Lindsay's Review: You Wish by Mandy Hubbard

You Wish by Mandy Hubbard
Series: None
Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy, Romance
Rating:  ★★★
Pages: 304
Published by Razorbill on August 5th 2010
Date Read: September 1, 2013
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Kayla McHenry's sweet sixteen sucks! Her dad left, her grades dropped, and her BFF is dating the boy Kayla's secretly loved for years. Blowing out her candles, Kayla thinks: I wish my birthday wishes actually came true. Because they never freakin' do.Kayla wakes the next day to a life-sized, bright pink My Little Pony outside her window. Then a year's supply of gumballs arrives. A boy named Ken with a disturbing resemblance to the doll of the same name stalks her. As the ghosts of Kayla's wishes-past appear, they take her on a wild ride...but they MUST STOP. Because when she was fifteen? She wished Ben Mackenzie would kiss her. And Ben is her best friend's boyfriend.

I had low expectations for You Wish. Honestly, I don't know why I even bought it without reading a bit first. I was in one of those time crunches where I only had one book in hand and needed another one while my dad was about to leave me in the middle of Chapters and drive off.

So I saw You Wish, read the back, thought it sounded cute and ran to the parking lot. (after I paid, of course)

When I started it, my expectations dropped further, because I hate the starts of novels that aren't intriguing or  packed with happenings that make me want to read more. But You Wish pleasantly surprised me the more I read.

To be honest, I didn't like Kayla as a main character very much. I feel as if Hubbard tried to hard to make her funny and likable, and for me, she fell flat. For one, she bleated at people in her school. As in when she couldn't think of a comeback or was walking past girls she didn't like, she would actually turn to them and go "Baah," like a sheep. For two, she was one of those girls who tries so hard to be different that she ends up coming across as completely weird, rather than being herself because she's turned herself into the exact opposite.

And honestly? The characters were nice to read about - very interesting in the moment. But as soon as I put the book down they fade until they are undefinable, 2D characters on a sheet of paper. I'm not in love with any of the characters or wishing desperately that there was more to Kayla's adventure. You Wish ended and I was fine with that. But it doesn't mean it was a bad book.

Overall, it was a very cute read and I'm glad I read it. I recommend it to those who like easy, fun books that don't overwhelm you. It's an everything-works-out-in-the-end kind of book and despite hating those endings, this one wrapped everything up nicely.