If You Wish
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Beschreibung
Beiträge
This book was sent to me in exchange for an honest review. Thank you so much Cassandra for sending me a signed copy of your debut novel. When Cassandra Sage Briskman first messaged me asking if I was interested in reading and reviewing her debut novel I was head over heels. I read the synopsis and fell in love with the idea behind the story right away. I love fairytales and Cinderella definitely is by far one of my favorite fairytales ever so since ‘If you wish’ is a Cinderella re-telling/story (a modern day Cinderella) I was almost 100 % sure I’d love it. In the book we meet Ella. Ella is an ordinary 16 year old girl who lives together with her stepmother and her two stepsisters who came into her and her father’s life a couple of years after her mother has died. Her father is a famous director and isn’t home very often. While her father is away touring the whole world making new movies Ella finds herself dealing with her horrid step mother and her mean two step sisters. So even though people might think that Ella is living the dream; being the daughter of some famous movie director and living in Los Angeles she’s just trying to live her life as normal as possible; trying to deal with the harassments by her so-called family. She doesn’t talk to her father about it, not wanting to ruin the very short time they spend together whenever he gets a chance to come home. But then along the way she meets Julian who manages to make her life a little more enjoyable but instead of falling for him, as you may assume, she falls in love with her stepsister’s boyfriend Dylan. The book only has 145 pages so it’s a pretty quick read. I spent half of my Sunday afternoon reading the whole thing and really enjoyed it. This is the perfect book to read when you’re having a bad day. It’s cute and sweet and fluffy and it makes you forget real life for a couple of hours. It’s so easy to read but also thoughtful, it’s simple but cute and the characters seem real and relatable, more for teenagers though than for a grown up probably. Maybe I’m already a little old for the book though. The story was written by a teenager for teenagers. I’m not really a teenager anymore but loved the book nonetheless but I think that if you’re younger you will enjoy this book much more since it’s so much easier to relate to the characters. The characters were relatable, most of the time, but the thing I loved the most about the characters, especially about the main character, was, that she wasn’t cliché at all. I liked Ella, a lot. I also felt bad for her from time to time especially the farther we got in the story. The things her stepmother has done to her are awful. I couldn’t help but squeeze out a tear at some point. I really just wanted to punch Sarah and Alexis right into their pretty faces. The book was full of drama, maybe a little too much. Although I would have wished for the story to be a bit less dramatic it still had a realistic feel to it. SPOILER I also really liked Dylan’s character. He went from jerk to nice guy back to jerk and to boyfriend material, which I loved. His character was really sweet and real and I love that he and Ella didn’t get their happy end. I mean well they kind of did because they became friends and stuff but I really loved that they didn’t fall in love in the end as you may assume. The ending surprised me and it was so nice to read about how important Julian is for Ella for example and that she wants to deal with her life and everything that has happened first before she throws herself into a relationship. That was so mature and sweet – I really loved that. SPOILER END What I also really liked was the fact that even though Ella’s dad is probably one of the richest guys in Hollywood she discovers money isn’t everything. Money doesn’t bring you happiness (unless you buy books of course haha). Her stepmother and stepsisters were the perfect example for that no matter how rich you are, how expensive your clothes is, how many cars you have and whatever – it doesn’t make you happy if you don’t have a family or friends. This is such an important message. Money isn’t everything. You can’t buy a family or friends (no real friends though), you can’t buy luck or good health. And this is exactly what Ella discovers and what makes her such a likeable character. I also liked the writing. The writing was easy and quick; right to the point, easy to understand, modern and thoughtful. This book has a lot of potential though. I found quite a few typos and although the flow of the dialogue was nice sometimes it seemed a bit cheesy. I also found it very sad that it was such a short story. I would have loved to read some more about Ella and her friends and her family. The characters could be given more background and the ending felt a bit rushed with a bit too much drama for my taste. SPOILER My favorite thing about the book actually was that in the end we kind of go back to the beginning. The book starts off with Ella introducing herself and her life; her family … it feels like reading her diary and in the end we find out that it actually is her diary. That was really cool and a great idea to end and start the book with. SPOILER END All in all I really liked the book and I’m really looking forward to seeing what else Cassandra comes out with. If it’s another modern fairytale retelling – I’m totally in. 3.5 stars!
My rating: 3.5 stars. My opinion in short: There's hell of a lot potential - this might be the first version of a really good book! There are a lot of interesting characters, some of them should have got more time in the story. Some parts are too short and should be a bit more discriptive. Important characters: > Ella - main character's who is the narrator of the story. She lives with her stepmother and her stepsisters in a huge house in LA. Her father is mostly away from home, being very popular by directing films all over the world. > Julian - Ella's friend and open ear for all her problems. He's the best friend you could wish for until his own secrets start to haunt him... > Alexis - Ella's stepsister No. 1, who's (of course) way more popular than her. She loves to be the one in control and demonstrates that perfectly. > Izzy - Ella's stepsister No. 2 who starts to break out of the image everyone has of her. > Sarah - The stepmother... and when I say the stepmother, she is the exact way you imagine her to be: evil! > Dylan - Alexis' lacrosse playing, handsome and rich boyfriend who's more to him than just being the popular guy. What I liked: > Julian seems to be a really nice person. > I liked that the book is more of a short story (only 144 pages) - it's refreshing! > Cassandra likes the same actors and books like me apparently - I love Lily James :) > I love the setting - LA is one of the most beautiful cities I've ever been to. > The ending of the book is really really nice - a bit unexpected, but still lovely. What could be better // what I did not like: > Even though Margaret is the only person in the family Ella bonds with, she's just passive when all those bad things happen to Ella. She should have at least tried to help her sometimes. > I still don't get why Julians behaves as he does sometimes. > Some scenes should be (as I already mentions) more.. just more of everything. > Bit confused by Dylan's "prom proposal" behavior. Thank you Cassandra for providing a copy!
Beschreibung
Beiträge
This book was sent to me in exchange for an honest review. Thank you so much Cassandra for sending me a signed copy of your debut novel. When Cassandra Sage Briskman first messaged me asking if I was interested in reading and reviewing her debut novel I was head over heels. I read the synopsis and fell in love with the idea behind the story right away. I love fairytales and Cinderella definitely is by far one of my favorite fairytales ever so since ‘If you wish’ is a Cinderella re-telling/story (a modern day Cinderella) I was almost 100 % sure I’d love it. In the book we meet Ella. Ella is an ordinary 16 year old girl who lives together with her stepmother and her two stepsisters who came into her and her father’s life a couple of years after her mother has died. Her father is a famous director and isn’t home very often. While her father is away touring the whole world making new movies Ella finds herself dealing with her horrid step mother and her mean two step sisters. So even though people might think that Ella is living the dream; being the daughter of some famous movie director and living in Los Angeles she’s just trying to live her life as normal as possible; trying to deal with the harassments by her so-called family. She doesn’t talk to her father about it, not wanting to ruin the very short time they spend together whenever he gets a chance to come home. But then along the way she meets Julian who manages to make her life a little more enjoyable but instead of falling for him, as you may assume, she falls in love with her stepsister’s boyfriend Dylan. The book only has 145 pages so it’s a pretty quick read. I spent half of my Sunday afternoon reading the whole thing and really enjoyed it. This is the perfect book to read when you’re having a bad day. It’s cute and sweet and fluffy and it makes you forget real life for a couple of hours. It’s so easy to read but also thoughtful, it’s simple but cute and the characters seem real and relatable, more for teenagers though than for a grown up probably. Maybe I’m already a little old for the book though. The story was written by a teenager for teenagers. I’m not really a teenager anymore but loved the book nonetheless but I think that if you’re younger you will enjoy this book much more since it’s so much easier to relate to the characters. The characters were relatable, most of the time, but the thing I loved the most about the characters, especially about the main character, was, that she wasn’t cliché at all. I liked Ella, a lot. I also felt bad for her from time to time especially the farther we got in the story. The things her stepmother has done to her are awful. I couldn’t help but squeeze out a tear at some point. I really just wanted to punch Sarah and Alexis right into their pretty faces. The book was full of drama, maybe a little too much. Although I would have wished for the story to be a bit less dramatic it still had a realistic feel to it. SPOILER I also really liked Dylan’s character. He went from jerk to nice guy back to jerk and to boyfriend material, which I loved. His character was really sweet and real and I love that he and Ella didn’t get their happy end. I mean well they kind of did because they became friends and stuff but I really loved that they didn’t fall in love in the end as you may assume. The ending surprised me and it was so nice to read about how important Julian is for Ella for example and that she wants to deal with her life and everything that has happened first before she throws herself into a relationship. That was so mature and sweet – I really loved that. SPOILER END What I also really liked was the fact that even though Ella’s dad is probably one of the richest guys in Hollywood she discovers money isn’t everything. Money doesn’t bring you happiness (unless you buy books of course haha). Her stepmother and stepsisters were the perfect example for that no matter how rich you are, how expensive your clothes is, how many cars you have and whatever – it doesn’t make you happy if you don’t have a family or friends. This is such an important message. Money isn’t everything. You can’t buy a family or friends (no real friends though), you can’t buy luck or good health. And this is exactly what Ella discovers and what makes her such a likeable character. I also liked the writing. The writing was easy and quick; right to the point, easy to understand, modern and thoughtful. This book has a lot of potential though. I found quite a few typos and although the flow of the dialogue was nice sometimes it seemed a bit cheesy. I also found it very sad that it was such a short story. I would have loved to read some more about Ella and her friends and her family. The characters could be given more background and the ending felt a bit rushed with a bit too much drama for my taste. SPOILER My favorite thing about the book actually was that in the end we kind of go back to the beginning. The book starts off with Ella introducing herself and her life; her family … it feels like reading her diary and in the end we find out that it actually is her diary. That was really cool and a great idea to end and start the book with. SPOILER END All in all I really liked the book and I’m really looking forward to seeing what else Cassandra comes out with. If it’s another modern fairytale retelling – I’m totally in. 3.5 stars!
My rating: 3.5 stars. My opinion in short: There's hell of a lot potential - this might be the first version of a really good book! There are a lot of interesting characters, some of them should have got more time in the story. Some parts are too short and should be a bit more discriptive. Important characters: > Ella - main character's who is the narrator of the story. She lives with her stepmother and her stepsisters in a huge house in LA. Her father is mostly away from home, being very popular by directing films all over the world. > Julian - Ella's friend and open ear for all her problems. He's the best friend you could wish for until his own secrets start to haunt him... > Alexis - Ella's stepsister No. 1, who's (of course) way more popular than her. She loves to be the one in control and demonstrates that perfectly. > Izzy - Ella's stepsister No. 2 who starts to break out of the image everyone has of her. > Sarah - The stepmother... and when I say the stepmother, she is the exact way you imagine her to be: evil! > Dylan - Alexis' lacrosse playing, handsome and rich boyfriend who's more to him than just being the popular guy. What I liked: > Julian seems to be a really nice person. > I liked that the book is more of a short story (only 144 pages) - it's refreshing! > Cassandra likes the same actors and books like me apparently - I love Lily James :) > I love the setting - LA is one of the most beautiful cities I've ever been to. > The ending of the book is really really nice - a bit unexpected, but still lovely. What could be better // what I did not like: > Even though Margaret is the only person in the family Ella bonds with, she's just passive when all those bad things happen to Ella. She should have at least tried to help her sometimes. > I still don't get why Julians behaves as he does sometimes. > Some scenes should be (as I already mentions) more.. just more of everything. > Bit confused by Dylan's "prom proposal" behavior. Thank you Cassandra for providing a copy!