The Wishing Game, by Meg Shaffer

January 13, 2025 Lark_Bookwyrm Book Reviews 0

The Wishing Game by Meg Shaffer
Published by Ballantine on 5/30/2023
Genres: Fiction
Pages: 294
Format: Kindle or ebook
Source: the library
Purchase: Amazon | Bookshop | Barnes & Noble | Audible | Chirp
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“Clever, dark, and hopeful . . . a love letter to reading and the power that childhood stories have over us long after we’ve grown up.”—V. E. Schwab, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue

Make a wish. . . .

Lucy Hart knows better than anyone what it’s like to grow up without parents who loved her. In a childhood marked by neglect and loneliness, Lucy found her solace in books, namely the Clock Island series by Jack Masterson. Now a twenty-six-year-old teacher’s aide, she is able to share her love of reading with bright, young students, especially seven-year-old Christopher Lamb, who was left orphaned after the tragic death of his parents. Lucy would give anything to adopt Christopher, but even the idea of becoming a family seems like an impossible dream without proper funds and stability.

But be careful what you wish for. . . .

Just when Lucy is about to give up, Jack Masterson announces he’s finally written a new book. Even better, he’s holding a contest at his home on the real Clock Island, and Lucy is one of the four lucky contestants chosen to compete to win the one and only copy.

For Lucy, the chance of winning the most sought-after book in the world means everything to her and Christopher. But first she must contend with ruthless book collectors, wily opponents, and the distractingly handsome (and grumpy) Hugo Reese, the illustrator of the Clock Island books. Meanwhile, Jack “the Mastermind” Masterson is plotting the ultimate twist ending that could change all their lives forever.

. . . You might just get it.

A love letter to children’s books

The Wishing Game reminds me so much of the books and series I loved as a child: the ones that made me fall in love with reading, the ones I escaped into over and over. It has the whimsy and wordplay of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (one of the author’s inspirations) without the nastiness that seemed both funny and disturbing to me even as a child. But I’m getting ahead of myself.

Lucy Hart wants desperately to adopt Christopher, a young boy in the foster system. Christopher is deeply attached to her, and feels the same. But Lucy is barely making ends meet on a teacher’s aide salary, and she will never be allowed to adopt Christopher unless she can provide him a better living situation than the one she has. Lucy has cut herself off from her own family, and there’s no one else she can call on for help. The love between these two lost souls is the best and most deeply developed in the book.

When Lucy gets the opportunity to compete to win the manuscript of the first new Clock Island book in years, she sees it as her last and only opportunity to pull together enough money to be able to adopt Christopher. But it’s also an exciting event in its own right. As a child, she corresponded with author Jack Masterson, even running away to the real-life Clock Island in hopes of living with him. Now she and three others, each with their own urgent needs and a past visit to Clock Island, are invited to the island to play a game much like those in the books to determine who will win the prize.

Jack’s relationship with the contestants is hard to pin down at first. He seems to take a fatherly interest, but he’s also playing the part of the mysterious, mischievous, slightly sinister Mastermind of the books. Adding to the complexities of Lucy’s situation, Jack’s cover illustrator, Hugo Reese, lives on the island as well. Lucy is very drawn to him, and he, it seems, to her.

The set-up, the fantastical island and its reclusive owner, and the games themselves are all reminiscent of a children’s book. Shaffer does a terrific job of bringing the world of Clock Island and its “Mastermind” to life—both the “reality” and the fictional fantasy series. Her prose is deliberately simple and straightforward; the riddles are fiendish but obvious if looked at from the right perspective, in that way that children love. And Shaffer gives us passages and even whole scenes from the (fictitious) Clock Island books, which serve to make the series feel completely real. To be honest, I wished more than once that I could go online and order the books; they sound wonderful! A bit spooky, very whimsical, full of wordplay and riddles and games. The fictional children in the Clock Island books have to face their fears with courage, determination, and honesty in order to win through. . . and so do the four adults competing in Jack Masterson’s game.

So the great charm of this book is how much it feels like a children’s book for grownups—but that’s also its biggest weakness. I would really have liked more development of the relationships between Lucy, Jack (father-figure) and Hugo (Lucy’s love interest.) The relationships are there, the depth is implied, but where the author goes deeply into Lucy’s feelings for Christopher, the development of the other two relationships, as well as the one between Jack and Hugo, would have benefited from more page time. That’s the only “ding” that kept me from giving The Wishing Game 5 stars. Otherwise, it’s a wonderful novel, and a love letter to children’s books and series.

Rating: 4.5 stars

Would I buy this book for myself or someone else: Absolutely. I have already added it to my Kindle wishlist because I would 100% read it again. And I’m making a note of it for at least one person on my gift list this year.

Challenges: COYER Out to Lunch (2025); 2025 Library Love Challenge