Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for giving me a free advanced copy of this book to read and review.

Jones has combined an interesting group of elements here. We don't often see a book for a young audience like this with a parent battling addiction. That detail, while a relatively minor plot element, does a lot to inform Fiona's character. It is the reason behind her anxiety and need for control, her dislike for yelling and her compulsive need to help. I like the emphasis on setting boundaries, empowering children to say "I don't like that" or "this is the right thing for me". While the adult characters are fairly one dimensional, the kids are complex. A solid read

What a great book about hope and kindness. Fiona is sent to live with relatives while mom gets help for addiction. While staying with the quirky relatives, she decides to “grant wishes” to help them. In the end, it’s Fiona who finds helping others has also helped her.

E ARC provided by Netgalley

Fiona's mother has struggled with addiction on and off for quite some time, and has decided to go into rehab again. In order for her to do this, Fiona must go live with relatives. Luckily, she has Ms. Davis to support her. Fiona would like to be like Ms. Davis, and have her "fairy godmother" type powers, so she asks her mentor to give her tips on how to help her relatives. They are a sad lot, running a failing bakery in the town of Cold Hope. Aunt Becky makes a dispirited array of lackluster cookies and muffins that her mother, Alta, demands. Uncle Timothy really wants to draw and create art, but has been similarly shot down. Fiona starts helping at the bakery immediately, and encouraging Becky to make her favorites brings in new business. She also suggests that he aunt make up with her former best friend, who runs a bakery across town. In the library, Kevin the librarian is helpful, and Fiona meets Julia, who is the friend of her helpful contact person in Cold Hope, Mr. Rivera. The two become fast friends, and work to help Aunt Becky and her friend Annie by getting involved in a town festival where there will be a baking competition. Fiona finds that helping others can be complicated, and needing help from other people can be the most complicated thing of all.
Strengths: Especially here in Ohio, we are seeing more and more children affected by various types of addiction. Fiona's adjustment to a new family is realistically portrayed, and her positive attitude is somewhat unusual to see. It makes sense that she would feel more in control if she can help others. It is good to see that she has a strong support network, and there is a lot of discussion on coping techniques that will be useful to young readers. Books involving baking are always in demand, and the description of the coconut lime cupcake made my mouth water. There aren't a lot of books where a tween gets to see friendships of adults run into difficulties, so this was a nice twist. I wouldn't have known that there were references to Gibbon's 1936 Cold Comfort Farm if the preface hadn't warned me. I picked that up to read before hand (thanks to the Ohio Digital Library), and was pleased that I knew enough about 1930s British literature to understand the original AND that I could then pick out references in Happily for Now! Kelly Murphy's black and white illustrations are delightful.
Weaknesses: This is the slightest bit young for my readers because of the talk of becoming a fairy godmother, but this makes it even more appealing to the elementary school crowd.
What I really think: This is an interesting look at a young tween who is trying to help her family through hard times. Fans of Lambert's Family Game Night, Roske's Kat Greene Comes Clean , Lenz' Stepmom Shake Up, and Swartz's Smart Cookie will appreciate this upbeat approach to working through problems.

This was a whimsical and fun read! I adored how Fiona really wanted to help others, but wasn't always going about it in the best way. I think a lot of middle grade readers will like this one because of the whimsy and magic.

Thanks NetGalley for this ARC