I get the Willy Wonka meets TJKlune/red nose studio meets Hunger Game connections. But this is so much more! A warm story with heart and whimsy!

The Wishing Game had an intriguing plot line and beautiful cover, but sadly the book failed to capture me. The story and main characters Lucy felt immature at times, and the overall pace of the story felt slow and quickly became uninteresting.

5 Stars ⭐️

Congratulations to Meg Shaffer for writing such an amazing debut novel! This is my favorite book of this year and I'm my top 10 of all time.

How many ways can I express how much I just loved and adored this book. It brought so many emotions in me, that I found myself crying just from just sweet authentic moment.

It's beautiful, magical, and heart wrenching. The core of this book deals with childhood trauma, the grief and fear that it can carry with someone into their adult years. Affecting someone's overall self worth. But in this grief and trauma, this children's author wrote a series of books that kids could escape thru. This also stemmed from his own traumatic experience as a child. All he wanted was to provide a world kids could find some joy but also overcome their fears. Realizing you may not get exactly your wish but the strength to persevere.

This does have elements of Willy Wonka for adults but I loved it so much more. All the characters are just amazing and loveable. Even the other side characters completing. They wanted to win but that weren't just jerks to be jerks. They had depth and likeable traits.

The line "Be silent, when hearts are breaking" will forever stick with me. It's so beautiful, being present and there for someone

I would love more of Jack, Hugo, and Lucy. Hugo and Lucy's dynamic and interactions thru the book was just perfection.

I can't wait to see what else Meg Shaffer writes because she is incredibly talented. I will be picking up anything she creates.

Thank you to NetGalley and Ballantine Books for this advanced reader copy. My review is voluntarily my own.

The Wishing Game is an enjoyable book, along the lines of the Westing Game or the Inheritance Games series. Lucy is a broke teacher's assistant who dreams of adopting one of her students, and she gets a chance to compete in a game thrown by her favorite author. Of course there is a romance, and the book wraps up nice and neatly. The characters are mostly sweet and charming, even when they're not being nice.

Lucy is chosen to compete with 3 other contestants on Clock Island for a chance to win Jack Masterson's last book. Lucy grew up a fan of Jack's and has shared her love of his books with a foster child name Christopher. Lucy wishes to win the game so that she has a chance to adopt Christopher, her ultimate wish. The story was a quick, fun read with a happy ending.

The Wishing Game
By Meg Shaffer
Lucy had an awful childhood, marked by absent parents and a sister whose illness always took precedence over Lucy’s life. After losing her fiancé and her unborn child to miscarriage, she takes a job in a community and becomes attached to Christopher, a young boy whose parents are killed and who finds himself in foster care after foster care. The two of them connect, and Lucy longs to foster Christopher, but with no home, car, or money, can’t meet the qualifications. She just wants to be his mother.
Jack Masterson is the author of dozens of popular children’s books, but mysteriously stops writing. Together with his Illustrator, a game, The Wishing Game, is created, and only children who’ve been invited by the reclusive Jack can play. Why they were chosen, and the unfolding game tells a story so heartbreaking and whimsical, that the reader wants them all to win.
This is a well written, sweet story with just enough adventure and romance to soften the most bitter of us. It’s written in a style that will delight middle grade readers, though it’s listed as sci-fi and Women’s fiction. None of the whimsy seemed too far-fetched, and the book is equally entertaining to those of us who are older.
Thank you to Random House Ballantine for the ARC of this delightful story. It will be released on May 30, 2023

In this homage to Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory with a bit of Alice in Wonderland and Harry Potter vibe thrown in, Lucy Hart grew up in a family who seemed have little time or love for her giving their all to an older sister who was ill. Lucy found solace and joy in a series of books by a reclusive eccentric author Jack Masterson. The Clock Island stories were Lucy’s refuge and guiding force to the point she once took a harrowing journey to meet her idle.

Now a twenty-six-year-old teacher’s aide, Lucy encourages her students with the same love of books and pleasure in reading. One young boy, a seven year old in foster care named Christopher, has become her son in all but the legal aspects. Lucy desperately wants to adopt him; however, she does not have the means financially to make it happen nor a stable living situation. Christopher’s young life has been very harsh with the loss of his parents and then being bounced around in the fostering system.

Years before, Jack Masterson had suddenly quit writing after a tragedy that sent him on a downward spiral. Jack lives on the Clock Island described in the book , a literal fantasy come to life the coast off rural Maine. When he announces a new book release that will be part of a contest where Lucy and three other formerly young fans are invited to play for a chance to win the book, she cannot believe that fiction becomes reality. If she can play all the complicated games and win the book, Lucy will be able to achieve her heart’s desire of adopting Christopher. The competition is ancillary to the emotional journey for all those who participate in the contest including Jack and Hugo.

Another island inhabitant, Hugo Reese, whose POV is also a part of the story, is a cranky artist illustrator of Jack’s books, doing so first with a fanciful painting done on the island, to be approved by the author. He and Lucy are attracted to one another adding a bit of romance to this journey of love, loss, and second chances as well as found family. This story includes a tale within a tale with pages from the first Clock Island book that captivated Lucy’s imagination and brought her comfort at a desperate time in her young life. For the most part, this book provides a tale that is an appealing intersection of fantasy, fiction, and wishes being fulfilled in unexpected ways. It does get a bit over angsty and emotionally piercing in places, but overall is a very engaging story.

There is no way this book is a debut.
It was so wonderfully written and elicited so many emotions!
A book about books, it can't be that much right? Wrong

It was wholesome and heartwarming, and like being wrapped in a warm hug.
Its about forgiveness, facing your fears,

The comparison to Willy Wonka, is very accurate!

It was so enjoyable!

Congratulations to Meg Shaffer. This is a beautiful story and should be pre-ordered by readers. I decided pretty early how The Wishing Game would conclude, but that did not detract from the story at all. Loved the characters; loved the plot; loved the ending. Some might say that it is derivative of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, but I would argue it pays homage to that classic and is fabulous, heartwarming and thoughtful in its own right.

Thank you Net Galley for an ARC of this book for an honest review.
Lucy is a teacher’s aide and she desperately wants to adopt a boy named Christopher who is in the foster system. She loves him and he loves her but she doesn’t have the resources financially to support him. It’s a sweet story and I think the majority of people really liked it. It was just not the type of book that holds my attention.

The Wishing Game was a totally unique and fun book to read. I had a blast reading this book and had no idea what was coming next. Jack Masterson is bestselling children's author that abruptly stops writing books in his popular series The Clock Island. Lucy was a huge fan of the Clock Island books growing up and used them as way to escape her rough childhood. She shares her love for the books with new orphaned Christoper. Lucy wishes she could adopt Christoper and be a real family but it's too hard and expensive or so she thinks. Suddenly out of his mysterious retirement Jack announces a contest that could change everything for Lucy. The Wishing Game is full of great characters and has a unique plot that's tons of fun to read.

We all have that one series as a kid that we fell in love with. We would have done anything to fully immerse ourselves into those books and to meet the author. Here we have a reclusive author who everyone thought would never publish another novel. But so the author has but, there is only one copy in the world. To get this book you must be one of the four lucky winner to complete for the only edition!

Lucy Hart is 26 years old, a teacher's aid, and so far from where she wanted to be in life. Mostly, she wishes she could make a home for her and Christopher, a former student who is now in the foster care system. But with her debt and low wages, she's far from being eligible as a foster parent, let alone adoption. So she keeps loving Christopher and reading to him to help him cope. Their favorite books are the ones Lucy read when she was young: the Clock Island series, by Jack Masterson. But when Lucy receives a special invitation from Jack to compete and win the only existing copy of his latest book (written after a years-long hiatus), she sees it as the perfect opportunity to gain financial and emotional security for her and Christopher by winning and selling the copy to the highest bidder. But can she seriously compete with her clever opponents while fending off unscrupulous book collectors on top of her growing feelings for book illustrator Hugo Reese? Or will Christopher's childhood be just like hers--one without love or security?

The desperation of wanting to belong and be loved wars with the strong sense of hope that permeates the book. I found it to be a sort of combination of Willy Wonka, Lewis Carroll, and the Wizard of Oz--the perfect book for adults with inner children. There are serious adult themes and some scary stuff (kids don't always get to just be kids), but there is also a sense of wonder and magic and belonging. A strong "found family" rep too. The story felt vivid and alive to me, and I found myself imagining what a great movie it could make. It speaks to the power of reading in children's lives, and the value of time as the most important commodity. I appreciated the mental health rep and the realistic view of the foster care system in the US and how little our country prioritizes child care and education in general. I gobbled it right up and think you may just do the same.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for my advance electronic copy.

4.25

I love a book that can highlight the power of a good read while still giving you a full-fledged journey of its own. So meta, but so perceptive. There are some stories that we live in, some that feel lived in, and some that come to live with us, and this is one of those rare books that gave me a taste of it all. I may have left Clock Island when I turned that last page, but there are lessons I learned & there is magic I found there that I will always carry with me.

The Wishing Game was a cosy, wrenching, whimsical read with some fun banter and a whole lot of heart. I think there was a good balance between "life is crap and crap is hard" but also, we wish & we hope & we dream till we find the silver linings that make it all worth staying the course.

The writing had a very atmospheric quality to it which wasn't something I was expecting going in, but which I ended up noting & enjoying consistently. Lucy and Christopher's bonding won me over from the start, and there are not enough words I know to describe the absolute joy it was getting to know Jack and Hugo. They were profound in their emotion and relatable in their mannerisms in a way that spoke to my soul, and I distinctly remember annotating about my love for Hugo several times so...do with that what you will.

As for things that could've gone a bit better - Theresa was a terrific friend, and I wish that both her & Lucy's sister had gotten more airtime. Those were two important but severely underrated relationships that I would have loved to learn more about. Also, Lucy was mildly annoying on and off, but the supporting cast was SO good that it didn't distract too much from the overall charm of the book.

All in all, this was a wonderful, well-written, quotable gem of a book that I would happily recommend to anyone and everyone that could use a reminder to keep an eye on those silver linings we're all so frustratingly keen on forgetting about.

Thanks to Random House Publishing Group/ Ballantine Books & NetGalley for the ARC!

In The Wishing Game, Lucy is living with three roommates on the meager salary of a teachers aide. She's estranged from her family but cares deeply about Christopher, a boy who's parents passed away when he was a student in her class. Together they share a love for a 60 volume kids book Lucy read as a kid.

When the author announces he's written one more book, he invites four people to his island to compete for the book. Lucy gets to compete in hopes of making enough money off the book to adopt Christopher.

The story starts off strong enough, I quickly came to care and root for Lucy and Christopher. But I found it strange that Lucy watched Christopher for one week two years ago, and he has since lived in another foster home, so they only see each other a little bit after school. Despite this, Lucy has such strong feelings for him and constantly calls herself his mother. Despite having no money, three roommates, no car, no house...Lucy thinks she's fit to be a mom to this kid. And I couldn't get myself to agree.

The competition itself is marketed as a willy wonka like competition but in reality was so boring. They solve a few dumb riddles and play monopoly. And thats it.

Kind of a let down.

When I requested an ARC of The Wishing Game, all I knew about it was what’s given in the blurb. That was enough to convince me that this book was right up my alley, and boy, was I right.

Meg Shaffer’s debut is up there with The Night Circus and Harry Potter as an all-time favorite. I don’t want to share too much so that others can be surprised by all the amazingness, but this is definitely a winner. It’s funny, charming, sad, and tragic, but it’s so incredibly hopeful—and who can’t use more hope nowadays?—and the ending is unexpected but absolutely lovely. The characters have big dreams and big hearts, and it’s great to see them grow as the story progresses. And the setting of Clock Island is just whimsical enough to make you feel as if you’ve wandered into Narnia.

This is a book lover’s dream book, and I can’t wait to read it again and again. Definitely pick up this one for an amazing story of real world problems mixed with a once-in-a-lifetime chance at pure magic!

(Also, Jack reminds me a bit of the Doctor with all his riddles and cleverness and twisted plans, and I loved it!)

I enjoyed this feel good story. A quick read, I would have liked a bit more depth to push it to five stars, but it was definitely something I will recommend!

This was an incredible story that I feel will be on everyone’s summer reading list. We meet Lucy Hart a school teacher who has one wish and that is to be a mom to an orphan boy. Just when she is told it probably won’t happen something enchanting happens, An author that is famous for writing The Clock Island books, a children’s book, is started to write after 6 years of no new ones. He is giving a lucky few people a chance to win the book and do as they wish with it.
If it sounds a little familiar it’s because the author has given a shout out to Willy Wonka and how she has loved that story. And I really love her story and what characters she has brought forth. Even ones that maybe aren’t the most likable have very redeemable traits. I will definitely have Meg Shaffer on my author list because she is an enjoyable author.

The Wishing Game is the debut novel by Meg Shaffer that follows Lucy, a teacher’s aide who has an incredibly close connection with foster child, Christopher. All Lucy wants is to be able to adopt Christopher and give him the home he deserves but at the rate she is going, it will take years to be able to save the money. When a reclusive children’s author comes forward with a competition to win a new, never before printed book of his, Lucy sees it as a big break. She has a deep connection to the books and an interesting history with the author so she really believes she has a chance of winning.

This book is very whimsical in tone. I would compare the author, Jack, to Willy Wonka. He is very eccentric and lives on an island called Clock Island with his cover artist, Hugo. He speaks in riddles in a way that is very reminiscent of Wonka. I think the interesting thing about this book is how is melds a middle grade feel with very adult problems. The whole book isn’t all sunshine and rainbows and I think that’s very parallel to actual adulthood.

This book is perfect for an adult who grew up really loving books, especially if you ever envisioned yourself as a character from a favorite book series. There is definitely a lot of instances of childlike wonder in this book that I could see some people thinking is cheesy but I loved it. As someone who has been a life long reader, anything that can make me feel like a kid again is welcome. There is also fun game elements in this that I’m always a big fan of.

I do wish we would have spent a little more time exploring the island. It was so cool and interesting. I wanted to know about every nook and cranny. But that was a personal preference.

Huge thank you to the publisher for sending me an arc of this through netgalley. This wasn’t something I had on my radar at all and I probably wouldn’t have picked it up otherwise!

Jack Masterson is a children's author who stopped writing his largely successful Clock Island series six years ago. No one could figure out why until he announced he would publish one last book. He invites several people to "Clock Island" to compete for a chance to win his final book and do whatever they want with it. One of those contestants is Lucy, who desperately wants to adopt a young boy named Christopher, but she does not have the money to do.

I went into this book thinking it would primarily focus on the contest and the mystery surrounding Clock Island, but the story's primary focus is different. It's more about found family, healing, togetherness, and joy. There is a dash of mystery here and a little dash of romance. I enjoyed learning about the characters and the island, and the Clock Island series reminded me of many stories I read as a child.

My only issue was with the pacing of the story. I wanted to spend more time with the characters and learn more about Clock Island. I think there should have been more time for relationships to develop and storylines to resolve. The ending felt slightly rushed.