The Wishing Game by Meg Shaffer

The beginning starts off a bit slow and kind of strange, but the happy ending (for so many in the book) makes it worth the read. Lucy Hart once ran away to Clock Island to meet Jack Masterson and be his sidekick. Three other fans of his books also ran away to his island to meet the Mastermind. Now decades later the four of them are invited back to make one more wish. Each of the four has a new wish that would help change their world, but Lucy’s wish would not only change her world but the world of Christopher whom she wants to adopt. One Clock Island playing a game for a chance to win Jack Masterson’s new book, the first in years, for the House on Clock Island series Lucy meets Hugo Reese for the second time, only now both adults they start to develop feelings for each other. Lucy shares her fears of not being able to be Christopher’s mom and hope that by winning she will have enough money to rent an apartment and buy a decent car to show social services that she is capable of being a mother. Hugo in return shares his stories of heartbreak (death of his brother, a dead girl washing up on the island, and how he will be leaving now that Jack who is like a father to him is out of his dark period). Jack meanwhile approves of Lucy and Hugo’s feelings for each other and after the game has ended spills a secret to Hugo that he can leave if he wants but the game was a distraction to get him to stay a little longer. There will be no spoilers and the best scenes are at the end of the book as Jack is telling Hugo that in Maine you can legally adopt an adult, who get the house and who gets the island when the dies and how all the contestants were helped by Hugo in the end. Lucy never wished for a family, but it is what she wanted and in the end what she got. The only disappointing thing in the story is that the House on Clock Island series is not real, because they would be awesome to read.

Character List is not provided so as not to give away any spoilers. A happy read when you need a break from the real world and want to know that good things happen to those who need it.