BOOK REPORT for you wish by mandy hubbard
bff charm: yay
swoonworthy scale: 2
talky talk: basic black with hot accessories
bonus factor: toy story
anti-bonus factor: motocross
relationship status: just friends
the deal:
kayla’s 16th birthday really sucks. her dad’s been gone for years and her mom is a workaholic party planner who uses her birthday as an advertising opportunity, crafting the most heinous sweet sixteenth party that looks like someone at MTV vomited pepto bismol all over the place AND invited the school’s queen mean girl and her mother. so when kayla has to make her wish, she wishes for her birthday wishes to actually come true for once. major oops — because they do. from a real-life my little pony to being stalked by ken in his dream car, she has to face a new wish coming true every day. to make matters worse, her bff is being a major weirdo, blowing her off to hang with her boyfriend — who also happens to be kayla’s biggest crush, ben. and her 15th-birthday wish? that ben would kiss her. oops.
bff charm: yay
i’d totally sit with kayla in the bleachers during pep rallies and bleat at the sheep-like popular kids, and i LOVE her idea of showing up at homecoming dressed in halloween costumes! so when bff nicole starts ditching her and dressing like a plastic and even sitting with them in the caf (!! quelle horror!), i felt for her. i’d've stepped up to be her new bff and i’d even help her get rid of the lifetime’s supply of gumballs. also, i’d LOVE to hang out with her come-to-life raggedy ann doll cos that chick is hilarious.
swoonworthy scale: 2
ok, so here i’m being totally unfair because the swooniness is pretty cute but I COULD NEVER, EVER CRUSH ON BEN BECAUSE HE’S A BMX-ER AND GELS HIS HAIR. you guys, this is like dealbreaker number 1. he’d be totally adorable if he didn’t do motocross. he tells cheesy jokes and he’s sweet and totally understands kayla’s anti-school-spirit snarkalicious attitude. but Y’ALL. motocross. gelled spiky hair. he probably smells like axe body spray and i JUST.CAN’T.DO.IT. cos if i can’t crush on a guy along with the main character, there’s no swooning for me.
talky talk: basic black with hot accessories
blame my marathon shopping day yesterday for this talky talk description. hubbard has a simple, straightforward style punctuated by hilarious one-liners and lotsa sass from kayla. i loved the talky talk, except for those like 8 pages of motocross talk that i skimmed. that’s like accessorizing with 3 scrunchies and a banana clip in a non-ironic-hipster way.
bonus factor: toy story
i loved how kayla’s childhood wishes involved my little pony, ken of barbie-and-ken fame and raggedy ann. hubbard’s personification of a real-life ken was funny but extremely scary — i think i’d flip if i was walking to the library being stalked by a ken doll in a yellow convertible.
anti-bonus factor: motocross
can i have an anti-bonus factor? well, i’m writing this, so i say yes. and that anti-bonus factor is MOTOCROSS. good LORD i have no interest in dirt bikes and the only bmx-er i knew growing up was a total weirdo who was arrested for arson in high school. i love a good skater boy (especially a mysterious mallrat one), but dayum — bmx is just too much for me. and to have one of the swooniest scenes in the book take place at the dirt bike track at night was simply a tragedy.
casting call:
unfortch, ben sounded kind of douchy looking. like this:
matt czuchry as ben
i think jena malone would be great as kayla, especially with the mohawk (even though kayla didn’t have a mohawk).
jena malone as kayla
relationship status: just friends
you wish, we had a nice first date. i even gave you another shot and went on a second dinner-and-a-movie date with you, but there just weren’t major sparks. you’re funny and pretty cute, but you have a few quirks that are fine in a friend, i just wouldn’t be able to get past them to turn this into a serious relationship. i hope you are ok with being friends, cos i do like you a lot. just not in that way.
FTC Full Disclosure: My review copy was a free ARC I received from Penguin. I received neither money nor cocktails for writing this review (dammit!). You Wish is available now.
No related posts.
{ 10 comments… read them below or add one }
Omigod, first review – this has nevere happened to me! (Blatantly, by the time I’ve typed out this review there’ll be someone else and I’ll look a right fool. But for now, let’s bask in this rare glory. *bask*)
I also hate motocross. Ever since there was a Disney channel movie about motorcross, *called* Motorcross, and starring yet another Disney channel teen girl actress… and they were really scraping the barrel with this one. Eugh. This was in the old days when they did use the same three actresses for all of their roles. Anyway, my point is that I find it dull, pointless, and a complete waste of most people’s time and effort. Therefore, and totally agree that there can be anti-bonuses.
I would personally love is this book happened to me – but I have wished for the same thing every year since I was about eight. Oh, except for a few years ago, I ironically wished for a pony. Just to be ironic. (Yeah, I was such a pretentious 11-year-old.)
Great review – I agree with the anti-hair-spiking, but dressing up to go to *anything*, let alone homecoming, is awesome in my books.
I follow Mandy Hubbard on Twitter and her blog and I only knew about the birthday wishes thing of the whole book, so it was nice to read about everything else! It sounds like a lot of fun, except for the motocross thing. I don’t understand anything with bikes or cars or anything with an engine that boys like to rev to look ~cool~.
Hee. I kind of love this review.
Even if you didn’t love Ben, your snarkiness won me over.
Oh! and FYI, BMX = Bicycles…. Motocross= Motorcycles.
good to know! and i’m glad you liked the review — i loved ben’s personality, for sure. just not the motorcycles and hair gel
Excellent review! This book sounds like the kind of book I’d like to friends with, too, even if I didn’t understand it’s use of gel and love of bmx.
This one is on my TBR and one of the reasons I bought this was because of the pinkness of the cover. Is that even valid?
Great review! I have no opinion about motocross, but I’ll see when I finally have time to read the book. I look forward to the toy references though!
I thought this one was cute. Not heavy lifting but just the right amount of fun.
ok, yeah, the ken thing? REALLY SCARY. i read this review yesterday, and all night i kept thinking about things i wished for as a kid and what it would be like if they came to life and haunted me and ARE YOU SURE THIS ISN’T A HORROR BOOK?!!!
the only wish-come-to-life that wouldn’t scare me is my lifelong dream to eat mac & cheese every day and never gain a pound. FAIRY GODMOTHER ARE YOU LISTENING TO ME?
this review brings me back to eight grade to my first boyfriend who did motocross and had gelled hair. yikes!
but i don’t think i’ll be reading this book due to similarities (i still cringe when i think of the messy-awful-movie-theater-kisses with that boy!)
It’s good to know the book is nice – since I just bought it and it should be arriving soon!! – and I got no problem with moto/bikecross or whatever. Even with one VERY unfortunate telenovela I saw once which revolved mainly about Motocross, I still got no probs with the ‘sport’ itself.
I can’t wait to see Ken, it sounds like it’s going to be fun.