I read this book in one day. What I loved most about it was how unexpected it was. I believed that this book was setting me up for a dystopian plot, but really it's much quieter than that. It's an introspective look at our choices and how we make them and the dangers of regret. Also, how one choice can change the entire course of our lives. Absolutely pick this one up. It's one of the freshest young adult titles I've read in a while.

I read Chelsea Sedoti's debut novel The Hundred Lies of Lizzie Lovett last year, and felt a lot of ways about it. I was excited to read her sophomore novel because I remembered admiring the way she wrote complex, complicated, and, well, unlikable characters. I was also intrigued by the surreal premise of a world (well, a single town) where everyone gets to wish for whatever they want on their 18th birthdays and wanted to see how it played out.

Eldon is a kid who was used to being the best, until everyone in his senior year started turning 18 and getting their wishes. Now he isn't the best anymore--not at sports, not at getting the girls, not at much. And, as his own 18th birthday approaches, he's getting a lot of pressure from all sides about what to wish for. In a world where many wish for beauty, or power, or money (or an unlimited supply of drugs), he has no idea what he wants to accomplish with his wish. He's torn between familial obligation and, well...trying to find out what he wants.

There's a lot I like about As You Wish. I like Eldon in all of his arrogance and missteps. He is foolish, and stubborn, and entitled, and often oblivious to what other people are going through. He is also emotional, and hurting, and sort of just coasting through. His family breaks my heart. I also like his group of friends, and the other characters that populate his weird little town. In every detail, his town takes on a life of its own. One of my favorite parts of the entire book are the stories of other characters' wishes. These stories are set apart from the rest of the novel--written in italics and in third person, almost omniscient. They were so cool to read, but did tend to skew in the direction of wishes-gone-wrong (or, at least, awry). I loved the magical realism aspects of the novel, as well--this otherwise ordinary, boring town shocked through with this bolt of fantasy. And I liked how we learn about the rules and the history of wishing--it doesn't feel plodding or over-explained.

It isn't a perfect novel, though. I still had a lot of questions about the town and the rules--and the ending! A lot of things get wrapped up neatly, and I don't know if the book earned the way everything turns out. It fell a little flat to me. I don't know if Eldon grows as much as a book like this warrants--but he is trying, and maybe that's enough?

As You Wish is a coming of age story that takes place in the sleepy town of Madison, Nevada. Madison is on the outskirts of Las Vegas and Area 51, but nothing really happens there, except everyone in the town of Madison gets to make a wish on their 18th birthday. The gift of wishing is a well kept secret amongst those living in the town of Madison because no one ever really leaves Madison, and if they do they tend to come back. Main character Eldon is about to turn 18 and make his wish, only he doesn't know what he wants. He is obnoxious, self-centered, and very immature. He blames all his problems on everyone else and the wishes they've made. His attitude made the books hard to read sometimes because you just wanted grow up. Then again there weren't very many likable characters in the book. Most of the wishes were shallow and self serving like making yourself better looking or the most talented at something. Then again when you are 18 and don't know any better what would you wish for? Probably something shallow and self-serving. Each person of the town has to live with the consequences of their wish, some good and some bad. Eldon starts to research wishes and their consequences as his wish day approaches only to find out that most people's wishes didn't exactly have the effect they'd intended. Some people learned to live with their wishes, while others are miserable. Eldon only sees the bad that has come from wishing. Part of Eldon's problem is that the whole town is obsessed with wishing, everyone wants to know what you are going to wish for, and everyone is telling you what to wish for, and his parents are telling him what to wish for because their wishes didn't work out for them. Eldon hasn't had an easy time of it as his 18th birthday approaches, some of it is his own fault, some of it is not his fault at all. Eldon never takes ownership of his own actions, he just blames everyone else for being angry and mean to everyone. There are plenty of lessons to be learned from reading this, but they took way to long to develop for my liking. Eldon is the epitome of flawed.

In the end this book was just OK for me. I didn't connect with the characters or the story. It just felt very immature to me, as an adult reader who likes YA I find that is a problem at times. While the dialog may be realistic as if it were coming from high schoolers, there were some very immature comments in the dialog between characters that did not appeal to me, and I'm sure people will find them hurtful if not harmful. That is not what I want my kids thinking is OK, so I don't want them reading it in the books they read. I did appreciate that there was atleast one character that was trying to stop it, even thought not very forcefully. The premise is interesting enough and kept me interested.

AS YOU WISH is a fun, magical realism, young adult novel. Set in Madison, a desert town an hour or two outside of Las Vegas, it introduces us to a cast of fun, if slightly strange characters.

Eldon is almost 18 years old, works at a gas station, and is tasked with making sure any outsiders who stop by for gas see the town as extremely boring and uninteresting. Because what the citizens of Madison don't want you to know is that they have access to a magical cave that grants each person one wish on their 18th birthday.

As his birthday draws ever closer, Eldon struggles with deciding on what he'll wish for. Interspersed throughout the book are snippets of "Wish History" - the wishes of some of the townspeople and the aftermath. As he learns more and more about how people view their past wishes, Eldon begins to wonder if wishing is as beneficial as everyone makes it out to be.

I did enjoy reading this book, but there was a lot of cursing and other foul language that turned me off.

I liked the little discussions here and there about religion, although I never really fully understood why the citizens of Madison didn't believe in religion just because they got to make wishes. Couldn't you do both?

Overall, I really enjoyed going on this journey with Eldon.

The premise of this book is intriguing and the main plot point-the one wish-kept me reading till the end. It did have slow points and I had minor issues with the plot, but overall I appreciate the effort.

I really liked The Hundred Lies of Lizzie Lovett so I jumped at the chance to read this. I struggled the first day but tried to persist remembering that THLOLL started slow also. Unfortunately three days later and I still end up falling asleep every time I try to read through this.

I hate DNFing books I have only done it one or two times but I am slowly learning that I wont get anything finished if I get stuck on the same book for three weeks. I plan to come back to this at some point. To keep it fair I am not going to star this because I only just made it to about 20%. (NETGALLEY REQUIRED A STAR RATING)

If this on your TBR hopefully you like it better than I did. Though this book did not hit the mark for me I really do enjoy Sedoti's writing and liked her first book because of that I am eager to see what she does next.

I received an ARC of this book through Netgalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Eldon lives in a little town in the desert, where nothing much happens apart from being close to area 51. At least, that's what he and the other residents want everyone to think, while in fact his town is extremely special. Everyone who lives there gets a wish on their birthday, a real, guaranteed, wish come true. While the rest of the town thinks this is the only thing that really matters in life, Eldon isn't so sure any more. His birthday is coming up and he still doesn't know what to wish for, despite his mother's request.

I realized that after I requested this that I probably was not going to read it. I regret requesting it cause it did sound interesting when I read the summary.

This was a very engaging and original story, full of magic and drama and teenage angst. The concept of the dangers of wishing is not particularly new, but the way that this concept is played out really resonated with me.

I have long been fascinated by the idea of crafting the perfect wish (I even have several of my own writing projects featuring this as an underlying theme) - the whole "be careful what you wish for, you just might get it" thing resonates with me very strongly. Perhaps it is because I've always read so much magical fiction and seen so many things go horribly awry. Perhaps it is because I'm a lawyer and sometime-writer, both of which reinforce in me the power of words. Perhaps it's just my dark and pessimistic side, that sees danger lurking behind every corner as though it were waiting for us to invite it in. Or perhaps it's all of those combined... Regardless, I was highly intrigued to see where this book would take that concept from the get-go.

The book did not disappoint at all. I've read a number of other reviews that slam it, largely because the protagonist is, well, rather unlikeable. He is. He is also a teenage boy, living in a tiny town where pretty much everything sucks and everyone is disappointed and disaffected and dysfunctional. To me, that reinforced the underlying message of the book, rather than detracted from it. True, it made the reading a little wearying at times - but for some reason that never wore me down, rather it kept me feeling like I was fully engaged with the book. That doesn't always work - it's a fine line, like tap-dancing among land mines, trying to immerse your reader in the desperation and depressing circumstances of the characters, while not losing them or their precious reader-interest in entertainment in the process. I think the author did a very nice job balancing this, and will definitely be looking for more from her in future...

"As You Wish" is an enjoyable and emotional read. I related to Eldon, Merrill, Norie, and all the other young people who grow up in small towns like Madison. The suffocating feelings of family expectations, a dying small town, and personal tragedies were very well crafted. This book is great for readers who enjoy realistic fiction with a twist of fantasy.

I found the premise of this book very intriguing. getting to make one wish that will come true on your 18th birthday!. The book is sure to get teens, and young adults reading and talking. Love the back stories of characters and their wishes; be careful what you wish for, you might just get it. Book was a bit overly long and could have been cropped down a bit, but I enjoyed the story overall.

I loved the concept of the book. The characters were interesting and somewhat exciting. However, I felt that the Eldon was a little bit whiny. He’s been trying to deal with everything happening with Ebba and Fletcher and concurrently trying to decide what he wants to wish for on his 18th birthday. It’s a hard life.

It took me a while to finish As You Wish, but I’m not sure if that's because the plot dragged on too long or if I was just more intrigued by other novels I was reading at the same time. My favorite part of this book by far was the chapters about other people’s wishes! It was unique and lovely to see the insight of the members of the Madison community and why they chose their specific wishes.

Unfortunately, I had to DNF this book as I positively could not stand any of the characters, and the story was boring and predictable. Eldon is a horrifically pretentious and unlikable character, and while I kept hoping that was intentional and he would progress into a better person, I never quite saw that happening. He blames everyone else for anything making himself unhappy in life, and is frankly just kind of a jerk to his friends. There's an attempt at a sad backstory to kind of make up for his attitude, but it just didn't work for me. Between Eldon and the slow-moving plot, sadly, I couldn't finish this one.

What would you wish for if you could wish for anything? For the kids in Madison they have the opportunity on their 18th birthday, but Eldon has no idea what to wish for and he has only 25 days left.

This book was quite interesting. Though I started out not liking many of the characters I enjoyed seeing how they evolved throughout the novel and finding out the backgrounds of many characters wishes from the past. This book raised some interesting questions about what we do with our lives and what we wish for. It was an interesting and enjoyable read.

Even though this book did have some redeeming qualities, they came too far along in the story for me to care when the characters reacted. I didn't really care about the characters themselves, especially Eldon, and so by the time his character did anything that would have redeemed him I didn't really pay attention.

The concept of the story even though its fiction (or at least we don't know it's true yet) it's completely relatable, the not knowing what to do, if you are making the right choice or if you have to make a choice in the first place tied with the focus of the plot to look for the "perfect wish", to not make a decision you will regret, that is what the main character Eldon fears the most.

We as human go through quite similar processes since we all fear to make mistakes, especially life changing ones. We see this present throughout the story in every character, some wish to not tell anyone about their wish, while others have to live with the consequences of what they wished for.

Loved the writing style and amazing plot. This book has very well developed characters, some romance and heartbreakes, action scenes and best of all, a lot of conspiracy theories!

I couldn't put this book down. It stuck with me while going about my daily chores. I had conversations about it with others. It really made me think and mull over the question - what if you only got one wish on your 18th birthday?

It only took me a few nights to finish and even now it's on my mind. I highly recommend this quick, light, and thought provoking read.

I loved this book. It's a wonderfully unique premise. What if you could have one wish granted? It will leave you wondering what your wish would be. Especially if you could only make this wish on your 18th birthday. At 18 would you have made the right wish? How would you feel if you were in high school in a town where the seniors suddenly look like super models or have amazing talent they never showed before on the football field? This story centers around Eldon and the lead up to his 18th birthday and therefore his wish day. He's seen what wishes have done to his family and his town so he knows how monumental his choice can be. I know this is a YA book but as an adult I still felt myself drawn in. You want to cheer on Eldon as his struggles with his choice. His character made great growth that was an interesting, if unexpected, reveal as we got to know him. There's a lot of sadness in his life and in his town but there's a lot of charm and humor to be found. His best friend is a conspiracy theorist who makes a great character. I do wish Eldon had shown more humor as he did in the opening of the book. The author has a great comic sensibility that I would have liked to see more of. After finishing this book I immediately went to download her other book to my kindle and will definitely be following her to hear about her next release.

Oh my gosh. I loved this book. I did not want it to end but couldn’t put it down. I wish I had written this book. I also want to quote Holden Caulfield in Catcher in the Rye, “what really knocks me out is a book that when you’re all done reading it, you wish the author that wrote it was a terrrifc friend of yours and you could call him up on the phone whenever you felt like it.” This is how this book made me feel. I wish I could call up Chelsea Sedoti and talk to her about her book. It was such an intriguing concept, people living in a town where they get to make a wish on their 18th birthday knowing it would come true. This book is reminiscent of John Green and Sarah Dessen. I loved the character development and Eldon was hard to like at some moments but I still empathized with him. I was proud of his choice for his wish. I look forward to reading more of Sedoti’s books.

Going into this book, I was neither blown away nor hooked by the synopsis. Heck, I don’t even recall reading the synopsis. However, once the author started peeling back layers of complexity, I began seeing these characters in a way that was rather epiphanic.

For instance, I realized Eldon was a bit of an unreliable narrator: he’s not looking forward to the prospect of wishing, and thus he skews everything to fit his own pessimistic outlook on the world. Furthermore, the idea of wishing is presented as a very precarious miracle–Madison is a small, dry town, but it is equally packed with content and regretful, practical and foolish, happy and miserable, 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.

And really, what ties all of this together is Eldon himself. I mean, he is a most riveting anomaly to analyze–I went through a tornado of feelings trying to form an opinion of him, from liking his mild cynicism, to hating his sense of angst and entitlement, to being put off by his selfishness and violence, before finally seeing the layers of redemption, perceptiveness, and kindness in him. Eldon is an utterly confused, troubled, and complex train wreck, and I love him.

In that, I think this book is terrific. The author likens wishing to both a religion or a cult in this book by suggesting the consequences of wishing is a double-edged sword, and I found the discussion perceptive and compelling: the analysis of what drives these characters’ lives and of what wishing can do for people is built up in one big narrative, and I had a blast puzzling all of it together.

Eldon is actually of the most interesting protagonists I’ve read in a long time. He’s self-absorbed, but not so self-absorbed that he can’t see other people’s pain, and I really like that; his temper and ego hamper with his decision-making skills, but he really is a character who innately recognizes the goodness in people and tries to protect such qualities in his own way, and I found that really beautiful about him. I mean, I counted at least five people Eldon claimed to hate in this book, yet he was 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?

Therefore, I recommend this book for ages 15 and up. It’s well-written, perceptive, and easy to read, and although it features strong language at times, nothing was too strong. Not to mention, the overall message of this book really hits the nail on the head when relating the idea of choice and consequence–teens and adults alike will be able to relate to this, so I do recommend checking this out when you have the chance.