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A review by pagesplotsandpints
Wish I Were Here by Melissa Wiesner
3.5
<b>Read Completed 10/16/24 |</b> 3.5 stars, rounded up
I just adored Melissa Weisner's debut and couldn't wait to read this new release from her. WISH I WERE HERE was a little less my style, but I really enjoyed the writing and really appreciated how the book ended!
This was a little less magical than THE SECOND CHANCE YEAR and a little more magical all at once. In an overwhelming moment, our main character Catherine wishes she was nobody and poof! All of a sudden, she can't be found in any database or system anywhere as a real identity. She then goes on a very real hunt for her birth certificate and her mother, all of which are not magical quests but actual important things in her life. We circle back around to a touch of the magic in the end to wrap things up! This was also a bit more contemporary, to me, than romance, which also wasn't a bad thing but not quite what I was expecting. I suppose all romances still have a lot of self-reflection but I felt like Catherine's growth was definitely first and foremost with the romance being a bonus.
This was a fun exploration in identity and overcorrecting your past. Catherine is very type A and sometimes those types of characters are hard for me to read about. She's a math professor, but comes from a background of her father being a clown and running with a crowd who is very into arts, loose schedules, and living a freer life. Now Catherine, all grown up, fixates on her schedules and goals -- which is not a bad thing at all, but she overcorrected just a bit, not having had security like that as a child. I really liked seeing her connect the two parts of her life. She really loves her father but had a hard time when he wasn't the most reliable parent, and now as an adult, she's figuring out how to have a relationship with him. I loved that she got back in touch with her childhood and let go of some of her strict schedules, realizing that she absolutely can have a STEM/math-focused job and enjoy what she does but still let loose and let go of some of that control every once in a while too. I was SO HAPPY that the author didn't make her quit her job that she enjoyed, and she even got to connect with someone in her department that wasn't stuffy to show that personalities of all kinds get to enjoy this type of job.
I also really appreciated Catherine's search for her mother and I don't want to go into any spoilers, but I really liked how the end of that was handled. It wasn't all or nothing, and it made perfect, realistic sense instead of being hyperbolic for the sake of a romance book.
The romance was cute, and I liked how it all worked out. I was afraid that I, too, was going to get annoyed with Luca's unreliability, but I loved how the author really explained every situation in which he felt unreliable. Catherine gets to dig deeper and see exactly why Luca seems out of sorts all the time, and he really just has a heart of gold and is arranging his schedule around others to help them out. I like that he was so supportive and helped Catherine break some rules.
This was a cute read and I really enjoy Melissa Weisner's writing style! I wasn't bowled over by it but it was quite heart-warming and very enjoyable.
I just adored Melissa Weisner's debut and couldn't wait to read this new release from her. WISH I WERE HERE was a little less my style, but I really enjoyed the writing and really appreciated how the book ended!
This was a little less magical than THE SECOND CHANCE YEAR and a little more magical all at once. In an overwhelming moment, our main character Catherine wishes she was nobody and poof! All of a sudden, she can't be found in any database or system anywhere as a real identity. She then goes on a very real hunt for her birth certificate and her mother, all of which are not magical quests but actual important things in her life. We circle back around to a touch of the magic in the end to wrap things up! This was also a bit more contemporary, to me, than romance, which also wasn't a bad thing but not quite what I was expecting. I suppose all romances still have a lot of self-reflection but I felt like Catherine's growth was definitely first and foremost with the romance being a bonus.
This was a fun exploration in identity and overcorrecting your past. Catherine is very type A and sometimes those types of characters are hard for me to read about. She's a math professor, but comes from a background of her father being a clown and running with a crowd who is very into arts, loose schedules, and living a freer life. Now Catherine, all grown up, fixates on her schedules and goals -- which is not a bad thing at all, but she overcorrected just a bit, not having had security like that as a child. I really liked seeing her connect the two parts of her life. She really loves her father but had a hard time when he wasn't the most reliable parent, and now as an adult, she's figuring out how to have a relationship with him. I loved that she got back in touch with her childhood and let go of some of her strict schedules, realizing that she absolutely can have a STEM/math-focused job and enjoy what she does but still let loose and let go of some of that control every once in a while too. I was SO HAPPY that the author didn't make her quit her job that she enjoyed, and she even got to connect with someone in her department that wasn't stuffy to show that personalities of all kinds get to enjoy this type of job.
I also really appreciated Catherine's search for her mother and I don't want to go into any spoilers, but I really liked how the end of that was handled. It wasn't all or nothing, and it made perfect, realistic sense instead of being hyperbolic for the sake of a romance book.
The romance was cute, and I liked how it all worked out. I was afraid that I, too, was going to get annoyed with Luca's unreliability, but I loved how the author really explained every situation in which he felt unreliable. Catherine gets to dig deeper and see exactly why Luca seems out of sorts all the time, and he really just has a heart of gold and is arranging his schedule around others to help them out. I like that he was so supportive and helped Catherine break some rules.
This was a cute read and I really enjoy Melissa Weisner's writing style! I wasn't bowled over by it but it was quite heart-warming and very enjoyable.