The Wishing Game was a sweet story about being brave, working hard for what you wish for and finding family. While predictable at times, the story was engaging. Thanks for the arc Netgalley!

Pros: This book begins with a map! This is a book for booklovers who had a favorites series growing up, and those readers will cheer for the main character who competes for the one copy of the newest book in her favorite childhood series. As the author notes, this book has Willy Wonka vibes but with books rather than candy.

Cons: None really. Some readers might think the ending is too neat and tidy, but I think it fits this cozy read.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group – Ballantine Books for the opportunity to read this book.

I received this from netgalley in exchange for a review.

I started this book about 6pm last night and finished it just before 10pm, because besides having to take my dog for a walk, I couldn’t put it down.

This book was like being inside on a snow day with a warm blanket and cup of hot cocoa. It’s a mix of Willy Wonka and if JKR wasn’t a terf but a decent human.

As someone who has always found comfort in books, I related to Lucy a lot. Being able to go to a recreation of some of my favorite childhood books and meet the author would be amazing. The contest Jack puts on? I didn’t read his fictional series obviously, but I can tell I’d have enjoyed them and would have loved to have been one of the participants.

I’m sure there are some who are going to say the book is cheesy and too much optimism and fluff, but it’s at least what I needed at the moment. Someone looking at despair in their life and getting just a touch of magic to have things work out in the end was heartwarming.

I had assumed there would be a happy ending for Christopher once he was introduced in the book, and I’m glad there were surprises along the way to the happy ending. He deserves the world.

I really liked Hugo too, and the romance I didn’t know was going to be in the book.

Definitely will re-read this when I need a book to make me feel good.

This was a simply fantastic read!! Thank you Netgalley!! Such a touching well thought out storyline. The characters were very well drawn and relatable. Highly recommend

What a marvelously wonderful book! Whimsy and reality intertwined into a story for all ages. Wishes and dreams can come true, but the results you think you’ll receive aren’t always the Ines that you get.

I wish that Hugo’s art were real. I could easily picture the wonders he painted and would love to have art like that. Who Durant love a corgi on a ship?

My greatest takeaway is to never stop wishing, don’t stop living and don’t give up.

Wow! I totally loved this book! My first Meg Shaffer book but definitely not my last! I started reading this morning and could not put it down. Side note: I traveled cross country today from one side on the US to the other. And as we touched down the story ended. Perfect harmony. I was so engrossed in the hopes, dreams and wishes in the story! And the characters were off the charts amazing. Just can’t say enough about it and do wish I could give way more than 5 stars.
Thank you NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this book

Sometimes you stumble upon a book that you never heard of, from an author you may not be familiar with, and, once you read it suddenly you have a new favorite book and a new favorite author. The Wishing Game is an amazing story of unconventional love and facing our fears. The only thing Lucy wants in life is to adopt Christopher. But with no money and a housing situation that is not ideal her dream seems completely unattainable. When her favorite children’s author invites her to enter a contest she sees as her only way to be with Christopher.

I loved everything about this book. The characters, the setting of the book, and the underlying themes all together has lead this book to become one of my favorites of all time. I know this is just the beginning for Meg Shaffers’ career as an author if this is the type of books she can write.

Thank you to Netgalley and to the publishers for allowing me to read an advanced copy.

I wish to thank NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine Books for allowing me to read an advanced copy of this book. I have voluntarily read and reviewed it. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

This is a wonderful novel about children who are emotionally lost and discover a series of books that change their lives. The novel centers on a famous children’s author who reaches out and responds to fan letters from lonely children and their wishes. I loved this one from the first page and truly hated for it to end. After an amazing career the author holds a contest in which the winner will win his unpublished last book in the series with all the rights to it. The winner can do what they wish with the winning. They can keep it, sell it and all rights to it, whatever they choose. This is his final gift to fulfill the wish of one last fan. He selects 4 contestants to come to his home on Clock Island off the coast of Maine. Each of the contestants has been in contact with the author over the years of his career. One contestant Lucy was enchanted by the books as a lonely little girl growing up in a dysfunctional home, abandoned by family and sent to live with her grandparents. She is now a struggling teacher’s aide barely getting by financially. She has met and bonded with a troubled young boy who she really wants to adopt as he is in the foster system. She lives in a small apartment, cannot afford a car but dreams of being his mother. You will love both of them and all the contestants. The author carefully develops each character in the book to an amazing degree and when she refers to each of the author’s previous books the reader wants to read them all. As a reader I am well aware that books have the power to save us, change our lives and be with us forever. This book will be one of them. I highly recommend it. I look forward to reading many, many more of this debut authors works.

I'm not crying, you're crying. This is the most heartwarming, heartbreaking, ridiculous, fantastic, unbelievable, dream come true, impossible, perfect book. What child hasn't wished their favorite stories to be true, who hasn't wished upon a star, who hasn't hoped for a better tomorrow? In the vein of The Magicians and The Hazel Wood, The Wishing Game is a dream come true. 5 stars.

The Wishing Game
By Meg Shaffer

This is a cute heartwarming story with a nod to Willy Wonka. With themes of found family, fantasy, and touching on heavier topics this book could also be compared with The House in the Cerulean Sea.
I loved that the reader gets to see the impact that books can have on people. All the lives that a story can touch.
With loads of rave reviews, I too would recommend this book. But to me, this was overhyped. The plot is predictable and it was a bit slow paced for my liking.
Thank you to NetGalley for giving me an advance copy in exchange for my honest review

I thought this was such a fun and heart-warming book. I loved the Willy Wonka inspiration behind it. The reader gets a really good understanding of Lucy’s motivations and emotions. The ending has a little bit of a twist, but it was definitely a good one. I wish I could read all of the Jack Masterson’s books.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Thank you to Random House/ Ballantine for sending me an arc in exchange for review.

A Charlie and the Chocolate Factory retelling? i had no idea thats what this was before requesting it and let me tell you it was fantastic. dual perspectives but heart wrenching stories. i have never cried so much reading a book before.

This book has stayed in my to-read part of NetGalley for almost 2 months. Initially I got about 20% in, realized I didnt want to read anymore on my phone and moved on to other books. But it always stayed in the back of my mind. I started over two days ago and was immediately the only thing I wanted to read! I think the slow start may have put me off at first, but overall the book has a great pacing and I loved the characters.
While some aspects of the ending were predictable, I enjoyed the contest, and the Willy Wonka references were right on. The way the book was written felt light hearted and happy which reminded me of several other author's styles and I cant wait to see what else comes from Meg Shaffer! Thanks NetGalley!

What an entertaining read! The author acknowledges having been inspired, in part, by Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, but it never felt derivative or stale. I came to care for Lucy and Christopher right away and wanted to see how the author would bring resolution to their dilemma. I had a more difficult time staying interested in Hugo and Jack's story lines, though. I struggled to get interested in the book at the beginning-- the digital format and the fact that I had to put the book down for a few weeks right after starting it made it hard for me to track the plots. But once I was able to give it uninterrupted attention, Hugo and Jack became characters I wanted to see succeed.

I found it hard to discern who Shaffer's intended audience is. Is it YA, or middle grade, or new adult, or adult fiction? Does it matter? Once I gave up on figuring that out, I enjoyed the book better. And that's really the way to enjoy this novel. Let go of needing to categorize or understand it all and simply receive it. Then, you'll find yourself carried away into a heartwarming story!

Many thanks to Ballantine Books and NetGalley for a free copy for review.

4.5 stars rounded up to 5

Having a book described as "Famous book X meets famous book Y" almost never helps me. But reading The Wishing Game may be best described as Willy Wonka meets adult fiction with some wish fulfillment and romance. But much better than those words manage to express.

I liked that Lucy gets some help with her life goal - and that achieving the goal fixes a lot of mistakes and misunderstandings in her past life. I like that not everything in the narrative turns out perfectly - but the happy endings are extensive.

It's not a perfectly written book (hence the 4.5 stars), but it was still one of the best books I've read in a while. I so enjoyed the friends and love and compassion shared between author Shaffer's characters. And the riddles and challenges in the quest are manageable and compelling.

Publication date is 30 May 2023 - keep your eyes open for this one! Thanks to NetGalley and Random House / Ballantine Books for the chance to read this one in advance.

It's like cherry picking all the best parts of Willy Wonka, Mrs. Basil E Frankweiler, and The Mysterious Benedict Society but make it a little more grown-up, you have The Wishing Game. What an utterly fun, entertaining read! This kept me engrossed almost effortlessly, and I'm so eager to share this with our readers.

The Wishing Game by Meg Shaffer is set on a magical island off the coast of Maine. A recluse blockbuster author designed and named the island after his stories. One day he just stopped writing his books. There was a lot of speculation as to why he stopped writing but no one knew for sure. He decides for his final book that he will invite four of his fans to the island to solve and win his game, based on riddles and challenges from his books. The winner will receive the first copy of his new book to do with what they'd like. He chose four people that as children had run away to Clock Island for different reasons. Lucy was 13 when she ran away believing that she could be the author's assistant rather than stay in a home where no one wanted her. Lucy is now living in California and struggling to make ends meet working as a teacher's assistant. She'd love nothing more than to adopt a boy that lost his parents and is now in the foster system. At her current status, she doesn't qualify to adopt the boy. She is estranged from her parents and her sister so she can't request help from them. When Lucy receives one of the invitations to go to Clock Island, she believes she has found a way to finally make her life the way she wants it to be. Once at the island, the author's illustrator, now a well-known artist, is also there to oversee the events.. The four all have their own secrets but all attempt to win the challenge and the book. There is a whimsical charm to the book which reminds me of what books were like when read as a child, when you would imagine and dream of these magical places. This is a refreshing new book that brings those books read in childhood into adulthood along with different perspectives to reflect upon. This is a fantastic book which may leave you feeling nostalgic and maybe a reminder to sometimes look back on how it felt to read a book in your youth and all the wonders that books can bring.

Thank you to Net Galley and Random House for the opportunity to read the ARC of this book.

This book reminded me of some of the books I loved as a child and reminded me how excited I used to get about certain books/series. How many of us used to wish we could be those characters, if only for a moment? This book centers around that premise, having several fans of a beloved fictional book series compete for a copy of the newest installment through various games and challenges inspired by the books themselves, at the author's home. There's a bit of introspection and some tough topics so it's not necessarily a light read but there's a good mix of mystery, adventure and romance. If you were a book lover as a kid, you might find this book nostalgic in the best way.

A fun read, with reader-riddles to puzzle out and enjoy. I cheered for the wins, hoped for the best, and enjoyed the whole telling. An excellent read!

I love books about books. I love islands. I love chocolate. Ok, there's no chocolate in this book, but hear me out. Take Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, but it on an island, and make it about books instead of chocolate. Plus there are no bratty kids or ethnically questionable helpers. So what does it have? Lots of heart, lots of riddles, and it's full of people who love books.