Book: The Wishing Game

 Book: The Wishing Game

Author: Meg Shaffer

Pages: 304

This is my 99th read for the year

This is the story of Lucy Hart.  A young teacher's aide who is struggling to make ends meet.  Lucy had a childhood where her parents gave her to her grandparents when her older sister got sick.  Never wanted by her parents or sister, she has been estranged from them her whole life.  When she was young, she found the Clock Island books to be a place she could escape.  Once she actually ran away to the real Clock Island in search of the author - hoping she could live with him.  

As an adult, Lucy has been reading the Clock Island books to another lonley little boy named Christopher.  A student at her school who is in foster care, Lucy wishes she could adopt Christopher.  However - she doesn't have the money or stable homelife to do so.  When the author of the Clock Island books invites a certain group of people to his island to participate in a contest, Lucy knows this is her chance to get the money she needs to adopt Christopher and get her life sorted.  But the contest isn't easy, and Lucy doesn't know if she will be the one who wins.  However - during the contest she finds that there are still good people in this world who have compassion for those are are less fortunate.

This was a pretty good book.  The best way I can describe it is as a warm hug from beginning to end.  There isn't really a bad guy.  The author tries to make a few people a little "off" but in the end, the main characters of this book are inheritenly good.  Lucy's parents are never more than mention in this book - never become characters.  So I think that is why the book stayed so light.  Even with the heaviness of her past, it never distracts from the main point of this book - Lucy and Christopher getting to be together.

I recommend this one.  I think it is well written, an easy read, and light hearted enough to sneak into your TBR pile.

Stars: 4