A very unique story with lots of surprises. the characters are interesting and very human. It is a heartwarming mystery with some suspense.

“The Wishing Game” is an adorable book by Meg Shaffer. Ms. Shaffer drew inspiration from Gene Wilder in the movie Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and it shows. If Willy Wonka had been a children’s book author instead of a chocolate maker - this possibly is the type of magical, loving, slightly crazy, maddening, yet precious person he would be. I was hooked by the premise of the book, yet fell in love with Christopher’s story (yes, he’s not the main character, but my goodness does he play a huge part). The theme of family is prevalent in this book but it doesn’t get too forced or bogged down (for the most part). Overall, I found this book to be sweet - in a good way. The word play is great and the “game” riddles good ones. For a debut novel, this was an amazingly creative one and I look forward to Ms. Shaffer’s next book.

A best selling author who is reclusive had quit writing children’s books. He decides to start again by making a contest out of it. Lucy is a teachers aide who really wants to adopt 7 year old Christopher, a little orphan in her class. She has no money, no support, so she enters the contest to try to win the prize. This read as a YA fantasy book to me.

I cannot say enough good things about this book. This is the story I would have adored living. It brings the characters to life in a way that is appealing and heartrending all at once. The protagonist is a wonderful human being and I was rooting for her the entire book. The side characters are loving and supportive and fun and interesting. I have read many stories and this one has one of my all time favorite endings. I love it!

This story centers around a highly successful children’s author, Jack Masterson, who mysteriously quit writing after writing many stories that impacted children’s lives and imaginations. Some of the children he influenced are now adults, and a few got invited to an ultimate contest on Masterson’s private island.

I absolutely loved this book. When I first got the book and looked at the premise, I was very intrigued and wanted to start the book right away. Once I started the story, I was hooked by its original and heartfelt plot and the story's nostalgia for Willy Wonka. I loved that this book brought back memories of my childhood authors and how their stories brought me to a magical place every time. Authors like Roald Dahl and A.A. Milne came to mind while reading this book. I also loved how Shaffer incorporated a fun twist with a contest involving riddles. I loved the game's high stakes, and I could not wait to see if Lucy or other contest goers would win. The Wishing Game is a heartfelt story about gaining family and one of my favorites I read In 2022.

Thank you to both NetGallery and to Random House Publishing Company for giving me a copy of the book.

A wonderful book about a famous children's writer, his illustrator, and some of the grown-up children whose lives were changed by his series of children's books. A contest is announced where four lucky contestants will compete to win the only copy of the author’s new book after many years of silence. You learn the background of each of the four chosen, especially Lucy who is trying desperately to foster and adopt her own child. Just a lovely story ~ full of magic! Thank you to NetGalley, the author and the publisher for my copy of this whimsical tale.

Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher and author for granting me a copy of this book in return for my honest opinion.

This book was brilliant, fantastic, incredible and hands down a best seller!!

Cleverly written and gives you Willy Wonka chocolate factory vibes, but witten as an adult involved in a contest to win the manuscript of an unpublished book. If Lucy wins, she has honest plans to sell the manuscript in order to adopt, Christopher, a young boy she has fallen in love with who is in need of a family.

I stayed up all night to finish reading this beautiful, fantastic, incredible book. It would make a wonderful movie and I can see it being a number one best seller.

Highly, highly recommend.

The reclusive author of the "Clock Island" books, Jack Masterson, has not written for over six years and his young fans are left hanging just waiting for a new adventure on the famous island. Four adults, (who as children managed to find their way to Masterson's island home in search of a wish they needed granting) find themselves invited back to the island to compete in a game for the one and only copy of his newest book. Worth millions of dollars, the winner of the manuscript may do with it as they see fit; publish it, sell it to a collector or keep it themselves. Of the four adult contestants, the youngest, Lucy Hart, is desperate to win in order to secure the funds she needs to adopt 8 -year-old orphaned Christopher. Still dealing with her own childhood abandonment issues, Lucy is still searching for acceptance and a family of her own. How well she plays the game could be life changing for both of them.
I was a bit confused at first, trying to remember if this was a book for children or adults? Certainly, the adult issues addressed (abuse, sexuality, miscarriage, death) are not for a young audience, however,the rest of the book could have easily been targeted to elementary grade students. What child hasn't dreamed of a fantasy world where their wishes can come true if they can solve the Master's riddles? Although I thoroughly enjoyed the book, it seems like a mash up of a children's book and an adult book destined to be made into a "Hallmark" channel movie.

Clock Island

This is a charming story of a young teacher’s aide who wants to adopt a lost boy, so to speak, and the author of children’s fantasy books. How their lives intertwined, from opposite sides of the country makes for an endearing read. It seems they’ve all lost their families, literally or figuratively and have found hope in the series of Clock Island books. Jack Masterson is the Mastermind and author. Lucy Hart is the young woman who longs to be Christopher’s mother. Christopher is an orphan in foster care. They all wish for a happy future and wishes sometimes come true.

Lucy and three other contestants win a chance to go to Maine and the real Clock Island to compete in a contest to win the rights to the only copy of the book that may be the last in the series. They will be able to do with this valuable asset as they choose - Sell to the highest bidder, or have published. The contests are a series of puzzles based on the books.

First off, I liked this book. A lot. The problem is that it’s a difficult book to review. It’s almost a perfect adult book. It’s almost a perfect children’s book. Unfortunately, author Meg Shaffer is trying to do both and loses in that arena. It’s is categorized as Women’s Fiction but I know a lot of women who would dismiss it as too Willy Wonka-ish. Rewrite/rephrase some of the darkness and it will be fabulous for both children and adults.

It’s a story about people who had traumatic childhoods but have managed for the most part to overcome. It’s about wishing for good things to happen and working towards goals. But for the very young readers who would love this book, it also deals with very adult and sometimes sexual issues which I’d limit to 13+.
Thank you #NetGalley #Random House Publishing Group – Ballantine #Meg Shaffer

I recieved a free netgalley copy of this title in exchange for an honest review.

This is a great book for adults who are still children at heart. As a child, did you dream of being able to enter the worlds you read about in books? That is exactly what the contestants get to experience with their visit to Clock Island. Now adults, 4 children who once wished to be a part of the Clock Island book series have the chance to experience the books first hand in a game created by the author. The winner gets the only copy of the new book in the series to do with as they wish. Each contestant has their own reasons for wanting the book, but the story alternates viewpoints between one contestant, a teacher, and the moody illustator of series. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and was not ready to leave Clock Island.

Wishes are helpful and powerful things when navigating the world, but eventually action must be taken to get results and an opportunity for just that occurs in Meg Shaffer’s The Wishing Game.

Growing up Lucy didn’t get much attention or love from her parents because of her sickly sister and she sought solace in books, namely the Clock Island series by Jack Masterson, which captivated her, provided adventure, and offered a strong female character to emulate. Now an adult, Lucy works as a kindergarten teacher’s aide, which is how she met the now seven-year-old Christopher, whose parents tragically died, and bonded with him through the books. She and Christopher want to become a family but Lucy’s lack of funds and state-approved stability when it comes to her housing and vehicle situation makes this wish a near impossibility. Just as Lucy was getting up the courage to tell Christopher she sadly won’t be able to be his mom, Jack Masterson, who has not written a new book in ages, announces that he has a new book and will be holding an invitation-only contest on his private island for someone to win the only copy and Lucy has an invitation because she ran away to Jack’s home when she was thirteen hoping to be able to live with him. With an opportunity to not only read a new Clock Island book but have a chance at securing means to provide a better future for her and Christopher Lucy goes to compete against three others, get clandestine offers from book collectors, and learn more about the eccentric Jack from Hugo, the books’ illustrator turned caretaker of the reclusive Jack. Wishes made might just come true, especially if Jack’s life-changing plotting has its way, if only the wishers are brave and clever enough to keep trying.

In an enjoyable Willy Wonka-esque whimsical experience with grounding painful circumstances that’s centered around books and clever riddles and puzzles, the tale is entertaining and compelling as it explores hope, overcoming fears and adversity, and the power and impact of found family. There’s a magic to books and this story easily draws upon that idea, bringing a touch of the fantastic to frequently mundane or tragic reality with seeming impossibilities being made reality through an eccentric, reclusive author on a private island he’s made into the fictional Clock Island he created in his books. The narrative blends traumas and struggles being endured by children and adults alike with the highlight of child-like wonder and joy that books can bring and how it could translate to adulthood, providing an escape to something simpler where problems are more easily solved. With characters who are well-fleshed out and dealing with their respective challenges, there some character-developing pieces of information, which while deepening the characters and making them feel more real and complex, didn’t have much immediate or practical relevance to the story and could easily have been left out without impacting the story.

Overall, I’d give it a 4.5 out of 5 stars.

*I received a copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I just finished this lovely book, and I'm never going to forget it. I don't want to say much about the book, but this is
endearing and emotional read. I have great pleasure adding this to my five-star favorite shelf. It is well, well deserved.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine, for the ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

The Wishing Game by Meg Shaffer is an experience all on its own. The journey is mystical, Clock Island, where wishing comes true. Jack Masterson, the mastermind who always hid in the shadows, wrote Clock Island children's books. Jack creates a giveaway for an unpublished book; the winner will get the rights to the manuscript to do with it what they want, sell it, publish it, or keep it to themselves.

Lucy Hart is a teacher's assistant who wants to adopt Christopher, one of her students whose parents died. Lucy knows firsthand what it feels like to be alone and unloved in the world, and she doesn't want that for Christopher. Every time Christopher was upset, she would read one of the Clock Island books to him, and he fell in love with the stories as much as she did.

"The only wishes ever granted-'"are the wishes of brave children who keep on wishing even when it seems no one's listening because someone somewhere always is.'"

This story is so well done; the journey is fantastic and will stay with you forever!

I received a free copy from NetGalley. What a great book to start out the year. A little predictable but in a good way. Fun and different characters that were well developed and grew throughout the story. I want to see his tattoos.

Reviewed for NetGalley:

Try as I did, I could not get into this one. Lovely cover and description, but the book could not hold my interest.

4.5 stars, rated up

An exquisite story full of magic, whimsy, and hope that I absolutely loved.

It took me a couple of chapters to get into this one but once I did, it scooped me up and held me until I turned the last (e)page, and even after I was done, it still held onto me. Beautiful

I wish May was sooner!!! so that all readers would have access to this gem of a tale ❤️An absolute recommendation!



Thank you to Ballantine Books and NetGalley for the DRC!

This was one of the most fun, warm-hearted, nostalgic books I have read in a long time. The novel centers around a recluse author who had written a big collection of children's stories, a Willy Wonka style competition for a few lucky readers, an underdog teacher determined to win it all, and much more. It was whimsical, full of endearing characters, and had quirky settings and twists. I stayed up late reading it and it reminded me of staying up to finish Nancy Drew books when I was a kid!
This was a debut novel from Meg Shaffer and I can't wait to see what she writes next.

This book is a testament to the power of books and how they can transform someone's life. The Clock Island book series gets Lucy Hart through a rough childhood. Now she is adult looking to adopt a boy whose parents have died, but she doesn't have the resources needed to become his mom until she is invited to take part in a contest on Clock Island to win the latest book in the series. Adventure ensues as Lucy decides to take a risk and travel to Clock Island where she meets the reclusive author of the series and strives to solve the riddles and win the competition. Will Lucy have what it takes to win and become a mom through adoption? You'll have to read the book to find out.

What if Willy Wonka, eccentricities and all, was a children's book author?

I love books about mysterious children's book authors, and this one did NOT disappoint. I stayed up reading this until 3am (on a work night!) because I couldn't put it down.

Jack Masterson is mysterious, full of little riddles, and more than a little kooky. He's a recluse who lives on a circular island that he's designed to match the places in his Clock Island series. But Jack has a big heart and he tries to help the children who write to him. That's how we end up with a big contest with 4 children he helped in the past competing to win the rights to a brand new, long-awaited, Clock Island book. The have to solve riddles, prove their knowledge of the books, and face their biggest fears to win.

Lucy Hart is our main character and while she loves Clock Island, her true purpose in competing is to make some money so she can adopt Christopher, a foster child who already sees her as family. This found family theme carries throughout the book in so many ways for a number of characters. It's beautifully done and doesn't feel forced (as can often happen with found family themes).

If you like riddles, stories about found family, and mysterious children's book authors I highly recommend this one.

Thank you to NetGalley and Ballantine Books for the opportunity to review this book ahead of publication. This does not affect my opinion regarding the book.

i adored this. there's nothing so wonderful as a book that exactly meets your expectations. the tone was whimsical but with enough weight to make you care, and had some genuinely emotional moments. excellent.