Review: As You Wish by Chelsea Sedoti

Title: As You Wish 

Author:  Chelsea Sedoti
Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire 

Publishing Date: January 2nd, 2018

Pages: 432
Genre:  YA Magical Realism

Series:  Stand Alone
Source: Audio

 

What if you could ask for anything- and get it?

In the sandy Mojave Desert, Madison is a small town on the road between nothing and nowhere. But Eldon wouldn’t want to live anywhere else, because in Madison, everyone gets one wish—and that wish always comes true.

Some people wish for money, some people wish for love, but Eldon has seen how wishes have broken the people around him. And with the lives of his family and friends in chaos, he’s left with more questions than answers. Can he make their lives better? How can he be happy if the people around him aren’t? And what hope is there for any of them if happiness isn’t an achievable dream? Doubts build, leading Eldon to a more outlandish and scary thought: maybe you can’t wish for happiness…maybe, just maybe, you have to make it for yourself.

I was excited to see a magical realism in YA. I don't come across this genre in YA often. I was very excited even though it took me a while to get to this book. I am not sure what I was expecting but it wasn't what I expected. The book was good and I enjoyed most of it. Just wasn't what I expected. It was kind of an angsty read, a tormented soul type of book. It was a little slow in pace but I found enjoyment while taking in everything the main character was struggling with. 

In the little boring town if Madison there is one thing that makes the town special. Every resident gets a wish on their 18th birthday. Now there are rules... kind of like genie rules... can't ask for more wishes, can't bring someone back from the dead, also you can't wish for anything that will effect the world outside of Madison.... other than that anything goes. Some people ask for fame, or love, or money and some make reckless wishes that they regret for the rest of their lives. Some people make selfish wishes and some people make selfless wishes. Everyone has to go to a wish class and be trained how to wish correctly. (there have been some accidents in the past with wording) Eldon is coming up on his 18th birthday. His parents want him to wish for money, the wish he really breaks the rules. He spends countless hours thinking of the right wish. The wish that he won't regret and that will make a difference in his world. This book is about his wish decision. 

This book was pretty interesting. It was pretty thought provoking. It was deeper than I had expected. Eldon was a complex character and at first its hard to see with all his angst. I will be the first to say teen angst gets on my nerves, but in this book I felt Eldon was a little entitled to a little angst, his sister had been in a terrible accident and he has lost her. He feel as if it was his fault, or he could have stopped it. He wants to fix it and knowing his wish can't, nothing he can do can fix this problem. His parents are pressuring him, the town is questioning him, his friends are no help. He is torn and confused and yes a little angsty. He wasn't an easy character to like but was easy to understand. I still connected to him. 

Some of the other characters I really liked in the book. His friends I loved. They were pretty special and even though Eldon didn't see them as much help but realized in the end they would always be there for him. 

Basically there isn't really much to review. This book made me think. If I had one wish what would it be? Is it right to be able to wish a wish that causes someone else to do something not of their own free will? Can wishing for something instead of getting it be really worth it... or is it cheating in life?  How far will you go to do what you feel is right? This book is about family and friendship, doing the right thing and choosing your own path. 

The pacing was a little slow at times but it didn't take long to get through those slow parts. I did keep going and I did enjoy the listen. I think if I had read instead of listened I may have found it a bit harder to get through. The narrator helped a lot. I did however find it worth the read in the end. Again, not what I expected though. 

It was enjoyable and an experience. 

Chelsea Sedoti fell in love with writing at a young age after discovering that making up stories was more fun than doing her school work (her teachers didn’t always appreciate this.) In an effort to avoid getting a “real” job, Chelsea explored careers as a balloon twister, filmmaker, and paranormal investigator. Eventually she realized that her true passion is writing about flawed teenagers who are also afraid of growing up. When she’s not at the computer, Chelsea spends her time exploring abandoned buildings, eating junk food at roadside diners, and trying to befriend every animal in the world. She lives in Las Vegas, Nevada where she avoids casinos, but loves roaming the Mojave Desert.

Jenn Vs. Ash 2020 Challenges

Yay challenges! This should have been posted a couple weeks ago but we're just a bit behind. If you haven't already check out where we made our very own reading challenge! 

We had a really hard time picking between challenges so we have quite a few we plan on doing. Oops.

The Alphabet Soup Challenge means that by December 31, 2020
your bowls must be filled by one book for each letter of the Alphabet.
Each Letter Counts As 1 Spoonful
This challenge will run from January 1st, 2020 until December 31st, 2020.
You can join anytime. You do not have to post a review of the book. Books can come from any genre.
You do not need to link up each spoonful.
Make a page or a post or a Goodreads shelf where you will keep track of your spoonfuls. I keep track of mine on my Challenge Page.
Crossovers to other challenges are allowed and encouraged!
It’s an alphabet challenge!!! The challenge is to read one book that has a title starting with every letter of the alphabet.
You can drop the A’s and The’s from the book titles.
Except For those pesky Q, X, AND Z titles then the word that starts with the challenge letter can be anywhere in the title.
So there are two different ways you can set up your own A-Z Reading Challenge.


A - How I plan to do it: Make a list on your blog from A-Z. Throughout the year, as you go along, add the books you are reading to the list. Towards the end of the year, you can check and see which letters you are missing and find books to fit.

OR

B - Make a list now of 26 books, picking one for each letter of the alphabet.

Books can be read in any order and all formats – print – e-book – audio – are acceptable for this challenge!

Ash-

I love these challenges. I've actually made my list for the most part already with books I already physically own. I'm trying to finish as many of the books I already own as possible this year, so I figure this was a good one to help me with that. To make it even more difficult on myself I'm going to do it in alphabetical order. Go me.

Jenn-

I am choosing option A on this challenge. I am going to try and do them in order as much as possible and mark them all as I read them, then at the end of the year mark in the letters i missed. 

Any genre, any format, any length.

Any book published in 2019 or earlier is fair game.

Re-reads count. And you don’t have to own the book!

With this one there is also several mini challenges, bingo cards, prompts, etc that you can follow.


You do NOT have to be on a team to participate in Beat the Backlist. If you're not interested, please select the appropriate option below.
THE TEAMS:
The Borrowers
--You're a borrowing fiend! You love getting books from the library or your friends.
The Re-Readers
--You're always revisiting stories and probably have a few tattered copies of your all-time faves.
The TBR Stackers
--For every book you read, you're adding a bunch more to your TBR. It never ends!
The Multi-Taskers
--You're the kind of reader that isn't satisfied with reading just one book at a time, you like to read multiple!

Ash-

I have like 400 books I physically own that I'm trying to get through this year, along with all of my audio books. I know it won't happen, but I'm going to try. I love prompts and things to follow because it helps me decide what to read next. So I'm going to be doing as much as I can of this bingo card. I am also team TBR stacker. But I can be Team Re-readers, team TBR stacker, and Team Multi-tasker. 

Jenn-

Oh so many books I need to get through. We will see how this one goes. I have more old than new but I tend to stick with new releases. So I need to get through my backlist. I am on Team Multi-Tasker. 

Book Jar portion of the challenge

Find the books you want to list - perhaps books from long-term challenges, as mentioned above, or even a yearly challenge you've signed up for, have picked your books, but want to read more randomly.
List your books on paper. I created a Word doc, added titles, printed them out, cut each title into a strip, folded up and placed in a jar. I know it seems like a lot of work, but drawing slips of paper from a jar makes me feel like a kid again.
Draw one book per month (or as often as you like)
Three draws allowed, in case you're just not in the mood for that one, or you can't find the book (or maybe your hold hasn't come in at the library).
That's it! Easy!Book List portion of the challenge

To tackle the second part of my dilemma, this is where the Book List portion comes in. In my case, I have a book catalogue (see image in challenge button - that's one page from my catalogue) which I use to keep track of the books I own. It is arranged by author last name, alphabetically. Each letter has it's own section and I number each book. What I do is randomly select a letter of the alphabet (1-26) and then randomly select a number from the section of that letter. So, if the letter 'A' has 115 titles, I would randomly select from 1 - 115. (I use Random.org for this.)

You may have a book catalogue like me, or maybe you have a Goodreads list, or a list somewhere else. Whatever your list, get the total number of books, say 95 books, plug in 1 - 95 in the randomizer and Voila!
Draw one book per month (or as often as you like)
Three draws allowed, in case I'm just not in the mood for that one, or I can't find the book (same as book jar guideline above).
Final challenge parameters

You can do both Book Jar and Book List, or do one or the other. If you do both, that will be 24 books in a year. If you do just one, 12 books in a year.
Note: If there's a month you just have too much on your plate to do a draw, don't beat yourself up about it. We all have A LOT to read.
I will do a post at the beginning of each month sharing the books I've drawn for myself. Participants can share their random read picks in the comments. Also, every month after January, in the month beginning post, we can share how we did with the previous month's choice(s), share review links, etc.
Challenge runs January 1, 2020 - December 31, 2020

Ash-

I already put most of my books on a spinny wheel randomizer thing and made my list. Because I like to know ahead of time what I'm reading. I only did like the first 6 of them for 6 weeks. So I decided only to do the randomizer one on the computer and not the other. 

I also changed it to one a week instead of one a month but we'll see how that goes. 

Jenn-

I will do the same as Ash and use the wheel thing, I have not yet because that takes time and well I don't have a lot of that right now. I tried talking Ash into doing it for me and she said no. Rude! 

The challenge will run from January 1st, 2020 to December 31st, 2020. Books must be read during this time frame to count. Sign up is open from now until December 1st, 2020, so you may join even just for the last month of the year.
Series can be already completed as well as still ongoing. For ongoing series, the goal is to catch up to the most recent book published by the end of 2020.
We don’t care if you have only 1 book or 10 books to read in order to finish your series, as long as you’ve started the series before 2020 (ie read at least one book in the series), it counts. Re-reads are not required.
Any format and length of book counts – print, ebook, audio, ARC, etc.
Series can be any length (even if it’s just a Duet).
Crossovers from other challenges are totally acceptable!
Reviews are not required, but highly encouraged.

We offer you 3 different “Celebrity” levels of achievement for this reading challenge:

C-LIST SERIES FINISHER ⇒ COMPLETE 1-4 SERIES.
B-LIST SERIES FINISHER ⇒ COMPLETE 5-8 SERIES.
A-LIST SERIES FINISHER ⇒ COMPLETE 9+ SERIES.

Ash-

There are so many series challenges to pick from. The other one I was thinking about was from Series to Finish but they have a point system and that gets hella confusing after a little while. So I decided this one was the easiest and the best. I am going to try to be a B list reader. I want to finish as many series as I can but some of my series are long. So here are a few of the series I want to finish:

Jenn-

I am going for it with the 9+ series crazy right... 
here are the ones I want to finish... 

Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi - I have read 2 out of 6
The Folk of the Air by Holly Black- I have the last one left 
Sookie Stackhouse- I have read 7 out of 13
Blood of Eden by Julie Kawaga- I have the last one left
Touch series by Laurie Faria Stolarz- Have read 1 out of 5
Study series by Maria V Snyder - I have read 1 out of 6
The Others by Anne Bishop- I have read 3 out of 7(I am not sure if another is coming out this year)
Stalking Jack the Ripper by Keri Maniscalco- I am on the last one.
Campers and Criminals by Tonya Kappes- I have read 6 out of 11 (more might be coming out this year)
Blood Coven Vampire by Mari Mancusi- I am on 6 of 8

I have many more that I am up today on except for this years release. I will add those in as I read them but I am not posting them all here. 

The concept of the StartOnYourShelfathon is simple: from December 18th 2019 to December 31st 2020, join us in this readathon and read as many unread books that you own on your bookshelf
The theme of this readathon will be stars.
Set goals for yourself and read, read, read! Every time you read a book and every time you achieve a goal for yourself, you will get to collect a ‘star’.Work towards getting a ton of stars!
Download your very own star map
Give yourself an amateur star-collector name and add it to the star map!
For every unread book that you read for the #StartOnYourShelfathon, that is one star found – and you can add a sparkly star to your star map!
Re-reads of books that you have already read do not count.
Collect additional stars for completing goals that you set for yourself!

Yellow stars: For finishing an unread book as part of the readathon.
Blue stars: For finishing a readathon goal you set for youself.
Red stars: For reading and finishing an unread book that ended up being a new favourite!

Start as many star maps as you wish to help Castor! Create constellations of your own, stick the stars wherever you wish on your star map.

Ash-

This is one I'm also super excited for, because as I explained there are 15000000 books on my TBR. 

Here is the star map I chose!

Jenn-

This one sound like a lot of fun. I need to think of my readathon goals for the Blue stars. I think I will come up with one every month. 

The 2020 Tackle My TBR Reading Challenge runs January 1, 2020 – December 31, 2020. You can join at any time, but the link-up closes on November 30.
The goal is to read at least ONE book from your TBR every month. It can be an ARC, ebook, audiobook or print – your choice. Any reading is good reading!
If one TBR book a month isn’t enough, set your goal higher! Do you think you can read five a month? Ten? Go big or go home! There are some goal levels below if that’s your thing.
You don’t have to be a blogger to participate. You can track your progress on Goodreads, Insta, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube… wherever you want!
Use #TackleMyTBR2020 on social media.

Safety: read 12 TBR books
Blitz: read 13-24 TBR books
First Down: read 25-36 TBR books
Field Goal: read 37-48 TBR books
Hail Mary: read 49-60 TBR books
Touchdown: read 61+ TBR books

And because reviewing is so important, I’ve added a couple of bonus levels!
Extra Point: review half of the TBR books you read
Two-Point Conversion: review all the TBR books you read

Ash-

I'm going to do the HailMary and the two- point conversion. Because part of the point of me reading is to review. Sooo. 49-60 reviews coming up here.

Jenn- 
So for this one... this one is a big one for me. I want to do the touchdown. I need to get through these books on my TBR shelf. I am not couting anything added on my TBR in 2020 and I am doing at least 1 a month from my physical TBR and the rest from my audio books that I already and kindle ones I  own. I will try and review as many as I can. This will be challenging.

      

Review and Author Interview: Benjamin Nicholas by S.C. Crovo

Title: Benjamin Nicholas & The Golden Key

Author: S.C. Crovo

Publisher: N/A

Publishing Date: November 5th, 2019 

Pages: 200
Audio Length: N/A

Genre: MG Fantasy
TW: N/A

Series: Benjamin Nicholas

Source: Book

 

A Lonely Boy. A Secret Wish. Will a Golden Key Unlock Hidden Magic?
“Dear Santa”…Benjamin Nicholas asks for only one wish in his letter to Santa: to live at the North Pole. His letters haven’t been answered so far, but this could be the year! The letter mysteriously disappears, and Benjamin is ready to give-up until a strange boy joins him in the school lunch room with a plate of ornate sugar cookies.
“Hi, my name is Kalto,” he said clearly despite the cookie remnants in his mouth, “and you’re Benjamin Nicholas.”
Kalto seems to know Benjamin, but how? Lunch gets even stranger when Kalto delivers a message. Benjamin belongs to the Magical Families of Nicholas! His magic is in a key, but Benjamin doesn’t have it. They must travel deep within a mountain to the Nicholas World of Sankelves. On their journey, Benjamin gets his wish and discovers that the North Pole, full of wonders and secrets, is not as he imagined. Will Benjamin find his key, and who else seeks its special magic?

What made me pick this book up:
The author actually emailed me asking if I'd like a copy to review.

What did I like about the cover:
It's a good combination of cute cartoon and beautiful realistic.

What made me read this book:
As I said, I was emailed by the author to see if I wanted to read this with Finn. I couldn't say no. It sounded like such a unique story and I was sure that not only would I, but Finn would love it as well.

What did I like the most:
Well Finn lost interest at about 3/4 of the way through. But he's also 6 and this was a little long for him. 

As I said, the story is really unique. It's like a combination of Harry Potter and Santa Clause. Yes as in North Pole Santa Clause. 

I found the part where they get their key after they turn 10 years old to be really interesting. 

I loved all the mythical creatures and the different worlds. Snonoble is going to be my favorite I think, I can't wait to read about it more in the second book. And Master is my favorite. He just seems so jolly and sweet. 

I love all of the characters, especially Kalto. Kalto is my favorite by far. I think I would love having him as a friend. I love the Kelves in general to be honest. I would love to have a Kelve as a friend. 

I have to be honest though reading about all the magical foods made me hungry. I was really jealous of how many sweets they all have. 

The writing in this book is really well done as well. The details weren't over explained, and I could most definitely picture myself in this world. The imagery used is absolutely stunning. 

I never knew I needed this in my life, but I really really enjoyed it.

What didn't I like:
First of all his dad. I understand it's part of the story. Like a big part. But I hated him. He made me mad. 

The other thing is the pace was a little bit off at times. It seemed to pick up and things happened fast and then it slowed down almost too much.

Nothing huge, I still loved it and found myself not wanting to put it down.

Would I read the rest of the series/more from this author?
Absolutely! (And she mentioned a ghost story in the not so distant future. I need it) 

Highly recommend to anyone who enjoys well written fantasy books, of any age. 

First let's get to know a little bit about what makes you, you..

Where are you from?
I was born in Baltimore, Maryland but moved to Camden, Maine in 2000 with my husband, two daughters, and four cats. We moved to St. Marys, Georgia in 2013 with three dogs and six cats, and now live in Jacksonville, Florida with two dogs and five cats. Yes, we are animal lovers! Life is an adventure!

Is your name a pen name? If so what inspired you to pick that name?
My name is a semi-pen name. Susan Carol Crovo is my full name. I always include my middle name or initial in some way, because it’s a great story. I was Susan Ann until I had to get my birth certificate for my learners permit at the age of 17. I learned, unexpectedly, that my middle name was Carol. My mother thought that she had changed it and wanted me to change it back to Ann. I said no so, at seventeen, I became Susan Carol.

3 facts about yourself?
First: I love animals! All of our animal family members have been rescued or ‘found’.

Second: I love to cook and have a huge cookbook collection. You will always find food in my stories.

Third: I am also a ‘catch-my-eye’ collector. I have been going to yard sales since I was a kid. What do I collect? What catches my eye…what tells me a story. 

What are some of your favorite things in general? (Food, shows, movies, anything you want to share with us)

I love: TCM, classic movies. They had to rely on quality of story, because they were censored from naughty and vulgar content. Show/tell me a good story!

I love: Travel. A little restricted now because we have a full animal house, so I must travel vicariously through House Hunters International!

I love: Tradition. Spending time with my husband and family. My youngest daughter is married and lives close-by, but my oldest daughter lives in New Mexico at the moment.

Now let's talk about you as an author...

When did you start writing and what was the first thing you ever wrote?
I started writing at a young age. One of the first poems I wrote was about my beloved apple tree in our back yard. 

What inspired you to start writing?
Writing to me is as intrinsic as breathing! Everything inspires me! I always feel that everything has a story to tell. That pencil on the desk…who wrote with it and what did they write? There’s a story there.

What is your writing process? Do you make a timeline first? Or just write what comes to your mind? Do you do a lot of research?
First: Idea. Usually just a simple sentence or concept. The idea for The Magical Families of Nicholas came to me about 10 years ago. One simple sentence; Santa stops here first. Boy, did that original sentence change! It went from a small town in New England to Outer Space!

Second: Mapping. I use bubble mapping for both the book concept and each individual chapter. After mapping, I line write content so by the time I’m in front of the computer, I’m ready to write.

Most Important: Imagination. I visualize and imagine everything! Conversations, characters, question resolution, and scenes. If I’m stumped when writing, I walk away and let my mind and imagination go to work. It’s where all the magic happens!

What are some of your favorite authors/favorite reads?
I’m a bit old school. I love, from childhood to current, L.M. Montgomery Anne of Green Gables Series, Michael Crichton, Agatha Christie, and all books, especially old…I collect books, too.

What do you have planned for the future? Any other book or series ideas?
The Magical Families of Nicholas Stories, which includes The Benjamin Nicholas Series Novels and the Masters of Nicholas Series Novellas will go on for at least a series of six or maybe seven, but I could probably write about them forever. There are so many off-shoot story lines. Another series I would like to start, in the not too distant future, is a ghost series, middle grade as well.

I absolutely loved Benjamin Nicholas. I loved how you took the Saint Nicholas idea and turned it into something of your own. 

Thank you!!!!

Where did you get the idea for this book?
One line and imagination unleashed!

Which of the Kelves is your favorite?
They are all special in their own way, but I am partial to Kalto. He is such fun and so loyal to Benjamin.

I'd love to see this as a movie. Or even a TV show. Which do you think would be better for this story?
A movie, probably several, would be great. I love movies that can go deeper and are true to the story and the characters.