A magical book that is about books and dreams where wishes just might come true. This book reminded me of my childhood and love of books all wrapped up in a warm hug. I wish Clock Island was real and the Clock Island books that the main character in this book wrote were real. This book is a keeper.

This was a DNF for me. I just couldn't get into the story no matter how hard I tried. The writing was good, and characters were engaging; this title just wasn't for me. Thank you for the opportunity to read it.

The Wishing Game by Meg Shaffer

Make a wish. . .But be careful what you wish for. . . You might just get it.

Lucy Hart grew up with parents that did not love her. Her sickly sister got all the attention and Lucy grew up with her grandparents. One day, while Lucy was in the waiting room of the hospital, she picks up a book in the Clock Island series written by a famous author, Jack Masterson. The book takes her mind into another world, one where children make wishes and hope they come true. Clock Island is a magical place, one that holds many secrets. As a child, she dreams of having Jack Masterson as her father. One day, she runs away and ends up on Clock Island. She meets Jack and the illustrator of his books, Hugo Reese. And that begins her story.
Lucy is down on her luck financially, working as a teacher’s aide and tutoring a foster boy, Christopher. She wants nothing more than to adopt Christopher and live more financially secure. This just might happen when Jack Masterson announces that he has written a new book and there will be a contest to try to win it. I don’t want to say anymore so nothing gets spoiled for the reader.
This was such an intriguing and interesting book. I was captivated from the start; it was easy to read and the author allowed you to play along with the clues. You can’t help but root for Lucy with all that she has been through. She has to answer clues and face her fears in order to try to win. You also fall in love with Christopher, Jack and Hugo.
This was a debut novel for Meg Shaffer and I will certainly be awaiting to see what she writes next. If you like magical realism, a bit of romance, guessing games and family issues, this is the book for you.


Many thanks to NetGalley and Penguin Random House for allowing me to read an ARC of The Wishing Game in exchange for my honest thoughts.

The Wishing Game by Meg Shaffer is a bit of a mystery about a reclusive children's author who decides to write one more book and host a competition to go along with the new book's release. Jack Masterson, the author of the Clock Island series, invites four contestants to his remote island home. This story was absolutely delightful and each of the characters were so fascinating to follow. Highly recommend! Thanks to NetGalley for the free digital review copy. All opinions are my own.

Oh, Readers All! Are you in the midst of a many-paged tome, lost in the details, and need a rest? Are you cowering in the corner under the explicit details of your latest uber-horror yellowback title, rattling away, offbeat-maraca-style? Are you weighed down under studential virtuosity, textbooks aplenty, mixed so thoroughly you are creating new theories all by yourself? TAKE A BREAK, AND READ THIS BOOK!

It is Charlie, the Chocolate Factory (and don't forget Mr. W!), and Dorothy in Oz (even a little Wicked!), and all the longings about life found in Anne of Green Gs, with a dash of Jo's sassiness thrown in. Is it Romance you require? There's a tolerable tad. Which is not to say this is just for the feminine. . .oh no! I'm just feminine, therefore you are stuck with my perspective!

Bottomline: you will be tempted to think this is a fantasy. It is anything but, as I just now realized! It is a guide and a resting place in the wild ride that is a Reader's Life. It will be a throwback for some, an enchanting rest stop for others, and for most will be the answer to the question they've been asking for a long time. . . .Will I ever get my wish?

Read it! x 5!!! (More specifically = Read it! Read it! Read it! Read it! Read it!)

*A sincere thank you to Meg Shaffer, Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine, and NetGalley for an ARC to read and review* #TheWishingGame #NetGalley

Thank you to Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine, Ballantine Books And NetGalley for an arc copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Loved this book! Written like a children’s scavenger hunt for adults. Our MC Lucy is entered into a contest to win a prized book from a famous author (think a new Harry Potter) that no one else will have. Lucy is working paycheck to paycheck and is hoping to adopt a child that she has grown to love like her own, but she can’t afford to advance herself in life. This may just be the break she needs! So off we go onto an adventure of mystery, puzzles, romance and thrills.
A fun adventure story for adults.

The wishing game is a heart felt story of love loss and what's it's like to just be a kid. Lucy is a teaching assistant who is barley scraping by estranged from her family. When she meets Christopher a little boy who's lost his parents and is getting passed from foster home. To foster home. She wants to adopt him to give him a safe place. Though life has other plans so she shares what helped her at that age the clock island books.. Enjoyed how everything came together.

Thank you netgalley and the publisher for the chance to read this digital arc. All opinions are my own.

Lucy Hart, a teaching aide, longs to be a mother to Christopher Lamb, a boy who was tragically orphaned. However, Lucy can't afford it, and she is resigned to the fact that he will go to another foster home. Lucy was raised by parents who didn't love her, and she doesn't want another child to feel that way. When she was young, she read books to escape her loneliness, loving books by Jack Masterson about Clock Island. When he announces he will write another book, and award a prize to a special reader of his, Lucy hopes this will be a way for her to adopt Christopher.
The story is not what you would expect, there are disappointments and sorrow, but ultimately, it is a triumphant story. I loved the fact that books and stories are what saved Lucy and what helped her and Christopher form a trusting relationship. A beautiful heartwarming book.

Thank you to Ballatine publishers and Net Galley for an ARC to review. I had heard lots of praise for this book and dove in with high hopes. While I fond the book to be a quick read, I did not find myself being overly impressed or excited. I did feel for Lucy and Christopher and rooted for them the whole time, however some scenes just seemed to be filler to me and not needed for the overall flow of the story, whereas perhaps a few other topics would have benefited with a bit more detail. The riddles and game were cute but the best 'magic' and message of the story all wrapped up and seemed to happen in the last 10 percent of the book, perhaps then a bit rushed. Therefore, while the ending redeemed itself I felt a bit cheated with how fast it was over once it 'got good'.

Lucy Hart made it through an unhappy childhood thanks to the Clock Island book series by mysterious author Jack Masterson. Now she’s 26 and loves sharing the books with Christopher, a young boy at her school. Lucy wants nothing more than to adopt Christopher out of the foster care system and she may finally get her chance. Masterson has written one final book and he’s going to give it to one person who can win his contest full of riddles and challenges. Lucy is invited to the actual Clock Island to compete and see if her wish can come true.

This was an enjoyable read but I expected it to be more about the details of the contest. Instead it explores the past trials Lucy, the other contestants, Jack and his cover artist Hugo have experienced. It’s a feel-good book that wrapped up a little too neatly for me. I guess I just wanted a little more action?🤷🏼‍♀️ Moderate amount of language, no steam.

Thank you to Random House Publishing Group for the advanced copy of The Wishing Game by Meg Shaffer.

This was such a fun read for me. I love a book about books! This book is advertised as "perfect for anyone who's dreamed of meeting their favorite author or entering the magical worlds in childhood stories." This felt so true. I have always been an avid reader, with visits to the library high on my list of fun activities! So the premise of a beloved children's book author bringing childhood dreams to adult reality was beautiful.

Lucy Hart had a lonely childhood and found solace in books. A favorite was the Clock Island series by Jack Masterson. So when Masterson announces a contest to win the only copy of a new book, Lucy is thrilled at the chance to change her life for the better.

Masterson gives off Willy Wonka vibes, but books instead of chocolate. :) There are puzzles to solve, riddles to unwind, and more than a few twists that bring so much fun and whimsy to this book! I just loved it.

One Sentence Summary: When Lucy gets the chance to be in the running to receive the sole copy of the next book in a children’s series, she sees the chance to make her dreams, and those of the orphaned boy she hopes to adopt, come true.

the wishing game meg shaffer
In all honesty, the one sentence summary I gave cannot do this book justice. It’s a beautiful, soft, magical story that drew inspiration from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory crossed with a reality show, but without all the cameras.

It starts with Lucy, a teacher’s aide who wants nothing more than to adopt a young boy who was tragically orphaned and who has become very attached to her. Everyone around her is supportive, except his case worker who knows Lucy does not have the financial means to adopt him.

But, before we can get to Lucy, we have to meet Hugo, the long time illustrator for a children’s book series that abruptly ended years before when the author, one Jack Masterson, shut himself up on his island, dubbed Clock Island after the island of the same name in his book series. Hugo is hugely protective of Jack, living on the island with him and keeping him alive, even as Jack treats him more like a son, and to more puzzles and riddles than Hugo would care for.

And it all starts with Jack, who has, for some mysterious reason, been brought back to life, returning to his writing room where he completes the next novel in his series. And he hides it beneath puzzles and riddles and clues, promising it to one of five entities.

There’s a game afoot, a puzzling and marvelous game that brings four adults together for the first time. They each have pain in their past, and a special meeting with Jack himself when they were children. Jack thinks of them with a great deal of fondness, so invites them to his island for several rounds of games and puzzles, and the winner will walk away with the sole copy of his novel. And, if they all fail, the publisher gains all rights.

But there’s more than just a manuscript up for grabs.

There’s something incredibly soft and magical about this book where the nostalgia factor is high, especially for readers who had those beloved childhood books. It’s heartwarming in the best possible way, even if I was teary eyed nearly every time I picked up this book, because it struck my heart so strongly. I couldn’t possibly capture how beautiful and magical I found this book. There are probably flaws, but I am blind to them. They do not and cannot exist to me. Except the parallels to Charlie and the Chocolate Factory came off a little stronger at times than I would want.

The heart of this book is Clock Island. It’s the foundation for the children’s series, it’s the home these four once children would have loved to actually call home, it’s the place where they’re called back to for an incredible competition, it’s the place they explore and can recall favorite memories from the books. Nancy Drew‘s River Heights was my mental playground; I can only imagine how Lucy and her fellow competitors must have felt to have the run of Clock Island. This island really is kind of shaped like a clock, with really fun names for different locations that lie where the numbers on a clock would. It’s whimsical in a child-like way, but not so childish that an adult wouldn’t understand and be tickled by it. Jack has one rule: to never break the spell, and he really does stick to that. Even though I was only reading this book, I felt like I was stepping into a spell, into a magical world. It made me wish this children’s series was real.

If the island is the heart, the characters are the heartbeat. They make the island pulse with magic and throw out tendrils to very carefully wrap around the real world. They’re all broken in some way, Lucy, Hugo, Jack, and little Christopher. They’ve been hurt by people they loved, and lost people they loved. They felt very much like pieces of a family, broken individually but whole together. I loved Lucy. Even if she felt a little too good, a little too kind, and a little too perfect, she was absolutely perfect for this story, and she couldn’t have been any other way. Personally, I really resonated with her, so of course I adored her and her story. Hugo was a bit of a tough nut to crack, but he has his reasons. I loved the relationship he has with Jack, and the one he develops with Lucy. It was fantastic to watch his heart fall into place. Jack often felt nuts, but in the best possible way. He reminded me of a sprightly grandfather, the one with a twinkle in his eye and a riddle ready and candy in his pocket. But he had a soft, tender heart that could break so easily. And Christopher, the little boy who tragically lost his parents and whose future is on the line. My heart just wept for him, for him and Lucy. And I sobbed when I got to the end of their story because it was just perfection.

The Wishing Game is much more than just an island and a group of characters carrying hurts that cut deep. It’s a nostalgia-inducing story full of healing and piecing together a family. The end can be seen a mile away, but the joy in this book is how they get there, because it’s really beautiful. But it’s also full of puzzles and games. The reader isn’t privy to all of them, and, indeed, many are just games children would play, which brought back a lot of fun memories for me of family game nights. Then there are the puzzles the reader is given a good look at, and the opportunity to solve them along with the characters. I loved that first puzzle, even if it took me a bit to figure it out. It was a delightful introduction to both the competition and Jack. It was fun, but definitely could be frustrating.

If there was one thing I wasn’t a huge fan of, it was how reminiscent it is of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (saw the movie, never got around to reading the book). Sometimes it was hard to not see that story in this one, but then something special to The Wishing Game would come into play, and all I saw was The Wishing Game. Because there are a lot of wishes made, wishes that may or may not actually come true, and a game is definitely played. It was fun to see these adults have to learn to remember to be like a child, and it made me sad when some of the adults just couldn’t. Children grow up, and I felt like this story gave a glimpse into what that might be like.

I’ll say it again: The Wishing Game is soft and beautiful and magical without actually being magical. It’s not the type of story to hit a reader over the head, nor does it put the characters into knots while it makes them bleed. Clock Island becomes a place for healing and putting back together, and, honestly, everyone could use a Jack in their lives. Hurts and pains are soothed, relationships are mended and created, and hearts can live in peace. I loved everything about this book and, even though I read this a month ago, it still has a stranglehold on my heart. I was glued to this book from the first page, and happily fell into it every time I picked it up, even though it made me cry an awful amount.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a review copy. All opinions expressed are my own.

4.5 stars. This book was magical in so many unexpected ways that it’s hard to describe. I found myself devouring this book once the game began and couldn’t put it down until I finished it - I’ll surely pay the price for the pile of work I put off as a result! This book is not heavy in the sci-fi or fantasy in my opinion. It was more about an author who understood 4 of his oldest and biggest fans and gave them what they needed while getting what he needed in return. I highly recommend this to anyone who is looking for a book with heart.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the arc.

Absolutely loved The Wishing Game. The story line includes some heavy subject matter and the characters have all dealt with some pretty bad life circumstances. However, it is a delightful and whimsical story that will have you grinning from ear to ear by the end. I loved the way the Clock Island book series written by the character Jack Masterson was weaved into the story as well. This is an ode to storytelling, the power of words, and the healing power literature can have on a life. It also has a sweet found family element to it. As I was reading, I kept thinking that it was like Willy Wonka was hosting a scavenger hunt, and I was definitely here for it. I read this in one day and could not put it down.

Lucy is a 26-year-old kindergarten teacher’s aide with little savings, no car, and three roommates, who - more than anything in the world - wants to adopt Christopher, a young student living with a foster family after losing his parents. Their bond is strong, but Lucy has just been told it’s unlikely she’ll ever qualify to adopt him. She’s preparing to tell him this when hope arrives in the form of a little blue envelope. She recognizes who it’s from since she received one just like it thirteen years ago.

Across the country, on a whimsical clock-shaped island off the coast of Maine, renowned children’s book author Jack Masterson, whose Clock Island series has been loved by millions has come out of a mysterious five-year silence to announce a contest that four lucky invitees will participate in for the rights to a brand new, singular copy of his newest Clock Island book. Those invitations were sent out in … you guessed it … little blue envelopes.

---- Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory meets 2022! This book is very whimsical and steals your heart!

I really wanted to love this one, but it was just OK for me. It took me a bit to get into it, and I was into it enough to want to know what happened, but it just didn't grab me the way I wanted it to. I can see why others love it, I just didn't connect to it.

This was one of my most unexpected finds of summer. This book reminded me of a cross between Charlie and Chocolate Factory with Harry Potter. This novel is written for adults, it is not YA. Yet it is so charmingly written and PG, that I would feel comfortable having my kids read this.
A eccentric writer on a whimsical island location holds a contest in which the winner will receive his latest and much anticipated next novel. This prize is very valuable due to the popularity and rarity of his books getting published.
The contest itself is not dark and cutthroat, but rather funny and quirky.
This book was easy to pick up and hard to put down.
A real delight to read for all ages. 5 stars!

Thank you Netgalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

One of the most moving and beautiful books I have ever read. Highly recommend The Wishing Game to anyone who has had a childhood dream.

As a child, Lucy Hart wanted to run away to Clock Island, the magical island from Jack Masterson's beloved children's book series. Turns out - the island exists - and Jack lives there, but hasn't written another book in the series in many years. Now he's offering a Willy-Wonka-esque experience for four huge fans, and the prize is the sole copy of his unreleased new book.

I really liked the premise, and idea of superfans competing in riddles while all staying at this mansion on the real Clock Island. Main protagonist Lucy is pleasant enough, but I never felt that connected to her and her motivation to adopt child Christopher. It would have been nice to get to know the other contestants in the competition more. The illustrator also living on Clock Island was an interesting character, and allowed readers the inside information on Master Mastermind author Jack.

I enjoyed finding out the backstory as to why Jack stopped writing, and all the twists in the final chapters of the book. I always love a book about books. Despite most of the characters being adults, it read like a YA fiction book. The first few chapters were a struggle to decipher and did not grab me.

So overall, this book was average, but I think would appeal to a younger audience or less experienced readers.

This story is totally enchanting . Full of whimsy, mystery, humor and heart, The Wishing Game feels like a book you remember from your childhood. Five BIG stars for this beautiful book!