WISH by Alexandra Bullen

I recently finished the book Wish by Alexandra Bullen. Wish is a very touching book that will keep you reading till the end. Wish is about a girl, named Olivia, who moves to a new town after her sister, Violet, dies. While having to deal with her family falling apart and her parents fighting at all times, she also has to deal with liking and going out with her friends ex-boyfriend. She gets a dress and while wearing it wishes that her sister was back. What she doesn’t know is that the dress is magical and her sister does come back. Her whole world is changing can she keep it together?

I love the style of this book. Bullen uses great imagery. She describes things very thoroughly it is as if you are there looking at the people and places she is describing.

“Olivia kept staring at her sister’s profile. Violet. Violet was back. Violet was sitting right beside her. She looked a little paler, maybe, and a little thinner, too—Olivia noticed a trail of blue veins crisscrossing the insides of her sister’s wrists, veins she didn’t remember ever seeing before. But other than that, it was the same Violet. The same wild, copper-colored hair; the same sparkling, impish eyes.”

She describes Violet so thoroughly that I can almost see her. She uses imagery like this throughout the whole book.

I also like how Bullen used third person and first person point of view. She tells it from the outside looking in, but she still has the thoughts of both sisters so you can understand what they are going through and what they are feeling. She has more of Olivia’s thoughts than Violets, but she describes what is going on in such great detail that you can conclude what they are feeling. The plot is complicated, but she makes it easy to read. Anyone and everyone can and should read this amazing novel.

If I had to rate this book I would give it a 10 out of 10. I love how she describes everything and makes it seem real. She took a topic that could be childish and cookie cutter, but she ran with it and made it a teen fiction and not a fairytale for little kids. I love the romance and family conflicts and how she tells a tragic story without it being depressing. She shows that Olivia is sad, but she also shows that she is trying to get over the loss of her sister and have her parents forgive her for her sister’s death.

Reviewed by Reagan Smith

8th Grade