2 ⭐ CW: death, violence

When Wishes Bleed by Casey L. Bond is a YA fantasy romance that is The Bachelor meets any book about witches. I got a bundle of books by this author second hand, but this was a huge disappointment to the point that I'm not sure I'll read any of her other books. Prepare yourself as I eviscerate this book. 

We follow Sable, Daughter of Fate in the Gallows where the witches live in Sector 13. Sable is an outcast among her people, and Fate lives inside her, talks to her, and directs her actions. She can also Divine the fate of others. During a festival where non-witches from the lower sectors are in 13, Sable reads the fate of a handsome stranger using a wishbone. The wishbone bleeds when it is broken, meaning the stranger is fated to die by murder. Soon she realizes that the handsome stranger is Prince Tauren, and is invited to the palace to participate in a  Bachelor style competition to become Tauren's wife. But Sable will be going to protect him and figure out who will be trying to murder him. 

This story was super predictable. Of course they fall in love. Of course they can't be together, because of different customs, but of course they actually do end up together. The Bachelor thing was really contrived and didn't really add much. The magic system of the witches had potential, but we didn't get much out of it. It was a very slow moving story, and the side characters weren't fleshed out enough. I did not like the way the author wrote Sable's male friend. He was a supportive friend for a hot second, until she rejected him, and then he was jealous, combative and annoying. The author then added a new, more serious villain 60% of the way in, and then the conflict was over in a few short chapters. It was very anticlimactic. 

My biggest rant is about the Black characters. She described these Black women using food (a big nope) and used the word 'exotic' for them. The side character Mira was added as an "escort" (read servant) to Sable and made all her clothes and did her hair. I wanted way more from her. And then at the end when she has arguably more power and status than Sable she continues to serve her by dressing her and doing her hair! What kind of bullshit is that? The last 10% of the book was totally unnecessary, and felt like a really long epilogue. 

This just wasn't well done in my opinion. If anyone has read other books by this author, let me know if they are worth it, because right now, I might just donate them.