I really liked the concept of the novel but, like others, I had a problem with the main character and also found it a bit slow. The main character is very self-centered and his friends have just accepted and even end up condoning it by assisting him with his quest. They don't even try to discuss the flaws in his plan that he can't see. I all finished the novel because I was interested enough in the overall story but it was definitely a rough read. I liked the overall plot of it and felt that the main character did become much more likeable by the end (meaning I no longer hated him) and found him well written and believable. I would only ever recommend thus to someone who could ignore the character himself and lose themselves in the story.

Hi everyone! The synopsis of As You Wish really intrigued me. I had never read anything like it before. Plus, the cover is pretty!

The story follows Eldon on the month of his 18th birthday. The chapters count the days down as it gets nearer to the day he will make his birthday wish. And in Madison, those wishes do come true. However, Eldon has no idea what he wants, and the book is about his journey to figure it out.

Aside from the synopsis and the cover, once I opened the book, the first sentence caught my attention immediately. It is short and simple, but it makes you wanna know more. The last sentence was great too! I really liked Chelsea Sedoti's writing style, it kept me interested throughout the book.

The story was nice and the whole "wish" thing was a really cool concept. My favourite things were the little insert chapters that told people's wish stories. I really liked getting to know the reasons each made the choice they did. I also liked the characters, although Eldon could be really annoying and stupid at times. Merrill and Nori were cool.

Despite reading the whole book, I still don't understand why it was so hard for Eldon to choose something. And I personally don't agree with what his wish ended up being, and I didn't really like the ending. However, the book was entertaining and it was a cool "small town mystery" story.

So, I recommend this book if you're looking for a nice quick read, but nothing that you will get too invested on. The book comes out on January 1, 2018. Thank you Sourcebooks Fire for sending me this book to review.

In the small desert town, Madison Nevada everything seems normal, even boring on the surface. Tourists are never encouraged to stay longer than the time it takes to fill up their gas tanks. If outsiders stay longer, the residents of Madison risk their dark secret coming out. You see, every person born in Madison gets one chance to dramatically change their lives forever on their 18th birthday, with a single wish.

Eldon Wilkes will have his chance in less than a month and he has no idea what to wish for because he already lost everything and everyone that was important to him, and no magic wish will bring any of it back. As the clock ticks down to his wish day, Eldon has to decide not only what to wish for, but whether or not he is willing to expose the entire town of Madison to the outsiders they have protected themselves against for decades.

I really enjoyed this book. It presents the reader with some very deep philosophical questions. For example, what really is the meaning of life? How much is it really worth being able to choose anything you want? The book presents it’s deep thinking with sarcasm and humor. Our protagonist Eldon is constantly told by everyone around him that he is arrogant and self-centered. He is on the surface, but in the end, he is just a teenager struggling to find meaning and prepare himself for adulthood which is conveniently marked by wish on his eighteenth birthday.

This book crams so much teenage angst in it that any reader will connect with the story at some point. Although, I would never call this book a thriller it does have a fast-paced ending that was a bit of a surprise. I highly recommend this book to any YA reader.

Heartfelt with a little element of magical. This book put me through all the emotions

This book, about a small town in the middle of the Mojave Desert where everyone gets one wish on their 18th birthday—a wish that always comes true—and a main character who’s seen how wishes have broken the people around him, and thinks that it just might be possible that one can’t actually wish for happiness, had a cool premise but too much swearing for me. I’ve developed a general rule that I’ll tolerate about 20 swear words in a book; it’s got to have a really strong hook (i.e., good style, lots of action, unique character(s)) to compensate for the profanity, and even then…. I didn’t finish it because nothing had hooked me by the 20-swear-word limit.

Readers will enjoy reading As You Wish if they don’t mind profanity, mainly for the premise and the style of Sedotti's writing. I personally think that I'm spoiled for choices when it comes to books these days, and if profanity’s not my thing, then there are plenty of books out there without it that I’d rather spend my time and money on.

From the Publishers:
What if you could ask for anything- and get it?
In the sandy Mojave Desert, Madison is a small town on the road between nothing and nowhere. But Eldon wouldn’t want to live anywhere else, because in Madison, everyone gets one wish—and that wish always comes true.
Some people wish for money, some people wish for love, but Eldon has seen how wishes have broken the people around him. And with the lives of his family and friends in chaos, he’s left with more questions than answers. Can he make their lives better? How can he be happy if the people around him aren’t? And what hope is there for any of them if happiness isn’t an achievable dream? Doubts build, leading Eldon to a more outlandish and scary thought: maybe you can’t wish for happiness…maybe, just maybe, you have to make it for yourself.

My thoughts
I like the premise of this book. As someone who reads a lot of YA, As You Wish feels new. I like that I could not figure out what Eldon was going to do until the moment he did it. I like that Sedoti doesn't just leave it at the decision nor does she just tie it up like a neat little gift. That kind of jarring even at the end is a welcome change.
If you have students that struggle to finish a book, this is a great option for SSR because even if you are just reading in 20 minute chunks or 15 minute chunks, this story is easy to pick up again. The characters and situations are different so it is easy to just pick it up again.
Publication Date: January 2018
An advanced copy provided by the publisher and Net Galley for an honest review.

"As You Wish" is about a town in Nevada where everybody in the town gets granted 1 wish on their 18th birthday. Some people wish for love, some money, others popularity or beauty. The lead character, a boy named Eldon is stumped about what he should wish for. He has tons of ideas of what would be helpful to wish for- possibly money for his family or a solution for his sister Ebba who is brain-dead after being hit by a car. The problem is that he has observed how wishing has ruined the lives of many of the people he knows. With a little help from his friends and his principal, he examines some of the previous wishes that have been made in town and makes his decision.

<i>"Everyone gets a wish..."</i>

<b>I wish to read this finished book now!

------------------

MY WISH CAME TRUE! YESSSSSS!</b>

3 intrigued fizzle stars.

While I absolutely adore the premise, the beginning narrator, and the torment of magic in wishes, I felt that flame slowly dwindle down to a spark then to ash.

The protagonist, Eldon, is truly unique. He is wise in that he knows his wish can have a monumental impact now, but could be 'just another wish' in the future.

However, while he seemed wise, realistic in some ways, and a bit like me in his trust issues, he was also cynical, rude, and pessemistic in addition to all that.

Thing is, the 'bad' outweighed the 'good' when it came to his attitude. I love a person who shows all these attributes in the beginning because it usually means they'll learn (some) lessons and move on/change. This was not the case. He makes changes to other people, their secrets, and relationships, but never did I ever see effort of himself altering himself.

I was disappointed in that.

However, I did have some aspects I did enjoy.

Oh my gosh, this idea was absolutely the main reason I wanted desperately to read this book! I mean, WISHES! POWER! Tragedy (in some sense)! I loooovvvveeeedddd it. When one person in this town turns 18, they get a wish. On one side of the coin, one can view the possibilities: luxury, <b>MONEY, BOOKS, </b>power, love (ehhhh), you get the point.

Yet, on the other side of the coin, something else to consider, though as ugly as it may be, is the flip side. The obsession that comes with the wish for love. The downfall when you become the best of the best only to have it ripped away from you with another's wish for the same (or more).

This was the main reason I jumped for joy when I saw I was given a copy. (And I thank you for this opportunity Soucebooks Fire).

In addition to that, there was the setting that creeped me a bit out, intrigued my curious, mystery loving side, and made me want to live in the place (Madison) for a while. (Though not forever because I have a home here where I am and I quite enjoy it).

<i>I received an electronic advance reader copy in exchange for a fair/honest review.</i>
Thank you very much Sourcebooks Fire for giving me an electronic copy and for Chelsea Sedoti for writing! I can't wait to read! The idea itself sounds so unique!

I absolutely loved everything about this book. The balance of magic and realism, the characters - so many of them yet all so well-developed, the wish histories, the setting... just everything! If you like Maggie Steifgater, I think you'll like this - it's slightly lighter but really reminded me of her Raven Cycle series.

I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I liked the idea of this book. The story is unique, well told, and has some great characters. However, I hated the narrator. Was I supposed to? Was that the point? Maybe I just have trouble relating to the shallow "I used to be popular and have a pretty girlfriend and be the best at football and now I'm not". I mean, he cares about his sister and her situation, but that's as deep as his character seems to go. Eldon is the kind of guy I couldn't stand in high school and maybe that's why I disliked him so much as a narrator? To be fair, he was an unexpected narrator. Not the usual underdog, quirky, "different" kid featured in most YA stories of this type.

I want to like this book more than 3 stars but I just can't because I just couldn't root for Eldon. I mean, I understood his struggle but he was such an asshole about the whole thing. Even his friends think he's an ass, so much so that they even tell him on more than one occasion. And I don't want to include spoilers, but even his final decision was a pretty asshole move but he feels it was right, so to hell with everyone else?

Despite my obvious dislike for the main character, I'd still recommend reading this one because it's different, and it's got some great characters that aren't Eldon in it (overall, I was a pretty big fan of his best friend, Merrill).

This book provides a twist on small town quirkiness. The opening is set at a gas station and sets the stage for the mysterious happenings in the area. The story is fresh and new. Power, intrigue, and secrecy leave the reader turning page after page until the end.

This book centers around a central theme: “be careful what you wish for.” The citizens of Madison, Nevada, a small isolated desert town, have a secret: when you reach your 18th birthday, you enter a magical cave, and are granted a wish. The wish can bring you beauty or money or a skill, but there are some restrictions, such as the fact that nothing you wish for can have repercussions outside of the town, so that this magical gift stays secret.

Unfortunately, the wish granting is very specific, and wording is critical, with the magic wish granter (whoever or whatever it is) being very talented at parsing sentences. Eldon, our main protagonist who is about to have his 18th birthday, knows, for example, that his mother wished for his father to love her, but ended up getting over him relatively fast, especially when he became an uncritical worshipper of her. Now they are stuck together. Similar stories of wishes that had negative repercussions are interspersed throughout the book in a somewhat irritating format reminiscent of the movie “It’s A Wonderful Life.”

As the day of his wish approaches, Eldon agonizes over what to wish, trying to avoid the pressure of his mother to wish for money to pay for medical care for his sister Ebba, who is brain-dead after an accident for which Eldon irrationally feels guilty.

Eldon also agonizes because he used to be the most popular and handsome and talented in his high school class, but as others got their wishes to be popular and handsome and talented, he is just ordinary, and doesn’t like it. Between whining about that and obsessing over Ebba, that is pretty much the core of the “action.”

Other topics are thrown in but only explored superficially, including belief in God versus belief in magic, gender preference and the fear and social judgment that might accompany non-hetero choices, the ability (or not) of members of the opposite sex to have friendships, the value of a life and the right to choose to live it or not, and even sex trafficking. None of these, however, rise above the level of a side-note; Eldon’s self-absorbed angst remains front and center.

At the end, Eldon claims to have grown up, but it isn’t convincing, and none of the other questions raised by the story have been resolved.

Evaluation: Although the premise was enticing, the book itself was quite unsatisfying. The writing seemed derivative and puerile at times, and so did the plot. Frankly, I had a hard time finishing it.

This is a stand alone, young adult book that does not have a heavy relationship laden storyline. This is like a four leaf clover. It doesn't happen very often and when it does it is amazing.

Eldon lives near the Mojave Dessert that is well know for flying sauces and alien sighting but his small town of Madison is really the one with a true secret to hide. When you turn 18 you get to have one wish granted. You can imagine the kind of wish an 18 year olds wish for. Some have very little thought while others right out detailed wishes. However, Eldon has no idea what he wants to wish for.

What I loved about this story was learning about what other people wished for an how it turned out for them. Unfortunately, I guessed what Eldon's wish was very early on in the book so that is why it lost a star. Still this was a great book.

This book had great pacing and it never felt like it was dragging and I always wanted to keep reading. It was easy to ready and made me think about the choice we make as a young adult and how they can change our future path.

The town of Madison has held a secret within the city limits for a long time but you would never know it if you happened to drive through the town. The town has been made to be as inconspicuous as possible. The only thing that would point to the strangeness of the town is that there isn't a church in the entire town. But that can be explained away very easily and generally the people that notice are the same that forget the town as soon as they leave it.

What is left behind is a special town whose inhabitants are each granted one wish on their eighteenth birthday. In Madison it is the single most important day of your life. Everything leading up to the wish doesn't matter quite so much as what each person imagines their life will be after they make their wish. There are a few stipulations that the inhabitants must follow but those are easy. Wish for money, someone's love, eye sight... something to change your life for the better.

It seems easy, except for Aldon Wilkes deciding on what he should wish for...or even if he should wish for something, is the most difficult decision he has ever had to make. His mother wants him to wish for his sister's health. Many people believe the only good wish is one for money. As Aldon looks around he sees how unhappy everyone is with their lives... and he blames the wishes they made. Getting what you want doesn't equate happiness. So, after being tasked to learn about the wishes and motives behind them from many of the town's inhabitants Aldon learns more and more about himeself, his future...and maybe what he should wish for.

This book is about Aldon growing up and beginning to see the possibilities (outside of wishing) that life has for him.

I was given a complementary copy of this book in exchange for my unbiased review.

Summary:


Madison is a tiny town in the desert exactly like every other town on the way to nowhere, except for one thing--every person born in Madison gets to make a wish on their 18th birthday and the wishes come true. Eldon's birthday is fast approaching but, despite the pressure and input of practically everyone in Madison, he doesn't know what to wish for.

Review:


I loved this concept from the moment I read the back cover, and I'm a sucker for magic taking place in a seemingly mundane town. I felt some of the wonder that was potential in this concept was lost in the main character’s teenage angst and a little more style in the writing could have really made this a cool, whimsical story.


The story has two tracks, one is the plot line of Eldon's life leading up to his wish Day as he attempts to find out if the perfect wish even exists. The other parallel track is written in short back stories, the history of wishing in Madison.
The latter is what I truly enjoyed. It was very interesting to read the different wishes of the towns people and their motivations and outcomes. (Although, I will say it got a little old that not a single person was happy with their wish.)
I literally gasped reading Barnabas' wish story. At the same time, I felt like Gil's was somewhat problematic in terms of how it discussed asexuality.
As far as Eldon's story goes, I was neutral. By the end, I honestly despised him but I think that may have been intentional. It was unsatisfying to see his lack of development because it wasn't until the end that his flaws were truly revealed, thanks to the unreliable narrator trope.
I loved Merrill and Norie. Norie's preoccupation with religion was a neat counterpoint to the wishing and alien jokes.
The biggest problem I had with this book was Eldon's wish. The entire story is a lead up to his wish, and in the end it was ridiculously predictable. There were so many options that would have been more satisfying or surprising, but he just ends up making an obvious choice and regretting it like everyone else. (He could have wished for his mom to live his dad. He could have wished for everyone's wishes to work out for the better. He could have wished for whatever Edda would have wished for. Etc.) It made it feel like the rest of the story was pointless, all the emotional labor and trust we put in to this flawed dude lead up to nothing.
I thought the wish rules were a little half-done but, honestly, any story that includes wishing is always going to have unresolved loopholes.


Overall:

I thought it was great concept with great supporting characters, but it could have benefitted from a little more style and less predictability. Based on the cover, I assumed this would be a story about the wonder of this magical little town, but it was more a cynical take on human nature.

You might like this if you liked:

The Shiver series (Stiefvater)
Roswell (tv show)

I was looking for a good YA read and came across As You Wish on @netgalley. I finished it earlier this week (while listening to "Look What You Made Me Do" on repeat, obvs). .
.
The novel is about a town where each person can make a wish on their 18th birthday and it always comes true. It's a great concept for a novel and had me thinking throughout about what I would wish for. Interspersed with the story of Eldon, the main character, are chapters that explore the different members of the town, what they wished for, why, and the result. It was a great way to showcase different characters (especially because the main character was a bit insufferable)!⭐️⭐️⭐️
.
.
If you had one wish, what would you wish for?!

I thought I would give Chelsea Sedoti another shot. The Hundred Lies of Lizzie Lovett was one of the most disappointing books I've read in the last year, but it is unfair to judge anauthor by her previous works. Sometimes, the second book IS better. But, I just couldn't get into this one. Perhaps it was just the thought that it would turn into another Lizzie Lovett type book for me, or I just couldn't handle the writing, I'm not sure. But I couldn't enjoy it as much as I wish I could have. This author isn't for me, but that doesn't mean she isn't the author for someone else!

I am unsure about this book, the premise of the novel started out well, and something I had ever seen in a novel, but once I got half way through the story I began to lose my concentration, and I noticed the novel was moving along far too slowly. I grew to hate the characters as there was very little development amongst them all. It's a shame that the characters just ruined it for me.

Madison, a town in the middle of the Mojave Desert, is not like most towns. In fact, it’s a town with a secret–not like Area 51 and aliens–a different kind of secret. Every resident of Madison gets one wish on their 18th birthday. And that wish is granted. Other than wishing for world peace or more wishes, what would you wish for? If you liked Elsewhere or Before I Fall, you’ll like this.

By the end of the first chapter, I was almost certain this book was going to be five stars. And, this definitely came true.

Chelsea Sedoti’s As You Wish is a profound coming-of-age novel about self-discovery, wishing, and finding your path in life. Set in a small desert town called Madison in the Mojave Desert, As You Wish tells the story of a teenage boy named Eldon.

Madison isn’t just any ordinary town, despite what they might want you to believe. They hide secrets from tourists who pass through, hoping to see some sort of extraterrestrial life.

In Madison, every resident receives a wish on their eighteenth birthday. The origins of wishing are not fully clear, nor is how the process works, but countless generations of Madison residents have wished in the Wishing Cave as they recreate the accounts of the original wisher.

There are rules associated with wishing, though why they’re there and if they actually are true is something you’ll just have to read to find out.

Eldon doesn’t know what he wants to wish for. It hasn’t been easy for him, not with his sister in a coma and his mom hounding him to wish for unlimited money. Wishing is all everyone in Madison ever talks about, and he has had eighteen years to think about it and still is unsure of what to do.

As he thinks more and more about his wish, Eldon starts to see the true effects of the wishes on the small town of Madison.

Eldon’s journey is a poignant one that will make the reader think about what it means to wish and how it can affect an individual and a society.

Although my prediction might have seemed a little presumptuous, I could tell by the way Sedoti began to weave in the plot and craft such a unique voice for Eldon during the three minutes of gas filling in the first few pages that this was going to be a very enjoyable read for me. As long as Sedoti didn’t screw up the ending or include any slurs against minorities, I was ready to preorder this novel.

And, Sedoti pulled through with flying colors.

Eldon is a flawed character. He’s anything but perfect–not knowing what he wants to do with his life and how he wants to use his wish.

As I’ve said in previous reviews, the line between character flaws and likeability is a fine one. I think Eldon definitely leans more towards the flawed side, but I still really liked his character.

I’ll write a blog post about this one day, but YA literature is overrun by the need for the main characters to be likeable, but that’s not the case in most literature. The main characters aren’t always partially likeable in real life, and this is something that’s definitely glossed over in YA lit.

Nevertheless, I think Eldon is a very complex character, and his good qualities still shined through.
He cares for his sister and feels guilt for when he does something wrong, although he doesn’t always acknowledge this. It shows how he isn’t a completely hopeless case as he continues to feel the guilt, whether it’s when he blows off his mother or tricks the principal, Mr. Wakefield.

Eldon still has a long list of flaws, arrogant and careless as he goes to parties and engages with multiple girls. He’s inobservant, especially when it comes to his best friend Merrill, and he has no sense of what he wants to do in the future.

In all honestly, he’s quite the asshole. He’s got a short temper and is also very selfish and self-centered, just look at his ex-girlfriend, Juniper.

All of this makes Eldon sound like a pretty bad character, but throughout the novel I saw him change and slowly realize that he’s been going about things wrong.

The largest change in his character comes during the end of the novel, but I enjoyed seeing the little things, like when he visited his sister.

I think the plot was structured well, though it definitely picked up in the last few chapters. I’m a person who doesn’t mind reading slower paced books, which it is during the first half (this book is 400 something pages) and so a lot of time was put into shaping Eldon’s character, which I enjoyed.

Either way, the plot was formed well and there was foreshadowing to what would happen during the ending. I enjoyed the plot twists as they were fully justified and helped further the plot rather than drag it along.

I would classify this as a contemporary with mild magical realism elements to it, or, as my Spanish teacher would say, “¡El realismo mágico!” (We’re reading Jorge Luis Borges’ work in class).

It took me a while to decide whether I should dub this magical realism or not, but in the end I decided it fell under the category as magical realism is when the magical seems normal to people. A lot of books are falsely categorized as magical realism, but As You Wish definitely falls in the category.

Sedoti forms the town of Madison into an almost cult-like group of people whose lives center around wishes. The story isn’t just about Eldon, there are short chapters telling the stories of other people in the town and how their wishes affected their lives.

Whether it’s Barnaby who accidentally made the wrong wish, or Mayor Fontaine and his sleazy wish, or other people in the town.

These chapters are a lot like The Sun Is Also a Star when there are chapters about other people, for instance Irene the security guard.

I enjoyed reading this and it made it not just the story of Eldon, but of the whole town.

There is little to no romance in this book as it’s more of a coming of age novel rather than a romance. Mentions of sex and more mature topics are referenced from time to time but it’s not the main focus of the novel.

I didn’t not like anything about this book, and I think it was executed nearly perfectly. It’s important to remember that not all main characters have to be likeable, they just have to change. I found Eldon likeable enough because I could relate to him, but I know some people might not connect with his character.

All in all, I enjoyed reading As You Wish as it was a thought provoking novel about a flawed boy figuring out his life. I would recommend it to anyone looking for a meaningful read with some magical aspects to it and who doesn’t mind some snark and anger and complexity to the main character.

I can’t wait for this to come out as I will be purchasing a hardback copy (& the cover is gorgeous! The gold on the cover is stunning!) to add to my bookshelf!