Member Reviews
beautiful story about friendship and love. emotional story
Thank you for allowing me to read this book for review. At this time I am not writing a review for it as I had a hard time staying connected to the characters and the stroryline. I am more than happy to share the book and promote it on my blog though as I know that just because I didn't love it doesn't mean others won't.
This author knows how to write characters that makes the reader feel like they personally know them. She does it in a way that makes you feel personally invested in their story and because of this the emotions run high!
I absolutely loved this story! Sure, we get heartbreak but it is still so beautiful. Everything from the characters to the story line and everything in between. The author out did herself with this one! While we get tragedy, there is a little of humor to help break it up so it's not all tears. This story focuses on the emotional connection with the characters. Yes, we do get a little steam but those are just the sprinkles on the cake. the added bonus. This story is about the raw emotions from love, friendship, and forgiveness. It was all just so beautiful!
This is another knock out story from Tara Sivec! It's so well written, you can just see all the thought that author put into this story. Very well done!! This is a book that everyone should read!.
I am a big fan of Tara Sivec, espically her more serious books. She has a way on completely immersing you in a story. She will break your heart then heal it back! Wish You Were Mine is a friends to lovers romance that is full of angst and heart. I do wish her books had more dialogue, at times it read slower than it would have had there been more dialogue. I will say that me personally I am a dialogue lover so I always want more. That being said it was a great story and I can't wait to see what she brings next.
I have read Tara’s comedic books before and I have enjoyed them. So when I saw the blurb for Wish You Were Mine, I knew I had to read this book. I just thought it would be fantastic and it did not disappoint. The prologue had me hooked and I couldn’t wait to see how the story would go. It was happy, it was sad. It was sweet, it was lovely. My emotions went through the gauntlet. I really felt for Cameron and Everett. These two were great and I loved seeing their journey throughout the book. And Aiden was just the best-loved him. Tara gives a good story and I couldn’t get enough of it. Wish You Were Mine was a wonderful heartfelt read.
I have chosen not to finish this title. While I appreciate the emotion, it was too much of their guilt and angst. I was not able to connect with them.
Thanks.
Believe it or not, I have never read a Tara Sivec novel until now. I have seen so many good things about her books, so when I had the chance to review her newest release, I knew it was my time to finally pick one up!
Everett has been gone for five years. And for five years, he hasn't spoken one word to Cameron James, the girl who stole his heart when they first met as kids, but also the girl he knows he can never be good enough for. Cameron is angry. For five years, she hasn't seen or heard from Everett and he struts into her camp like no time has passed at all. But Cameron finds herself needing Everett to save their camp for military families and kids and she'll do anything to save the place that was her entire childhood and future.
Wow, from the moment this book starts, you are hit with an immense amount of emotions. Everett and Cameron's best friend to their trio since they were kids has passed away and both of them are trying to recover. Everett has been gone for five years, though, and doesn't know how to reinsert himself into Cameron's life. I was in love with Cameron and Everett and was rooting for them so hard to make it work and get together. Both of them, though, are so broken at the beginning of this book and it's heartbreaking watching them try to learn to trust each other and get over the fears that have been plaguing them their whole lives.
I will say, the ending was pretty predictable and I was just waiting for the predictable stuff to happen when the rest of the story kind of slowed down a bit. Other than that, though, I really loved this book and the little quirks that made Everett and Cameron's relationship so special. I loved their connection to their friend that had died and their long, heartbreaking history together. And talk about a slow burn romance! There was so much chemistry between them but also so much history that made them resistant to that chemistry.
While this was my first Tara Sivec book, this is definitely not going to be my last! She delivered so much emotion, heartache, and strong physical attraction that I could not put this book down. I was obsessed with Everett and Cameron for about 80% of the book until things slowed down and got a little predictable. Other than that, though, this book was amazing and such a sweet romance!
I LOVE THIS BOOK.
It is one of my favorite books of the year.
I don’t really know what I expected. I guess naturally I expected a good read since the author is Tara Sivec but good doesn’t even begin to describe this book. It is on a whole different level. Everything I love about contemporary romances is inside this book. There’s a fake relationship, a second chance romance, it’s friends to lovers, it is steamy, exciting, heartbreaking, emotional, unique and thrilling. It made me cry and almost puke my heart from the emotion overload. I haven’t enjoyed a book so much in a while.
This time I’m not giving a small summary of what happens in the story because the synopsis already gives you everything you need to know before you begin reading this book. Also because this book destroyed me and I’m not able to work properly with this book hangover I’m carrying around today. I will say that it is told from two point of views, you get glimpses of the past and it is perfectly paced in my opinion.
It wasn’t hard to connect with the characters in this story. Actually, almost immediately I fell in love with every single one of them. They are not perfect, but who wants perfect anyway?
Everett, the main male character, has always felt like he wasn’t enough. He’s never been the happy-go-lucky type like his best friend. He’s more on the quiet, doesn’t-really-talk-about-his-feelings, doesn’t-smile-much side of the spectrum.
Cameron, the main female character, is a strong independent woman. She had a great childhood with great parents and great friends. For the last five years she’s been hurting and now she’s hurting even more. But that’s how it usually goes. Like some say, it’s going to get worse before it gets better and all that.
In a nutshell, it’s a good thing y’all can’t see my face right now because I have the ugliest bags/dark circles under my eyes because of this fantastic read and I wouldn’t want it any other way. I hope you believe me when I tell you it is one of my favorite books of 2017 and I cannot recommend it enough. It is one of those reads that make you wish you could reread immediately after you finish reading it or at least once a year just to refresh your memory. If you are on a reading slump, you should totally try picking up this book. You won’t be able to stop reading and you’ll have the best time.
Reviews by the Wicked Reads Review Team
Avid Reader – ☆☆☆☆
M/F Romance
Triggers: Click HERE to see Avid Reader’s review on Goodreads for trigger warnings.
This is the story about three friends who believed that they would always be friends. Their friendship would span the decades. However, when life gets in the way and communication is lacking due to naivety and being scared, their friendship cracks, leaving pieces among the stars.
Aiden, Cameron, and Everett meet as little kids. Cameron is a few years younger, but knows how to hang with the guys. Cameron and Everett have always had a thing for each other, but both were too scared to make anything of it – nobody wanted to change or lose the friendship that they had.
Everett needs/wants to follow his dreams and become a doctor like his dad. In doing that, he knows that he'll be leaving behind the love of his life, but his dreams come first, and he believes that Cameron would be better off with Aiden.
A few years later, Everett receives a letter from Aiden essentially telling him to get his butt home and take care of Cameron. Aiden has passed due to having cancer and Everett has to come to terms with not being able to save his friend and has to learn that he might have broken his friendship with Cameron forever.
Watching Everett and Cameron fight for their happy ending was painful, slow, and sometimes tedious. But, in the end, it's worth the fight. I actually really hope that Everett's brother gets his own story.
Jordan – ☆☆☆☆☆
Wish You Were Mine was a bit of a slow start for me, but once I got into it I was completely sucked in until the very last page. This was my first time reading Tara Sivec, but I am certain it won't be the last! I am looking forward to seeing what she writes in the future because Wish You Were Mine was the perfect package. I found myself completely invested in the story and thoroughly committed to finding out how Everett and Cameron’s story would end. The story was well paced and I enjoyed being able to see how Everett and Cameron’s relationship had grown through their years of friendship. Plus, I loved the alternating points of view between Everett and Cameron, which allowed for a deeper insight into both characters’ emotions. This was a lovely friends-to-lovers story that was engaging and heartwarming from start to finish.
When Everett finally receives a letter from his childhood best friend, while abroad working with Doctors Without Borders, it changes everything. After last five years abroad, he’s going home. Everett, Aiden, and Cameron have been best friends since they were kids, but when he left he promised himself he wouldn’t stand in the way of his two best friends’ happiness. He believed Cameron deserved better than him, but now that he’s back he’s determined he won’t watch the woman he loves slip away again.
Wish You Were Mine by Tara Sivec gets FIVE STARS.
Veronica – ☆☆☆☆
Just reading the prologue of Wish You Were Mine had me tearing up, so I suspected I was in for a great romance and I was right. There is so much love and history between best friends Cameron and Everett it was easy for me to get lost in their lives. I love that we are taken back to times in their teens and 20s to see pivotal moments in their relationship that explain how they ended up where they are today.
There is a good dose of angst and heart ache in this story and it had me in tears several times. There are also fun times that had me laughing and sexy times too. But Cameron and Everett's inability to get their act together started to get annoying, but the annoyance was brief as things moved along.
Tara Sivec is one of my very favourite authors and she has given us another fabulous romance with Wish You Were Mine. If you are a fan of friends-to-lovers romances, don't miss this.
Ruthie – ☆☆☆☆☆
Oh, Ms. Sivec has done it again... a really entrancing and emotional read. Having discovered her through reading her Chocolate Lovers series, it has been a delight more recently to recognise that her talents lie in romance as a whole, not just the madcap – although I am not sure anyone can beat her in that genre.
I have to admit to not being a big fan of books which step backwards and forwards in time, and coupled with the alternating points of view, it took a little time to get into the book – but that did not detract from the quality, nor my desire to know how on earth such a past could lead to resolution now. Of course, knowing how both of them feel is supremely frustrating as the opportunities they had were squandered, but the 'everything happens for a reason' philosophy comes into play.
Be prepared for a few tears, and a few gasps – the reactions of these two are real, raw, and emotional. Thankfully they have good friends who have their best interests at heart, and are not shy at pointing out there are two sides to every story.
Really fabulous book – put into my top category of books to re-read. Thank you, Ms. Sivec.
What can I say about Tara Sivec that I haven't already said? Her books crush me, entice me and pull me in every damn time!
My goodness - Everett is a man who will make your heart weep then grow back larger than before. He's so torn in his love and loyalty to his friends. To see what's he's given up to be the man he is today is awe inspiring. God, he's so damn swoony!
Cameron is not unlike Everett, she's broken but managing to keep her life, somewhat, together. In comes Everett to save her butt, even though she can't admit it's what she wants or needs from him.
I loved Shelby and Eli's story (The Story of Us) and she's the daughter who's grown to be a beautiful and ambitious woman.
Great romance, angst, misunderstanding and second chances - what more could you ask for in a book? Another amazing book from Tara Sivec!
Received an ARC for an honest review.
This was a really great read. There was so much that Sivec got in here and every single part of it made it a wonderful read. Everett and Cameron and Aiden have been best friends since they were little, but it was always Everett and Cam that had the connection. When Everett finally comes back home to deal with the consequences of Aiden's death, he realizes that his connection with Cam is still there, even after half a decade and a world away. While she's not exactly happy to see him, he steps in to help her out when she finds herself in a bind and uses it to his advantage.
Watching these two find their way back to one another, while also getting flashbacks of how they were as kids and even young adults, was great. It's like the whole world knew they belonged together but they refused to see it for themselves.
While this did have some heat, especially as they were fumbling around, trying to figure out how to push their friendship to the next level, Wish You Were Mine was all about heart and emotion. It broke my heart and managed to put it all together again in under 300 pages.
Great read.
Three best friends until a misunderstanding had one making the decision to follow his dreams.
I loved that is it was a second chance love story with your first love but I really wanted to smack some sense into Everett!! He felt something for Cameron the first time he saw her and yes even though Aiden had a crush on her Everett never acted on it.
Fast forward a couple of years and seeing how everyone tells Everett that Cameron and Aiden are perfect for each other he chooses to stay quiet and not profess his love for her. Well, fast forward a couple of years and we see how choosing to stay quiet rather than speak up works out for Everett...not well because the damage is already done.
Everett has done everything in his power to forget about Cameron and Aiden yet the letter he receives has him coming home, there is no welcoming parade just silence and regrets.
Cameron was proud that Everett was able to follow his dreams, after all she followed hers and is now running the camp her parents have had for years. Her sadness and guilt remind her everyday that she has no one now.
Cameron & Everett's reunion had me rooting for Cameron because she was not going to act like they were still BFF when in the end Everett choose to leave her without any explanation.
There was plenty of angst and soooo many misunderstandings that I had hoped that they would ask before assuming what the other one was thinking or wanting. I loved Cameron and Everett towards the end but they really tested my patience.
It's still a beautiful story about love, forgiveness and a shot at second chances.
Move over The Notebook!
I think this book would be a perfect chick flick movie!
Tara’s writing is so heartfelt and emotional in this book.
A true switch from some of her other book series.
Some of the best elements in this book are suspense (keeps you guessing until the end), love, romance, and a very pivotal turn of events.
I did not tear up at all through this book as some people have mentioned.
I love the relationship that Everett,Cameron, & Aiden build when they were kids. And I love how this relationship continues throughout their lives. It’s very endearing.
Out of this life long friendship develops a very complicated romance.
“That old saying about two ships passing in the night…nothing could describe Everett and me better. One of us is always passing the other by.” -Cameron
I liked that the author doesn’t reveal all the characters secrets at once.
There were many times when I thought I had the book figured out, only to be surprised when it didn’t go as I expected.
Which is awesome, because if the book is too predictable I find myself becoming bored.
I hope you enjoy reading this book as much as I did.
4.5 Stars
When Everett Southerland receives a goodbye letter from one of his best friends, the tenuous grip he had on his life starts to unravel. Now upon his return, the life he left behind five years ago is not waiting for him… and he will do anything he can to rebuild it and the unrivaled friendship that he once shattered.
Cameron James has lost a lot recently. Although she has been healing and moving forward in life, the return of Everett may break her beyond repair. But when he offers his help, and declares his desire to rebuild their friendship, will she be willing to risk it all on Everett again…
This was a heartwarming and wonderful read. Everett has spent his life being a mess, until he graduates medical school and finds his calling in Doctors Without Borders… but in turn leaving behind his two best friends. Cameron has always been the rock that Everett could rely on. She was genuine, selfless and strong… all things Everett thinks he doesn’t deserve. When he returns, Cameron can not fathom a world where she would ever forgive him… until he starts to convince her of what she has always meant to him…
A beautiful, friends to lovers romance, set over the course of an epic friendship, and where if you make a wish enough it may just come true…
I received a complimentary copy of this book for my honest and unbiased review.
Do you have that why-haven’t-I-read-it-before author? Well this just happened to me.
There is no more beautiful way to “know” an author than with a book you fell in love from the beginning.
From page one be ready with tissues and keep some near you while you read it.
I am so in love with this story and the way the author wrote it, the story, the characters, the struggles.... more than once I wanted to get in the book and shake Cameron and Everett to face their fears and finally come clear with each other.
Everett, Cameron and Aiden have been best friends for most their lives, always inseparables, while growing up some feelings intensify and their personalities make everything confusing for them, while Everett was the shy troubled guy, Aiden was an easy going guy always so sure of himself with the perfect future ahead of him, so Everett thought he will never be enough for someone like Cameron, another shy girl afraid to show her feeling towards one of her best friends, afraid to lose their friendship and lose him forever.
“Who the hell am I to think I’m good enough for someone like Cameron? A man from a broken home, who’s getting ready to go to a third world country, with nothing to offer her but a life of worry and waiting and wondering when I’ll come back home to her”
Everett comes home after being away working with Doctor Without Border, -He stays away because he thinks their friends are happier without him, together- but what he experienced is not easy and add the guilty he feels when he finds put he wasn’t for his best friend when he needed the most and that makes him to stay away of Cameron.
Aiden is that friend that can cheer you up even when he is not in the best place, the friend that will always ALWAYS be by your side no matter what. He was my favorite character. And he will make their best friends open their eyes to see what they had missed for being afraid.
So, Aiden has always been there for both his friends, but so more for Cameron. She takes over her parents non-profit organization to help veterans and their families, this job is everything for her and her only focus to get day by day. When she loses Aiden, she feels so lonely because the only one who can help her get through this and understand her is not there for her.
Cameron is this super girl, well, I liked her, because let’s be honest, who keeps two older boys, specially during their teen-years, as friends and do whatever she wants? That’s her, she really is special.
“You’ve traveled around the world, you’ve saved lives, you’ve become a goddamn hero to strangers. Now it’s time to be a hero back here at home, where you belong”
Convince someone like Everett that he deserves all his wishes come true is not easy, but Cameron and Aiden will help him to see everything is on the open for him to make the move to become true those wishes. Cameron once let her fears get the best of her and made her lose her wish but now, she won’t let that happen again and will do anything to make it true.
“You’ve always been good enough for me to love you back”
This is not your typical love triangle story, this is a story of friendship, love, secret, misunderstandings, forgiveness and to believe wish can come true. Accept that the mistakes we did in the past lead us to who we are and made us wiser to value what we have now.
I cried from page one to the last page and meanwhile I laughed and cried at the same time, my heart was broken more than once and then put together, I want to hold this story close to my heart and never let it go. I am still trying to get my emotions together after finish this beautiful heartwarming story.
This is a beautiful story of friendship and love, with a prologue that had me in tears! For years, Aidan, Everett and Cameron were the Three Musketeers, living by the motto "all for one, one for all". But things haven’t been the same since Everett accomplished what he had set out to do and became a doctor in poverty stricken countries with Doctors Without Borders. He hasn’t been home for more than four years and has lost touch with Cameron. But he has finally come home after Aidan’s death.
Cameron is angry and heartbroken, Everett left and never looked back. Despite his feelings of guilt, Everett knows the time has come to restore their friendship. His dreams took him away from Cameron, but she is very dear to him.
Everett first struck me as incredibly complicated and insecure, but he was sweet, hot and honorable. Cameron was independent and stood up for herself. Despite Aiden’s efforts, she hasn’t figured out how to be happy since Everett left. She hates that she missed Everett so much and she is convinced he will eventually push her away again.
Emotional scars and life choices work against them but some things are just worth fighting for. Their bond hasn't died in all those years, but now they're adults and mature enough to be in a relationship built on mutual trust and respect.
Flawed, complex characters make this book an interesting and poignant read. It dragged in a few places but, for the most part, progressed to a satisfying conclusion.
Cameron, Everett and Aiden met as children and were best friends at the summer camp run by Cameron’s parents. Camp Rylan the wonderful backdrop, was created by Shelby and Eli years earlier (from The Story of Us) as a haven for military families who's loved ones came back from service damaged or didn't come back at all. This story stands alone and gives us a view from then to now of how the camp has grown and evolved.
I was swallowed and wrung out with the prolog and gloriously happy with the epilogue. The story between is of honest misunderstandings and mistakes made by immature kids that have a long term impact on their triangular relationship.
Their second chance at love is given to us in current happenings seamlessly interspersed with glimpses back in time to choices and missed opportunities that have brought them to their crossroads. I loved seeing through their eyes as young teens as well as young adults and their thoughts that all seem so important at the time. Nobody is more dramatic and thinks they know everything with absolute certainty than teenagers. Seeing from mainly Cam and Everett's alternating POV with a bit from Eli made me feel so invested, like I'd known then for years as well. (I would have enjoyed more from Eli to be honest.)
There are things going on at the camp and people pulling at them from their current lives that make for excellent drama. Now that Everett is fully back after five plus years absent, they have to put in the work and get past their issues to become more, better, in love
Tara Sivec really delivers an emotional, touching friends to lovers story with Wish You Were Mine! Oh the feels from this book! Everett, Cameron and Aiden were best friends as kids, you know the kind where you make life-long pacts to always be there for each other, the kind where you have secret special traditions, just the very best kind. But as always, life mixes things up a bit and this book is the journey to see if those childhood wishes can come true.
The book starts with a major punch to the feels, man it got me right away, but it really does set the tone for Everett and his journey back to Cameron. Upon finishing school, Everett decides to follow one of his dreams and become a doctor with Doctors Without Borders. It means giving up on his other dream of Cameron loving him as much as he loves her, but he doesn’t think he’s good enough for her and believes it’s for the best. But five years later, he’s back but now Aiden is gone and Everett is falling apart and afraid to see Cameron in that condition.
Cameron works hard to keep her family’s camp running, it is something so special to her and she refuses to give up. She’s still dealing with the pain of losing Aiden and Everett’s disappearance from her life, but she’s trying. That is until one day Everett shows up at the camp and every emotion is there and just raw. It also happens to be the same time as a surprise visit from someone who may be able to save her business and events throw Everett and Cameron back together right then and there.
These two have been in love with each other their whole lives, but neither has been brave enough to admit it to the other person. There’s been hurt and misunderstandings but when these two finally figure it out – well it was just beautiful. Even though they are kind of forced into friendship again, it really gives them a chance to be together and finally open up. I really liked both Cam and Everett and was definitely rooting for them the whole time. The love these two have for each other, and have had since they were kids, can really be felt. This is a wonderful love story with it’s share of drama but also humor and life-long love! Another touching read from Tara Sivec that will definitely stay in my heart!
I forget at times that Tara Sivec can write some of the most emotional driven books that I have read. I want to keep her in that hilarious column in my mind and I need to break that habit. Wish You Were Mine was emotional, it was angsty, and had my heart cracking. Wish You Were Mine is a second chance romance, a best friends to lovers, romance.
I think the way that Ms. Sivec went about the story line between Cameron and Everett and also Aiden was a beautiful and heartbreaking thing. I loved getting the glimpses of their past I think that is what made it such an emotional book. And don’t let me get started on that prologue, that right there had my emotions starting and had me knowing instantly that I needed to keep the tissues and wine close at hand because I was going to need it and I did. Mistakes, misunderstandings, stubbornness and time can all cause pain but it is how you work to move past that is what matters. Cameron and Everett’s story will take you on an emotional rollercoaster ride, and it is one that I would willingly ride again because I am sure in between my crying fits I missed something.
My words are not doing this book the justice it deserves so I am going to end this review with this final thought. Make wishes upon the stars, sometimes those wishes will come true.