Never Too Many To Read : Blog Tour: How to Make a Wish by Ashley Herring Blake...Review & Giveaway!

So happy to tell you about Ashley Herring Blake's wonderful new release, How to Make a Wish, today!

Keep reading to learn more, including my thoughts and a giveaway!

How to Make a Wish

by Ashley Herring Blake
Publisher: HMH Books for Young Readers
Release Date: May 2nd 2017

Genre: Young Adult, GLBT, Contemporary

Synopsis:

All seventeen year-old Grace Glasser wants is her own life. A normal life in which she sleeps in the same bed for longer than three months and doesn't have to scrounge for spare change to make sure the electric bill is paid. Emotionally trapped by her unreliable mother, Maggie, and the tiny cape on which she lives, she focuses on her best friend, her upcoming audition for a top music school in New York, and surviving Maggie’s latest boyfriend—who happens to be Grace’s own ex-boyfriend’s father.

Her attempts to lay low until she graduates are disrupted when she meets Eva, a girl with her own share of ghosts she’s trying to outrun. Grief-stricken and lonely, Eva pulls Grace into midnight adventures and feelings Grace never planned on. When Eva tells Grace she likes girls, both of their worlds open up. But, united by loss, Eva also shares a connection with Maggie. As Grace's mother spirals downward, both girls must figure out how to love and how to move on.

Ashley Herring Blake is a reader, writer, and mom to two boisterous boys. She holds a Master’s degree in teaching and loves coffee, arranging her books by color, and watching Buffy over and over again on Netflix with her friends. She's the author of the young adult novels SUFFER LOVE and HOW TO MAKE A WISH.

Title: How to Make a Wish
Author: Ashley Herring Blake
Format: Physical ARC
Source: Publisher

How to Make a Wish is a beautiful story about discovering who you are and what you want out of life that touched my heart.

When Grace returns home after a couple of weeks away, she is shocked to learn that her mother has moved them in with her new boyfriend, a lighthouse manager who just happens to be the father of Grace's ex-boyfriend. Although, she knows she shouldn't be too surprised because her mother has not exactly been the most attentive or stable mother, she is still a bit hurt and can't wait until she can leave to pursue her dreams of being a pianist.

As she adjusts to her new living situation, she also develops a new friendship with the new girl in town, Eva. After the unexpected death of her mother, Eva moved in with her guardian's family, which happens to be Grace's best friend Luca's family.

During long talks on the beach, both girls bond as they adjust to the changes in their lives and wonderful friendship develops. A friendship that unexpectedly becomes even more as they grow even closer and different feelings develop. Buts it's not without a few ups and downs.

I love a good story that leaves me hopeful and glad that I read it at the end. And with it's memorable characters and an emotional plot, How to Make a Wish definitely did not disappoint. I fell in love with this book and its characters and couldn't put it down. The characters are really what drives this book and I loved seeing their growth as the story progressed and they learned more about themselves as well as those around them.

Grace and Eva are both dealing with very different mother-daughter issues and with big changes in their lives. They both help each other heal and grow and it's as if they were meant to meet. Ashley Herring Blake did a wonderful job of bringing these characters to life and making them people I actually cared about. I wanted them to thrive, succeed, and find happiness.

The author also does a great job of addressing a topic that isn't discussed very much in most YA books: sexuality or more specifically bisexuality. It's nice to read about characters confident in their sexuality who are trying to find love, acceptance, and happiness. And you don't often see bisexual characters in YA, so that was a refreshing and welcome sight.

But this isn't just a love story, it's a story of growing up and discovering more about yourself and those you love. As I mentioned, Grace has some major mother-daughter issues she is dealing with in the book. It was interesting to see Grace and her mom's dynamic as they try to understand one another. As a reader, I could see both sides of the situation and felt for both of them in different ways. Sometimes it is easier to see and understand someone and their situation as an outsider, though, as Grace learns.

I actually loved all of the various relationships and characters depicted in the book. Each touched and surprised me in different ways. Overall, How to Make a Wish is a book I thoroughly enjoyed and I look forward to reading more of Ashley Herring Blake's work.