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corinnab's review against another edition
3.0
I am a bit torn on how to rate this book. I think I give it a 3.25. I thought the story was cute, and the characters endearing, but there was something about the writing style that frustrated me. An example would be during scenes with dialogue. Once dialogue started, before the next person would reply, the author would write about the person's thoughts for 3 paragraphs. By the time it got to the point where the second character would reply to the first, I forgot what the first had even said. There was a lot of extra detail that was unnecessary. It was not descriptive detail like Stephen King talking about a chair for 3 pages but extra words. Having said that, I do want to reiterate that I thought the story was pretty cute, and I loved the concept behind it. The gift giving profession was an adorable take.
aprilcote's review against another edition
5.0
This ARC was given to me with appreciation by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This book was a surprising delight! Didn’t want to put it down from the first page. Following a self made woman on her pursuit to move her custom gift buying company to a family owned historic property, the plot takes you through multiple story lines each one more exciting than the next. So many layers to this feel good story with morals and hope, love and family. Not another fluffy rom-com. Reminiscent of Elin Hildebrand without the island. Recommended for all ages. (Some streamy stuff but nothing open door.) Also learned how to think about that perfect gift
shamfeldt's review against another edition
emotional
funny
hopeful
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
bzliz's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
I hesitate to call this a romance although it technically fits the criteria. Personally, I’d say the focus of the story is more about family dynamics and personal morality and the romance is a side dish (or mistress, if you’ll forgive the joke). If you took the romance out and just had Marnie and Luke be friends, the story would be virtually the same. But I will be thinking about some of the questions this book raised for a while.
Marnie is a professional gift giver who accidentally mixes up labels on gifts for her client Brian’s wife and mistress. As he’s screaming at her for ruining his life (very much his own doing), his son Luke tries to talk him off the edge. A few more chance meetings with Luke and they are fully in a relationship which is hard to balance as Marnie keeps working with Brian to win back his wife and as Luke is learning how to be a parent after finding out recently that he has a teenage daughter.
I found the storytelling complex as it was easy to start sympathizing with each character in turn. I had so many mixed feelings about if I wanted Suzanne to forgive her husband or not and I think Darke did a phenomenal job at showing how two things can be true at the same time: you can hate someone’s guts for what they did to you while still loving them and missing their companionship. Marnie’s mistake leads her to question how complicit she is in the bad choices others make and how her morals stack up to her desire to acquire her grandfather’s old shop. Luke was a challenge for me to like. On one hand he saw where he made a mistake with Ivy and took steps to better himself but on the other hand, he said some awful things to Marnie because he’s got lingering daddy issues and desperately needs therapy. Plus there’s Brian. I wanted him to be successful but also wanted him to truly fail so he could experience a fraction of the pain Suzanne felt.
Also, I despise the cover. I randomly picked this up at the library and was taken aback by how off putting the cover art is, though I’m glad I gave it a read anyway.
Marnie is a professional gift giver who accidentally mixes up labels on gifts for her client Brian’s wife and mistress. As he’s screaming at her for ruining his life (very much his own doing), his son Luke tries to talk him off the edge. A few more chance meetings with Luke and they are fully in a relationship which is hard to balance as Marnie keeps working with Brian to win back his wife and as Luke is learning how to be a parent after finding out recently that he has a teenage daughter.
I found the storytelling complex as it was easy to start sympathizing with each character in turn. I had so many mixed feelings about if I wanted Suzanne to forgive her husband or not and I think Darke did a phenomenal job at showing how two things can be true at the same time: you can hate someone’s guts for what they did to you while still loving them and missing their companionship. Marnie’s mistake leads her to question how complicit she is in the bad choices others make and how her morals stack up to her desire to acquire her grandfather’s old shop. Luke was a challenge for me to like. On one hand he saw where he made a mistake with Ivy and took steps to better himself but on the other hand, he said some awful things to Marnie because he’s got lingering daddy issues and desperately needs therapy. Plus there’s Brian. I wanted him to be successful but also wanted him to truly fail so he could experience a fraction of the pain Suzanne felt.
Also, I despise the cover. I randomly picked this up at the library and was taken aback by how off putting the cover art is, though I’m glad I gave it a read anyway.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Infidelity, Abortion, and Death of parent
Moderate: Toxic friendship
lacers526's review against another edition
3.0
This story took me SO long to get into and then even once I did, it felt SO LONG. Marnie was likeable character with an interesting job. While I didn’t agree with her decisions at the beginning, I understood them. Brian and Suzanne’s story was redemptive. Luke was a great character, until the third act, when I just had to roll my eyes at him. This had good bones and characters I either wanted to punch in the face or that I really enjoyed. I think it was simply too long and it didn’t need to be. Take out about 100 pages, and this was probably a 4-star read.
smalltownbookmom's review against another edition
4.0
3.5 rounded up.
This book felt more like women's fiction or family drama than a romance per se. Marnie is a professional gift giver and when she makes a terrible mix-up sending one man's wife the gift intended for his mistress, she has to fight to save her reputation and protect her store. I like Marnie's character a lot and did enjoy the secondary story line with the husband trying to win back his wife of forty years. An okay book I liked but didn't love and definitely too light on the romance storyline between Marnie and Luke (the husband's grown son). Much thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an early digital copy in exchange for my honest review.
This book felt more like women's fiction or family drama than a romance per se. Marnie is a professional gift giver and when she makes a terrible mix-up sending one man's wife the gift intended for his mistress, she has to fight to save her reputation and protect her store. I like Marnie's character a lot and did enjoy the secondary story line with the husband trying to win back his wife of forty years. An okay book I liked but didn't love and definitely too light on the romance storyline between Marnie and Luke (the husband's grown son). Much thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an early digital copy in exchange for my honest review.
emily_loves_2_read's review against another edition
4.0
With Love From Wish & Co.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Genre: Romance
Format: Kindle eBook
Date Published: 8/16/22
Author: Minnie Drake
Publisher: Random House Publishing
Pages: 384
Goodreads Rating: 3.93
Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing for providing a digital copy of the book for me to read in exchange for my honest opinion.
Synopsis: Marnie Fairchild is the brains and talent behind Wish & Co., a boutique store that offers a bespoke gift-buying service to wealthy clients with complicated lives. Brian Charlesworth is Marnie's most prized customer, and today she's wrapping the perfect anniversary gift for his wife, Suzanne . . . and a birthday present for his mistress, Leona. What could possibly go wrong? With the situation so complicated, the last thing Marnie needs is to fall for Brian and Suzanne's gorgeous son, Luke. In the end, will it be her head or her heart that wins out?
My Thoughts: The characters had depth, they were witty, relatable, and infallible at the same time. I absolutely adored Marnie, she is a likable character. However, the men could be taken either at a lovable or dislikable stance, meaning you either love them or hate them. With each characters perspective, you really could feel the character and feel what they are going through or what they are doing. It was truly a magical reading experience for me. The author does an amazing job at describing the scene in Australia, you felt like you were there, even including pictures and a recipe made it truly authentic. The author’s writing style was complex, endearing, creative, and engaging. The book did start a little slow but it was necessary to set the characters and scene, then it starts to go by faster. What drew me to this book was the cover, I love cartoon romance covers and I absolutely enjoyed this book, I would absolutely be reading other novels from this author.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Genre: Romance
Format: Kindle eBook
Date Published: 8/16/22
Author: Minnie Drake
Publisher: Random House Publishing
Pages: 384
Goodreads Rating: 3.93
Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing for providing a digital copy of the book for me to read in exchange for my honest opinion.
Synopsis: Marnie Fairchild is the brains and talent behind Wish & Co., a boutique store that offers a bespoke gift-buying service to wealthy clients with complicated lives. Brian Charlesworth is Marnie's most prized customer, and today she's wrapping the perfect anniversary gift for his wife, Suzanne . . . and a birthday present for his mistress, Leona. What could possibly go wrong? With the situation so complicated, the last thing Marnie needs is to fall for Brian and Suzanne's gorgeous son, Luke. In the end, will it be her head or her heart that wins out?
My Thoughts: The characters had depth, they were witty, relatable, and infallible at the same time. I absolutely adored Marnie, she is a likable character. However, the men could be taken either at a lovable or dislikable stance, meaning you either love them or hate them. With each characters perspective, you really could feel the character and feel what they are going through or what they are doing. It was truly a magical reading experience for me. The author does an amazing job at describing the scene in Australia, you felt like you were there, even including pictures and a recipe made it truly authentic. The author’s writing style was complex, endearing, creative, and engaging. The book did start a little slow but it was necessary to set the characters and scene, then it starts to go by faster. What drew me to this book was the cover, I love cartoon romance covers and I absolutely enjoyed this book, I would absolutely be reading other novels from this author.
theamyleblanc's review against another edition
I received a copy of this story from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
DNF: 25%
This cover looks so cute and the summary seemed like a lighthearted romance. Yes, it was clearly going to tackle some serious subjects like infidelity, but it didn't seem like a heavy read.
Unfortunately, it's TOO light. I got a quarter into the book and didn't care about any of the characters. I couldn't justify sinking more time into this story. It took too long to get to the pivotal incident - did we need that Luke storyline before the anniversary party? - and it was trying to do too much.
As many people have said, the chapters and their breakdown are weird. It's terrible to see that the next chapter is going to be 40+ minutes long when you're already struggling to stay interested.
This one isn't for me.
DNF: 25%
This cover looks so cute and the summary seemed like a lighthearted romance. Yes, it was clearly going to tackle some serious subjects like infidelity, but it didn't seem like a heavy read.
Unfortunately, it's TOO light. I got a quarter into the book and didn't care about any of the characters. I couldn't justify sinking more time into this story. It took too long to get to the pivotal incident - did we need that Luke storyline before the anniversary party? - and it was trying to do too much.
As many people have said, the chapters and their breakdown are weird. It's terrible to see that the next chapter is going to be 40+ minutes long when you're already struggling to stay interested.
This one isn't for me.
alittlewrightreading's review against another edition
3.0
With Love from Wish & Co. kept my attention to finish it but overall it wasn’t anything I loved. The story was fine but I didn’t feel anything for the characters. Actually the characters only cared about themselves and what they wanted and not how their actions affected anyone else.
Thanks to Netgalley and Dell for a copy of this book in exchange of an honest review
Thanks to Netgalley and Dell for a copy of this book in exchange of an honest review
seachell1's review against another edition
3.0
Thank you to Random House and Netgalley for an advanced readers of this novel for my honest opinion.
When I first started reading "With Love from Wish & Co" I was getting the vibe that Marnie was going to be the quirky, socially awkward characters that are so prevalent in fiction these days. That turned out not to be true. I had a hard time getting a feel on most of the characters in this novel. Character development wasn't really present in this light, predicable, wraps itself up as neatly as the bow on the cover of this book.
That being said it is a nice little story even if its not really based in reality. The setting of Australia sounded lovely and makes me just want to go there and stroll along the streets of this little town.
If you're looking for a nice easy read to take to the beach with you, this is it!
When I first started reading "With Love from Wish & Co" I was getting the vibe that Marnie was going to be the quirky, socially awkward characters that are so prevalent in fiction these days. That turned out not to be true. I had a hard time getting a feel on most of the characters in this novel. Character development wasn't really present in this light, predicable, wraps itself up as neatly as the bow on the cover of this book.
That being said it is a nice little story even if its not really based in reality. The setting of Australia sounded lovely and makes me just want to go there and stroll along the streets of this little town.
If you're looking for a nice easy read to take to the beach with you, this is it!