Jessica's Wish is a sweet story. Jessica has Down's Syndrome and desperately wants a mother. The father Phil is not terribly likeable, but the story is lovely and I am glad I took the time to read it.

Jessica Martinson-Canton is celebrating her eleventh birthday, and has only one wish. Jessica was born with Down Syndrome, and her mother left when she was an infant. Although, her grandmother, Kara, has been in her life, it's not the same as all the other girls who have moms.

Phil Martinson-Canton, who is Jessica's father, has no plans for the immediate future to be involved with anyone. He doesn't want to bring just anyone into their lives, he wants to make sure the woman will love Jessica; as much as him. Phil grew up without a father, and when his wife left, it opened a wound wider. When his mother, points out that Jessica is a preteen and needs someone other than him to connect with.

Mallory O'Connell, a graphic designer, moves back to Stonehill from California. Her mother, Annie was injured, and Mallory decided to come home to help with her mother's real estate business and take care of her mother. Mallory, also grew up without a father, who left before she was born.

When Phil and Mallory start to hang out as friends, there is something there between them. Kara and Annie are overjoyed at the prospect of their children becoming more than friends. Things don't go as planned, when Phil has a change of heart and deeply hurts not just Mallory, but Jessica too.

I enjoyed this story, the characters are likeable, and I found myself rooting for the two to overcome their differences.

I received an ARC from Netgalley via Pink Sand Press and I voluntarily reviewed this book.

This story is a sweet read. Jessica, a little girl with Down Syndrome, wants a mother. She is being raised by her dad, Phil. In comes Mallory, who has moved back home to be with her mother who was injured. Mallory’s bond with Jessica is pure and sweet. Phil has reservations and there is a push and pull on his part. I felt the story moved a little slowly but it was an easy read overall.

As much as I love Jessica, her father is not lovable. Phil had is own issues to work out, that is not a excuse for his behavior. He says he is a mature adult but never acts the part. He always seems like a big baby trying to blame his mom for his issues.

The book started Mallory's story well and they gave her both vocational and family drama, but these storylines were left unresolved. All she did was play house with Phil and Jessica and that is not how real life works.

The subplots, with Kara and Harry and Annie and Marcus, were uninspired and didn't not play a big role in the main storyline. Also everyone was too involved in the matchmaking of this pair, even though one part of the couple was not yet ready for a real relationship yet.

This book had much wasted potential in not thought out plots. I wanted to love it, but couldn't.

I received a copy of the book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review and all opinions are my own.

Luanna

Loved this book a heart warming plot,love can conquer a lot,although this is part of a series of books,it does not spoil the plot,readers can still understand the various characters in the series.

This was a really good book. I enjoyed it a lot. This series is pretty well written for a great romance. Jessica's story was so heart warming. Great book.

Thank you Netgalley, the author and publisher for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I absolutely loved Jessica! I wished that Mallory would have been a little more understanding about the position Phil was in with introducing a new relationship to Jessica but in the end she did figure it out. Phil was so wishy-washy about a lot of things.

All in all it was a good book!

Phil is a single father of a down's syndrome daughter, Jessica, her mother walked out on them when she was a baby and Phil has struggled to give Jessica the best life he can on his own. Every birthday Jessica's wish is to have a mother but will Phil ever be able to overcome his issues from the past and move on. Mallory had come back to Stonehill to look after her mother and she befriends Jessica..... but will Phil be able to see how perfect she could be for them.

A good story and great to be back in Stonehill I loved the character of Jessica and so was willing her to get the happy ending she so desperately wanted.... and Mallory was perfect for the role!

Phil wants to protect his daughter Jessica from anyone else abandoning her. Mallory returns to town after realizing she misses her mother Annie and wants to be near for her. Phil and Mallory know each other from friends. Phil's attitude and treatment of Mallory are worse than whiplash. He uses his issues as excuses and projects them onto his daughter. I voluntarily reviewed a copy of this book.

I need to start of by saying I loved Harry and Kara’s story. Loved it so much I read it in one day. So I was excited Phil got his own story.
However, I could not get into this one. He was just too insecure for me. What did Mal see in him? Jessica was still adorable. That helped me some.
I must admit because of this, I skipped many chapters and finished the book quickly just to see how it ended. This story was not for me.

The fourth installment of the Stonehill series starts the title of the book, a wish made by Phil's daughter, Jessica, for a mother. Jessica has grown up since the first book in the series; she is now eleven. She has never known her biological mother, who left them when she was a baby because the woman couldn't handle having a Down syndrome child.

If you read the first book in the Stonehill series, you are familiar with Phil and Jessica as well as with Phil's mother, Kara. Part of the enjoyment of this book came from seeing Kara and Harry's new life together as a married couple up close. They are deeply in love and are trying to care for an infant of a mother who has nearly abandoned her to them.

Mallory has come back to the area. While in San Diego, she couldn't stop thinking of her mother, Annie, and all that Marcus was doing to support her. So she quit her job and moved back so she could help her mother and the man whom she sees as a father figure. Mallory becomes reacquainted with Jessica and Phil, and soon Kara thinks that Mallory could be the perfect woman for Phil and a mothering influence for Jessica as she approaches her teen years.

What will Annie and Marcus think about Mallory's return to town? What about Mallory’s career? Will romantic sparks fly between Mallory and Phil? Will Jessica get her wish?

I enjoyed having a more in-depth story that focused on Phil. He was an interesting character in his mother's story (book one of the series), but you knew he had to have one, too, since he has such a complex backstory as well as a challenging present as a single father raising a special needs child. He and Mallory share similarities in their pasts; neither had a father in their life growing up. The characters are very supportive of each other, and Phil helps Mallory understand the difficulties she is having adjusting to the changes in her mother's life.

Phil's struggle about whether to trust another woman in his and Jessica's lives seems realistic, even if it is hard to read when you so want him just to wake up and realize what he'd be missing!

I liked that seeing Phil through Mallory's eyes gives us a completely different perspective of him than the first book where we only see Phil through his own thoughts and actions. Phil is a man who has struggled and continues to struggle with his relationship with his mother as he sees himself as being so different from her. At times when reading about him—both in this book and in the first one—I have felt frustrated with his lack of understanding and compassion for his mother, who did her best to raise him under challenging circumstances. But through Mallory's eyes, we can see that he has inherited compassion and kindness from his mother, whether he would own it or not!

As this book deals very closely with characters and events from books one and three of the series, I would not consider it to be a standalone book. But all the books in the series are incredible, so I would recommend them all anyway, whether needed for this story or not. Once again, Marcy Bolden has delivered a story that packs an emotional punch. These characters suffer and struggle in ways that are easy to understand and empathize with. I love the way this tight-knit group supports each other. I hope there is much more in store for the people in Stonehill.

4 1/2 Stars! Another emotional story from Ms. Bolden!

Phil has been a single father for over 10 years and has devoted all his time to his daughter’s well being. But his daughter, Jessica, is missing a mother’s love and that is the one thing he can’t give her. Mallory comes home to Stonehill to help her mom and stepdad look after their business after her mom was shot and can’t work while recovering from the ordeal. Mallory has always had a soft spot for Jessica and thinks that Phil is kinda cute in his nerdy way. When Phil and Mallory become friends, Jessica believes that she finally found the mom she’s been missing.

This story just tugged at my heartstrings! Jessica is just a sweetie ... how could you not fall in love with her? Once again Phil kinda pissed me off ... he just can’t get over his childhood and blames his mom for all his problems. I wanted to shake him and say “you’re an adult, get over it and take responsibility for your life”. But I still liked him because he always put Jessica’s best interests first. I just love how this author writes stories about real people ... flaws and all!

I received an early copy courtesy of Pink Sand Press through NetGalley in exchange for a honest review.

This is a sweet, emotional, heartwarming and thrilling journey for two charters that find what could be forever when they were busy dealing with everything else life has given them lately. A very enjoyable read from beginning to end that is both entertaining and engaging. Great reading.

This book was absolutely breathtaking. It tells you the story of a world not everyone knows about and just grips your poor little heart and won’t let go. Ten stars!!!

As soon as I started reading, I became totally immersed in all that was happening in this touching and emotional Stonehill series drama. I fell in love with sweet and sensitive Jessica, an eleven-year-old with Down syndrome who desperately wants a mother, and enjoyed her dynamic with the other characters especially the unique bond she formed with Mallory O'Connell who shares her love of art and introduces her to the world of comics. It was so realistic, there were times I wanted to shake some sense into Jessica's dad, Phil.

This is a must-read for anyone who enjoys well-crafted, tender and emotional contemporary romance. I received an advance reader copy of Jessica's Wish from the publisher via NetGalley and am voluntarily leaving my honest review. I also purchased a copy of this book.

My first book by Marci Bolden, and I am so glad I read it. She has a way with words, I was swept right into the story. I couldn’t flip the pages fast enough. Well Done.

I really enjoyed this book and haven't read all of the other books in the series yet. The characters overlap, but it is not necessary to read them in order to enjoy them. I adored Jessica and just wanted to reach through my kindle and hug her. She's such a great girl! I also enjoyed Phil (mostly) and Mallory. They are perfect (well as perfect as anybody can be) for each other and fit together so well. I was extremely frustrated will Phil for awhile but could also understand where he was coming from as well. I could feel Mallory's confusion as she was trying to sort through her own feelings for Phil as well as they way he went from hot to cold. Marci's writing is wonderful. She makes it seem effortless to write such a sweet romance story with so many emotions and feelings that just bleed off of the pages.

Jessica's Wish by Marci Bolden is book four in the Stonehill Series. In some ways it might have been book two since book one is Jessica’s grandparents’ story. However, other events in the small town community had to happen first. With that said, I want to give a background on how I came to know this series so well.

A couple of years ago, I requested book 5 of the series from NetGalley. It was the first one that I read in the series. I fell in love with the Stonehill community and two families in particular. Then I read the first book, loved it so I bought the rest of the series from my favorite ebook site.

You might wonder what makes this series such a gem of a find.
For me, I loved the “this is real life” of the stories, the resilience of the characters, the honesty about the hardships and the believability of it all. I loved the style of the writing, the relationship building within the stories between the characters, both romantically and friendship relationships too.

I especially love in Jessica’s Wish that she is often the focus of the story, playing a major part. I also loved how Phil’s wisdom gave Mallory the comfort that she needed while her zest for life gave Phil the fun that his life needed. Most of all, I love how the story doubled in size from when I bought it to now. Literally the book I bought had seven chapters, this new marvelous. Revised. expanded version has sixteen chapters. Even better the epilogue did not change, making this a circular story that goes full circle, ending as it began with Jessica’s wish.

I have only red the first bookin the series. I think you should def read it first as it intrioduces Phil, Jessica and his parents and their story. Philip has always desired stability and family. He now finally has it and his daughter Jessica has started to notice she has an awesome grandma but not a mom.

Mallory has a mom and after moving to California for a job discovers she wants her mother too, he mom had a stroke and is recovering and she quits her job and comes home wanting to be there for her mom. That is who she runs into Phil and Jessica and forms a friendship with them.

The two moms decide Phil and Mallory would make a great couple and Jessica think Mallory would make a great mom and so it was fun watching everyone try and get the two to see they are perfect for each other.

The only thing I did not like about this story is taht Phil becomes a coward near the end and runs away from his feelings for Mallory. Luckily that does not last very long.

This was a fun story and I really enjoyed seeing what happenens in the future for Phil's parents.

A nice read, I didn’t seem to love it as much as everekse which is a shame because I wanted to but couldn’t connect with it , the characters were ok and plot, but it just didn’t wow me and it just felt average to me.

Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for a free copy for an honest opinion