The plot caught my attention and I was eager to read this book. I was disappointed, when it let me down. It starts off strong but then it becomes slow moving which was a big disappointment to me. DNF


********************************************I received an ARC for my honest opinion from Net Galley.******************

This was so cute, and a delight to read! It takes place in Australia, where a professional gift buyer makes a huge mistake with one of her best clients. Then starts to fall for said client’s son! You get the perspective of every character in the book, which at times I had to think about whose head we were in, as there is no indication when it switches besides a little present box picture. I liked getting every POV though. I felt like there could definitely have been more character development, the book is rather light and predictable.

Bottom Line: Read it! Would make a great palette cleanser.

**I received a copy of With Love from Wish & Co from Netgalley in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are of my own.**

It’s my late to the game review of this fun book. There’s no excuse other than I’ve been in a real slump lately. I’m way behind the modest reading goal I set for myself and have just struggled to stay focused.

However, I found myself at home with no children and recovering from minor surgery - so the perfect excuse to force myself to finish one of the four to six books I have going.

Wish & Co. was the winner. Or, I was.

This sweet book is the story of gift buyer Marnie Fairchild - a young woman determined to move her store Wish & Co. into the half-burned former storefront owned by her grandfather - Fairchild & Sons. Marine’s biggest problem is money (shocker!), but also that her father was the black sheep of the family whose gambling addiction destroyed his reputation and business.

When Marnie mixes up two important gifts, each delivered to the wrong recipient, a marriage begins to implode and her dreams go up in flames. However, if your love language is gifts you will not at all be surprised by the way Marnie takes control of the situation to determine her own destiny.

Wish & Co. is an easy read that will remind you of the importance of love, fate, and the fact that humans often screw up with no idea why.

As always, buy your copy from your local, independent bookstore.

#wish&co #augustreads #netgalley #minniedark #withlovefromwishCo

I couldn't get into this book. Unfortunately I just don't think it's for me. I didn't post my review anywhere.

#FirstLine ~ Alone in the quiet of Wish & Co after closing time, Marnie Fairchild decided to give it a try.

I love books that surprise you! This is one of those gems. I was immediately drawn to this beautiful cover, then the title and the story was the literal bow around this awesome story. So many great characters, a fabulous setting an a storyline that was moving and fun. This is a stellar book perfect for book clubs and buddy reads!!!!

WITH LOVE FROM WISH & CO. by Minnie Darke is a fun, cute read, with humor and interesting characters. I enjoyed curling up and reading about Marnie and her company, and her dreams. The entire cast of characters had me rooting for all of them to find their way to their respective HEAs. It made me happy to see that the characters grew and learned from their experiences. A perfect read for the beach or a lazy weekend.
Thanks to the publisher for the opportunity to read an advanced copy. All opinions are my own and freely given.
#WithLoveFromWish&Co #MinnieDarke #Dell #RandomHouse #Ballantine

Marnie comes from a long line of Fairchilds. Only she’s not on the “good” side of the Fairchilds. Despite that, she has made her dreams come true by opening Wish & Co., a gift buying and wrapping service. She has all sorts of clients, mostly rich, some who have complicated situations. Brian Charlesworth is one of those clients. When the gifts for his wife’s 40th wedding anniversary and his mistresses birthday get mixed up, everything changes. For Brian and Marnie. Meanwhile, Marnie’s grandfather’s store comes up for sale and she desperately wants to find a way to buy it. Losing Brian Charlesworth as a client would be devastating to her business and the prospect of buying the new building. When she strikes up a deal with Brian, she doesn’t realize it’s about to get much more complicated. With Love from Wish & Co. was a fun book with likable characters that all do a lot of growing up in the book.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the advance copy.

This was a sweet story from start to finish. At first I wondered if I’d be confused because it seemed there were several relationships going haywire but then it all made perfect, beautiful sense.⁣
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Marnie Owen Wish & Co, a gift buying service where she buys the most beautiful gifts or experiences for people based on who they truly are.⁣
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When there’s a mix up between two gifts and two women, a can of worms opens and almost brings her business to the ground, when she’s on a mission to broaden her horizons. ⁣
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Luke is sweet and kind, so thoughtful, owns his own business, but is deeply lonely, until his world is flipped upside down. ⁣
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Luke and Marnie form a beautiful relationship after meeting in interesting circumstances.⁣
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This story is about family, secrets, mistakes, honesty, taking chances, and so much love; and it was enjoyable from start to finish: like a warm hug. ⁣
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

This is a weird one for me because I liked it, but I didn't love it. I enjoyed most of the time spent reading this, but I couldn't escape the thought that it just felt WAY too long. I feel like I would have liked this one so much more if it had been a little more succinct. It felt like we just kept going through the same scenes of Marnie buying presents for Brian and feeling guilty about it over and over and over again and it just got really old by the halfway mark. While I didn't dislike this book, I definitely think my enjoyment would have been a little bit greater if this had been like, 75-100 pages shorter. Womp womp

CW: cheating, abortion

This book is mainly about the implosion of a marriage that the main character kind of causes, and its effects on all the character in the book. All these characters get their own POV which I thought was great, but there is a clean main character: Marnie, and a clear love interest: Luke.

This is a book with lots of heart, that will give you the warm and fuzzies, great for curling up with. Note: there is an infidelity plotline in this book (not for the main romance) if you believe cheating is absolutely unforgivable, this book might not be for you.

👍
+ I thought the main character's job was very interesting, and cool: professional gift giver. I loved all the discussions and dilemmas the main character had about her job.
+ The romance was actually quite cute. It is kind of insta-love, but it does also develop over time. And the love interest Luke was quite a sweetheart. I loved how considerate he was, generally. Though I did think he was a little too judgmental and obstinate when it came to one specific topic.
+ There are a lot of flawed characters in this book, most of them make mistakes, big and small, and I liked that the author didn't seem to be biased against any of them. They all had heart and their own redemption arc. And what's also cool is that none of the characters stay the same from the beginning of the book to the end. They all change and grow for the better.

👎
- I had a tough time getting through the beginning of this book. The main character goes through some great growth through this book, but at the beginning, her priorities and obsessions were difficult for me to read. I also found the looming implosion of the marriage very stressful. It felt like watching a car crash in slo-mo.

Thank you to Ballantine and NetGalley for the eARC!

Thanks to Penguin Random House & NetGalley for a digital advance reader's copy. All comments and opinions are my own.

This heartwarming Australia-based rom-com took me into the world of a professional gift buyer. It begins on the day Marnie Fairchild is wrapping two gifts: one for her best client Brian Charlesworth’s wife Suzanne, and one for his lover. What could possibly go wrong?

Even though I could guess where this story was going, sometimes an expected and comforting read is just what’s needed amongst the mysteries, thrillers, and historical fiction I frequently read. The characters were likable, especially Marnie. What a great profession – choosing just the right and often one-of-a-kind gift for someone, then wrapping it in a package that’s as lovely and special as the gift itself.

So the mix-up of the two gifts launches the story, and soon Marnie finds herself developing a relationship with Luke, an attractive woodworker who turns out to be the son of her best client (see Brian, above). And then Marnie learns Fairchild & Sons, the historic building that she has been yearning to move Wish & Co. to, is finally going to be sold at auction. No matter that Marnie charges top dollar for her services to her high-end clients, her budget may limit her from winning the bid in the upcoming auction. The plot thickens when Marnie offers to help Brian win back his wife after the mix-up/fiasco, using her exceptional gift giving skills. Questions of honesty, authenticity, and illusion contribute to the now rocky relationship between Marnie and Luke.

Author Minnie Darke sums up the situation: “What did Marnie want? The trouble was, she wanted so many things. She wanted Luke to love her, and she wanted Suzanne to be happy. She wanted Brian to win back his wife, and she wanted Fairchild & Sons to be hers. She wanted no secrets, nor any more lies. But all her wants were tangled up together like a messy ball of several different kinds of string. If she pulled too hard or too fast on any one thread, she would only make a mess somewhere else.”

If you’re looking for a well-written, feel-good rom-com, I recommend "With Love from Wish & Co."

With Love from Wish & Co. is one of those pleasant surprise type reads. It fits well in the romance genre but it's also a neat tale about love and the different relationships one might have in life. I quite enjoyed this book and the unique feel it had about it.

Marnie Fairchild works as a gift buyer. Her clients don't always have the free time to shop for presents for their family and friends so Marnie does it for them. And she has a knack for finding the perfect gift for the recipient. But she has a major oops when she mixes up Brian Charlesworth's anniversary gift for his wife with the present intended for his mistress. That's a very big mess up and couldn't come at a worse time as Marnie is trying to secure funds to purchase the shopfront once owned by her grandfather. Hope Marnie comes up with a plan to rectify her mistake before word gets out to her other customers.

The story alternates between a few characters in addition to Marnie. Her career was fascinating to me and I couldn't help but contemplate what exactly constitutes a good gift. Does it matter if you have some outside help? This is one of the rare times I'd toss a romance into consideration for a book club selection. There's lots of things regarding the story and characters to pick apart and discuss.

Not saying it's a tearjerker of a read but it has some heart for sure.

I really enjoyed reading this book! I enjoyed the characters and their relationships with one another.
Sometimes you need a light, pleasurable read and this one is just that kind of book!

I was very pleasantly surprised by With Love From Wish and Co. The plot sounded a little hallmark-y (and don’t get me wrong, I do love a good, cheesy hallmark movie!) but I found this book to be full of depth with very relatable characters. This was one of my favorite rom-com novels I have read in awhile! I need a sequel!

This is the ultimate second chances story ever. You have multiple storylines with multiple age groups woven deftly throughout the book that intertwine to make one amazing story. Each storyline is a second chances story, but each is unique to the age groups and individuals involved and all wrap through the same family. As you start to read, it seems like a simple story about a young woman named Marnie, who owns a gift giving business, but you find that she is trying valiantly to gather the funds to buy her grandfather's old building to restore it and give it a second chance at life. However, things take a turn in the story and you end up not only following Marnie's story, but Brian and Suzanne's, Marnie and Luke's, Luke and Ivy's as well as Brian and Luke's. There is just so much depth to this sweet romance that you absolutely must read it. I couldn't put the book down once I started reading and ended up staying up all night with these characters to see which direction their lives ended up going. A few tears were shed, a lot of smiling was done and tons of pleasure was had. I highly suggest that you pick up this book for your own enjoyment as well!

Marnie is the owner for Wish & Co, a business that focuses on gift-buying for wealthy clientele. When Marnie makes a crucial mistake, it upends her business plans. Her best customer, Mr. Charlesworth now finds himself fighting for his marriage after his wife receives a present meant for his mistress. Though this mistake may cost Marnie her future business plans, she also develops a connection with Mr. Charlesworth's son, Luke.

This is definitely more women's fic than it is a romance - there is much more focus on the Charlesworth family and Mr. Charlesworth's attempts to win back his wife.

Ultimately this was just ok for me - probably 3.5 stars rounded up to 4. I can't say exactly what I didn't love about the book - the character's weren't particularly loveable and I don't love a cheating story line. I didn't hate it, it just didn't really compel me.

Thank you to Netgalley and Random House/Ballantine for the eARC in exchange for a review.

Minnie Darke is a immediate read for me as far as authors go. I've enjoyed all of the books I've read by her. This one was no different. The only thing I'm not a fan of is the cover. With the storyline in this book, there had to have been better options. This truly would not have drawn me to this book if I didn't already like the author.

This book centers around Marnie Fairchild. Marnie caters to the wealthy with her gift buying service. Many of her clients appreciate that she not only buys for their families, but also "special friends." All goes along fine until the day it doesn't and she begins to doubt herself and what she is doing. But the book is actually about so much more than this. It's about relationships and how they present themselves. It deals with what drives us as people and how our childhood can shape us and lead us to chase things later in life.

I enjoyed the storyline. There were parts where I wanted to lecture the characters for being too stubborn, but for the most part it all flowed quite well and I found it to be a lovely story with some subtle messages.

Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC. I voluntarily chose to read and review it and the opinions contained within are my own.

Light And Fluffy But Tackles Serious Issues As Well. This is one of those books that is centered as a romantic comedy - and never really strays from that, despite tackling serious issues of trust in various forms: infidelity, love languages, being the black sheep of a family, etc. Some bits are truly laugh out loud funny (yet of the cringing variety), including the scenes where the central plotline is first revealed. Other scenes are romance of the level Nicholas Sparks even often fails to pull off. (Including the one in the garden, all I'm saying there.) Ultimately this is a story of a woman discovering just what she wants and being in a position to make it happen, and that is the ultimate feel-good here, even above the pair of romance stories embedded within. Very much recommended.

With Love from Wish & Co is a cute book about a professional gift giver. Everything she has built her career into is at stake when she makes a huge mistake mixing up a couple of gifts.

Meet Marnie: She's a hard working and likable character in the business of gift giving and her biggest client is Brian Charlesworth. Unfortunately, she mixes up a gift for his wife and his mistress in a big way. She has big dreams to buy a historic but run down (estranged) family building, but her dreams are at stake when she starts losing business.

Marnie finds herself completely entangled in the Charlesworth family as she develops a crush on Brian's son, Luke. This relationship picks up at about the half way point of the book at which point the focus of the book completely changes. Marnie is caught between holding secrets from this father and son duo that compromise both her business dreams and her relationship.

While I enjoyed the book I think the change in focus between the different parts broke up the continuity and the pace. There were times when I had to force myself to keep picking up the book and other times where I wondered how it would all resolve. Ultimately, for a book in this genre I felt that it was about 100 pages too long.

The nice thing about this book is that all of the characters struggle internally with moral dilemmas, but they also have redeemable characteristics which make them both relatable and forgivable. I would rate it between 3-4 stars.

This one turned out to be much lighter and heavier than I expected. Lighter because there is a lot of laughter and love and just people being awesome. Heavier because it touches on topics and feelings that are sure to make any reader feel it tug their hearts.
My favorite part of this book is that it tells a story where it's very clear that everyone has a lot more going on inside their hearts than that which they show to those around them, even their loved ones. They all react to the events in very different ways and have very valid reasons to view things as they do. I loved how it shows that the only way to understand each other truly is to talk about things. Even the 'unlikable' character turns out to have hidden depths that don't exactly excuse his actions but definitely shine a softer light on them.

Very happy thanks to NetGalley and Dell for the emotional read!