connect with. It was really poetic and lyrical with the way the main character narrated but also so easy to read and simple with the way the story flowed. The author did an amazing job with the way she handled different themes like sexuality, grief and acceptance. As well as, pleasantly surprising to me, masturbation. I thought it was really cool that the author managed to share a very tasteful masturbation scene from the main character and I think it’s a very important topic to show teens, specially teen girls, that it’s totally okay to do and that they should accept that. I definitely want and need more books from this cast of characters. I want to read the author’s debut also too because the writing was just amazing! The ending was really hopeful and absolutely perfect after such an emotional and impactful story. I just really want more people to read this book. It was just a really amazing reading experience.

I really connected with Grace. While I have a wonderful relationship with my mother, I understood the situations she was in and the feeling of having to be a child who takes care of a parent. My mom had an accident when I was a pre-teen and for a long time, I was my mom’s mom. So while we were definitely not in the same situations, I understood the emotions Grace was processing and the feeling that you have to be there for that parent even when they can’t necessarily take care of you the way they should be. The growth she goes through in this book was absolutely amazing, I loved seeing how she learned and came of age. She started to accept that enabling her mom wasn’t helping her and that her life and the dreams she has are just as important as any relationship she has with her mom. I loved seeing her begin to slowly open up with people and to jump over that need to defend her mom even as she complains about her. Honestly, her narrative and her story just hit really close to home and were an amazing experience to read.

The side characters of these series are amazing. I loved meeting every single one of them and how they interacted with each other was beautiful. Eva hurt my heart. I felt so much for her. She’s such a beautiful girl. I loved that she was biracial but wasn’t sure how to feel about some side of that identity. She’d never known her father and his family so she didn’t really know how to feel about being half-white. I loved her love for dance and how she struggled with how to express that love since it was so connected to her mom and their relationships. The relationships between her and Grace was just so beautiful. It was tentative and sweet. They had such a comforting connection and I loved how they could support each other. IT WAS JUST SO AMAZING OKAY?! I loved it. Luca was really amazing. I have the kind of friend that Luca is for Grace and it was so great to see that in a book. Not only between a guy and girl but just in a YA book, friendships are just as important as romances in my opinion. They got mad at each other and had arguments and disagreed but that never divided and they are like family to each other. I just loved that about their relationship. Another great character that I want to mention is Emmy. She’s Luca’s mom but she was kind of like a mom to every young character in this book. I loved the way she tried her best to look after Grace and Eva, whether they wanted her to or not. I know a lot of amazing women who have that same relationship with me and I loved seeing it represented in this book.

Overall, this book is amazing. The plot isn’t linear, but it feels like a glimpse into the lives of these wonderful and tangible characters. The romance was really sweet and all the different relationships between the characters were complex and organic and resonated with me in some way. I loved all the characters and now I want to read this author’s debut and any future books she’ll release because her writing style is absolutely beautiful.

<i>Thanks to Netgallery for providing me with a digital arc in exchange for an honest Review!</i>

<center>"There are two tragedies in life.
One is to lose your heart's desire.
The other is to gain it."
- George Bernhard Shaw</center>

<b>A COMPLETE LIST OF REASONS WHY EVERYONE SHOULD READ THIS BOOK</b>
• <b>Grace was a great main character that I really felt for</b>. She’s musical and feels so real to me, with so much burden on her shoulders and the fact that she always has to stay strong. I was becoming so protective of her and just wanted to tell her to leave her mum, because she was completely zapping the life out of Grace. Basically Grace deserved a nice long hug and her own piano, after everything she has to go through on a daily basis. In a way she is very grown up for her age, as she had to take charge so many times when her mother couldn’t. In a way she also is conflicted about her mother, wanting to leave for a better life but also feeling like she should stay and take care of her. Grace dislikes talking about how hard things rally are.

• <b>Eva is another very nuanced character with a burden of her own</b>. I liked how the book explored her grieving for her mother. Eva is a Dancer, even though she does not dance any longer after her mother had died, as she still tries to cope with her loss. Eva is grateful for Emmy’s support but she is struggling with how she is her guardian and “replacing” her mother. Like Grace, Eva is a very complex, real character that was well fleshed out. She likes coloring books and peanut butter, as those are the two things keeping her sadness away.

• <b>Grace’s and Eva’s romance was completely adorable</b>. It was well build and full of consent, which I immensely liked. Both really helped each other and had so many inside things like spending every night at the light house eating peanut butter or cuddling together in bed. Basically both were sooo adorable that it hurt. There were of course problems, as Eva gets close to Grace’s mum, but both dealt with them in a very healthy way. In the end Grace does confide in her about her mother, even if it takes a bit longer after that for them to settle things. In the end they do get their happy ending.

• <b>I loved Grace & Luca’s friendship, because it was purely platonic</b>. I always love it when boys and girls are friend without any romantic involvement. Grace and Luca were exactly that. Luca is fiercely loyal to his best friend and it does pain him to see her suffering so much under her mother. He would do anything for her and has already done so much. There are up and down in their relationship, but in the end both make up like they always do. A factor is Luca’s new girlfriend Kimber, but Grace in the end does decide that they will find a middle ground, as she makes her best friend happy,

• <b>Luca’s family was so supportive of Grace and just what she needed</b>. Emmy was literally a sweetheart always trying her hardest and making sure that none of her children get hurt. Her family was always there for Grace and provided her with a real home. Emmy gave her money multiple times to ensure hat she had something, when Maggie could not be depended on. They are basically Grace’s adoptive family and I loved them so so much!

• <b>The book explored a very toxic mother-daughter relationship that broke my heart</b>. Reading about it was so stressful, because Maggie is such a bad mother and I felt for Grace so so much. I did like that we got to explore this relationship in a very thorough way, as it was one of the serious themes. The stressful part was definitely worth it, as it’s important to even display such complicated, toxic relationships. The message is that even though people love you, they can still terribly hurt you.

<b>Why I obviously disliked Maggie</b>
- She never provides her daughter with a safe home and instead drags her from boyfriend to boyfriend and from motel to motel.
- Grace takes care of her and not the other way around. Maggie gets drunk very often and leaves her young daughter exposed to grabbing men that could have well raped her.
- She also forgets Grace’s birthday, makes her live with a boy that exposed their sexts and throws away her piano & Grace’s only chance for achieving her dream.
-Grace mentions multiple times how little her mother knows her & how she would dismiss her concerns of Jay cornering her.
- Maggie steals from her daughter when she needs money for booze. She also steals from her boyfriend and leaves him, when he calls her out.
- Whenever Grace does not play along and voices her concerns, her mother snaps at her and makes it look lik Grace is the immature and dramatic one.
- Maggie invests more time in a different girl’s life than her own daughters. Making a girl she barely knows a necklace her daughter had wanted for years and throwing her a birthday party when she cannot get her own daughter’s birthday straight.
- She later also drives drunk and gets someone in danger, then acts like it’s ridiculous that the police would question her.
- Basically Maggie thinks everything is fine and fails to see how much she is making her daughter suffer.

• <b>The story also explores the revenge leaking of sexts</b>. Jay obviously was a horrible fuckboy. Therefore, I really hated him, as he made my skin crawl. Jay used to date Grace, but when she broke up with him he publicly posts their sexts on Tumblr and ridicules Grace. Later when they are forced to live together he corners and grabs Grace - making her feel unsafe in her own hose. Later he does help her, but I did not find that redeeming enough for me to begin to like him.

• <b>The Diversity is another reason, why you should read this book</b>. Grace is bi (like the author) and the book not about her journey of discovering her sexuality, however, she does describe how she did discovered it back then. Eva is a biracial lesbian that also talks of the struggle of black women in dancing and her own experience with figuring out that she liked girls.

• <b>The entire story just hooked me in and made me emotional</b>. When it comes to books that is always a good sign, as I was really getting into the story. The book is a lot about figuring out what you want, dealing with grief as well as letting go of toxic relationships. This will be one of the books that continue to haunt me and stick to memory.

• <b>I did like that the end was left open, because it was the most realistic thing to do</b>. We just have the package for Grace, which does leave the progression of her mother’s recovery out in the open. I liked that, because it is the most realistic outcome for their situation. However, I did wanna know if Grace gets into the music school, which we sadly don’t get to know.

<b>IN CONCLUSION</b>: How To Make A Wish is a great <b>ownvoices book</b> about a bisexual girl, struggling with her toxic mother falling in love with a girl struggling to cope with her mother’s loss. The story explores<b> family, love and how you have to let go of things that weigh you down</b>. Above all it’s a story about wishes and deciding what you really want.

Una historia contemporánea que trata algunos temas duros como la negligencia parental, las enfermedades mentales y lidiar con la pérdida de seres queridos, todo ello a través de una protagonista adolescente bisexual, Grace. Todos los personajes son muy complejos y tienen unas relaciones un tanto complicadas, tanto familiares como románticas. La narrativa es preciosa y está llena de simbolismo. En general una lectura a la que le cuesta un poco arrancar y parece dejar algunos cabos sueltos, pero transmite un mensaje agridulce de desánimo y esperanza.

A lovely YA story that was emotional, fun, and endearing. Such a great read!!

How To Make A Wish was an interesting ride from start to finish. I loved the romance between the two girls and I especially loved that the main character fully identifies as bisexual, by name, with no shame. The book touch on many different themes, but it always felt concise. The book had a very intense build up, to the point where the reader is just wonder how far Grace is willing to let herself be pushed until she can't take it anymore. Throughout the book I shared her frustration with her mother and each time I thought I was completely done with her I always thought of how I would react towards my own mother in the same situation and discovered that, in reality, standing up to family is hard, especially for a teenage girl. The book really speaks to the strength of not just Grace, but of all these characters who endured so much. I really enjoyed this book and would recommend it to anyone into LGBT representation, interesting family dynamics, or just a fan of a well told story.

There are elements of this young adult novel that I enjoyed immensely, despite one major trope with which I struggle. A neglectful parent is a particularly difficult representation, and for it to work, it must be handled delicately and with care, and I am not totally convinced by this one.

Maggie, Grace’s mother, is a woman who lost her way when her husband died, and has done very little in the intervening 15 years to get herself together, and parent her child with support and love. Grace is often the adult, looking after Maggie when she goes on benders, or walks out on her latest boyfriend. Grace makes sure the bills are paid, and cleans their house. She has basically been raising herself. Luckily, she has a best friend Luca who stands by her, as does Luca’s brother Macon, and their mother Emmie.

Grace is a dedicated pianist, and has plans to audition for music colleges and leave. Sort of. A sub plot involves Grace’s indecision about her future. These swings back and forth (actually, about almost everything about Grace’s life) is a strong realistic part of the story. Grace desperately wants to live her dream, and leave her mother’s unpredictability behind. But can she trust that Maggie will be able to look after herself? Experience has shown Grace probably not.

Another sub plot involves Grace’s love life. When Eva moves to town after the sudden death of her mother, Grace feels a strong attraction. There is a terrific discussion about bi-sexuality at one point in the novel, which was extremely pleasing to see. The obstacles to their love are not Grace’s reluctance to identify as bi or Eva’s sexuality (she is definitely gay). It’s more about Eva’s grief, and Maggie’s sudden interest in ‘saving’ her. Grace knows her mother will ultimately let Eva down, and she’s caught between loyalty for her mother, and her need to warn Eva. These kinds of conflicts keep the novel gritty and real, and stop it from falling into a ‘just a romance’ label.

While I understood Grace’s dilemma—it’s okay for her to criticise her own mother, but not for anyone else—I was also impatient with how much leeway she gives this woman. Maggie has moved them into a new house with a new man who happens to be the father of an ex boyfriend of Grace who shamed her on social media when Grace broke up with him. This is another interesting subplot. What Jay does is unforgivable, and results in Grace being even more alienated from her peers. When Jay slowly learns the truth about life with Maggie (it’s truly awful), the author attempts to redeem him, and yet, when the opportunity arises for him to apologise to Grace for his treatment, an action that would have gone a long way to raise his status in readers’ eyes, it doesn’t happen. He rescues Grace, then is off on his merry way, seemingly unaware of how hurtful his past actions had been. I was disappointed.

I accept that Grace had to reach the conclusion herself that Maggie is the only one who can save Maggie, but given how much emotional abuse Grace has endured, I am surprised it didn’t happen earlier. When Eva tries to say, ‘at least your mother is still here’, it’s a moment of clarity for the two girls, and for readers. There are many moments of hurt and healing here, but unfortunately, I didn’t believe a lot of them. But there are also many other strong elements – the small coastal town setting, especially the lighthouse and its recurring motifs, Grace’s dedication to her passion, and the depiction of her friendship with Luca, which is flawed but true. There is also a strong message about grief—there is no right, or only one way to grieve. Everyone must be allowed to find their own way through it (unless of course, it means someone else has to suffer, Maggie!)

Copy was provided by the publisher via Netgalley and read with thanks. Out on May 2nd (in the US). Recommended for readers who love their protagonists strong, despite external and extenuating factors, who like their romance sensual, like a slow burning fuse, sparking in fits and starts, and the banter is flirty. And for readers who realise that life is not always happy and fair. Grace’s ability to endure, and then take positive steps to look after herself is a triumph. Eva’s despair is as real, and Emmie, as the adult who attempts to help both girls, is welcome and much appreciated.

Thank you for approving me to read this title. I really enjoyed it, but it didn't inspire any words beyond that, so I will not be reviewing it.

RATING: ★★★★★

Grace Glasser has spent her entire live moving from one stranger’s house to another, dragged along by her unreliable mother from one failed relationship to another. Grace feels trapped, emotionally, because she feels like she has to stay by her mother’s side, rescue and save her, because she isn’t capable of doing it herself. But Grace has dreams – she wants to live her own life, she wants to be a pianist, and to attend a top music school in New York. But she has to survive her mum’s latest boyfriend, who also happens to be the father of her ex-boyfriend. While she attempts to lie low, she meets Eva, who drags her into midnight adventures and feelings she was unprepared for.

I went into How to Make a Wish with the expectation it was going to be a light, fluffy, f/f summer romance. What I got was much more nuanced and developed. It was about grief, loss, and mothers. Both Eva and Grace were motherless in different ways. Eva recently lost her mother, suddenly, and she grief-stricken and lonely, and Grace’s mother has never really been a mother, she’s flakey, unreliable, and emotionally manipulative. Grace has always had to be the responsible and grown-up one in the relationship, their roles were reversed, and Grace’s homelife was unstable. How to Make a Wish was an emotional read and did make me tear up a lot.

How to Make a Wish is a character driven story and it is the characters that make you fall in love with this book. I loved Grace, I loved her loyalty, even though it was often misplaced, I loved her passion and her compassion. I loved her vulnerabilities and strengths, and her dreams and fears, she was a fully fleshed out and complex character who went though an immense amount of character development. I loved that she finally managed to break away from her toxic relationship with her mum and I loved the support she received from her best friend and his family, it was truly a beautiful relationship. Eva was another favourite. She was scared and lonely and had a hard time adjusting to life without her mother. I loved her character arc, especially concerning her dancing.

I loved the romance. I loved their chemistry. Eva and Grace found comfort in each other, in their adventures and nights up in the lighthouse eating peanut butter. I really loved that relationship – an incredibly heartwarming relationship.

The romance isn’t central to the story. Grace and her relationship with her reckless and unreliable mother really took centre stage. I think this book had a really important message concerning toxic relationships. That just because it’s your mum, doesn’t mean you can’t leave. It doesn’t mean you have to give 100% into that relationship and get nothing in return. Just because it’s your mum, it doesn’t mean you have to love them and support them unconditionally and I think that is a really important message. The relationship was written honestly to show what it really was – raw and complicated but unhealthy.

How to Make a Wish is an authentic, emotional, and heartwarming read that I highly recommend.