I love this author but I had a tough time making myself finish the book. The immature heroine ruined this book. And I hated the way she treated Seth.

It took me two months to read Wish You Were Here, because I would cry so hard that I'd need a break. I connect to this story personally, but all readers will be moved by this breathtaking journey of a woman finding herself and discovering that her capacity to love is unlimited.

Sadly this was another novel I DNF. I loved one of the authors other books and thought I'll give this one a try. But couldn't get into the writing

Wish You Were Here

Renee Carlino


Holy cow! It took me over twelve hours to finally write this review. WISH YOU WERE HERE shredded me and I still can not let this heart breaking story go! If you want and need a cry ugly session, this is the book for you. I read it in one sitting, unable to stop, and not wanting to. I have never read Renee Carlino before but I am now the proud owner of her backlist! I will spread them out over time as my heart can’t take too much breaking all at once!

WISH YOU WERE HERE is a beautiful story filled with loss, love, letting go, and finding your soulmate. Of course, I finished it right when my husband was getting home from work and he looked at me like I was nuts! I’m sitting there, sobbing, tears running down my face, almost hyper ventilating! Oh yeah, it’s just that good! Twenty something Charlotte lives with her roommate Helen. They have been best friends forever and always have each other’s backs. One night, while walking back home with Helen, they run in to Adam, a hot but lost man who instantly shares his Chinese food with them. He helps Charlotte get a very drunk Helen home and then Charlotte helps Adam get home and winds up spending the night. Charlotte is not the type of girl who goes for one night stands but she feels this instant connection to Adam and doesn’t think twice about going with him.

After sharing an amazing night together, Adam pretty much kicks Charlotte out the next morning and he breaks Charlotte’s heart. WISH YOU WERE HERE leaves Charlotte not being able to get Adam out of her head for almost six months…….she just can’t seem to move on and can’t accept the fact that Adam was just like all he rest of the men she has been with. Hang on to your seats because when you find out why events unfolded as they did, you will be shell shocked and devastated! I’m going to stop here because my emotions are once again on a crazy roller coaster ride and I’m tearing up again! Plus I don’t want to give anything away. Do yourself a favor and run to get WISH YOU WERE HERE right away. I’m almost certain, it is the best book I’ve read this year! I am so excited to read more by Renee Carlino!

Oh, Renee Carlino, how you continue to wreck me with your stories. I've been a fan of Renee's books for quite a while now. I didn't even read the synopsis before going into Wish You Were Here. I went in completely blind and was immediately captivated by this story. Wish You Were Here is the type of story that will leave you thinking long and hard about your own life once you finish it. I loved how much this story affected me, while entertaining me at the same time.

This story is a gut-wrencher, that's for sure. I wasn't expecting to feel so many different emotions all in one story. I also enjoyed how I wasn't really sure which way the story would go, and was left wondering quiet a few times. Though not completely unpredictable, it did have an slight quality that I really enjoyed. And these characters... they were so relatable, so easy to love, and just so perfect for this story.

I'm so excited for my fellow Renee Carlino fans to give this story a read. And if you're new to her writing, I urge you to check it out. So much love for this talented lady!

(Thank you to Atria Books and Renee Carlino for providing me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.)

3.5 stars

I really wanted to love this book but I spent most of the time hating the main girl. I did tear up a few times but the story didn't grab me as much as I hoped. Not everyone reads books the same way, I guess.

This book brings forth ALL the emotions!! This book will wreck you. But then it soothes you. It's just a testament to the power of love. 

Charlotte is over her life. She's a waitress in her 20s at a place she doesn't like, rooming with her BFF in LA and just looking for her life. She meets Adam who challenges her to do things outside of her comfort zone, expand her mind and horizons. At least for the evening they talked and lived. 

Six months later, Charlotte meets up with Adam and he's challenging her and her ideals again. 

This book will definitely pull you through the wringer. But it has such a relevant underlying message that you just have to read it!

ARC was provided by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review

I read this book over two months ago, and I still can't completely put into words how amazing it was. I've read a few of Carlino's books, and they always pull me in. Wish You Were Here was no different.

I didn't read the blurb before diving in, and I walked away from this book changed. I loved Charlotte's friendship with Helen. I liked seeing her relationship grow with her family.

And Adam...he's a guy you can't forget. His spark lights up the room, and you want to get to know him.

I'm not going to say too much more because this is one of those it's better to go in blind. But I cried, I laughed, and I loved right along with these characters.

Holy moly..what a ride! I learned to go with the flow and it's a good thing cause this story, Charlotte's journey, took me places I wouldn't have imagined. It's certainly an emotional journey and I found myself slowing down and pace myself lol.
Kinda strange but then again I needed to think and make sense of my emotions.
Charlotte and Adam just hold me captive and , Charlotte especially, made me question a lot in a whole range of emotional peaks.
It was totally unexpected and felt so real to me, I was so invested..no jokes..I don't know how the author did it but dang, I was consumed.
All I can say is..read this story and do it now!

This book is love, loss, heartache, and hope. It’s a book that will have you smiling one minute and brushing away a tear the next. Wish You Were Here is a breathtaking, emotional journey from start to finish.

These characters and their story are truly unforgettable. My absolute favorite thing about this book was Adam. I loved his spontaneity and just all-around adorableness… sigh. He was simply wonderful.

Renee Carlino has completely outdone herself with Wish You Were Here. It’s moving, powerful, and stunningly beautiful. I know it’s a book I’ll be thinking about for years to come.

“Your art, our memories, the memories people have of us . . . it makes us immortal. When you love someone, whether it be your family, friends, partners, whatever, it’s like planting a little seedling of yourself inside of their hearts.”

I found myself saying "just one more chapter" at 2:15 am. The only time I was able to put this book down was to grab another tissue. What an emotional journey. This bittersweet love story was incredible. I wasn’t just full-on emotional wreck while reading Wish You Were Here. The dialogue between Charlotte and Chucky was hysterical. If you are in the mood to read a book full of the feels and heartbreakingly beautiful, this is the book for you. Wish You Were Here made me think about my own life and served as a reminder appreciate every little moment no matter how small or insignificant. Live, love, laugh, and leave your mark on the world.

This review appears on www.kindlecrack.net, www.facebook.com/kindlecrack, Goodreads, Amazon, Pinterest, Google+ and Twitter. A review copy of this book was kindly provided by the author in exchange for an honest review.

This novel didn't turn out to be what I was expecting. I'm not a big romance reader and when I started reading this I started to get a bit worried. However, I ended up getting carried away with the story and quite enjoyed it.

Charlotte is in her twenties, lives with her bestie, Helen and has no idea what she wants to be when she grows up. She's had many odd jobs and just as many odd men. No really......very odd men. One who freaked out every time he saw an El Camino, another who liked to wear her underwear, and another....well you get the gist.
Then she meets a handsome stranger roaming around the streets late at night, with a bag of Chinese food. 

Charlotte has never been into random hook-ups but she feels like she's known Adam forever. After an amazing night with the mysterious painter, she starts to wonder if her luck might be changing.
However, the next morning things take a turn...

Charlotte's feelings and her pride are hurt. Then Helen makes a shocking decision that leaves Charlotte feeling even more adrift. And she is still having a hard time putting Adam out of her head....or her heart.
When she finally does meet another guy she's leery of getting involved. But the handsome baseball player doesn't give up and just as her heart starts to thaw...

Suddenly EVERYTHING changes.

I usually have a hard time with romance and insta-love. I think I need to stop being so cynical.  Charlotte was a great character and I enjoyed seeing her grow and change. I loved the relationship she had with her family, especially her brother. Her best friend Helen was a blast. I wondered about a couple of her decisions, but I told my cold heart to be quiet and just enjoy.

A romantic, heartwarming, and sexy story with many laugh out loud moments. However, this was also a very powerful and moving story with heart wrenching moments that hit me right in the gut. This was my first read by Renée Carlino and I really don't think it's going to be my last.

Thank you NetGalley and Atria Books for providing an advanced readers copy of this book for me to read in exchange for my honest review.

4.5 stars - rounding up to 5. It wasn't a total 5 for me only for the reason that the ending just came a little too easily - life doesn't work that way for me, or anyone I know...which is why I read books!!!

This is possibly one of the most heart-wrenchingly beautiful stories I have read.  I sobbed like my heart was broken for a good portion of this, mostly because it was.  Life is just so damn unfair sometimes!!!  This was filled with selfless love and difficult choices, that really truly were easy when you have a beautiful heart.  I know that doesn't really make sense.  I don't want to spoil anything, because you just have to go with the story.  I am a complete spoiler junkie - and I had to stop myself so many times from trying to find out what was up with Adam, and I am grateful that I did.  I will think about this book for a long time.

I enjoyed a lot of it, it fits the bill for Atria's New Adult/Contemporary line and has a few swoony moments. There are parts that fell flat though, especially in regards to character development. Charlotte's reliance on a man to give her a focus bothers me, as does Seth's flat existence. Recommended, just not preferred..

3.5 stars! Wish You Were Here was one of those stories that slowly builds a little nest in your heart until it decides it's not going anywhere. The characters were well developed, expect nothing less from Carlino, and you start falling in love with the little pieces of their souls that make them who they are. You feel the pain and stabs of life that get thrown at them. This book reminds you that life is short and you need to go out there and do the things that feel right for yourself. Even if they may end up badly, make every choice worth it. This isn't necessarily a book about love for someone else but more about loving yourself enough to go love someone wholly.

If you think that Wish You Were Here is all about romance, you'll be in for a surprise! It's a contemporary novel, that will take you on an emotional roller-coaster and keep you turn the pages.

Charlotte doesn't really know what to do with her life. She's tried a lot of different jobs and nothing really worked, and she had the same bad luck with her love life. Right now, Charlotte is working as a waitress and starts to lose hope that she'll ever find her true love, until the accidental meeting and night she spends with Adam, a mysterious painter with whom she connects right away. But as much as Charlotte thinks he might be a perfect guy, there seems to be something off about him and she is surprised when the next morning, he treats her coldly and leaves her completely confused. Will Charlotte try to seek for Adam, whom she can't get out of her mind, or will she move on and look for love elsewhere?

Like I mentioned at the beginning, starting Wish You Were Here I was expecting a sweet contemporary romance story, but the actual plot with its twists really took me by surprise. I really liked Renee Carlino's writing style, because it drew me into the story and the characters really quickly. Even though I didn't always agree with her decisions, I grew to like Charlotte and sympathise with her from the very beginning. I appreciated it that apart from the romantic plotline, there was also a story of self-discovery and finding who you really are.

However, I have to say that I wasn't really sold on Seth's character and the way Charlotte and Seth's relationship looked, which was a bummer since it played a big part in the story. Seth's behaviour just gave off very negative vibes to me and I couldn't accept how he was all perfect and kind one minute but could turn quite aggressive and borderline abusive the next. And the way Charlie treated him wasn't okay either, in my opinion. On the other hand, I enjoyed Charlotte and Adam's relationship and wish it could've been more developed, and all the family relationships and friendships were well written and fun to read about.

Overall, despite having a few issues with it, I did enjoy Wish You Were Here by Renée Carlino and I would recommend it to all contemporary romance lovers. It's an engaging, surprising and heartbreaking story, and I'm really curious about other books by Renee Carlino.

*minor spoilers ahead*

I am a big fan of Renee Carlino's books, and I couldn't wait to get started on Wish You Were Here. The cover is one of my favourites of this year, and written by an author I love? There was no way I was turning down this book. Unfortunately, for me, it fell short. I am hugely in the minority with my feelings on this book, my timeline was filled with people shouting their love for it around release, so don't just take my word for it, give it a try for yourself, you might just love it.

So anyway! I loved the start of the book. There was so much mystery surrounding this kinda crazy and impulsive guy the main character, Charlotte, meets, and I couldn't wait to unravel the story surrounding him. As the story goes on, we meet other people, one who I completely fell for, and again, I couldn't wait to keep reading to see how it would play out, and all the while, Charlotte annoyed me. She was so standoffish, and I get it, to a point, but she came across rude and I can't stand rude people. 

At a certain point, revelations are made and twists and turns happen, and I know I was supposed to have all these feels, but I just couldn't muster them. Charlotte completely changed as a character, and it was all so unbelievable. I know, I know, it's fiction, it's not real, but going from someone with no ambitions, to being the captain of a boat after 1 lesson...I'm not buying it, even with what the message of the book was. As for the ending... I liked it, but I still had no feels and after everything that had happened...I don't know. I would have liked it more if I'd connected better to the story and the characters, I think. But as I said, don't just take my word for it. Go read. Hopefully it works for you.

** spoiler alert ** I'm not really sure what this book should be, but I read it in a day and was really curious where it was going. I had forgotten what it was about so when I picked it up it was with zero expectations.

Was Adam a thief? An identity stealer? Just a liar? Then I got he had a short term memory issue fairly quickly ... but was really sad when I found out it was cancer. I really enjoyed the story between Charlotte and Adam.

What I didn't get was why Seth latched onto Charlitte the way he did. He mentioned her sense of humor grabbed him ... but that wasn't her, it was her brother. He said she was gorgeous ... but he couldn't even see her face in the profile pic. It was just odd how he thought she was so special, but the author didn't really show us that or why. It's almost like she became this special girl AFTER Adam died.

Her dad bugged me too. He seemed indifferent to Charlotte, Charlie being the favorite all the time. But then he changes his mind on a dime. I know Charlie explained the situation to him, but it didn't jive with what the author told us in the beginning.

Some odd character development aside, the story was good and uplifting and maybe even inspirational for some 20-something out there that doesn't know what to do with their life. Except maybe find a dying hot guy and inherit a million bucks?

When I read the synopsis for the book, I was immediately intrigued.  When I heard it had some romance, I got excited.  When I sat down and read it, I didn't love it.  

Charlotte is a flighty lady in her twenties and hasn't found her true passion.  She has hopped from job to job and relationship to relationship and nothing is sticking.  She has a magical night with a random guy and then he disappears.  Then she starts something with another guy and then things just go all wonky!

I don't love books where female characters entire world seems complete once they find the right guy.  I just wanted Charlotte to find satisfaction and contentment without needing a guy to hold her hand.  

I also didn't love the pacing or flow of the book - it felt so bouncy and all over the place.  First Charlotte was headed in this direction then when a guy spoke up she bounced over here and I just couldn't buy into her and her story.  

I love a romance book, but for many reasons this one just didn't work for me.