How is this not what we ALL needed in 2020! It simply is! This anthology features witches, retellings, thieves, SCHWAB AND Libba Bray! This anthology brings so so much to the table.

This anthology is packed full, featuring 15 short stories that you are sure to love (or at least enjoy). A lot of these stories are quick and easy to devour and feature some wonderful characters to love. What's important and even so great about this one is LGBTQIA+ representation.

Definitely loved this book, and loved the idea of it being an anthology - which are so much easier to find time to read during the hustle and bustle of the holiday season.

This is the fourth anthology from We Need Diverse Books, and it doesn't disappoint. Bringing together fifteen awesome authors from many backgrounds and ethnicity to bring this book to you. Anthologies are awesome because while you may know and love some of the authors listed there are usually a few you have not heard of before that can take you on a journey to places you have not been before and than you have another series to read. This one has do that for me and I hope it does that for you as well.

I have written a mini review for each of the 15 stories in this anthology. (By mini review I mean 1-2 sentences).

A Universe of Wishes - Tara Sim
An M/M romance filled with magic and wishes. There is family tragedy but also the restoration of justice and hope. I really loved this one.

The Silk Blade - Natalie Parker
Female warriors competing for the bloom prince and instead may fall in love with each other. The potential was there but something with the writing didn’t sit with me so this was okay.

The Scarlet Woman - Libba Bray
I read the Gemma Doyle series back in the day and it’s not really a series I would have cared to return to. I also didn’t remember anything because it had been so long so I didn’t care for this one either.

Cristal y Ceniza- Anna Marie Macklemore
A fairy tale retelling with a transgender prince at the ball - I loved this one!

Liberia by Kwame Mbalis
Plants are being grown on the spaceship Liberia to save a colony.. this one left me slightly confused with what was going on so I wasn’t really sure what I read.

A Royal Affair - VE Schwab
I’m sure fans of this series would love this but for me I felt meh about it. That is all I have to say on this one.

A Takeback Tango - Rebecca Roanhorse
A thief meets another thief in the middle of a mission. I thought this was cute and I really liked the writing. I was excited to read this one in particular and it didn’t disappoint.

Dream and Dare Nic Stone
Dream and Dare are princesses who have to deal with gender norms. There is also something about a monster in the forest but that part kind of lost me a little bit. I love Nic Stone but this one left me feeling nothing so I was let disappointed.

Wish Jenny Balch
A genie is summoned and realizes he is in Venus instead of Earth. I liked this one and thought it was sweet.

The Weight Dhonielle Clayton
A new process where doctors can read your heart, telling couples if they are in love and may even hold other secrets. I wish this one was longer, I really enjoyed it.

Unmoor Mark Oshiro
Magic is used to get through heart break; memories of a loved one are erased. I loved this one. Must read Oshiro’s full novels!

The Coldest Spot In the Universe Samira Ahmed
The future earth has become an uninhabitable wasteland. There was no dialogue at all which I didn’t enjoy but again, there aren’t exactly people around in the novella either since it was basically an apocalypse story. Probably going to be reality one day..

The Beginnings of Monsters - Tessa Gratton
An architect artist who can completely redesign human bodies. This one was alright but I thought the commentary on gender was interesting.

Longer Than the Threads of Time by Zoraida Córdova 
A girl from the Dominican Republic is locked in a tower in New York. A brujo boy may be able to save her. This was a retelling of Rapunzel I enjoyed and wished it was longer.

Habibi by Tochi Onyebuchi 
Two prisoners in solitary confinement - one in Gaza and one in California find a way to communicate and develop a close relationship for each other. I loved this one.

A Universe of Wishes is a well rounded collection of different stories. The authors were a great lineup - I actually know who most of them are and have read their books or plan to read their books in the future. Great diversity in characters as well which was the point of this book so I thought that was well done. I don't really connect with short stories but there were quite a few I will have been thinking of. Some of them I really didn't like and skimmed over but you can't win them all. There was a lot more science fiction than I expected but there is also a good mix of fantasy and fairy tale retelling.

Thank you to Netgalley and to Random House Children’s for the advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Average Rating: 3.41 stars
Stories I was Most Excited For: The Silk Blake by Natalie C.Parker; Cristal y Ceniza by Anna-Marie McLemore; A Royal Affair by V.E. Schwab; Dream and Dare by Nic Stone
Favorite Stories: Cristal y Ceniza by Anna-Marie McLemore; A Royal Affair by V.E. Schwab; The Weight by Dhonielle Clayton; Unmoor by Mark Oshiro
Least Favorite Stories: The Silk Blake by Natalie C.Parker; Liberia by Kwame Mbalia; The Beginning of Monsters by Tessa Gratton

This was an pretty good anthology, not my favorite I've ever read - I think it had a bit too much sci-fi for my taste, but there was a lot of great stories with some excellent commentary.

A Universe of Wishes is a young adult fantasy collection of short stories written by several own voices authors for children. We Need Diverse Books has put together several collaborations, and this is their fourth entry. Fifteen different authors contributed, and each story is a wonder of its own.

The title story opens the collection and is a story of magic, loss, and burgeoning love between Thorn and Sage. "The Silk Blade" reminds me of the Lady and the Tiger, in that it has a very ambiguous ending. In "Cristal y Ceniza" the Cinderella tale is spun so that the LGBT in danger of being erased is the driving force for the Cinderella figure to go to the ball held in honor of the trans prince. V.E. Schwab's contribution, "A Royal Affair" is in the world of her Shades of Magic series, a prequel involving Rhy Maresh and Alucard Emery. Rebecca Roanhorse's short story is a science fiction heist, bringing artefacts back to the indigenous cultures they belong to. Other stories also blend science fiction with fantasy, bringing on the end of the world and the hope to be remembered.

Zoraida Córdova's entry, "Longer than the Threads of Time" blends the magic of the supernatural with New York City, Belvedere Castle in Central Park, and Rapunzel. I adore this story, and it gives me the same melancholy that approaches a book hangover. There's so much richness in it, it's as immersive as a full-length novel, and is easily my favorite story of the collection.

Overall, this is a fantastic book, full of diverse voices and ideas, different people all looking forward to a future they can belong to.

I recently finished A Universe of Wishes and oh my gosh, I loved it. In general, I like short story anthologies. When you get some of my favorite authors together for a diverse anthology, I absolutely love them. And every single story was amazing! I was incredibly impressed with this collection as a whole but I still did have favorites (namely the stories by Anna-Marie McLemore, Tara Sim, Zoraida Cordova, and Rebecca Roanhorse).

Overall, would definitely recommend this anthology!

There is so much to say regarding A UNIVESE OF WISHES that I’m going to have to just pick the highlights or I’ll be here all night.
This book is an anthology of diverse short stories by a set of incredible authors. I hardly skimmed the title and the author list before smacking request on NetGalley. There’s a nice balance of Sci-fi, Fantasy, Contemporary/Magical Realism spread out between fifteen stories. Some of them come from established worlds and others are fresh. I don’t usually find myself lingering on short stories for as long as I did, but some of these really stuck with me.
I’m a huge V.E. Schwab/ADSOM fan, so I was thrilled with ROYAL AFFAIR, but the story that really snuck up and smacked me in the feels as UNMOOR, by Mark Oshiro. The concept of removing triggers really stuck with me. I found myself wanting to revisit and digesting that story later. THE COLDEST SPOT IN THE UNIVERSE by Samira Ahmed was so bittersweet. There’s a lot of bittersweet in this anthology. A UNIVERSE OF WISHES by Tara Sim contained my favorite world. I wish it was a whole story. I also thought LONGER THAN THE TREADS OF TIME was a unique retelling.
Overall, this is a wonderful, fresh, anthology that I’d highly recommend. Each story is unique, well developed, and skillfully executed.

a great set of short stories! I enjoyed all of them a lot although I have to be honest (and maybe a bit biased lol) and say my favorite was V. E. Schwab’s! Anything from the A Darker Shade of Magic world I’ll automatically love as it’s my favorite series my her! But I totally recommend the entire book, all the stories are great!

I loved everyone single story, but from miss Schwab, Bray and Clayton are my favorites. See again characters you loved it's awesome. I recommend this one.

A Universe of Wishes is a wonderful collection of short stories told by various authors. Each story was exciting and different.

My top favorites were The Scarlet Woman, Cristal y Ceniza, Unmoor, and Habibi. The Scarlet Woman was automatically a favorite because I adore Libba Bray. Her work always continues to amaze me. Cristal y Ceniza was a beautiful Latinx and LGBTQIA story, and I wish it were a full-length novel. Unmoor had a sad ending that I just loved so much. And finally, Habibi, one of my favorite concepts is a story told through letters. This did not disappoint and I adored it from start to finish.

There were a few stories that I didn't care for but I think it's like that for most anthologies. But what does matter is the ones I did like. I love that there was so much diversity in these stories. Because the title is right, we do need more diversity in our books!

This is the kind of anthology I love reading, different stories about different people. highly recommend.

This was a really good book, filled with short stories of wishes and great stories. I really enjoyed it and will probably read it for years to come.

I typically find short story anthologies hard to review because if I didn't like one story, I don't want that to reflect on the book as a whole. Overall, I appreciated the diversity reflected in the stories and in the authors themselves. More of these, for sure.

This is literally my dreamcast when it comes to an anthology. I am HERE for all of these diverse stories. One thing I will say though is that some of these short stories is that they are continuation of character arcs that are already established in that author's writing, so I was a bit lost since some of those books I haven't read yet. I still highly recommend this anthology, but I would've much preferred them not to be connected to previous work.

Great compilation of stories. Only criticism is that some of the short stories don't stand alone very well, and if you've not read the attached series, you're not sure what's going on.

I was given this free review copy by Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. I love anthologies and this one did not disappoint. I was super excited my all these amazing authors. Each story was unique and pulled me in. The cover is also beautiful. I would definitely recommend this book.

This was one of my most anticipated reads of the year and it definitely did not disappoint! There are some absolutely incredible authors included in this anthology and their commitment to writing and popularizing diverse stories and characters is so amazing.
There are so many stories included and I truly think there will be something for everyone in the collection. There's romance, friendship, family and captivating magical aspects that make the whole book so special. Some of my favorite stories were A Universe of Wishes by Tara Sim, A Royal Affair by VE Schwab, Wish by Jenni Balch and Longer Than The Threads of Time by Zoraida Cordova.
While I didn't quite love every single story, I think that the anthology as a whole was wonderful. All of the stories were so well written and I'm sure that many other people will enjoy the ones that were not my personal favorites. I had so much fun reading this collection!
Thank you to NetGalley, Random House and all of the authors for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

I don’t read many anthologies but I was drawn to this one because of the list of all the amazing authors that contributed to it! I loved this collection and think that every reader will find a new story to add to their favorites. It was a really well-rounded collection and I liked that you could read them in any order. There were some stories I liked more than others, but overall I enjoyed reading them, and I got the chance to read work from some new authors. The diverse representation in this anthology was also really good and the cover is so pretty!

I think that this is perfect for any YA readers that enjoy the works of any of the authors featured and anyone looking for stories with diverse rep. This is a fantastic anthology and I can’t wait to add it to my shelf!

Book Review for A Universe of Wishes by Dhonielle Clayton
Full review for this title can be found at: @fyebooks on Instagram!

Much needed diversity and representation in this collection of short stories. The stories were all engaging and entertaining. If you enjoy sci fi and YA fantasy this book will be right up your alley. Thank you NetGalley for allowing me to review this book in exchange for an honest review.

A Universe of Wishes by Dhonielle Clayton, 416 pages. CENTERING ME, SHORT STORIES. Random House, 2020. $19. LGBTQIA
Language: R (46 swears, 0 “f”); Mature Content: PG13; Violence: PG13
BUYING ADVISORY: HS - OPTIONAL
AUDIENCE APPEAL: HIGH
In fifteen short stories, these authors write compelling stories with heroes that break the molds we are used to reading. Readers are invited to stretch their imaginations with a variety of genres and characters that allow for everyone to see pieces of themselves reflected.
Jumping from story to story was a little disorienting because I would forget that each was only a short story; I want to see where the stories would continue if allowed more than one chapter. The stories I liked the least were the two connected to series I am not familiar with, but all of the stories are bewitching. The mature content rating is for innuendo, nudity, and illegal activity; the violence rating is for gun use and mention of suicide.
Reviewer: Carolina Herdegen