This book is an intriguing premise. What would you wish for if you could wish for anything and get it? (As long as it doesn't impact the outside world).

It seems like an easy answer, but unfortunately the language you use matters, and it shows in this novel as Eldon, one of the main characters tries to figure out what his birthday wish will be.

You can wish for a business, but it might not be successful. You can wish for unlimited donuts, but it won't stop you from gaining weight if you don't specify (no this is not an example of a wish in the book).

The struggle in this novel is extremely well written, even as Eldon is almost irredeemably arrogant and immature. But then, some teenagers are. However he is not without growth, even as he naivete takes him to some interesting places emotionally.

The characters I liked most were Eldon's father, who is a warm, put sad character, stuck in Madison like most of them, and Merrill, Eldon's best friend who is loyal even when he should probably walk away.

I would recommend this book to anyone who likes their YA sprinkled with existential crisis' as I definitely enjoyed this.

Imagine if at the age of eighteen you have the wish of your lifetime to make. Would you be certainly prepared to wish the right thing for forever? Or, would you wish like a teenager?
The town of Wishing, Texas, keeps to itself and does not ever encourage visitors because the truth of the town would bring gawkers and news hounds. Wishing is a place where every eighteen year old gets a wish on their eighteenth birthday for whatever they choose to get, have, change, or whatever. This year is the year for Eben to make his wish and he wants not to. He has seen the damage the wishes have wrought in the lives of the people of the town and does not want that. Forces are pushing him to decide, to make the “right” choice. He does the best thing he can: investigate the wishes of others, how it truly affected them and whether they would wish it again. When he’s done, he will decide.

Fun, fresh concept. Just needs some development and reorganization, I think. Full review on Goodreads.

Magic, adventure, friendship and so much more. This book has a lot to offer it's readers and it would be a mistake not to read this.

If you could make one wish when you turn eighteen, what would that wish be? As You Wish makes you think of what I would wish for, and keeps you guessing what Eldon wishes for . I can't wait to read more books by this author.

Would love to read something by this author again! The story was well thought out and the characters were very likable!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for the ARC of As You Wish, by Chelsea Sedoti. Not only was this book an enjoyable read, but also thought provoking. What would you wish for that would change your life forever? This is the question that 17 year old Eldon has to decide on his 18th birthday. After talking to townspeople, who made their wishes on their birthdays, he has to decide if wishes can make people happy, or just hurt them. What a great book to make people wonder if they are so busy wishing for things that they forget to be happy with what they have. I loved this book.

Thanks to NetGalley for sending me this ARC for an honest review.

I did not enjoy this book. The premise is great - a town where everyone gets a wish on their 18th birthday - and I had high hopes for the story but this book definitely did not live up to my expectations.
I established long ago that I really struggle to read books that have obnoxious, annoying, male characters that don't seem to want to change and Eldon is definitely one of these. He is rude, self-entitled and even when his friends point this out he doesn't seem to want to change, I struggled to care about what he was going through and therefore really struggled to care about this book.
It was an easy to read book and the 'wish' idea kept me intrigued enough to want to finish the book and find out what was going to happen, but that was about it.
Every chapter centres around Eldon and what he hates/enjoys complaining about/how he is hard done by, which is really quite disappointing. I would have loved to hear from other characters from the town, perhaps gain more insight into what these wishes even mean and where they have come form.
While there was entertaining parts to this book, and the idea is excellent it ultimately wasn't executed well and I found myself feeling disappointed at the end.

Release date: 01.02.18

DNF at 32% (Though I did skip to the final chapter to see how things ended.)

Jesus Christ, this was the worst book I've tried to read in a long time. Maybe young adult fiction is not for me anymore? I don't know. This book is set in a small town in the desert, near Area 51. Nothing much goes on in said town, except for the occasional tourist on his or her way to find aliens. Oh, and everyone in town can make one wish that comes true on their eighteenth birthday. Why? "It just happens," one character says. "There isn't a reason."

This book is so damn lazy. The characters are drawn in the broadest of strokes, and the main character (Eldon? Ellwan? I don't know) is the worst. He's a total brute: insensitive to the point of being cruel for no real reason other than his girlfriend left him for a guy he — said MC — plays with on the football team. That's . . . it, basically. And the fact that he was once the best on the football team but no longer is due to other players' wishes making them better has him down, too. So there's a lot of generic teenage angst and confusion about the future, which is okay . . . if written well. It's not, here. This main character is mean to his friends, his parents, everyone. And yet, he constantly reminds the reader that he's super hot and can have sex with any girl he wants. Yay, character development?

32% is more than fair, I think. This book is flaming trash and may no one pay full price for this turd when it comes out in January.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC, which was given for free in exchange for an honest review. This is it. Sorry your book sucks so much, but at least the cover is cool.

A coming of age story with a supernatural twist. 17 year old Eldon Wilkes lives in Madison, a town where each resident is granted one wish on their 18th birthday. Eldon is under a tremendous amount of pressure from his mother to wish for money and he's torn between doing what's best for his family and doing what his heart desires. Sometimes the wishes come with terrible consequences and a life time of regret.

Seventeen-year-old Eldon is approaching his birthday and in the town of Madison this means he has the opportunity to make a single wish that's guaranteed to come true. He agonises about his choice.

In the town of Madison, people spend their childhood counting down to their wish day and the rest of their lives in a state of paralysis, eyes fixed on that one choice and unable to take responsibility for any of the choices they made before or after their wish. Those hurt by the wishing range from Eldon's father, confined to a choice-less relationship, to one kid stuck in a zombie-like state. Even the one guy in the history of the town who chose not to make a wish seems somewhat plagued by regret.

For Eldon's mother the choice is simple, he must make a wish that will save his sister who is in a coma but the path is complicated and doomed to be fruitless in the best case and disastrous in the worst.
The story is imaginative and thought-provoking but also dark and morose. Eldon is bitterly unhappy and for most of the book not very likeable. Many of the characters featured are mean alcoholics or unrealistically chirpy. My favorite character is Eldon's sister who we hear about only through Eldon's voice and who was in a coma for the entire book. Eldon blames the wishes made by his classmates with earlier birthdays than his for his growing social problems without realizing that much of his discontent is in his own head. In the end, Eldon matures and the town is forced to grow up as well.

I enjoyed reading about the town's people's wishes and the stories behind them. However, as Eldon's ex-girlfriend points out, "You sought out people you knew were unhappy. You had your mind made up about wishing from the start, and this whole journey was your attempt to confirm how terrible wishing is.” I would have loved to have heard details of stories of some of the people who made selfless wishes that turned out well.
The author seems to have been making a point about religion. In one of the early scenes, Eldon has to distract a couple of tourists who are curious about the fact that Madison has no Church. One of the more clear-headed people in the town is a young lady teaching herself about Mormonism. Madison is a town where 'wishing is the only religion' but that idea is a minor theme which the author shies away from fleshing out fully.

All-in-all it's a well-written book and the main character's journey rings true despite the curious backdrop. Be prepared though, it's a sad journey with very little relief from the melancholy.

My fake deepness radar went crazy at the end. However, there is a decent chance that it might just be me and my intense dislike of the characters affecting my sobriety.

Eldon, the main character, despite his unique name, is, for lack of a better word, a jerk. Within the first quarter of reading As You Wish, I kind of already hated him. He acts like he's all that and everything bad that happens to him is because of his special town, which might be true, but it isn't a good enough reason to loathe almost everything and play a victim.

The author's writing style was ordinary, nothing special, but the extensive "something happened that changed me and I won't tell you exactly what it was yet because you have to get invested in my story by the time its revealed" vibes in the beginning really drove me insane. I guess Eldon's constant state of being pissed off is rubbing onto me. Fun.

I usually don't like putting quotes in my reviews, but wow, this was one of the early gems of the book:

"When I was thirteen, most of my wish daydreams revolved around sex."

First of all, whoa whoa whoa. I get it, you're human. I get it, but that is just SO al;skdjf;lasdkf;al to me that I don't have the right words to perfectly sum up how uncomfortable that statement is.

And, to be fair, I can't say I understand the thought process of a teenage guy, but his assholery is such a strong character trait that one of the main reasons I kept reading was the fact that I felt angry enough to move past it and simply laugh at how unbelievable Eldon is.

I'm not even sure if the author intentionally making such a detestably arrogant main character was the best course of action. It does pave the way for character development, but to what extent? Eldon's "growth" didn't make me proud of him, maybe because I'm feeling exceptionally detached at the moment, or maybe because I just find it incredibly difficult to like him, or anyone in the book, because of their textbook personalities.

Elaborating on the other characters, though some of them had wishing histories that were really interesting, it was difficult for me to get into the empathizing mindset. I was just really detached from the book, which is weird for me because I tend to get invested and super empathize-y when reading.

Clichéness is hard to avoid, and I'm not expecting anything to be completely void of clichés because nearly everything's been done to death, but, judging by the synopsis, I really was expecting a lot more from the book plot-wise and development-wise. I thought that I'd be, as cheesy as it sounds, growing with the character(s), empathizing with them, and, looking back, that might've been my downfall while reading As You Wish.

All that said, the book wasn't a horrible read and the plot was reasonable enough, but the characters got on my nerves, which more or less ruined the reading for me.

Thank you to Sourcebooks Fire and Netgalley for the opportunity to read As You Wish, but in the end, it just wasn't the right book for me.

P.S. I could look at the cover forever; it's so aesthetically pleasing.

I can do nothing but applaud the amazing scope of this novel. To have created such a compelling and realistic world as the one I found in Madison, a world based entirely on making wishes is nothing short of a marvel. Unfortunately its such a big world with so many possibilities for its characters that ultimately I just couldn't connect with this one.

Its a wonderful play on the fairy tale idea of a wish bringing a happily ever after to have a place where the exact opposite is what usually happens. Following Eldon as he tries to decide how to spend his wish and meeting the people who've had their lives destroyed by wishes or long for the chance to wish again or to never have wished at all is pretty profound but it also doesn't really seem to be the point of the story. Eldon is unfortunately such a totally unlikable sad sack, surrounded by equally unlikable sadsacks that I just didn't care how things were going to turn out.

The outcome is also more or less a forgone conclusion given the way the story is laid out. Eldon does nothing but talk to people who hate their lives because of wishes. We never meet a single person or see anything to lead us to believe that wishing is good. So his wish is more or less decided from page one.

There's also just too many "philosophies" running around the narrative. The weirdly Mormom and seriously self righteous Norie and the anarchist who's really a sheep Merrill are Eldon's closest friends and spend way, way too much time spouting various pseudo intellectual platitudes about what wishing is, why people should or shouldn't do it, blah blah blah. Everyone Eldon encounters has some deeply resonating statement to make about the natures of wishes but none of it advances the story.

I don't know if this book is about free will or taking responsibility for your life or learning from your mistakes or accepting that not everyone you love will love you back or that wishes are great or that they're terrible. There's just no clear narrative thru line to get invested in.

It doesn't help that these characters are seriously unlikable. Eldon just generally sucks. He's sort of the typical jock asshole who just assumes all the girls want to sleep with him and that never really changes. Wishing or not wishing isn't going to change him in any kind of meaningful way as a person because wishing or not wishing doesn't define him as a person. Norie and Merrell aren't much better and the various creepy as hell wishers we meet just make me very glad this place doesn't really exist.

This just didn't work for me.

I was very excited to read this one and there was a lot to love. AS YOU WISH has the kind of unique premise I love in YA, a vivid setting, and three-dimensional characters. Despite the strong elements of magical realism, this book is grounded in the very real life issues of family, friendship and self-discovery. While it felt a little lengthy and while the main character was sometimes difficult to connect with, I enjoyed being submerged in the world of Madison and am looking forward to reading whatever Sedoti writes next.

The whole concept was intriguing when I first heard of it. A town where wishes are real and that everyone has access to them? Enter Eldon, a guy who doesn't know what to do with his wish, try and save his sister or find the perfect wish to set his life right. After all, according to Eldon, everyone else in the town regrets the wish they've made. Thankfully, the overall reading experience failed to disappoint me! :) 

As I've said, I really like the paranormal world set up in this book, with it being set in a town called Madison, Nevada. I think it explains how a whole magical town can go unnoticed by the world pretty well, even though it doesn't really explain how wishing came to be (although it does hint at it near the end). That being said, I like how wishing is connected to adolescence and growing up. You get one wish on your eighteenth birthday, and it's practically a rite of passage that sets up the rest of your life. After that, you have to take responsibility for your actions (in this case, wishing). You learn so much about people just on their wishes and how they came to be! It makes me really wish an anthology of Madison's wishes was published for me to read, just like the one in the town museum! ;) 

Then there's Eldon, our protagonist that readers obtain all their info from. At first, you don't know much about him and just assume that he's being hard on himself. But as the novel progresses, readers learn more about Eldon of the past and how he was towards others. I found it kind of a funny setup. Usually, the character is made more redeemable by the end of the novel. In this case, Eldon kind of isn't after learning that he wasn't so nice to begin with. It was more about rounding out his character than any development really, if that makes any sense. ;) 

Overall, I really enjoyed reading this book and now want to read more by Chelsea Sedoti!

As You Wish

By: Chelsea Sedoti
Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire
Publication Date: January, 2018

Eldon is a high school senior in Madison. It’s a dusty, desert town on Nevada State Road 375. His afternoon job is to man the full service gas station and charm people into thinking the town is ordinary and unimportant. But Madison has a secret.

There is a secret cave where everyone on the day and hour of their eighteenth birthday gets to make a wish. One wish. And that wish will come true. You can wish to be thin, popular, rich, the football star or anything else. But most of the people in Madison seem to regret their decisions. His birthday is coming up. What will Eldon wish for?

Honestly, I wondered at the start of the book if Eldon would wish for what eventually happened. The premise was set in the first three chapters. Eldon is the book’s narrator and while you want to like him, all of his encounters with other high school students seem rude or offensive. At the end of the book, he admits he needs to grow up, but I was waiting for it much earlier. Then there’s the premise that any magical cave would hand over the power of a wish to an 18 year old. Or that the townsfolk, with years of experience in bad wishes, doesn’t keep a chart and explain to students what they should wish for and how to word it. Or even how large an effect it can be.

I do think the title needs changing. As You Wish by Carey Elwes is a favorite (as is the movie The Princess Bride) and this is just so far removed from that humorous story.

Mildly recommended: Grades 6-8 (middle school only); I don’t think high school students would enjoy this.

Thanks to NetGalley for the free digital ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. Check out all my book reviews at www.myliterary2cents.blogspot.com

Plot Summary: In a little town called Madison in the Mojave desert, wishes come true. Each person in the town gets one wish on their 18th birthday as long as the wish doesn't affect anyone outside of the town or bring someone back to life. Eldon is a high school senior who is on the cusp of turning 18. He is having a very hard time trying to figure out what his wish should be. He spends almost a month interviewing people about their wishes and how it affected them. He finds out that everyone has regrets about their wish. At the same time that Eldon is trying to figure out his wish, he is also going through the devastation of practically losing his sister (she's brain dead) in a car accident, losing popularity with his peers and football teammates, and lots of girlfriend/best friend drama. In the end, Eldon, who for most of the book is seen as a very selfish and egocentric young man changes dramatically.

Notes about the author/writing style: I have really enjoyed the author's writing style in this book. It looks like she's only written one other book, and I might just have to read that one too. This book was written for young adults and I think she gets into the mind of a young adult very well. She doesn't ramble about things that are unimportant, all the characters are believable and well rounded.

What I loved about the book: This book has all the "feels". There are times when this book makes you laugh, sit on the edge of your seat, and even cry. There is also a really good moral in this book that will be very appropriate for teens and young adults. I think the resounding lesson here is be careful what you wish for and the grass is not greener on the other side.

What I disliked about the book: The only thing that disappointed me a little with this book was the language. I get that the main character is a typical 17 year old boy and some of the language is part of his character, I just would rather not read it.

Who should read this book? This is a great book for young adults and teens, but adults would enjoy it too. I certainly did!

So. Let’s talk jackassery. From the very beginning, As You Wish got me thinking about what would I do if I were in the main character’s shoes.

Imagine a town named Madison in the desert where everyone gets one wish. On the night that they turn eighteen, they’re allowed to make one wish for almost anything they want. There are only a couple rules. One is that no one can know about the town, so you can’t wish to become the next international superstar. The other rules are basically the same as the Genie’s from Aladdin. No wishing for more wishes and you can’t bring someone back from the dead.


Already my mind went to some terrifying conclusions with this, conclusions that (to be fair) As You Wish doesn’t shy away from.

The jackassery that I mentioned above comes from our main protagonist and eyes into the world, Eldon. He’s jaded and bitter, carrying around a lot of the tragedy that comes with growing up in a town like Madison. Imagine the kids from The Fault in Our Stars, but without the optimism and you’ve got Eldon. Which, to my mind, makes him a much more relateable teen.

So fair warning, if you can’t handle anyone who’s bitter and complains a lot, then you’re not going to be able to get into this book.

For me though, this worked. Eldon is a prick, but that makes sense in the context of the emotional baggage that he’s carrying around, combined with the confusing times of being a teenager, and then multiplied by the fact that the most important decision he will ever have to make in his life is coming up in a matter of weeks.

I won’t go into detail because I don’t want to spoil anything, but As You Wish is a book of tiny tragedies and triumphs. What would have been a fairy tale in another novel or a romantic comedy with hilarious shenanigans is a surprisingly sober look at what the reality of a town like this would be like.

There are these little interludes within the novel that tell the stories of what people wished for previously and I loved these breaks. They were my favourite part of the book and I think I would read an entire book of just these little stories.

Wishing comes with consequences. Being given something at all comes with consequences.

The true story of As You Wish is learning how to live with the choices you’ve made in the past and whether or not those choices will define you.

There are times when the novel takes on a tone that wouldn’t be out of place in Welcome to Nightvale, but As You Wish doesn’t sink into the absurd or the dreamy. It holds people accountable for their actions and that’s something that I really appreciated.

Eldon, for example, is someone we can empathize with if we choose to, but the characters around him aren’t going to let him off the hook if he’s too much of a jerk. The wishes that people make which are harmful or which push the boundaries of consent don’t come without consequences either.

If you’re looking for YA novel that doesn’t focus around the romance of its main characters and has a unique presence to boot, I can’t recommend As You Wish highly enough.

8.5/10
Terrifying thought experiment? Engrossing YA novel? Either way, I’m into it.

In one word FANTASTIC!!! I thought the concept was brilliant, I was right there with Eldon wondering what would I wish for? and some of the consequences of other people's wishes were great!! I would 110% recommend this book and I wish you would all go read this NOW!!! (Haha see what I did there!!!)