(clicking on the cover will take you to Goodreads!) | Title: Wish Author: Grier Cooper Published on: December 2nd 2014 Publisher: Dancing Poodle Press Genre: Contemporary (YA) Author's website Part of a series?: Indigo Dreams #1 I received a review copy of Wish -thank you!- in exchange for an honest review. My review is written in my own opinion and is uninfluenced by anyone. For Indigo Stevens, ballet classes at Miss Roberta’s ballet studio offer the stability and structure that are missing from her crazy home life. At almost 16, she hopes this is the year she will be accepted into the New York School of Ballet. First she must prove she’s ready, and that means ignoring Jesse Sanders – the cute boy with dimples who is definitely at the top of Miss Roberta’s List of Forbidden Things for Dancers. |
But Jesse is the least of Indigo’s concerns. When she discovers her mom is an alcoholic, it simultaneously explains everything and heaps more worry on Indigo’s shoulders. As her mom’s behavior becomes increasingly erratic, Indigo fights to maintain balance, protect her younger brothers from abuse, and keep her mother from going over the edge. When the violence at home escalates, Indigo realizes she can no longer dance around the issue. At the risk of losing everything, she must take matters into her own hands before it’s too late. my rating for Wish: It is somewhat disappointing that this book was again not what I expected, because with a blurb like that I was easily intrigued. The blame's all on the dull characters, or Wish would've been a nice and easy read. Let's get straight to the characters. Most of them didn't feel real and all and I couldn't form a connection with any of them. Wish follows the story of Indigo, an aspiring ballet dancer who is currently plagued by a ton of problems, all of them she has to face. More often than not, main characters are the one character that we feel most attached to; at the very least, we should've developed some kind of fondness or felt some kind of bond between us and the lead of the story, right? Sadly, that was not the case with this book. All of the characters felt more or less cardboard and I couldn't feel the difference between them. What was even more disappointing was the romance in this book. There was no chemistry in all of the pairings, yet one character would claim to be madly in love with the other. I can't say for sure about the minor characters, but Jesse and Indigo -the pairing that was supposed to give life to the story, dagnabbit!- didn't interest me at all. They were one of the flattest pairings that I've ever read - NO CHEMISTRY, just plain 'I love him, I hope he loves me back' which, of course he does. There's conflict between the two of them but it's not really in-depth, which leaves me wondering what was the point at all if the romance didn't spike my heartbeat and make me go ASDFGHJKL, I ship them SO MUCH. I have read only a few number of books that center around ballet dancing like Wish does, but always have I felt a strong desire to learn ballet after turning the last page. They overwhelm me with feelings of regret (that I never had the chance to pick up this amazing art) and appreciation, but for Wish I don't feel anything close to those emotions. I think the main cause of that is partly because when the main focus of this book is supposed to be ballet dancing, the author threw in other obstacles for Indigo as well to make the story much more interesting. It worked, but only to a small extent. I was feeling pretty "meh" about the entire story until I reached the climax, which was better but still didn't rise to my expectations. The damage was already done - I was bored, and although things did pick up a little halfway I wasn't feeling at all entertained. However, I still love the ballet-dancing aspect of this book. It's nice to be exposed to something I know little to nothing about. The one good thing about Wish is that you can see that Indigo is truly passionate about ballet. I can't feel what she feels given that I labeled her as a cardboard character, but I can see her love for ballet through her actions. The way she works hard for an audition shows that she really puts a lot of effort into her passion, and that was one of the good things about this story. Wish would appeal to readers who love ballet as a hobby or art. I certainly didn't think the story was top-notch, but the ballet-dancing aspect of this story is one to love!
3 Comments
I've learned ballet when I was younger but stopped when I moved away to another state, I admire those who are persistent in mastering the "art" as ballet requires a lot of practice and perfection, it's such a delicate dance that is beautiful yet painful. I'm sorry that Indigo is such a cardboard character, otherwise the story might have been a whole lot better. I love the cover though :P It's dark yet elegant at the same time! Seems like I will be putting this off for a while :P
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1/6/2015 12:15:25 am
I definitely agree on that. I can't even imagine myself touching my toes without bending my knees *winces at the image of that* so ballet dancing is something I respect and admire.
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The cover is so gorgeous! I regret not learning ballet when I was kid too! I always become jealous when I see ballet dancers. They look so graceful. The blurb really is intriguing. I will try reading this, it might work for me. :)
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Kat is a voracious reader who enjoys nothing more than losing herself in a good book. Fantasy is definitely her cup of tea. She often complains about never having enough time to read and constantly struggles with keeping her TBR pile a considerably decent size. Read more or keep up with her bookish whims on Goodreads or bloglovin.
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