I really enjoyed Chelsea Sedoti's second book, especially the out of the way Nevada setting. There aren't many YA books set out in the desert and this one brings back memories of the Twilight Zone. That's a good thing!

I enjoyed this book even though the are a couple of themes I would caution younger readers about. The author did an excellent job of resolution, making the characters lovable and hatable at the same time. I have never read a story quite like this one and will be recommending the title to patrons. I was disappointed in the edginess of the language, not all young adults use the f-word. I look forward to reading other books by this author.

I would like to provide a trigger warning for attempted suicide in the content of this book.

As You Wish is based on such an interesting concept, one that I'm sure we've all considered, being able to wish for our hearts desire and have it come true. But how many of us have truthfully followed the ideas of our wishes all the way through to consider how they might have come out? That maybe it won't turn out exactly how we hoped? That maybe you should be careful what you wish for? We're safe in our musings because there is no magical way for those wishes to happen so we're not bound by the consequences of just daydreaming. Not so for the people of Madison.

Just like in life trying to decide what to do with your life, go to college, start working immediately? Are you really ready to make that life-changing to decision at 18? Yet that is when you must make your wish, and live with whatever it brings. I enjoyed the examination of the different wishes and how they turned out. Many were selfish and short sighted, but we're human after all, and at 18 most of us are not equipped to be able to craft a wish that covers all the bases, that plans for every outcome that needs to be avoided.

I was wary going in from the other varied reviews I was seeing, people either seemed to love it or hate it, and I was pleasantly surprised at how thoroughly and thoughtfully this story covered the premise of wishing and all the ways it might come out. Our main character Eldon is flawed, as we all are, and struggling with what he wants, vs. what his family wants, a true trauma, and with just being a teenager growing up and all the social pressures that come along with that. He doesn't make the best decisions, many of the characters don't, and the final outcome is not necessarily the best one for all involved, or in the mind of the reader, but it certainly provides a lot of food for thought.

Overall I thought it was a well told and interesting story that made me think and pulled on my heart strings. I appreciate the opportunity to review it!

A town with strict rules of wishing is a unique, if somewhat hard-to-sell, concept for a novel. Personally, I found the plot a bit hard to swallow, mostly because of all of the unknowns. There are very strict but arbitrary rules for the wishes, no reason given. Nobody really questions the rules or tests them for validity. And while Eldon and his friends do wonder about the system, their exploration of it's bounds is fairly tame and limited. There were a number of missed opportunities to explore their town's whole construction. There are a number of themes that come into play, though none of them ever get the novel's full focus. This results in plenty of topics for discussion but no clear takeaway.

The premise was certainly interesting. Who hasn't thought about what they would wish for if they could? I certainly have, and I could really understand why Eldon struggled with the anxiety of making the perfect wish. The story is all about Eldon's journey as the date to his wish day looms closer, and how he tries to figure out what is the right wish for him. Through his experience, the reader gets to hear about others' wishes, including the reasons behind those wishes and the outcomes. 

I think my issue with the novel was Eldon. He is a self-proclaimed jerk and all of his actions show that he lives up to the title. Everyone thinks he's a jerk, and he certainly acts like one. I thought that the reason for making him like this was so that he would change at the end.... but he doesn't. He stays a jerk until the very end, and only then does he show that he may finally be trying to change. It was very difficult for me to feel sympathy for him because of his attitude, and his lack of growth. There were times when I felt sorry for him because of what happened with his sister, and there were times when I could understand how his anger and anxiety caused him to behave in a certain way. But overall? I really couldn't connect with him or like him enough to care. He's also very judgmental about everyone and it started to grate on my nerves. 

There is also no real plot to this story. The same concept is touted throughout the entire book. People make wishes. People aren't happy with them. Some of the wish stories that are told are a little bit too far-fetched for me, like the one about wishing one's gayness away and never being able to feel emotions again. What?! How does that even happen?! I get that this story was all about decisions and living with regret, but there was just so much of that and little of anything else. It got tedious.

Ultimately, this novel was trying too hard to be a lot of things, ending with it just not living up to anything. It sounded like an awesome magical realism story, but the writing style, lack of plot and growth, and bad main character bogged the story down. I finished it feeling disappointed, which is a shame because the novel really had a lot of potential. I'm giving it a 2/5 stars.

I loved "As you Wish"
It takes a fantastically desired concept and turns it around to show you that things aren't always what they seem. If you could wish for anything, what would it be and how would thay wish change everything you never expected it to? As You Wish shows a side to this concept you would never have guessed.
Sidoti never fails to thrill me with her stories.

This book had a very interesting premise, but it fell flat when it came to execution. I was not a fan of the main character. There were really no likable qualities to him and he didn't really grow or change throughout the book. I was not a fan of how the characters decisions affected other peoples' lives.Who are they to play god? And I really didn't like all the negativeness the author put in... whether they meant it that way or not. Wishing away gayness. Wishing to be beautiful. Wishing to be super talented. In this day and age aren't we trying to encourage kids that being who you are is great? On top of all that the book is slow and not much happens. I don't think I'd really recommend this read to anyone. Though if someone thought it looked good I wouldn't stop them from trying to read it either. Everyone has their own opinions right?

The style in which this book was written was quite compelling, and I will admit that I found myself quite interested in what all of the characters had wished for and how it had impacted their lives. I was also quite curious about what the main character would wish for, although I found him highly unlikable and that took away from my enjoyment of the novel. Overall, this was a fantastic and interesting premise but I just didn't feel like it panned out quite as well as I had hoped. I also much preferred the original cover which is what first caught my attention about the book.

I had high hopes for this one. Unfortunately, it ended up being one of those books where the execution is great, but the execution is found lacking. I have started to write this review several times and find myself unable to do so without spoilers.

This book is interesting and not bad. I will look back at how other people respond to it.

Be careful what you wish for or the consequences could be devastating. For Eldon, who approaches his 18th birthday, he has no idea for what he is going to wish. For folks in Madison, 18th birthday is the big one in more than one, their wishes come true. As with most narcissistic teenagers, they think about the now and the heck with the consequences. Eldon is a selfish jock who is trying to make sense of his situation at home, with his sister, his best friend, teammates, and girls. He has seen the consequences of many wishes and wants to make sure he gets it right. With the wish, wording is everything. I liked the way the story unfolded, you see the jock, you see the sensible side, you see the sensitive side, and you see the bad boy side, but the story comes to an ending that will surprise you. I will be recommending this book to students at our high school as I always tell many of them to be careful for what they wish. Thank you to Sourcebooks Fire, NetGalley, and Ms. Sedoti for an ARC of this book which no way sways my review.

What drew me in is the premise of this book. The thought that, in this small town, everyone gets one wish that's guaranteed to come true on their 18th birthday. It's the kind of magical realism novel that really appeals to me- firmly rooted in reality with one magical element. And that's where I think this novel really excelled, making the magical realism feel real.

We follow Eldon, a boy who's 20-some days away from his own wish and he just doesn't know what to wish for. Everyone, especially his mom, has ideas of what he should wish for. And he does have a lot of options. His sister is in the hospital, lying brain-dead after an accident, and while he used to be popular, have a lovely girlfriend, and be a star on the football team, all of that seems to be falling away after everyone else gets their wishes. As his birthday approaches and Eldon still doesn't know what to wish for, his principal challenges him to talk to others about what they wished for, and how they feel after it.

I really, really liked the premise and what really drove me through this book was wondering what Eldon was going to wish for. It's not very clear throughout. I also loved learning about other people's wishes (though I felt that some were better handled than others.) Also, for most of the book I didn't mind our main character. He's arrogant, he's insensitive, he's rude and not very lovable. But also, considering what he'd just gone through with his sister, I didn't mind and felt that it was justifiable.

The first sign that this book wasn't going to get a high rating was the handling of one character's secret. (view spoiler)

However, this book was still going okay after that, no longer a 4 or 5 star like I'd hoped, but somewhere around a 3. Enough that I would finish it. Sadly, the ending is where this book fell flat, and to talk about that, i have to give it away. So, spoilers ahead. (view spoiler)

Ultimately, I thought this novel had a good premise and had some really strong pathos going for Eldon at the beginning, but because of the ending and a few mistakes the author made (that honestly should have been caught in editing) this book fell flat. Really flat.

I was in the right mood to read Sedoti's debut, THE HUNDRED LIES OF LIZZIE LOVETT, so I didn't mind how weird it was. I was able to check out the countless other reviews as they came in about just how bizarre the story was. I felt completely ready for it and honestly it made all the difference. I ended up enjoying the book quite a bit, comparatively. I was hoping that the same prep-work would get me going for AS YOU WISH.

The concept here is amazing - a small town has a secret cave where each resident (that was born there) is able to make a wish on their 18th birthday. The wish always comes true. Most people wish for money (even though it's only available through the town's bank), beauty, success in their particular town, etc. There are lots of limitations but everyone seems to make do. Eldon can't decide what to wish for - his mom is pushing for a few things and he knows he could do what she wants, but he's not sure. He begins a little project where he collects information about other people's wish stories - their inspiration and how they've been living since it was granted.

Eldon was a total dickhead. He was cocky and insufferable most of the time. Oh, woe is you that a bunch of guys wished to be more attractive and better football players, so now you're not a god at your school. He was very entitled and irritating. I would have loved ANY other main character or personality to lead this story, because the concept was unbelievably cool. Sedoti has a knack for writing very weird and/or unlikable characters in weird and/or unlikable books... but I have to say, I'll probably keep reading them.

As the book headed toward the conclusion, I was really nervous that we wouldn't get to know what he wished for. It would make a lot of sense for there to be allllll that drama just to have it end with the cut-off sentence "I wish..." I didn't love the ending but I don't think there was really any possible ending I would have enjoyed.

I will be honest by stating that I did not finish this eARC.

I really enjoyed the concept of this book when I first saw the synopsis and the beginning of the story kept me intrigued. I liked that the stories of people who have already wished were told throughout the book because it lent to the wishing aspects.

The part that I struggled with was the religious themes. I didn't feel that it lent anything to the story and at times it felt a bit preachy. I didn't think it was necessary to the story and it is when I started to dislike the story.

I spoke with a friend who'd read the book to get an answer as to what the MC's wish was and after hearing he'd wished for there to be no more wishes I wasn't very surprised. As the story developed it became more predictable as to what his wish was going to be.

May All Your Wishes Come True Goes Awry...

As You Wish by Chelsea Sedoti (BookReview)

As You Wish was a difficult book for me to review. Basic story premise: In the town of Madison, in the Mojave Desert, everyone gets one wish on their 18th birthday-standard wishing rules apply. Throw in a group of angst filled teens, a shady city official, an ineffective police chief, a school principal with delusions of psychoanalysis expertise, a bunch of adults living with regret (wish and life induced) projecting their failures and inadequacies onto their kids, a couple of self-righteous types, conspiracy hunters, and a semi-mysterious tragedy to give our teenage narrator a chip on his shoulder and you have a modern YA novel. It wasn't all bad and there were parts of the story I truly enjoyed, don't get me wrong. I'm just saying I don't think it lived up to its potential. The pitfalls of 'if it seems to go to be true, then it probably is' should be shown.
The ending was a bit more realistic at least, more of a 'and life goes on' kind of deal.

I received a free copy of this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

This is my first review of the new year and the second book that I finished this year. I received this book in advance thanks to the publisher and Netgalley. Thanks to them for letting me read As You Wish and provide you all with an honest review.
I got As You Wish a while ago. I think I requested it back in June and I was super excited about it. The general premise centers around a town called Madison in the Mojave Desert, where everyone who lives in the town is given one wish. Although there are some general rules, it is generally a “wish for whatever you want” sort of system. The novel opens on our protagonist, Eldon, who is about to turn eighteen and make his wish. He has a tumultuous relationship with the town and the wishing system in general, which means he isn’t stoked about his wish day. On top of this, everyone in the world is pressuring him to answer the question, “what are you going to wish for?” Eldon starts on a journey to interview people about their wishes and to figure out what he wants to wish for before his time runs out.
That sounds amazing, right?
Unfortunately, I had was so disappointed by this book.
My first problem with AYW was Eldon himself. I can’t really find a way to say this in a polite way, but Eldon was an insufferable, self-centered prude. He was the most unlikeable narrator that I have read in a very long time. He seems mad at everything, even his own existence. He also really hates the fact that he has to make a wish. Which, alright, he recognizes that people’s wishes usually make them unhappy but dude! You get to make a wish! You could get away from this town, which you obviously can’t stand, and live an entirely different life. But, no. Eldon is just going to complain about it. However, it isn’t only Eldon. Pretty much every character in this book is insufferable. I don’t think I enjoyed a single character. It is very difficult to like a book that has a whole cast of characters that you dislike. Still, I was hoping that Eldon’s journey would give him a glorious epiphany and new insight into the world and those around him. The potential for his character arc was as bright as a rainbow. Even the official blurb makes it seem like Eldon is going to go on an adventure of self-discovery.
“Doubts build, leading Eldon to a more outlandish and scary thought: maybe you can’t wish for happiness…maybe, just maybe, you have to make it for yourself. (Goodreads.com)”
Somehow, he is still a tool by the end of the book. Not even his friendships can save him because his friends are also awful. I don’t understand how these friendships have been sustained for as long as they have. (Also, as a side note, EVERYONE in this town has the weirdest names. It seems like it is a requirement when you have kids to name them something off the wall. Eldon? Ebba? Merrill?)
My second biggest problem with this book was the writing. Sedoti’s writing style is almost entirely composed of showing rather than telling mixed with incredibly unsubtle exposition. I believe the best example of Sedoti’s style was the introduction of Ebba.
Eldon and his dad are casually discussing his mother in the garage when suddenly…
“‘I pause, trying to phrase my response in a way that doesn’t sting. ‘If I wish for money, that still doesn’t guarantee-’
‘I know, buddy,’ my dad says. ‘I know.’
…
‘The mood in the garage has shifted. My little sister’s presence-her lack of presence-fills the small space.’”
Then Eldon and his dad go back to casually talking. What?! 0.o
I wish I could say that this was the only instance of Ebba’s storyline being dropped into the story, but it isn’t. Eldon sees the boy who was mixed up with Ebba’s life and then just tells the reader what happened to her. It isn’t even revealed through a dialogue between Eldon and this other dude. It may just be my preference, but I found Sedoti’s writing style frustrating and immature. In addition, the character of Archie says a lot of distasteful slurs and offensive language throughout the novel. Even though Penelope calls him out on it, the excessive display of language that Archie employs over the course of the novel is very off-putting.
Finally, I think that As You Wish is simply too long. It is 265 pages on my Nook, which translates into 432 pages in the hardcover. It took 136 pages for Eldon to even start his “wish project”, which wasn’t enough to pick up the pace. By the time the twists of AYW happened, my eyes had glazed over and I just wanted to finish.
I knew going into this book that there were going to be some plot holes I was going to have to look over. It is a book about wishing, and Sedoti wasn’t going to be able to explain everything. I also knew I wasn’t going to agree with the way that everyone’s wishes played out. AYW is a magical realism novel after all. In the end, it wasn't so much the wishing system or the conventional (or not so conventional) nature of everyone's wishes. It was everything else I couldn't ignore that disappointed me, which is why I ended up giving As You Wish a 1 out of 5 stars.
-Jaime

In Madison, a small town lost in the Mojave Desert, Eldon counts down the last twenty-five days to his eighteenth birthday in As You Wish by Chelsea Sedoti, published on January 1. Lest they learn the secret perk of living in Madison, outsiders who stop for gas are sent on through as quickly as possible when they travel to Rachel where the UFO hunters congregate. Citizens get to make a wish on their eighteenth birthday that will come true with few restrictions (nothing that will affect the world outside Madison, for instance). Eldon faces the secret blessing – or curse – of being able to make his wish. After Chapter One sets up the situation and the idea that the seventeenth year is besieged with brooding about the contemplation that becomes more intense as the day nears, the book moves to “Chapter Two Countdown: 25 Days” and builds tension as each chapter continues the next daily count.
Not only his own happiness but relationships around him depend on Eldon’s choice and, having already seen enough results of other people’s wishes to know that not everybody has chosen one that brought happiness, he follows a suggestion to research past experiences. A telling comment comes from Othello, the artist who seems to be the only one to forego his wish. “Accomplishment comes from toil,” he says and ends with, “But it’s also the journey. A finished piece is nothing without the labor and emotion of the artist behind it.”
The feel of the book reminds me of Shirley Jackson’s short story “The Lottery” with an air of unreality even while keeping the reader engaged and wondering how any decision Eldon makes will not bring disaster somewhere. I would have been happy if they had followed the advice of Penelope, one of the characters, and stayed with cleaner language but the book raises questions worth considering.
Early in 2017, I reviewed Chelsea Sedoti’s book The Hundred Lies of Lizzie Lovett. The only connection I make between the two books is Chelsea’s grasp of the workings of young minds and emotions. Both books in different ways lend themselves to thought-provoking discussion of issues that don’t always have clear-cut answers.

If you could have one wish that was guaranteed to come true, what would you wish for? Do think that wish would be beneficial or one you might regret later? This would be an interesting book to use as a discussion in a book club. I enjoyed the different characters and how they related to each other in the story. The book did a get a little long for me, but I enjoyed the end also. Although the book deals a little with attempted suicide, I would still recommend this book to middle schoolers and up.

The book was given to me for my honest review.

Sorry, but I couldn't get through this one! I was SO EXCITED for the premise, because I am a HUGE lover of all things magical realism, but in the end I just hated Eldon and I couldn't get over that. He did not get better with time, and I couldn't connect with him!

This was so boring and slow. While I liked the magical realism aspect, I couldn't get into this one at all.

Rating and quick thoughts: 4.5 stars because it's very well-built. This book accomplishes what it sets out to do, and every aspect is very solid: crisp writing, good pacing, and distinct character arcs. The message and narrative is simple, but it does everything that a book needs to do within its confines, and I thought it was very cleanly done.

Full review: This book really surprised me. Going in, I was neither blown away nor hooked by the synopsis, yet once the author started peeling back the layers of complexity, I began seeing these characters in a way that was rather epiphanic.

For instance, Eldon is a bit of an unreliable narrator; he’s not looking forward to the prospect of wishing, thus skews things to fit his own pessimistic outlook of the world. Furthermore, the idea of wishing is presented as a very precarious miracle: Madison is a small town, but it’s equally packed with content and regretful wishers, and this story is all about the flawed narrative of Madison and how its wishers live with their choices.

And that’s exactly what I found so beautiful about the message of this book! Even given the golden opportunity to make the perfect wish, life won’t be perfect for us, because we ourselves aren’t perfect.

Oh, and Eldon was a most riveting anomaly to analyze. I went through a tornado of feelings trying to form an opinion of him, from liking his cynicism, to hating his angst and entitlement, to being put off by his selfishness and violence, before finally seeing the layers of redemption, perceptiveness, and kindness to him. I mean, there's at least five people that Eldon claims to hate in this book, yet he's very quick to rush to their defense or try to comfort them when everyone else had turned their backs...that’s got to say something about him, right?

In that, I think this book is terrific. The author suggests wishing is a double-edged sword, and I found the discussion both perceptive and compelling. The analysis is built up into one big narrative, and I had a blast puzzling all of it together. So for those of you who are afraid that Eldon is an irredeemable asshole, don't worry--he has an arc, and I loved his development. :)