Couldn't Finish
In "Be Careful What You Wish For" by Alexandra Potter, Heather Hamilton's wishes suddenly all come true after she buys some magical heather from a gypsy.
As an obvious chick-lit read, this is very light literature. I'm very fond of my wishes-coming-true novels and therefore it was out of the question not to buy this one
Unfortunately, the storyline is as thin as it sounds.
I could summarize in about three sentences what happens in the novel: Heather gets the Heather, some dude moves in with her, her dream man is suddenly all over her. Bam. That's it. You can kind of guess the rest. Yes, I know chick-lit isn't supposed to be deep or have any dramatic turns of actions, but when I'm at a point where I can just skip four chapters and still understand everything that's going on, there's something wrong.
A novel should always be as long as the story demands, an agent told me once. And this clearly could have also been alright as a 5,000 words short story instead of a full-length novel. (Plot 0/5)
Protagonist Heather's wishes may be coming true but oddly enough, she doesn't do anything about it. As a reader it's just frustrating to have this girl have everything just literally a wish away, but she doesn't even try. Even when she realizes what's happening, she doesn't consciously make wishes and it made me want to pull my hair out. As a result, I never really connected to Heather, who's essentially an extremely relatable character. She isn't supermodel-thin, has real life problems like everybody else and doesn't work in a fashion magazine like every chick-lit main character ever.
Aside from Heather I also really didn't care about any of the other characters and therefore it's quite impossible for me to like this novel. While I do encourage diverse characters, it's just annoying how superficial Potter remains and simply reduces side characters to one or two obvious characteristics (skin-colour, sexual orientation, religion, looks). At no point the reader gets a chance to get to know the characters on a deeper level and to me, this is one of the main factors when deciding whether I want to continue reading or not (Characters 0/5).
I'm really sad about not liking this, because Potter is a fantastic writer. She writes funny, light and entertaining and had I not had those issues with the characters, this could've been amazing! (Writing 4/5)
Overall: Do I Recommend?
With a heavy heart I'm saying no. I love the premise, it's exactly my thing. I love the idea of Heather's character, the diversity is great but there is just so much lost potential that I want to rewrite this myself. It's a light read and I definitely understand that for some people this is exactly the kind of chick-lit they're searching for, but sadly, it's not for me.
Rating: ★☆☆☆☆