So, I liked this book, just not as much as I expected to. From the blurb, I was expecting something a little different, a little more magical than it actually was. I liked Whitney and Chantal, I liked them individually as characters and I appreciated their different POVs as well as the two of them having conversations about gender and sexuality and pregnancy in general. They were both very open about it, in a way I would expect from a new relationship between these two particular characters.

Unfortunately, there were several things I didn't like. After Caleigh sparks the introduction between Whitney and Chantal, she kind of disappears. Whitney gets her mum and Caleigh's dad to look after her daughter but she isn't really in the book at all and considering I was expecting her to be from the blurb, that was a little bit of a letdown. I've mentioned the magic bit above, I was hoping that magic would play a bigger part in this book than it did. It's mentioned about Caleigh's shoes and Chantal's strange dreams but then nothing really comes of it.

The romance between Whitney and Chantal was so conflict-free it became a little annoying. I wouldn't have minded if the conflict had been coming outside the relationship, but nothing bad happened. The worst thing that happened was Whitney messing up an order in the bakery and even then, everything was fixed without her having to do anything. I love a cute romance, especially one as diverse as this, but I wish there had been something else happening in the book. Even Whitney's ex-husband was absolutely fine, no conflict there.

I liked the premise but the book just didn't live up to my expectations. Three stars.

Wish on the Water is a lighthearted romance that allows true love to blossom early on, and uses that love to explore questions of identity and sexuality. Eve Francis writes a fun, quick-moving romance with a cast of likable characters. There is no real tension here, but that is entirely okay, because the deeper issues are far more interesting than the usual genre clichés.

Our two lovers are a wonderfully diverse pair, a single mother and a single parent-to-be. Whitney is happily bisexual, a fact of which her ex-husband was aware, and open to love in whatever form it finds her. After exploring a transgender identity, Chantal has ultimately self-defined as genderqueer, comfortable with pronouns of she/her, but uncomfortable with the labels of female, woman, or mother. Theirs is a chance meeting at the nail salon where Chantal works, a friendship that starts with some parental bonding, but very quickly moves into the realm of mutual attraction.

Like I said earlier, there is no real tension here, and that is surprisingly refreshing. Whitney's family and friends are immediately accepting of Chantal's genderqueer identity, just as they are supportive of Whitney's daughter's sexuality. Similarly, Chantal's friends and customers at the nail salon are accepting of her gender, with the only uncomfortable moments coming in the same kind of intrusive pregnancy questions that any parent faces.

The only flaw in the story, for me, was the footwear tease. There is a very strong suggestion early on that the pink rain boots of Whitney's daughter and the green sandals of Chantal are somewhat magical, but that element is just dropped, with no resolution. It is a small complaint, though, and more than made up for by Wish on the Water's wonderful diversity of bisexual genderqueer romance.