Spoiler alert! If you don't want spoilers, look away!

Disclaimer: I received this book as an Advanced Reader Copy in exchange for an honest review; it took me too long to put it out, but I know what to say now.

This book and I have been on a strange journey together. I’m a writer, and back when I first read it, I was going through a season of growth and I had reached the stage of confusing style and formula. Over the past two years, I have slowly discovered so much to love about this story. In a way, it’s like I was following along with Bastiaan in learning to look at the heart instead of what I thought it should give me.

Myrthe was hard for me to relate to at first. She didn’t act like a seventeen-year-old (and of course I knew all about that because I was seventeen myself at the time). I didn’t realize back then that that was the result of her trauma and her grandmother’s manipulation. This last time reading it, I came to appreciate her complexity so much more. It’s still hard for me to get into the first-person POV, but I acknowledge that’s a stylistic choice.

Plus, her whole thing is she isn’t allowed to feel emotions. Emotions are what we use to connect to the characters, so she felt too passive. She spent more time reacting to others' actions than taking actions of her own. But later in the book, she starts coming out of her shell and is much easier to like.

Something I still don’t like (though it isn’t as bad as I previously thought and this is more of a stylistic choice again) is her romance isn't romantic. Nor is it a beautiful friendship blossoming into love. She just picks a guy, decides to love him, and then silences all the warning bells in her head so that she won't know he isn't loveable. It's weird. Yes, love is a choice. I personally prefer when a character doesn't make the choice to start loving a person, but when they realize that they do love them, they make the choice to keep loving them. I've noticed this in the *Out Of Time* trilogy too. The choice to love someone is often a choice we don't realize we’ve made until it happens, but Nadine's characters make the choice very verbally, even if only in their head. Fawkes handled the romance pretty well, though!

Plus, she can make wishes come true just by crying and everyone can find a thousand reasons to use a wish, so that adds a cool element to the story.

Bastiaan grounds the story and adds a wonderful balance to it just like Runt does for him. He adds a level of sanity to the confusion of rebellions and self-glorifying power-seekers and tries to calculate his moves, even if he’s stuck with the wrong equations. His Talent has become a crutch that he relies on too heavily, but I love how he started out just trying to help his mom and ended up saving the kingdom, even though he went about it the wrong way.

I love the way Runt has to ground Bastiaan whenever he comes home, how he and the mothers are the epitome of everything good in the world, but he still has a streak of human weakness that he doesn’t mind letting show, how he wants to be like Bastiaan but doesn’t know how and still keeps trying anyway. Runt’s personality is anything but. He grew up before his time, but he still has the heart of a ten-year-old.

And who wouldn’t want a friend, cousin, mother, coworker or queen like Anouk? She deserves so much better, but no one else could handle everything she did with such grace.

Sven, Oma, Hetti, and Mattias were all very well done and (mostly) believable. Until one remembers history, it’s hard to believe that anyone could be so ruthless as Hetti. She and Coralythe provided a dynamic to the story that is hard to find in fiction. Most stories antagonists are either a flat line of evil or a roller coaster of redemption arc that takes away from their character. They were a nice (and terrifying) change of pace.

I could go on about the worldbuilding, the themes, the wonder of the Well, the satisfying conclusion, etcetera, but this is getting long enough as it is. At the end of the day, I don’t think I’d mind if she ever wrote a sequel. As to what you will think of it, I guess it all comes down to whether you can really understand the characters and what they’ve had to go through or not.

This book has reached the tier of comfort-read for me, and I already look forward to the next time I read it!

Not every book is meant for every person, and although it saddens me to say this, this is one of those situations for me.

Thank you Nadine and Enclave! I appreciate the chance to read this book. Highly recommend Nadine's fiction to MG/YA readers, especially those seeking Christian themes.

Despite the fact that this isn't my favorite book by Nadine Brandes—largely because my tiny brain refuses to comprehend the complexities of magical fantasy—the fast pace, vivid worldbuilding, and cast of unique characters almost immediately pulled me in. Ultimately, I'm glad I stuck around to the end to witness the seeming chaos come together, resulting in a beautiful story arc of restoration and sacrifice.

Nadine Brandes has a very unique writing style. She builds up her stories and characters slowly, drawing you into their worlds and their lives and letting them sleep beneath your skin, so that when trouble strikes you feel the blow as though it was personal. Wishtress is a stunning, heartfelt story that left me longing for more. A beautiful book with a beautiful message.

Received an ARC courtesy of NetGalley and its publisher <3

Could not finish unfortunately. I just couldn't get in to it and continue reading so I had to quit. I think I will try again as the premise sounds so interesting to me.

Another fabulous book from Nadine Brandes! I love everything about Wishtress! Can't wait for her next novel!

At first glance knowing that this book is almost 500 pages can be a little daunting to some, I was able to read this in one sitting. This also isn’t one that I would normally read but Nadine seems to have a way to tell a story that keeps invested in her story because I have read a few books by her already and have loved the magical aspect she adds to her story’s.

I am conflicted here - while I recognize that this authoress is immensely talented and the story she is presenting in this novel has very interesting world build-up, colourful plotting and innovative set-up, I also think that she giving up the storytelling too much for the sake of presenting the morale of the story. And that morale is told quite clearly - I would even say that I prefer the rule of "the less is more" in my readings (but this is a personal preference). Let me name the fate of the queen Anouk here as an example (I find the "morale" of this story being simply infuriating).

But having said that - I will follow this authoress. Her talent is obvious!

I really enjoyed this book, it was very complicated and slow in parts, however the ending was really worth it.

I really enjoyed this one! The character development was so well done, especially for Myrthe and Bastiaan. I really appreciated that this story dealt with so many important themes like not being defined by your mistakes and having a choice in how you live your life.

I really enjoyed the twists and turns of this novel but got tired of the decisions made by the main characters.

The wishtress is about Mrythe who has the power to give wishes. When she is killed for a bad accident she causes, her world falls down around her. Our male love interest Bastiaan has one of the best and interesting powers. He can stop time for as long as he wants. We are introduced to him so wonderfully that I was hooked instantly.

What I didn’t like about this book was that banes were “evil” and talents were “good” which was intriguing at first but when we reached the end when people come together and have choices, they still determine it as evil. For literally no reason. Myrthe had a full scene with the nightwell befriending it and still banes are seen as bad? It just got tiring and was such a let down in the end. I’m actually wondering if it’s an allegory for the good and evil inside warring you and u have to choose good to be good??? But the nightwell was never even bad it just gave people talents that benefitted them. It just doesn’t make sense and really ruined the ending for me. The people started off being looked down on if they had a bane and it ended that way.

This book is published as Christian fiction which is notorious for having battles of good and evil so I really think that that’s what is happening here now that i think about it LOL Which is quite disappointing. Why let religion dictate how u write your fantasy fiction?

Still a great read though just know the ending isn’t very satisfying! And don’t even get me started on the final scene and how selfish it was.

This was simply a delightful story to read. Brandes has a writing style that has you enthralled in the story and her characters from the first page. I always looked forward to picking it up and even though 450 pages, I would happily have kept reading it.

The story is clever, Myrthe and Baastian are wonderful creations, so easy to have empathy for and to feel their emotions throughout the story. And the bad guys are bad! Sven and Mattias display all those characteristics of the self-absorbed narcissist.

And then there's this brilliant reflection on good and evil, the wonder and beauty of the Holy Spirit and the river of life.

There were many moments that I wasn’t expecting, and our heroes were stuck in situations that I wondered whether they’d be able to get out. It was brilliant storytelling and how Brandes weaved the good and evil and river of life metaphors throughout the story was tremendous to experience.

I can't recommend Wishtress enough and was thrilled to have been able to read it.

I was fortunate to have received an early ebook copy last year from the publisher via NetGalley and have only now read it. This had no bearing on my review.

This was a beautiful, heartbreaking, hopeful story. Never having read Nadine Brandes, I had no idea what I was getting into, but she created a beautiful fantasy world. A girl whose tears grant wishes and a boy who can stop time find themselves caught in a war between how and if magic should be used. They have to learn to trust themselves and each other, and find hope that the well of magic tends toward goodness.

The story reminded me a little of Carol Beth Anderson's books and has cemented Nadine Brandes as an auto-buy author for me. I look forward to seeing what she writes next.

I received a copy of this book from NetGalley and have reviewed it willingly.

Myrthe is born with a talent, causing her to become the Wishtress. When one day, one of her wishes goes wrong. As a result, a woman places a curse on her. If she ever sheds another tear, this one tear will kill her. She will need to take a journey to the Well to break the curse and save her life. This book offers a variety of characters. The plot was well-crafted and filled with twists I didn't anticipate. The romance is very slow-burn, very wholesome, I'll say, though, that this book has a few issues with pacing.

An addictive and enrapturing read. Nadine Brandes knows how to draw her audience in with beautiful prose and keep them reading deep into the night with her character arcs. I loved Myrthe's fierce determination. In the face of devastating odds, she forged ahead. Bastiaan is on a mission, and nothing will waylay him from reaching his goal. Not even his emotions. He and Myrthe go head to head as they both seek the Well and a cure for their ails. Myrthe's ability to create wishes brings up the notion of what would happen if you could wish for anything and everything you've ever wanted. These characters put their heart and soul into everything that they do. They have similar strengths and it was an interesting trip watching them become better versions of themselves. This is Christian fantasy at its finest. I received a copy of this book through NetGalley. I was not required to leave a positive review. All thoughts and opinions expressed are my own.

I received this book for free from netgalley for an honest review.

Magic in all the best ways possible! So happy I got this.

I was saving this book for a rainy day, and finally took the time to read it! I enjoyed the characters and the unique world that they live in. Az tad bit gory for my taste, but well written and thought provoking with the fantasy world revealing deeper truths.

I have often thought about what if years granted wishes. And Nadine brought that to life. A bit slow but I do love a character-driven book like this. Nadine is a lovely writer and I throughly enjoyed reading this novel.

[ARC REVIEW]

Nadine has given us another great story, yet again!
Some areas did leave me wanting for more, however.....
the characters and plot were very well written.
I didn't want to stop reading!

Thank you to NetGalley for allowing me early access to this book.