The Wishing Game: A Novel

4.5 stars out of 5 (rounded up) for The Wishing Game by Meg Shaffer

With a childhood love for Ronald Dahl’s Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, author Meg Shaffer has created a novel with similar atmosphere, mystery, and magic!

In The Wishing Game, 26-year-old Lucy Hart has been chosen to compete in a contest for the chance to win the only copy of Jack Masterson’s long-awaited continuation of his popular Clock Island book series. If she can win, the profit from selling the novel will be life-changing for both her and 7-year-old Christopher, who Lucy is hoping to adopt once she sufficiently improves her living environment.

The clever Clock Island landscape where Jack lives in seclusion seems like a place right out of a *isney movie or Nancy Drew novel, with a bit of wonder and mystery creating an exciting backdrop for the contest.

The relationship between Lucy and Christopher is endearing, and there’s some romance thrown in as well with the handsome and charming Hugo Reese, a longtime illustrator for the Clock Island books. The depictions of Hugo’s colorful and whimsical paintings are so glowing, I wish I could see them myself!

There was general agreement in my book club, which includes a former foster parent who did adopt, that some of the novel’s details about fostering to adopt are unusual and possibly inaccurate. It also seems like rather poor judgment for Lucy to talk to Christopher about adopting him when she believed she was years away from being financially stable enough to do so.

On a positive note, my book club also agrees that the descriptions of the Clock Island book series are so good, we hope Ms. Shaffer will actually create the Clock Island series for readers!

The Wishing Game is sweet and fun, mysterious and magical, and though the ending might be a little too predictable for some readers, most will enjoy the happy ending.

I not only recommend this novel for those who enjoyed books like Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory or the Nancy Drew series, but I hope it gets made into a film. It would be wonderful to see Clock Island and Hugo’s paintings brought to life!

I love the way this is written, it’s a child’s adventure for adults. Made me think of the things I’ve lost while adulting, reminded me to keep dreaming and wishing and enjoying life, because as Jack says “I’ve simply come to the realization that the amount of sand in the top of my hourglass is far less than the sand in the bottom” always dare to dream!!!

Reading this wonderful book by Meg Shaffer made me feel like a kid again. Famous children's author Jack Masterson came out of a self-imposed hiatus to offer up ownership and all the proceeds of a new Clock Island Series Book to one of his true fans who could answer a perplexing riddle. This brings the prospect of a fortune to four young to middle-aged adults who met Masterson when they were children, including protagonist Lucy Hart, a kindergarten teacher's aide who desperately wanted to adopt a seven-year-old boy named Christopher, an orphan in foster care. Lucy couldn't qualify as a candidate for fostering or adopting because of her income and living circumstances. Winning Jack Masterson's contest would be a dream come true for herself and Christopher. Shafer portrayed the fictitious author as a master of riddles and wishes, who could hold children spellbound as they read his books about adventures on Clock Island over and over. Masterson wrote that brave children who could overcome their fears could see their wishes come true. Hugo, the artist who painted book covers for Jack's books, had stayed with the despondent author through thick and thin, but had decided to go in a new direction until the contest required his presence on Clock Island (the name of the private island where Jack actually lived). Meeting the other three contestants, learning their backgrounds, fears, and wishes made for fun reading, as did the contest itself. The book took turns I didn't expect, but I will leave the magic of discovery to each reader.

Lucy has always wanted to be a momma since meeting Christopher and tutoring him, as a foster care kid he's the best of the best, lovable and smart, and they share a love of clock Island since she started reading it to him, new game and winner takes all, once she's back on the island with three other kid's who'd ran away actually as kids to the island for the mastermind to help them, anyway tons of fantasy, and intrigue, suspense and thrilling, love and despair, faith and forgiveness, I absolutely loved this story, to the family we make, my first book by this author but I love her books by her pen name, so here's to wishes, thank you, Dana Zamora

Lucy Hart ran away to Clock Island as an unhappy thirteen-year-old. It is the home of Jack Masterson, a reclusive children's author who has written a series of whimsical books that take there. Now, thirteen years later, Lucy is in California working as a teacher's aide and desperately hoping to adopt Christopher, a boy in foster care who she tutors. Then Jack announces a contest where a single copy of his latest book will be given to one of the selected contestants (if they solve the various riddles and puzzles) to do with as they please: sell, auction, keep, etc. All four contestants are adults who once ran away to Clock Island, including Lucy. Hugo Reese, Jack's illustrator, also lives on the island and remembers Lucy from her brief stay, but he's attracted to adult Lucy. He's British and one of those males who hides a gooey soft center under a hard casing. This is such a lovely read. Firstly, it's a book for readers, people who love books. It's a homage to Willie and the Chocolate Factory but a gentler story with kinder characters. While it might seem somewhat predictable, I loved the writing and characters so much that I read right through the book. The star is Jack Masterson, the Mastermind of Clock Island, who loves children and writes for them. Lucy, Hugo, Christopher, and the others all revolve around Jack, the benevolent but playful owner of Clock Island in Casco Bay, off the coast of Portland, Maine. While the story is mainly upbeat, there are sad moments interspersed which honestly made me more emotional than I expected. The romance is secondary and a slow-burn attraction that only adds to the main story which is about facing your fears, whether child or adult. I'll be thinking about this book for a long while.

I found The Wishing Game in hardback, and yes, I judged the book partially by its cover. The colorful, almost sparkling bookshelf pictured is one I wish I had. So, with that in mind, with the blurb tickling my brain, and in the interest of saving money, I purchased a Kindle copy. But with a big TBR pile, I didn't get to it until recently. As with many books like it, my reaction was, "What took me so long?"

The Wishing Game is, first and foremost, an enchanting book. My inner preteen, the one who used to love roaming the halls of Misselthwaite Manor, dodging cruel orphanage personnel, figuring out Sam Westing's riddles, and more, woke up and was entranced. She wanted to play and I let her. The Clock Island setting hits the perfect mix of cozy and mysterious. On the one hand, it's home to any kid or grown-up kid who needs it, the kind of place you could sit by the fire with a cup of cocoa and your favorite book and doll or plushie and feel safe. On the other, it's a mysterious, almost spooky entity full of unfinished park plans, deserted shops, and dark secrets. It's delicious, and if you know my reviews, settings don't often impress me. Thus, when they do, they really do, and Clock Island is in my top five.

I also loved the characters and the interplay between them. I could relate to Lucy and her struggles; although we have led very different lives, we have fought to find our places and battled feelings of being unwanted. But I could also relate to Jack, Hugo, and even Christopher, and characters who maybe weren't on the page. Everyone in the book reads like a person you could meet in real life, but also probably have. They're your kid's favorite teacher, your coffee barista who plays in a rock band or draws detailed doodles on the napkins, your introverted neighbor sorting through their past and present. Watching them embrace Clock Island and all its challenges swept me away and made me think.

As for the plot itself, I loved it. As I hinted, I love a plot with a game and a mystery; for instance, The Westing Game was one of my favorite books in middle school. I was thrilled when I knew the answer to the first game right away, but then pleasantly stumped later. I cheered for Lucy, and then my heart broke for her. I rooted for Lucy and Hugo, and Lucy and Jack, to find themselves and each other, and become an unconventional "family" of sorts. I worried for Christopher, but also saw a bit of myself in him and thought, "You know what, this kid's gonna be okay." And while The Wishing Game has no breath-stealing twists, thrilling action, or deep psychological intricacies to probe, the secrets of the characters, Jack especially, made me sympathize and empathize with them, and love them, even more. Plus, the "twists" Jack threw at Lucy especially, caught me off guard but left me satisfied, in that I loved watching her work through them and appreciated, nothing was tied up in a pretty bow.

The characters can lean a shade two-dimensional at times, and I wondered if some elements, such as Lucy's contact with Sean or Dustin's decisions in the game, were necessary. I didn't mind Davey having Down Syndrome, and he didn't need to be "representation" in this book. But especially coupled with Angie's chronic illness and Lucy's associated history, plus the fact that Hugo still thinks of Davey as a "kid" and treats him as such in his mind, I wondered if Down Syndrome was the right arc for Davey. (Although, as a Newsies superfan, I appreciated the presence of both a Jack and a Davey in the story)! ;) Besides that, I feel it fair to warn you that if language isn't your thing, there is some profanity, including a couple F bombs.

That said, The Wishing Game is still a beautiful book. My inner kid and current grown-up still want to visit Clock Island. I am thrilled that Meg has another book coming out soon and will snap it up. In the meantime, this book doesn't get a wish for you to read it. It gets my solid recommendation.

𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘞𝘪𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘎𝘢𝘮𝘦 by Meg Shaffer⁣ ⁣ •••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••⁣⁣ 𝐒𝐮𝐦𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐲: The Clock Island books are Lucy’s absolute favorites. When the author mysteriously stopped writing them years ago, Lucy was sure she would never get another one. However, when the author sets up a competition for the single copy of the new book, Lucy is invited to participate.⁣ ⁣⁣ •••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••⁣⁣ 𝐓𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐬: ⁣I bought this book on a whim because it seemed really interesting and I wanted something different from my typical reads. While it started a bit slow, it was overall a quick read - especially once I got to know more about Lucy. I really enjoyed that, while whimsical and luck-driven, the book somehow still felt very genuine. There were a few puzzles that were fun to solve and the characters were well written. I usually don’t vibe with third person POV but it worked for this book! My eyes even got misty a few times while reading. Hugo grew on me, as all grumpy characters usually do. I loved Christopher and especially loved learning what I did in the last 30ish pages of the book. Overall, just such a nice read to reset myself moving into the second half of this year. ⁣ ⁣⁣ •••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••⁣⁣ #romancereader #teacherswhoread #bookreviews #happilyeverafter #bookrecommendations #bookreview #selfcare #reading