Oh no! I haven’t pushed the dnf button for any book for a long time! But I cannot go on however I tried sooooo hard!
I gave up. I’m at page 125 and I listen my inner voice kept screaming me; “Put the book down! Nice and slowly!” So I did as I’m told! I raised my hands to the air and surrendered!
I did my best to be patient! I uncounted sheep and drank triple shot espressos at the night time to focus on the story. (I sacrificed a great bottle of wine during my read which gives me more inner screams. Yes I silently cry now!)
But I felt like the author acted like a newbie cook who added so much ingredients to create her signature dish but all these ingredients didn’t fit well together and the result cane out something complicated.
One cup urban fantasy, two table spoon magical realism, two cups fables and one pinch of fairy-tales are not my ideal mixing for delicious book. The world building was confusing and I did everything I could but I couldn’t relate with the characters. They’re not layered, well-developed ones and I didn’t understand their struggles, motives, challenges, too. I didn’t feel for them so if there is no character or a great story to hold on to, I have no reason to continue!
So I did everything to get into the world that has been created by the author, losing myself with fairy-tale universe but it actually didn’t work for me!
I was so excited to consume this at one bite but it destroyed my teeth so unfortunately I needed to feed myself with another book to fight with my hangerness.
Special thanks to NetGalley and SOURCEBOOKS Fire for sharing this Arc Copy in exchange my honest review!
I wish I could like it more. I tried but unfortunately this is not my cup of wine!

I wanted to like this book, and I feel like it just wasn’t the story for me. Wicked As you Wish sounded very magical and unique, but I couldn’t tell how unique it was from the confusing world-building. I couldn’t decide whether it was a one-of-a-kind world or just a world that didn’t make sense to me. Mostly likely the latter as I still didn’t make sense of it by the end.

Character wise they were pretty one dimensional, and for me that’s the deciding factor on whether I like a book or not. Sure, there was some banter and some laughs, but overall when we focused on them I didn’t really care. And when it comes to a book, if I don’t care about the characters then I don’t care about their story. So sad to say this wasn’t for me.

The world building and magic systems in this book were a bit confusing and the mashup of fairytales felt a bit disjointed and messy. I liked the concept of the book but the execution wasn't for me. Rin Chpeco's writing style is great and she created some fun to read characters but the setting of the story made it hard for me to truly enjoy this read as much as I wanted to.

Firs of all, thank you to Sourcebooks Fire for an ARc in exchange for an honest review!

Tala's family was cursed, and she is a spellbreaker, much like her mother, Lumina. Living in Arizona of the Royal States, Tala and her family and the band of Filipina women are there to protect the single living heir to avalon: Alexei (or Alex). Avalon, a once great nation with the source of magical glyphs, has been frozen, blocking anyone from getting in or out, but a network of rebels under the Chesire have kept him safe this long.

Alex is nearing his eighteenth birthday, on for the Avalon heir, that means the firebird might appear. Ready to smuggle him out of the Royal States, Tala and her family are forced to flee with the firebird does indeed show up. Forced to leave behind her parents, Tala, Alex, and a bunch of highly-trained teens have to get Alex to safety inside of Avalon (of which they transport to by accident) to put him back on the crown and unfreeze the kingdom.

When I read the premise for Wicked As You Wish, I was so excited! This is such a magical book, andn ot only is the writing humorous, it's clever. My only reservations about this book is the amount of things going on. This is basically every fairy tale ever thrown into a single story that sets in an alterenate, magical world. It sounds super cool, and while it is and I really like the characters and the relationships, it just felt like too much at times.

The characters have a lot of good and bad, so they felt real and easy to relate to. On the other hand, the amount of new terms and the ease with which names and places aree thrown into the story was a bit confusing. The minute I grew accustomed to a new type of magic or a specific term, I got another. And there are paragraphs where they name off all of these supposedly famous people that are names of actual fairy tale characters.

Over all, I enjoyed it, but I wish she'd cut back on the amount of stuff she was trying to throw in there! I definite must read, just be patient! Excited for book 2.

This book is action packed. It’s fun. It’s critical. It’s exciting. It better have a sequel. For fans of fractured fairy tales from around the world...this is for you.

This book was utterly fantastic, I just couldn't put it down! I loved this world, with fairy tales being a part of history, the magic and the rules there, and the country of Avalon, with it's different quirks. Such a fantastic read!

Of course, the characters inhabited this world with such life, I loved reading and watching the adventures of Tala, Prince Alexei, and the gang! Their journey from Arizona to Avalon was strange and exciting and terrifying. Loved it so much!

One thing that I absolutely loved about this book were the chapter headings, I believe, that were hilarious and gave a brief synopsis of something that's going to happen that chapter. Those were just such fun to read!

We were mainly in Tala's head, but there were times when there were parts of the story where she wasn't there, and it was pretty funny to see these other characters have these experiences that you have to laugh, smile, and roll you eyes at the antics that they got up to!

That ending, oh, man, it was just so epic! We're given hints and clues as to what would happen, after all, we're given prophecies. But those are always vague. And we didn't see all of them play out yet, and I can't wait to find out how they are! So excited for more from this series!

Wow, this book was just so fantastic, I loved and devoured it, and I can't wait for the sequel!

This book was just simply not for me. It felt on the younger side of YA and I was confused about all the different ‘fandoms’ and fairy tales clashing in one story.

Loki and the Cheshire Cat were in the same world. The Snow Queen had ‘ICE’ agents. Rapunzel was mentioned too. It just didn’t make sense to me.

The best part of the book were the chapter titles. They were humorous and kept the story going.

I probably would have DNFed this but I felt committed to finishing it to see if I liked the outcome: unfortunately I didn’t.

An interesting premise and world, but it was dry for me. I had a hard time connecting to the story and finally gave up at 65%.

Wicked As You Wish was a very strange book. The setting integrates a bunch of separate fairy tales and real world places into one gigantic world. There's somewhat confusing magic (laws and usage are a bit murky throughout the story), ice queens, ice maidens, swords in stones, Cheshire cats, and a lot more mixtures of various tales. There's a band of warrior teens fighting agains the ice queen to regain the throne for the once presumed dead prince of Avalon. Lots of battles and tricky ensues. This one looked like it was going to be more fun than it actually was. Ugh.

I’m having a hard time reviewing this, as I just could not get into this book. Characters and dialogue fell flat, and the whole thing was so disinteresting that finishing it was a chore rather than a joy.

This book screams Filipino pride and I love every bit of it. Tala Warnock is the Filipina heroine we're waiting for and this gem delivered the Filipino myth-induced story we are craving for such a long time. Props to Rin for delivering another astonishing novel.

Wicked As You Wish is Rin Chupeco's first attempt at a novel which she ultimately put aside after multiple rejections. I suspect minimal revisions went into the release of the work once she was able to sell it on the strength of her Bone Witch series as there are more than a few errors in logic, world building, and flaws that most professional editors would pick up. That being said, the story is addictive and the world (which combines global folklore and what I can only describe as the magical spectrum of Disney films) is incredibly intriguing and wonderfully rich. It is supposed to be the start of a new series and one I am very much looking forward to, particularly if subsequent books are new productions that make use of Chupeco's increased skill.

#WickedAsYouWish
Thank you to Edelweiss and Sourcebooks for the E-Arc copy of Wicked As You Wish.
An excellent fast-paced fantasy that will have you cheering for the prince and his cohorts. It is filled with fantasy, but gives the reader a reality check with them being stuck in Arizona of all places.