I Wish by Elizabeth Langston

What Lacey needs is a miracle. What she gets is a genie with rules.

Lacey Linden is hiding the truth of her life—a depressed mom, a crumbling house, and bills too big to pay. While her high school classmates see a girl with a ready smile and good grades, Lacey spends her evenings seeking ways to save her family. On a get-cash-quick trip to the flea market, Lacey stumbles over a music box that seemingly begs her to take it home. She does, only to find it is inhabited by a gorgeous “genie.” He offers her a month of wishes, one per day, but there’s a catch. Each wish must be humanly possible.

Grant belongs to a league of supernatural beings, dedicated to serving humans in need. After two years of fulfilling the boring wishes of conventional teens, he is one assignment away from promotion to a challenging new role with more daring cases. Yet his month with Lacey is everything that he expects and nothing like he imagines. Lacey and Grant soon discover that the most difficult task of all might be saying goodbye.

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Praise for I Wish

From School Library Journal (I Wish #1)

Langston wisely limits the power of wishes, so there can be no easy fixes to complex problems. [The story] is all the better for it, putting the focus on the compelling and sympathetic characters.

… the denouement offers enough twists and unresolved questions to have readers wishing the next book was already available.

From K-books blog:

I Wish is a fantastic storyline, with a dash of romance that is perfect for any YA fan. I can’t recommend it enough.

From Reese’s Reviews blog:

This is definitely one of the most beautiful and amazingly written books I’ve ever read. Elizabeth Langston has written a fantastic story that drew me in from the first page.

Review

This book covered so many different topics that affect teens today and it shed some light on other topics like mental health.

Lacey is 17, almost 18, and for the last 9 months has been the sole support for her mother and brother after the death of her stepfather. Her mother broke down and was barely able to take care of herself so it was up to Lacey to care for her and Henry and also make sure the bills were paid and there was food on the table.

Enter Grant – the genie that grants wishes, but only if they are humanly possible. This puts a new spin on what Lacey can ask for, so she has to be creative in her wishes. But Lacey also has shut out everyone in her life – her friends and neighbors, afraid that they will take Henry away and put him in a foster home. So this is a journey for her to learn who she is and to accept the help of friends.

My heart broke for what Lacey was experiencing because I know that is has to happen a lot in this country, kids looking out for themselves and their parents because the parents are not capable. She may have been 17 and mature in some ways, but she was immature in others and had a lot to learn. Thankfully she had friends that would support her if she let them into her life just a bit more. There were many life lessons that could affect many that read the book.

A very enjoyable book and I have the 2nd book to read and can’t wait! We give this 5 paws up.

Wishing for You by Elizabeth Langston

She’s a girl who can’t remember. He’s the guy she can’t forget…

It’s her final semester of high school, and Kimberley Rey is curious to discover what will come next. She needs to pick a college, but her memory disability complicates the choice. Will her struggles to remember make it impossible to leave home?

Help arrives through an unexpected and supernatural gift. Grant is a “genie” with rules. He can give her thirty wishes (one per day for a month) as long as the tasks are humanly possible. Kimberley knows just what to ask for–lessons in how to live on her own.

But her wishes change when a friend receives a devastating diagnosis. As she joins forces with Grant to help her friend, Kimberley learns that the ability to live in the moment–to forget–may be more valuable than she ever knew.

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Excerpt

“Are you going to sleep on me, Sean?”

“If you’re talking, probably not.”

His words came out in a drowsy mumble. Had the photo shoot drained him that much—or had he already been tired before we started? “What do you do all day?”

“Read. Watch Netflix.”

I waited, but he contributed nothing else. “That’s all?”

“Pretty much.”

“You can’t just drift.”

“Yes, I can.”

I had to hope he was teasing, because otherwise, his responses would alarm me. “You’ve never drifted in your life. You said you want to act like nothing’s different.”

“So I lied.”

“Have you gotten sick of it yet?”

“Yes. Or I will be after I’ve finished my West Wing marathon.” He yawned noisily.

I let my head drop against his and listened for his breathing to even out and his body to relax.

This portrait session had been good for all of us, but his fatigue worried me. Even though I had homework, I would stay here until they made me leave. Spending time with Sean had become more important than anything else I had to do.

Strange how knowing our story had no happy ending had freed us to live in the moment. We weren’t guy and girl. We weren’t damaged and terminal. We were just now.

Review

This is the second book in the I Wish series and as much as I loved the first book I wasn’t sure if this one would grab me as much. Boy was I wrong. I could related to Kimberley because I also went through chemo and had a chemo brain for awhile, not anywhere as bad as what she suffered, but it was still annoying! Kimberley is very kind hearted but has been sheltered by her parents for a long time and while it is understandable it was not doing anything to prepare her for life after high school.

Enter Grant. He was passed along to Kimberley from Lacey who knew that her friend needed he help and Grant was the perfect person to help. It was hard on Lacey and Grant to see each other because of the love they felt for each other, but they would have to get over that and they did somewhat.

Then there is Sean, Kimberley’s dance partner in PE class (why didn’t we have that kind of PE?!) and good friend who has a secret of his own that he doesn’t share with many people but it affects them to their core.

This book had me in tears near the end, maybe because it hit a little close to home. Kimberley’s story and hew growth with Grant was impressive. He helped find ways around her disability for her to achieve milestones in independence.

The story leaves you hanging a bit for book 3, which I hope there is one! I give this book 5 paws too.

About the Author

Elizabeth Langston lives in North Carolina, halfway between the beaches and the mountains. She has two college-age daughters and one old husband. When she’s not writing software or stories, Elizabeth loves to travel with her family, watch shows on dance or Sherlock Holmes, and dream about which restaurant ought to get her business that night.

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