This book will definitely take you back to the nostalgia of losing yourself in books as a child (especially if there was a particular series you were hooked on). I'm glad that this book wasn't written with the characters being perfect and sickeningly sweet, because it could've definitely went that way but it didn't. Instead, the characters have relatable flaws and aren't perfect. I was excited to see that this was a debut author and I hope she has more of her work published. A few things did bug me: <spoiler>Did we really need Alice sick at the end? Couldn't she and Lucy just have just met up for coffee or something to start rebuilding their relationship? And the declaration about Jack being gay felt like it was just kinda thrown in there?</spoiler>

Kindly received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

The Wishing Game is a fast paced book to read. I was intrigued by the premise of a book contest. I felt excited and anxious as I was reading. I do recommend to anyone who loves books and reading and is OK with a little suspense and the dark side of competition!

This was like Willy Wonka but rather than chocolates and gobstoppers, it was filled with stories and books. When I first felt the similarities, I was a little put off, like how is this author going to recreate such a classic? But i kept going and loved everything about the book still, and then the author immediately mentioned that WW was the inspiration and I immediately felt better about that aspect, haha.

The Wishing Game has family drama, secrets, sorrow, hope. A tiny bit of romance. There are stories within stories and settings within settings. The characters are both believable and relatable.

I can't wait for this to come out so i can own the physical copy; this book feels like it should be hardbound on a book shelf, nor just locked in my kindle app. I wish the Clock Island books were real, I'd read those as well.


*received digital ARC from netgalley

I absolutely loved this book! While it’s been compared to Willy Wonka, I saw it more as an adult Mr. Lemoncello or Mysterious Benedict Society. Jack is the author of famous children series about Clock Island who invited several former child fans to his island for a contest. Lucy is one of the invitees. She needs to win because she desperately wants to foster and adopt a student at the school where she works. The Wish Giver is about family, bravery, forgiveness and the impact that books have on children’s lives. Highly recommend!

Absolutely LOVED this one— could not put it down—one of my favorite reads of the year!

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the arc! Definitely recommend for 2023!

This book gave me all the feels! I was mildly skeptical to pick up The Wishing Game, thinking it would be just fluff. I wasn’t wrong about the fluff, but it was SO GOOD. I don’t remember the last time a book gave me happy tears more than once.

Lucy is a 20-something student teacher in California. Lucy is estranged from her nuclear family, so like most 20-something’s in a crazy housing market and saddled with college loan debt, she’s struggling to make ends meet. That wouldn’t be a large problem, except she has fallen in (motherly) love with one of her students, Christopher, who is bouncing between foster homes. Lucy is determined to adopt Christopher, but needs a stable home, vehicle, and income to qualify. When her favorite children’s author announces a once-in-a-lifetime competition, it seems Lucy will get the chance to make her and Christopher’s dreams come true.

Jack Masterson is a recluse. He lives on Clock Island in Maine, which he has modeled after his wildly famous children’s books. Other than his staff, the only other resident of Clock Island is Hugo Reed, the illustrator of the books’ covers. We know Jack has lost his way, but not why, and that Hugo is torn between getting Jack back on track or building his own life off Clock Island. When Jack announces this competition, Hugo is flummoxed and peeved, but also committed to staying on-island to see it through.

The Wishing Game is whimsical without being magical, which I found utterly delightful (and unique!). There is the right amount of love—nuclear family love, found family love, and romantic love—to hit every part of the heart. In many ways, the book is predictable, but there are surprises till the end (and sometimes predicting a happily-ever-after is perfect). I loved this. Highly recommend. Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Favorite quotes:
“‘You don’t feel like shit. You are the shit, baby.’”

“‘Hate is a knife without a handle. You can’t cut something with it without cutting yourself.’”

“‘Why do only brave kids get their wishes granted?’ she asked. ‘Because only brave children know that wishing is never enough. You have to try to make your own wish come true.’”

Heartwarming and magical! Adults who grew up reading Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, The Last of the Really Great Whangdoodles, and The Magic Treehouse series will be captivated by The Wishing Game.

All Lucy wants is enough money to buy a car and home so she can adopt her student, Christopher. She knows all too well what it’s like to grow up without a loving family. Lucy even ran away once to the island created by her favorite childhood author. Now, that same author is giving her the chance to make all her wishes come true, if she can only be brave enough.

Readers will fall head over heels for Lucy, Jack, and even grumpy Hugo, in this enchanting story full of hope, found family, and the magical worlds brought to life through books. One of my favorite reads of the year!

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine for an e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

I greatly enjoyed the premise of this book but the narrative skewed a bit young and the characters could have been more developed and more deeply explored.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/60864829

This book was cute. Didn’t end predictably, which I appreciated, and the characters were great. I definitely want to visit clock island now!

This was great; it was a heart-warming modern day fairytale with lovable characters and a little bit of spookiness. I read it it one sitting.

The story centers on Lucy, who gets a chance to participate in a contest held by her favorite childhood author, the reclusive Jack. Lucy wants to adopt a foster boy to whom she has grown close and will do anything for the opportunity. The contest gives her that opportunity as well as a chance to delve into her own childhood, her fears, and ultimately what truly makes a family.

The characters were all likable in this book and there was nothing nefarious going on behind the scenes- it was just a nice story that gives you hope for those who haven’t had things easy. Extra credit if you also love riddles!

Thanks to Netgalley for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

What a magically whimsical book! I will probably see many <i>Charlie and the Chocolate Factory</i> comparisons because that’s exactly the kind of magic that <i>The Wishing Game</>uses to hold and captivate its audience.

Lucy Hart wants more than anything than to adopt and become the mother to one of her students, Christopher. Christopher is in a crowded foster home and Lucy spends all of her time scrimping and saving towards a better life for them.

Jack Masterson is the world famous author of the <i>Clock Island</i> books, which Lucy has been reading since she was a child. Hugo Reese is the cover art illustrator who has been working with Jack for over 13 years.

Jack, who has self exiled to an actual Clock Island (a replica from his books), off the coast in New England, unable to write for years. Until suddenly, inspiration strikes and he quickly finishes another <i>Clock Island</i> book.

Four people from across the United States are invited to the island in order to compete in a game that will win them the actual novel - to do whatever they want with. The only catch is they have to guess Jack’s clues and play his games.

Lucy <b>needs</> to win - for her new life with Christopher to start. But can she face her fears in order to make her wishes come true?

This was very well written story about Lucy. She had an awful childhood and escaped her reality by reading the Clock Island series by Jack Masterson. She wrote him a letter and he responded and she felt seen and understood. She ran away to Clock Island and met him as she wanted to be his side kick and stay on the island. Unfortunately the police showed up and took her back. Her sister Angie was sick so all her parents attention and love went to her. They eventually gave Lucy to her grandparents to raise so they could focus on Angie.

Now Lucy lives in California and shares the Clock Island books with Christopher. She dreams of adopting him and being his mom. Right now she doesn’t have the house, car or money to make it possible but she keeps wishing and so does Christopher.

Now Jack has sent her an invitation to come back to the island and a chance to win his next book and publishing rights. If she wins all her dreams would come true.

I love Lucy and how much she loves Christopher and want to provide a safe loving home for him. I like how she is completely nerdy and escapes in books. Jack at times I thought was just crazy but he has a big heart and as the mastermind manages to help a lot of people. Wishing him and this island were real as it sounds magical. I got a kick out of a pet Raven and all the descriptions of the house and island.

I was so happy to get this book and would recommend to others.

THE WISHING GAME

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

Lucy grew up a lost and lonely child, with only the Clock Island book series for company. Now a lost and lonely adult, Lucy is struggling to live in a world without magic and wishes. Her greatest dream is to adopt a little boy at her school, but raising a child takes money she doesn’t have. Just when all seems lost, Clock Island’s mysterious author announces a contest: he’s written one last book in the series, and there is only one copy in the world. Four readers are invited to his private island to compete for this greatest of prizes. The manuscript - and its publishing rights - would change Lucy’s life, but first she’ll have to win.

You know when the heroine is named Lucy, the story is going to be weird and wonderful, plucky and courageous and perhaps a little meddlesome (I’m looking at you, Lucy Pevensie). This book was a mixture of childhood dreams and adult reality, in a way that was authentic to both. The author did a superb job of recreating the magic of a beloved and formative book series, this time seen through the lens of adult nostalgia. The background of the Clock Island books was thorough and well thought out; I would read them if Meg Shaffer ever decides to publish them! I loved the characters, the romance angle, and most of all the enchanting imagery of Clock Island - both the perfect, fictionalized version and the gone-to-seed reality that Lucy arrives to find.

This was an enormous success of a debut novel, and book services like @bookofthemonth and @aardvarkbookclub should run to snap this one one up when it releases in May!

Thank you to #ballantinebooks and @penguinrandomhouse for the gifted ARC 😊

Many times, NetGalley/Megan Whalen will send me suggestions for books based on my previous reads, however, normally they are not a good fit. This time around the pick could not have been more perfectly paired had I chosen it myself. Please keep those suggestions coming. They may not always work, but eventually, one diamond in the ruff will appear. THIS IS ONE OF THOSE DIAMONDS!

The Wishing Game is a magical nod to Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. Just as much as you loved the mastermind behind Willy Wonka, Jack Masterson will have you just as enthralled.

The story begins with 26-year-old Lucy Hart, a teacher’s assistant who has moved from her hometown of Maine and is trying to adopt little Christopher Lamb.

The problem with this is, Lucy lives with 4 roommates and doesn’t make enough money to support Christopher.

When Christopher first came into Lucy’s life, he ended up staying with her for a week, he wouldn’t speak to anyone at all.

So, Lucy remembered back to when she was a child and when she found solace.

She began to read one of the Clock Island books by Jack Masterson.
When she figured he had had enough, she was about to let him go to sleep.

For the first time in that week, he spoke and asked if could she read more to him.

From then on, she knew that she wanted to be Christopher’s mother, all she had to do was make enough money to convince social services she could take care of him.

Then out of nowhere, the answer to how she could afford to be Christopher’s mother fell into her lap, by the way of a contest.

Jack Masterson had written a manuscript and there was only 1 copy of it.

The contest would host 4 previous visitors (who were now grown-ups) to compete for this copy. But how would Lucy get an invitation to Clock Island?

As Lucy ponders the question, she tells Christopher about the time she ran away to Clock Island and met “The Mastermind Jack Masterson,” she had been 13 years old, and Jack Masterson had finally answered one of her letters.

In his letter, he told her that he would not treat her like her parents did and that his home would be filled with love.

Lucy wanted to be like Masterson’s character Astrid, so she showed up at his door and genuinely looked happy to see her.

That is when Lucy met Hugo Reese for the first time, she was in awe of him.
Here not only was she in the presence of Jack Masterson but also the infamous illustrator Hugo Reese.

Even at 13, she found herself incredibly handsome with sleeve tattoos and a Rockstar hairstyle.

But Masterson had another idea,

Lucy was still a minor and she couldn’t stay at Clock Island, so the police had to be called and Lucy had to go back home to her grandparents.

But all was not lost, because on the beautiful robin’s egg blue stationery, delivered to Lucy Hart was that invitation that she was just pondering about, before telling Christopher her story.

“BECAUSE SOMETIME’S YOU JUST GOTTA SCREAM!!!!”

But others had dreams too, and they also wanted that manuscript.
They were going to be ruthless in their pursuit, as they would have to be to solve Masterson’s riddles.

The one thing they need all to remember,

Masterson has been playing this game long before they were ever born.

He wouldn’t be called “The Mastermind” if he didn’t have all sorts of tricks up his sleeves.

With that said, I must leave you with the absolute wonders of this book.

I have purposely rearranged the order of events, so unless you have read the book you won’t know what belongs where.

The Wishing Game is by far the “BEST” book I read for the coming year (22/23)

Shaffer has baffled us Masterson’s riddles (especially with the explanation behind them), mesmerized by the descriptive imagination that went behind Masterson’s Clock Island, and dazzled with the diversity of Masterson and how much every child touched his heart.

Shaffer touched upon the way it “could” be when the love is there to want to adopt, but the finances are not.

Another case where money Is more important, understandable, and yet so sad.

Shaffer’s world-building is stellar and flows perfectly throughout her book.

Shaffer has outdone herself with this book!

KUDOS TO YOU SHAFFER!!

JOB STUPENDIOUSLY DONE!

5 WELL DESERVED STARS AND MORE

This book makes you feel like “SOMETIMES YOU GOTTA JUST SCREAM!! I love it!

Thank you, NetGalley/Meg Shaffer/Random House Publishing Group-Ballantine.Ballantine Books/ For this amazing eARC in advance for my honest review. My opinions are of my own volition

I thought The Wishing Game was great. The characters were well-written and really made you care about what happened to them. My favorites were Hugo and Jack. I can see why people are saying it is similar to Willy Wonka. It does kind of follow that script with sending the former runaway kids letters so they can compete for a book. I guess the biggest difference is that they are now adults, not kids, and the contest is more about growth and riddles. I loved the whole feeling of Clock Island. It really gives off a mysterious vibe and I can totally see the characters wanting to run away and live there as kids (and adults). The author Jack was really special, just something about him makes him really stand out as someone who you can trust and someone you would love to go on adventures with. All in all, I thought it was fantastic and wished it had gone on longer. I look forward to reading more by this author.

Oh. My. Lanta. Y’all…. It is uncommon, IMO, for avid readers to stumble onto a new author & immediately clamor for more, searching for a backlist, following on social media, etc. But that’s exactly what happened here.

These characters were extraordinarily fleshed out & likable, there were intriguing storylines & just all-around well-written narratives. From little Christopher up to mega-bestseller author Jack, I craved to be in this tale; it had a loose Willie-Wonka vibe but with more pleasantries. The realism behind our flawed foster care system, family dysfunction (think Munchausen syndrome style) & fascinating author & artist connection that we get to peek behind the curtain for??…. All add up to an astoundingly moving & engaging book. It did wrap up a smidge too tight maybe but not in a manner of “What?!”, where you throw the book across the room
;-)

Going to go “follow” this author everywhere now…. I suggest you all pick this up & follow suit asap - you’ll thank me later! An extraordinarily special “THANKS!” to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC!

This novel is a sweet grown-up take on Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. A group of kids--now adults--who ran away from hard circumstances in their youth now has a chance to win a game that could drastically alter their current circumstances. The game revolves around a series of books they read as children. After several years, the reclusive author has written another book in the series and is willing to give it to the winner of the game.
The novel really hits home the power of books--both the words and illustrations--and the influence that authors have on their young readers.
Clock Island, the setting of the novels and the game, will take all readers back to their childhood when they longed for this "perfect" world.
Recommend to readers who like a bit of drama and intrigue along with a character-driven story. While readers might not find a lot of surprises, they will enjoy the ride.
Thank you, NetGalley and Random House for the opportunity to take an early peek!

When she was thirteen and lonely, neglected by her parents. Lucy Hart discovered the Clock Island books. They gave her hope, and when the author of the books finally responded to her letter and mentioned needing a sidekick, Lucy ran away to the real life Clock Island. Now, thirteen years after Jack, the author, gently sent her back home, she's been invited back to play a game against other children--also now adults--who once ran away to the setting of their favorite books.
If she wins, Lucy will finally have the money to adopt Christopher, one of the boys in her class who's currently in the foster system.

The Wishing Game is about hope and dreams, and holding onto the magic of those things when you grow up. It's a book for those of us who longed to run away to the worlds of our favorite books as children, and who still look for ways to bring those worlds to life as adults. It's a book that speaks directly to the hearts of lonely children who grew up to be stressed adults, and I am so grateful to have gotten to read it.

I just finished The Wishing Game by Meg Shaffer. It is a beautifully written book that you will love if you are a fan of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and the Narnia series. It is about a young girl, Lucy, who is a teacher’s aide in California. When she was young she read the Clock series by Jack Masterson while her sister was sick in the hospital. Lucy felt abandoned by her parents and her sister and these books gave her an escape from her loneliness. As an adult, she befriends a young boy who is in the foster system and wishes she had the financial means to adopt him. A contest brings her back to Clock Island, where Jack Masterson lives with the illustrator of his books. I will not give more away because I highly recommend you read this book for yourself. Thank you to NetGalley for providing the ARC for this beautiful book.

The reclusive and very rich children's book author, Jack Masterson, is writing again after a long dry spell. On his private island, Clock Island, named for his book series, he's devised a contest for four adults who once ran away from home to visit him. The prize is the only copy of his new book, valued at six figures. One of these people, Lucy, a teacher's assistant, desperately wants to win the contest, so she can afford to foster a young boy and eventually adopt him.

When Lucy arrives on the island and meets the other contestants, she also meets Masterson's book illustrator with whom she becomes attracted. The contest involves several difficult puzzles. Lucy starts out ahead by solving the first but then falls behind. The only way she can win is to solve the last puzzle.

What I liked about this book was the backstory about the author and illustrator as well as that of Lucy and her young friend. The writing was enchanting with touches of fantasy and whimsy that reflected the best quality of children's books in an adult novel. I recommend this read to those who enjoy a sweet story and a happy but not necessarily obvious ending.