As someone who really likes books by heather morris, this theme is completely different to the genre of historical fiction but honestly -its just as good as all her novels.
This is based around Jessie, a 15 year old cancer patient and Alex who connects with Jessie to make her dream of having a computer game made a reality.

The theme running through the pages is friendship,emotion and at times sadness but it's an excellent read .

This book was a rollercoaster of emotions. I did struggle slightly due to the theme but it was a good read.

15 year old Jesse is fighting a losing battle with cancer. At her young age, her dying wish is to have a computer game made. Along comes Alex that has suffered with his own struggles across the years and offers to make Jesse's dream a reality.

We see a friendship formed, life lessons learned, emotional torment and sadness that comes with the knowledge of losing someone.

A good emotional read, but this could be too much if you've experienced themes in this book to take heed of triggers before reading.

ohhh Heather! what have you don't to us once again. but i'm also kind of so glad you have.
Heather's books have been a treasured part of my life from my first read. i read them when she first appeared and have loved watching her success soar. i hope she has! as its been a lot, and must feel like a lot sometimes. but her books were and are some of the best i've ever read. they sit firmly and will never be shifted from the best. and its not just the story, its her writing. because whoa, wow, wowza can Heather write.
so i was interested to see what would come next. we've all heard of creatives becoming pigeonholed. and i always feel for them. there seems to be a pressured expectation or people thinking they wont or shouldn't do different? or cant? it must feel hard to be in that position but also sometimes nice that people hold you with such regard for you works. a balance i guess.
so haha Heather smashed it all out of the park when she wrote this book and showed she isn't just one fit writer. she is simply a tuning writer. because this book was as good as anything I've read. once again she is piling up my best every shelves with her own, lol. there will soon just need to be Heather shelf. where all her work will i'm sure need to go.
this book hit hard. it wasn't easy, and yet it was. it was tragic and yet somehow beautiful. it was emotionally heart breaking but also emotionally heart hugging.
this book is about a young girl who is dying of cancer. and one man who needs to help her before she goes.
its of course got themes some may need to be careful with. and please,if this is too much, its ok to put it aside. its the bravest things to know when something isn't right for you at this time. its the best thing.
but this book is a soaring success in how to handle these subjects. and its so much more than you might think going in. it covers and brings together so much of what a story like this with these characters deserves.
the way it tells of families, the individuals, those surrounding the main characters is just spot on. wonderful.
i cant say enough of this book. i will, i fear go on for too long. and any more detailed review would be a laughable and pitiful set of paragraphs in comparison to the book itself.
this is an excellent book. i cant give it enough stars.
i've been in the situation of loving and losing someone to an illness so for me there were moments this book also allowed me to be angry, to be devastated and to let out some of tears you so often have to keep in just to move onwards and survive it. especially at the time. so much of you is simply figuring out how to get out of bed that you have to either wait for a time you can recover from your own grief or you let it out in streams. its never good to keep it in. but life doesn't work in shoulds or musts or even sensible ways sometimes. and when you lose someone to an illness, too soon, and often in terrible ways, it can feel like you will never breathe again. i felt that in this book. i felt all the things i needed to. so for me this book gave me so much more than the beautiful story Heather told me.
but if you haven't got a personal connection to this book you will still let it fill your heart. there will be something in it that helps people, heals people. and just makes people enjoy one of the best stories i've ever read.
once again Heather has done it. this woman is magic.

The Wish- Heather Morris ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I am a long-time fan of Heather Morris and have devoured almost all of her books. I am very into historical fiction, especially those set in WW2. When I read the blurb for this book, I was surprised, a departure from her normal setting and genre. Intriguing. Knowing that Morris is an incredible writer, I knew I'd also like this one, but I was a little uncertain. I had no reason to be.
I will start by saying that this is a sad, heavy book at times that will maybe make you ugly cry. It is also, as in her previous novels, hopeful and beautiful and tender and showcases the very best of humanity, even in the darkest of times. I think this is a common theme across Morris's work.

We meet Jesse, a 15 year old girl battling childhood cancer. She is smart, kind, funny and mature beyond her years. Jesse's illness has torn apart her family as they struggle to come to grips with the seriousness of her condition.

We meet Alex, someone who carries his own battle scars from childhood, happier losing himself in a virtual world than living in reality. His life has become small. And that's how he likes it, isn't it?
Jesse and Alex's worlds collide when he is tasked with granting Alex her final wish. She wishes to leave a very special and complicated legacy behind for her family in the event that she loses her battle to cancer. It would seem that Alex is the only person with the skill set to make this dream a reality. Can he do it? Well you'll have to read to find the answer to that.
This book is sad, yes, but there is so much beauty to be found within these pages too. Familial bonds. Friendships forged in battle. The beautiful resilient strength of one so young. Jesse needs Alex to bring her dream into fruition but its Alex who is transformed the most and meeting Jesse is something that alters his life forever.
I think that the book is a fairly accurate reflection of what it must be like to both be a child battling cancer and to be a family member of that young person. Thankfully, I have no first-hand experience to compare it to, but I feel like what happens within these pages isn't far off what a situation could look like in reality.
Thank you as always to Netgalley for this wonderful ARC and to Bonnier Books and Zaffre for approving me to read and review this incredible book.

I have read the majority, if not all, of Heather's books and thy are more than sublime. I'm used to her writing historical novels, set in WW2. So this was a completely new direction for her, but I could tell right from the off that it would be just as heart-breaking.

It is not an uplifting book, on the whole, and yet it somehow managed to be completely uplifting. I often find the brightest moments shine more in the dark, and that's what this story was like.

It reminded me, in terms of tone, to The One Hundred Years of Lenni and Margot by Marianne Cronin, another deeply upsetting but positive novel.

If I didn't know it was the same author, I don't think I'd have guessed. Yes it has some similar themes but for me personally, the writing felt completely different, but no less brilliant and impactful.

This book is more relate able. Not that everyone goes through cancer, especially with a child, but sadly it is all too common. Whereas with her WW2 books, they're only going to be relatable to a very small number of readers, and I think that's what tugs at the heartstrings here.

It is about more than just a dying child. There's heart and love, family and friendship, anger, despair, frustration, forgiveness, stubbornness. It's about accepting what you can control and forgiving what you can't. It's knowing you tried your best but not every battle can be won. It's about how important hope and joy and fun and love are in such situations.

Whilst it felt different to her other books, there are definitely themes that are the same, but it definitely felt like a new way of writing for her. It's feels fresh and new but no less powerful and beautiful as her other books. It is a completely different path she's treading but it still reminded me why she is a go-to author every time.

May I just quickly advise you to read it when on your own, because it will draw some very ugly sobs out of you.

3.25⭐️

Yall. I went into this book blind because Heather Morris has written some of my favorite historical fiction books. I did not realize this was her first contemporary book. I had quite the shock factor when I started it. Totally user error, but this book was good, but definitely not a fav.

What I liked:
🏥I liked the hospital setting, I have always been intrigued by medicine, and my niece had childhood cancer so I felt a special connection to Jesse, the main character
🏥the supporting character, Alex, has great character growth throughout, he was such a genuine person
🏥there is a side plot romance in the book that broke up all the sad parts (which was a lot)

What I didn’t like:
🩺this book felt sad just to be sad - it was a realistic picture of childhood cancer, but it just was one thing after another - I don’t want to read to purely feel sad!
🩺without saying too much, I was nottttt happy with the ending 😑😣

This book was not what I was expecting. It was extra sad, but I do appreciate how honest and real it was. Some of my favorite quotes were:

“There is no such thing as false hope, there is only hope.”

“It’s life experiences that make us who we are, not years lived.”

Thank you Heather Morris, zaffre books and netgalley for an arc in exchange for an honest review!

#booksta #bookreview #arcreview

This is very different from the author's other books and initially I found the writing wasn't as strong and the characterisations a little forced. However, as the story unfolds, the reader is drawn in to the worlds of Jesse and Alex and their overlap. I loved the cast of characters in the hospital. All really added to our understanding of what's happening and how people cope. The unravelling of Jesse's parents' marriage along the way was painful to watch and very real. For me, Alex made it. His initial reluctance and then his growing desperation to want to do this properly, along with his developing friendships and love story, was wonderful to see. I'm not sure I fully understand what was happening with the game/video or how it looked but I did think the resolution was perfect. No miracles, but also no drawing out the inevitable. I think many people will love this book.

🌟🌟🌟🌟💫 (4.5 stars)
Tender, unexpected, and quietly powerful. A story that stays.

The Wish is an emotional journey that sneaks up on you, quietly devastating one moment, and profoundly uplifting the next. Heather Morris weaves a delicate thread between the lives of Jesse, a 15 year old facing unimaginable circumstances with strength and humour, and Alex, a disconnected adult whose life is quietly crumbling beneath the surface.

What begins as a simple wish, Jesse asking for a video game-style memoir of her life, unfolds into something far richer. The bond that forms between Jesse and Alex is subtle, genuine, and deeply moving. I found myself aching for both of them, for different reasons, and rooting for something beautiful to come out of their shared grief and isolation.

Morris handles a heartbreaking subject with such grace. This could have been a heavy read, but instead, it’s filled with light. Not in a naive way, but in the way that makes you appreciate small kindnesses and unexpected connections. There’s pain here, without a doubt, but also joy, hope, and an unexpected tenderness that lingers long after you turn the last page.

Why not 5 stars? I struggled a little bit with visualising the video game however this is more to do with my limited knowledge of them and not Heather’s writing. But that’s a small note on an otherwise truly affecting story.

This book is going to stay with me for a long, long time.

Thank you Zaffre for the opportunity to read this advanced copy of The Wish, it was a real honour. I can’t wait to see this book out in the wild in September!

I suspected early on that this book was going to leave me emotionally bruised and it has absolutely beaten me.

I found the dialogue a bit stilted at times. I found the plot a tad repetitive at times.

But it has absolutely sucker punched me.

Thank you to NetGalley and @BonnierBooksUK for this ARC. From the author of Tattooist of Auschwitz is her first contempory fiction. At 15, Jesse is dying from Leukemia and her "wish" is to have someone create a video game based on her family's most precious memories. If made, they can visit their memories any time, with or without Jesse. Alex, a video game creator has been tasked with the job and he isn't sure he can pull it off. When work begins, he soon understands how important this wish is. Sweet, sweet story! I will read anything Morris writes! #TheWish #JessesWish #HeatherMorris #BonnierBooksUK #Sept2025