A feel good, coming-of-age novel about three American au pairs who take once in a lifetime jobs in Seoul in an attempt to jump starting their stagnant lives. The trio finds themselves making wishes at an enchanted waterfall under a full moon in the hopes of making their most heartfelt dreams a reality. But as the old adage goes…be careful what you wish for.

While the writing in this novel wasn’t quite as eloquent as I’ve come to expect from Cross Smith, it was nonetheless meaningful and sensual. The three au pairs, Lydia, Jenny, and Selene could be juvenile and vapid at times but displayed significant growth throughout the novel as they navigated the challenges of work, school, friendships, and romantic relationships. The real stars of the story are the stunning and vivid descriptions of South Korean life from food to music to cultural traditions; come for the romance, stay for the cultural enrichment. This sugary sweet read pairs well with a pretty ribbon in your hair, a shot of soju, and spicy kimchi.

Selene, Jenny, and Lydia all figure that being au-pairs in Seoul is a crazy opportunity that they cannot pass up. And as all three girls are having difficulties in their day-to-day lives, it seems to be the perfect distraction. The girls come upon a magical waterfall that's said to grant wishes, and think nothing of it until their wishes begin to come true. Selene, hoping to find a lead on her birth mother, is getting just that with the help of a new friend. Jenny is determined to get some her-time after a disasterous break-up, but ends up finding a fun fliing in her host-mom's brother. Lydia, wanting to become popular, is suddenly desired by all- except the one she wants attention from. Everything is going great, until the girls realize that not everything is perfect. Will returning to the waterfall to wish away their wishes be the right thing to do?

This book was so cute! Really enjoyed reading it, had a lot of fun trying to figure out what would happen next. The girls had some great character arcs, and I wish there was more to read!

Thank you so much to NetGalley, Penguin Group Dutton, and Tiny Reparations Books for the eARC! Projected publishing date: June 24th, 2025

3.5 stars but rounded down. I rounded down due to writing style. I found myself wishing that the characters were written more mature.

Thank you net galley.

As You Wish by Leesa Cross-Smith is a contemporary romance set in the vibrant and culturally rich backdrop of Seoul, South Korea. The story centers around three women in their mid-twenties who have traveled to Korea to work as au pairs for three interconnected families. These families, being close friends, embark on a joint vacation to the picturesque Jeju Island, bringing along the au pairs and their children.

While on the island, the au pairs visit a supposedly magical waterfall under a full moon, making a heartfelt wish. As the narrative unfolds, the three women experience personal growth, building deep friendships and romantic relationships. This leads them to question the wishes they made that night. The book beautifully explores themes of love, friendship, and the journey of self-discovery.

The misunderstandings in the story added to the K-drama atmosphere the book. The novel is interspersed with playlists featuring popular K-pop artists and songs which are fun to explore.

Thank you NetGalley and Tiny Reparations Books for the advanced reader copy. This is my honest review.

I really enjoyed this read! Lydia, Selene and Jenny had such unique stories and personalities that were so interesting to watch coexist and stand the tests of friendship and adult dynamics through their own experiences and “the wish” aspect.
I really enjoyed the culture of Seoul and how each girl adapted to life there as an au pair. I’ve never really given that much thought so it was really interesting to see how someone in that profession would work!

Three young women, Lydia, Jenny and Selene head to Seoul to work as au pairs. As the amilies have a close
friendship, the three become friends. When the three make a trip to Jeju Island, they each make a wish at the
moonlit waterfall. Their lives change, as their wishes seem to have come true. Bonds between the three remain
strong until one wants to undo the wishes.The three discover what they truly want as they meet the challenges life
has to offer while exploring Korean culture.
#AsYouWish #PenguinGroupDutton #NetGalley

I received a free copy of, As You Wish, by Leesa Cross-Smith, from the publisher and Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Selene, Jenny, and Lydia are au pairing in Seoul, for different reasons. I thought this was a nice, read.

As You Wish is a breezy read about three young women who take au pair positions in South Korea.

I would say that this book is about friendship, finding love, finding yourself through travel and new friends. The relationships that these women build with one another and others in Korea were an accurate representation of being in your early 20s. Lots of misunderstanding that could have been avoided by simply talking to one another.

While I am probably not the target audience for this book, I enjoyed reading it. It was entertaining. I had not heard of almost all of the songs or k-pop artists listed in the various playlists in the book but if you like k-pop or k-dramas you will love these references.

Spice level 2/5.

I would like to extend my sincere gratitude to Tiny Reparations Books, the author, and NetGalley for allowing me to read an eARC for the purpose of review.

I received an ARC of this novel from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Three young women travel to Korea to work as au pairs. Their host families are friends so the girls develop a friendship. Love, drama, misunderstandings, and successes occur.

A cute and whimsical story about three women working as au pairs in Seoul, Korea, who each make a wish on a waterfall and are completely taken by surprise when they come true -- and bring more than they bargained for. It's an interesting idea and feels like a fun K-drama in book form, and is told through the three different points of view of the three women, Lydia, Jenny, and Selene. I found bouncing around between the three of them took me out of the story a bit, and I had a tricky time following their different storylines. I found myself thinking about the K-dramas I've watched and the A/B/C romance storylines they usually follow, and wonder if it would have been a bit stronger if it focused more on one of the three women. I can definitely think of patrons who will have fun reading this though, especially K-drama fans and anyone itching for a travel romance.

This novel had a lot to love in it: friendships, romance, family, and perseverence. There are three au pairs who are American and are working for three families who are close. The host familiies hope the women will all become friends, and they do.

Each au pair has their own goals and struggles: an artist, someone looking for her birth mother, and one nursing a broken heart.

All the families go on a trip to Jeju and the women walk to a waterfall where, supposedly, wishes come true. I like the hint of magic and how the author never really comes out and tell us if the wishes are real.

There's a lot about Seoul and Korean culture and foods and the language in the book, which I found fascinating. Lots of references to K-pop and K-dramas, which I think really enhance the story, if you're into that at all.

The character arcs for all three women are really nicely done and it's satisfying to see them all grow in confidence and as people. Great chemistry between everyone involved. Nothing explicit, but hotter than sweet. It worked for the tone of the story and the characters.

Really enjoyed this!

DNF at 25% I was intrigued by the premise of this one and was hoping for sisterhood of the traveling pants energy but I just wasn't connecting with it. I had a hard time telling the characters POVs apart and realized I didn't care about any of them and their wishes. They were all just a bit too whiny and seemed more like teens than early 20s.

I thought this book was super cute overall. Each character had their own personality. Selene was the more mature of the three to me. Jenny seemed younger than her age states. Lydia was my favorite to watch come into herself. This was a good read with mostly fade to black for what spice there was. Not related to spice scenes, I will say there were a few descriptive things in the last few chapters that just distracted. Like to the point where I was like why the heck was that included. But overall a good book.

This one was a bit of hard one to review. There was a lot I liked so I'll start there. The friendships between the three girls, the lovely descriptions of Seoul, the mouth watering foods, the story line of Selene and looking for her birth mother, and the overall theme of growing up and finding yourself and your happiness. These were all beautiful.
The things I struggled with were: these girls read as late teenagers, not 25 year olds. It was hard to even read about their physical relationships in the book because they were so immature that I truly couldn't picture them as over 16. Even the wishes they made, except for the one wishing to meet her birth mother, were not something a 25 year old would be wishing for. Some of the story lines went too fast, others too slow or I felt like there was something missing.
Overall, it was cute. I just feel like this would have been better as a YA novel,
Thank you to Leesa Cross-Smith, netgalley, and the publishers for this eARC!!

I absolutely loved As You wish by Leesa Cross-Smith! When three American au pairs get jobs working for families that are friends in Seoul, new friendships begins. Lydia, Jenny, and Selene all have their own reasons for applying to au pair in Seoul and the book beautifully ties them all together. There is love, mystery, competition, and girls supporting girls. You don't want to miss this one.

This novel made me feel joyful and hopeful. The three young women’s friendship was undoubtedly beautiful! The author made sure that culture was definitely a big part of this book, which I loved. It was cute and cozy! Even though it was cute and cozy, I felt like the writing was hard for me to get used to. The plot was clear and the characters were multilayered. However, I did feel like the characters seemed younger than what they were.

As You Wish is about three different women, whose names are Jenny, Lydia, and Selene. They all come from completely different families. They all make a wish and wonders if it comes true the following day. The next day comes and everything did change! As the story unfolds, you will learn more about each of them individually. I give this book a 3.5 stars out of 5!

Thank you to NetGalley, author Leesa Cross-Smith, and Penguin Group Dutton | Tiny Reparations books for this advanced reader’s copy in exchange for my honest review!

This book is expected to be published on June 24, 2025!

This was such a sweet read. The friendship between Jenny, Selene, and Lydia was just so heartwarming to read about, and each of their individual love stories just gave me warm fuzzies the way that each of them played out. I only wish the epilogue was a little longer it felt a little rushed the way it was added on to the last chapter the way it was. Would definitely recommend for a cozy read 💜

Meh. I'm not sure why this book did not work for me, because I thought the plot sounded great, but it was really hard to get through this book from the opening pages right through to the end. Maybe it was the fact that there were a lot of characters; or maybe it was because I got confused by the wishes and how they materialized at first.

Ultimately, though, I think that this book was just too long for me. It's not that it had too many pages, but I spent a lot of time wanting it to just get to the point for all three girls. I didn't feel like the amount of time spent on the girls was enough and yet, at the same time, I wanted to keep skipping ahead because I was bored of the details and their stories. I also found all three girls selfish and self absorbed in a strange way that made them all unlikeable for most of the book. Yes, there were moments. But not enough to pull this up. I did want to give it a 1 star rating, but I felt that was probably not fair either so bumped it up to 2.

I think I was hoping for more of an Xoxo type of plot and writing style, and this just didn't cut it.

I really liked the characters and setting! Parts of the story lagged, but overall a good solid read!

A Magical and Heartfelt Read! Set in Seoul, Wish You Weren’t Here follows three au pairs whose lives change after a fateful wish on Jeju Island. Romance, self-discovery, and friendship take center stage in this charming, immersive story. Though some twists are predictable, the heartfelt bond between the women makes it a rewarding read.