All seventeen year-old Grace Glasser wants is her own life. A normal life in which she sleeps in the same bed for longer than three months and doesn't have to scrounge for spare change to make sure the electric bill is paid. Emotionally trapped by her unreliable mother, Maggie, and the tiny cape on which she lives, she focuses on her best friend, her upcoming audition for a top music school in New York, and surviving Maggie’s latest boyfriend—who happens to be Grace’s own ex-boyfriend’s father.

Her attempts to lay low until she graduates are disrupted when she meets Eva, a girl with her own share of ghosts she’s trying to outrun. Grief-stricken and lonely, Eva pulls Grace into midnight adventures and feelings Grace never planned on. When Eva tells Grace she likes girls, both of their worlds open up. But, united by loss, Eva also shares a connection with Maggie. As Grace's mother spirals downward, both girls must figure out how to love and how to move on. (via Goodreads)
I received an eARC from Netgalley and the publisher, HMH Books For Young Readers, in exchange for an honest review.

I'd heard nothing but good things about How to Make A Wish, and once I started reading it, I realized why so many of my reader friends loved reading this. Unfortunately, I really didn't love it the way they did.

I'll start with some trigger warnings: child abuse, alcoholism, gaslighting, ableist slurs (crazy/lunatic used fairly regularly), suicide references, attempted rape mentions.

There was one really big reason that I didn't fall in love with this story.

Throughout the novel, I couldn't help but wonder why the hell nobody had called child protective services on Maggie regarding Grace's childhood. Maggie's mess was kind of an open secret around town from what we see in the novel, and they'd lived in the same town their entire life. Grace was really good at hiding it at 17, but she can't have been when she was younger. Emmy at least knew, since she ripped into Maggie for leaving Grace home alone for days at a time, as did Kimber - it's noted that Kimber lent her a pair of shoes when hers were literally falling apart.

This really ruined a lot of the book for me, because there was so much that Grace should not have had to deal with if the adults in her life had done literally anything that they were supposed to.

I also wished that there had been something truly done with Jay/Julian - at least for an apology for what he did to her. That plotline felt really unfinished to me.

The cape is called Cape Katherine, but the girl from the lighthouse was named Hattie? I feel like her name really should have been named Katherine, the way most oral legends go.

That being said, the romance in this novel was sweet. I loved that Grace and Eva got to develop, fight, and fall in love while dealing with their separate traumas in a very teenager-y way. I loved their dedication to their crafts of piano and ballet. I loved the great representation of a bisexual relationship, which was ownvoices for the author. Eva is a mixed ballet dancer, and the trouble she had in that was discussed very well.

Overall, this was a three star read for me. I completely understand why others loved this book, but it just wasn't meant for me overall. It might be for you, though! If you think it might be, you can pick up a copy at Amazon, Indiebound, or your other favorite bookseller!

three stars

Disclaimer: All links to Indiebound and Amazon are affiliate links, which means that if you buy through those links, I will make a small amount of money off of it.

How To Make A Wish was a sad and ridiculously sweet look at two girls falling in love and finding themselves after the impact of their mothers on their lives.

I adored this book just as much as I hoped I would. Ashley Herring Blake’s writing is so easy to read – I flew through this book in less than two days, reading like 250 pages in one day because I just couldn’t put it down. Blake understands her characters well and continuously plays with the idea of outward perception and reality – who Grace’s mother appears to be and who she really is, who Grace is, who Eva is.

3.5stars
This was the first book I ever read by the author and I really liked it! It’s also an LGBT book, which I hadn’t read many before so I was really excited to start this one!

How to Make a Wish is a beautiful story about family, love, and friendship. It’s also about letting go, about following dreams and about loss. It has a lot of emotion and it’s slightly bittersweet. But it sure was beautiful!

This book talks about two girls that fall in love with each other – Eva and Grace. Eva’s mother died. And Grace has a very difficult life; her father died when she was two and her mom lives a completely unpredictable life, where she is the one getting taken care of, instead of the other way around. Her mother is there but she isn’t present as so.

I found their romance the sweetest thing ever! Eva is an extremely sweet girl and it’s impossible not to connect with her. She is warm hearted and she doesn’t mind showing what she feels. And Grace is the complete contrary. She is a lot harder to get to know and a lot more closed. She is an adult in the body of a teenager. She is used to taking care of her mother and trying to fix things. She feels angry, unloved and helpless. But she feels that she can’t ask for help because doing that means showing the reality of her mother. She doesn’t have many people she trusts, until Eva comes along, and gives her the strength to wish for herself, to fight against it, instead of with it.

Even tho Grace’s mother did everything wrong all the time, it’s impossible not to feel compassion because that’s how Grace feels. Through the story, we understand why she is like that, and that, independently of everything she does love Grace.

It’s true that her actions are terrible. She doesn’t think, she doesn’t see reality… She lives in a world apart, inside her head. She drinks her guts out and she goes with anybody who may appear. Always saying that everything is just fine and drowning her daughter with her. But Grace was always there for her. Trying, hoping, whishing.

I felt that this book was really realistic and beautiful, the writing was also very pleasant and fast to read. I think the moral of this story is really important and the romance was just adorable!

I may or may not be in love with this book and it's characters. (read: Luca) (WHERE’S MY LUCA MICHAELSON??)

Not the encompassing love I have for Becky Albertalli or Victoria Schwab, sure. But it comes pretty damn close.

It’s not a very good or original story, per se: but I wanted a cute contemporary. And I got more than that. I got a cute contemporary that I finished in one sitting. I got a cute contemporary that made me feel, that made me think.

● The romance: It gave me butterflies in my belly and a smile on my face. Yes, it’s that cute.

● The relationships and character development: Although this is more or less advertised as a romance, the protagonist’s relationship with her mother is a huge part of the book. I won’t say much about this because it goes into the direction of WAY TOO SPOILERY take it from me, it has some of the best character development I’ve ever read.

● LUCA MICHAELSON: I’m sorry, did I mention I love him? Honestly, #bestfriendgoals

This is one of those books that's hard for me to review. Because while I LOVED some parts of it and want to flail about those, there are also parts I really didn't like that kept me from loving the book as a whole. But those things are personal issues I have with the book and therefor might not bother other readers. But if I list those dislikes, I might keep people from picking this book up, which I don't want because I still think lots of people should read it. Am I making any sense whatsoever? Probably not. Oh well.

How To Make a Wish is about Grace and her mother Maggie. They have a complicated and dysfunctional relationship in which Grace has had to be the grown-up more times than she can count. And this really is the heart of the story. This mother-daughter relationship that's kind of messed up and needs a lot of work and is actually not very healthy. And while I loved parts of this side of the story, I had some problems with it too. Which relates mostly to the characters, but I'll get back to that. I did love how it developed, even if it got a bit too dramatic sometimes etc. I loved that romance wasn't a cure for anything in this book and that it ultimately came down to the mother and the daughter having to fix stuff together. But I also love that it didn't all wrap up in a neat little bow with rainbows and sunshine.

I also want to give a shout-out to the awesome friendship between Grace and her best friend Luca. I LOVE that they're not more than friends and it never even gets hinted at that it could be more. It's just a fantastic, platonic friendship between a boy and a girl and YES. THANK YOU. It's possible, people. Romance need not be involved every time.

Speaking of Luca, I loved him and his family. He was a great friend and I loved his mom and brother and honestly wouldn't mind having a book about them alone. Though I did kind of want more of Luca's girlfriend Kimber and his brother Macon. But we can't have everything, I suppose. I also ended up liking Jay and Pete, which I did not really expect. But I did. So yay.

My main problem with this book lies with Grace, Maggie and Eva. Maggie, and I say this in the nicest way possible, was a horrible mom. And I find it sad that their dysfunctional relationship went on so long without anyone doing something about it because it's just not healthy for either of them. When Eva comes into Grace's life, she changes a lot of things up and while I didn't necessarily have a problem with her, I didn't feel like I got to know her as well as I would've liked. And then we have Grace... who I just didn't connect with. She frustrated me SO much and yes she grew in the story and was developed well enough, but I just wanted to hit her with a frying pan. I'm sorry. I just did. I didn't like how she brushed off her mother's behavior for SO long and how she acted towards Luca sometimes when he confronted her about it. I'm also mildly disappointed that her music didn't play a very big role ultimately. Which is sad because it's so important to her but in the story itself it's just... not.

The romance was both great and frustrating. The latter because sometimes it took over a bit and I didn't like that because I wanted to focus on the other stuff. And sometimes it felt like it was going to make the story in one of those "love cures all" situations. Which no. Just no. But it was also great because the author didn't shy away from anything. This book is very sex-positive with an f/f romance, which I enthusiastically applaud and flail over because THANKS. YA needs this.

In the end, How To Make A Wish has a lot going for it, but it frustrated me personally a lot. I still highly recommend it because this is just my opinion and therefor not necessarily yours. If you're a contemporary fan, you should definitely check this one out.

This will go live on my blog on May 7. Kellyvision.wordpress.com

Ever since she can remember, it's been Grace's job to take care of her mother, Maggie. Maggie is fragile and her mood can change at any given second. She'll seem OK but then start dating a jerk. When it ends (and it always does), she'll start drinking and then Grace has to save her. She doesn't like this at all bit Maggie is all she has. And then she meets Eva, another girl who's essentially an orphan. She doesn't want to fall for Eva, because that would mean involving her in Grace's messy life. And yet...

This book broke my heart. Teens with absent parents is a common trope (and complaint) in YA novels and it really works in this one. Maggie is everywhere in this book, and yet it's because of her inability to parent. Even when she's physically present, she's not really there. And that has defined Grace's entire life.

Even when her mom disappoints her, Grace loves her and feels almost doomed to repeat her mistakes. After all, even with all Maggie's faults, it's Maggie and Grace, together forever.

This book is intense but so worth it.

This book is beautiful. It's beautiful for all the things it includes.

I've never read a f/f romance before (other than one sexual scene in an adult novel), so this was new ground for me. And I have to admit, I loved both girls so much. Their snark and flirting were absolute perfection.

Grace's relationship with her mother was rocky and as such, was pretty intense. But it's honest, even if it's tough to read. I think it added depth to Grace and the story as a whole. It also plays a big part on who Grace is and therefore, how she reacts to situations. It makes her actions forgivable. (To some extent.)

As someone who loves character-driven novels, this was perfect for me. I didn't expect an intricate plot. I wanted growth. And I got that.

Strong writing, a vivid setting, and a lovely romance between two girls, one of whom is grappling with the loss of her mother and the other of whom is struggling to balance taking care of herself and taking care of her mother. I really enjoyed this!

How to Make a Wish rendered me speechless, let’s start with that, it is so beautiful and honest that I couldn’t help feel every emotion it conveyed, every one of them. It is just the kind of book that takes a hold on your heart with no intent of ever letting it go, not like you would mind, you really don’t want it to go away.

First of all the writing, oh boy, it’s art. It feels like a punch, it is so powerful  and emotionally packed while being poetic and flowing very effortlessly. What’s most striking about it are the descriptions, they’re raw and gutting and just uuugh, I’m at a loss of words and I apologize deeply for not knowing how to English anymore. One thing I really appreciated is how comfortable Ashley Herring Blake is with writing explicit content (re: sex, masturbation) which in my honest opinion teenagers should be exposed to because it’s par of their reality (not all of them obviously).

How to Make a Wish is the story of two girls broken by their moms. Eva, the love interest has lost her mom and has no other family while Grace, the MC loves her mom more than anything but the latter cannot seem to *see* her. And God help me, I was so so angry at that woman, her behavior towards her daughter made my skin crawl (and the worst of it, is that I know that it is some people’s reality). She was manipulative, selfish and delusional.
Her mom listened and paid attention to everyone BUT her, prioritizing which ever guy is in her life at the moment, and the worst of it all is that she’s oblivious to how wrong and hurtful her actions are. She brushed off Grace each time she was concerned and tried to call her out on them and the girl can do nothing more than that because she loves her mom very much and keeps holding on to that sliver of hope that she’ll get better one day.

The cast of characters is probably one of the most realistic cast I’ve ever read in a YA book. They’re all flawed, fight and then make up. I loved the dynamic and energy that were carefully threaded into their relationships which made them unarguably believable.
Grace was such an amazing main character, strong and brave, spoke her mind loud and clear when needed, and didn’t let anybody squish her down. Unless that somebody is her mom. She’s also very closed off to people, had a hard time opening up to anyone in the fear of getting hurt, which she wasn’t even conscious of. Through her experiences, the author very subtly addressed and explained bisexuality. I loved her relationship with best friend Luca, who was basically a brother to her, he was very sweet, caring, supportive and protective of her. He also never shied away from telling her the truth as it is and even though she refused to hear it, she appreciated it in the long run.

Eva is a very complex character, I really liked how she had this kind of quiet vibe of wisdom and she didn’t run away and was never ashamed of her sadness, she embraced it. Again, through her experiences, Ashley Herring Blake tackles biraciality issues and what struggles some biracial kids may go through (and from what I read in #ownvoices reviews, it is one of the best portrayals out there). THEIR ROMANCE WAS HONESTLY SO PURE, OH MY HEART !! It is so true, gentle and heartwarming that I couldn’t help but root for them, they had their issues, which complicated things for them but they ultimately got past them.

All in all this was such a heartbreaking and -at the end- heart-mending story that deals with the loss of a parent, grief, toxic, abusive parenthood and the importance of having a strong support system. It is relentlessly hopeful, I loved how by the end not everything was fixed but you could see the light at the end of the tunnel.

There are aspects of this book that read like your average summer contemporary book. Not average in terms of quality, but in the vibe and setting and style. This book is summery. There are lighthouses and boat rides on the 4th of July and nighttime parties on the beach. And, of course, we can't forget the love story. These familiar elements of the book really helped me to fall into the world and the story and honestly? Just made me want to fast forward to the summer time.

BUT let me talk about all the stuff in this book that is beyond the usual YA contemporary and how it did all of those things very right.

What intrigued me enough about this book that it was one of my most anticipated releases of the year? Well, a f/f romance for one. I'm obviously falling for those constantly. But more than that, the MC is bisexual (#ownvoices) and the love interest is a biracial lesbian. And them falling for each other was just so lovely?? They were snarky and doubtful and tender and I loved them. Grace, the MC, has a couple of really fantastic conversations about bisexuality and what it means to her that I thought were incredibly well done. And honestly, as a f/f romance, there was a lot to like. This hit all my ladies loving ladies notes, and that made my heart glow. Grace and Eva fit in a really fantastic way together and I loved their scenes where they could just flirt and tease and make me grin.

One of the central parts of this book is the relationship Grace has with her mother. That is, their not-so-great relationship in which Maggie is the one acting like a child and Grace is constantly forced to take responsibility. It is a really heartbreaking relationship to read. It is done in an honest and up-close way that makes it difficult to stomach at times, as you see this person constantly doing exactly what you, as a reader, know will hurt Grace the most. It's hard to read, but it is done incredibly well in terms of exploring an unhealthy parent-child relationship, and in terms of seeing how the child in these situations thinks. The way Grace rationalizes things at times is so frustrating, because you're on the outside as a reader, but also it allows you to see how she has been forced to reach this way of rationalizing.

There was some stuff here that was a bit tropey for me. Like, the love interest coming in through a window in the middle of the night. Or some of the little conversations that happen between Grace and her best friend, Luca. It only happened occasionally, and really only at the beginning rather than the end, but those moments would frustrate me. Obviously these aren't terrible, but they would pull me out of the story when they happened a bit.

This was a really lovely contemporary. It hit all the right notes with a romance. It did a lot right in talking about unhealthy parent-child relationships. The external support system Grace had was excellent and I really loved them all. They all felt like real characters that exist out there in the world. And even though we didn't see as much of it, I thought Eva's grief was shown and discussed perfectly. It also leads to her having a whole conversation with Grace about how the ballet world is incredibly white??? Excellent. More of that, please.

In fact, to summarize my feelings, I want more of all of this.

This was one of my most hyped up lgbt+ reads of the year because hey, there's not much f/f romance around. As a warning this book has emotional abuse from a parent who has mental health problems.

Grace spends her life moving between homes of her unbalanced mother's boyfriends, where we pick up in the book she finds out that her mum is now dating her ex boyfriend's dad and she now has to live with her ex boyfriend. Then Eva moves to town after losing her mum and Grace and Eva form an unlikely connection.

There was both bisexual and lesbian representation in this book which is always a good thing and the love interest was biracial which made it even better.

My biggest issue was just that I wished that Grace had communicated with Eva better. I wish she had actually told her that Eva having a relationship with her mother made her uncomfortable. In general I wish she had learned to put herself first a lot earlier, I felt very frustrated for a lot of this novel by Grace's mum and whist obviously Blake wrote her character well for me to feel that way I think a little bit of communication would have alleviated some of that feeling.

The mum was honestly the worst character, she was so incredibly annoying and self obsessed. Now yes she had mental health problems, which is made clearly obvious and the MC is very good at not blaming her for every bad action but man it was so, I can't even think of the word but it left me feeling like "???" at times. Like of course I know people exist like this and live heir lives like this, but I struggle to understand it because I just don't know how they can do it. All I can say is that Blake wrote her really well. She was complex, as was every character. Both the MC, love interest and the best friend had some really good character development and it made the book an absolute joy to read.

There was a scene where our MC masturbates in this which I absolutely adored, not in a pervy way, but I'm all about books normalising female masturbation. You barely read about female masturbation in adult books let alone young adult books. I want young girls to know it's ok to explore their bodies in the same ways that boys do and that it's normal and there's nothing wrong or promiscuous about it.

I want to read more from Ashley Herring Blake now, especially if she writes more lgbt+ books.

Thank you to NetGalley and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Children’s Book Group and HMH Books for Young Readers for the ARC, How To Make A Wish by Ashley Herring Blake. I really really really liked this book! The inner turmoil Grace suffers stems from a lifetime of having to protect and save her totally irresponsible mother from bars, bad boyfriends, and her very scary reality. This has made Grace grow up tough and prickly and rather than grow close, she keeps everyone at a distance or she just ducks and runs. All that changes the summer she meets grief stricken Eve, whose mother has died. Eve and Grace click, and as her summer spirals out of control; Eve saves Grace by slipping into her window for nightly jaunts to the lighthouse, sharing her peanut butter, and her heart. Blake has crafted a beautiful LGBTQ read that honestly deals with friendship, family, death, grief, and finding oneself. Since it is due out in May, it will be a great beach read too. I fell in love with this book!

I was overall not happy with this book. I hate to say that cause I normally never find a book that I am not happy to read or can relate to. I just felt like this book was not a good fit for me

This novel touched some taboos in the YA world. And I think that was one of the most positive points of this book. No matter how you look at it this book it's incredibly important. I loved the characters and the storyline. The only reason why I didn't give this books 5 stars was because I felt like some things were lacking.
(will add blog review as soon as possible)

Finding myself accurately represented in books always feels amazing.
Blake's storytelling is enchanting and i'm looking forward to reading more of her work. This is now one of my favorite books. Review on my youtube channel soon!

I think that both female lead characters were very well built. Their backgrounds were pretty well fleshed out as was their budding relationship. I enjoyed that both girls were pretty much opposites of each other--where one was a cynic and more negative and shut off, but other was bright, positive and kind. They really complimented each other.

The romance was light, but sweet. I was impressed that neither girl was really "questioning" her sexuality, they were just both gay. I liked the surety of it. Very impressive!

The family drama was a nice element.

Overall, a great read! Would recommend!

I read Ashley Herring Blake’s debut novel, Suffer Love, last year and I REALLY loved it. It was quick paced, just the right amount of twisted and complicated and, well, a really enjoyable read.

As soon as her new book was announced, I knew it was something I SIMPLY had to get my hands on. Biracial AND Bisexual characters? GIVE IT TO ME NOW.

I’ll be honest, it took me a while to get used to the characters in this book.

For starters, I kept comparing How To Make A Wish to Suffer Love and I kept comparing Eva and Grace together to Sam and Hadley. A well done romance is a well done romance, and for some reason, Eva and Grace felt sort of chemistry-less. I thought that they made AMAZING CHARACTERS, filled with pain and insecurities individually, and EVEN AS FRIENDS, but for some reason, I couldn’t shake the feeling that that Chemistry was missing.

It felt like they needed each other to survive the stuff going on in their lives but that’s about it.

MORE THAN ANYTHING, the reason it took me so long to actually enjoy the book was Maggie, Grace’s mom.

Usually, I wouldn’t even BELIEVE that a mother could be the way she did, but over these past few months, I’ve seen a friend go through something SO SIMILAR, that this sort of hit a raw nerve for me and all I was seeing was red.

About twenty percent into the book, I got over my anger towards Grace’s mom and enjoyed the book.
Ashley Herring Blake managed to capture grief with such clarity, it was heart-breaking. I love that Grace tapped out her pieces out any surface ever, because that is EXACTLY what I do when I’m learning a new piano piece. I love that there was SO MUCH HOPE, LOVE, FAMILY AND DESPAIR IN THIS BOOK. I love the peanut butter jokes, I loved the gnomes in compromising positions and I LOVED LUCA and Emmy.

I was SO SO HAPPY that there was finally a boy-girl friendship that didn’t revolve around romance and was ACTUALLY FUN and filled with teasing and slight bodily harm.

In retrospect, I probably shouldn’t have been comparing both of Ashley Blake’s books, because they were both beautiful in their own way.

A wonderful book on what it means to love after you lose the person you loved the most, and how to let go of someone you love. 4 stars.