Magic? Coincidence? A little bit of both?

Tragedy and heartache brought Rachel and MaryBeth together as teenagers. Both misunderstood by their parents, they become each other's family. Years later, Rachel struggles with a mysterious power that haunts her. When she was eight years old she discovered she had the power to make wishes come true. A seemingly wonderful surprise, Rachel soon learns that wishes don't always go as planned. Flippant wishes made in the heat of the moment can leave others heart broken and hurt. Rachel learned this lesson first hand.

Running from her most recent wish granting gone wrong, Rachel finds herself in Nowhere, North Carolina. Here, she meets Catch, a local pie legend of sorts. Catch has powers, too. With her pies, Catch can make secrets disappear. Together, these women learn that secrets and wishes often go hand in hand and ultimately, what is meant to be, will be regardless of their powers. What if the things we perceive as the worst things in our lives happened in order to bring us to the best things? It isn't until we sit down and accept what is that we can see that it all happened for a reason. And maybe, just maybe, it isn't magic at all. Just life. And love.

Adored this book. Hated it to end. 4.5 stars and a new favorite.

I really wanted to give this book a higher rating, but I just can't. The basic story was cozy and fun yet the writing was lacking in flow and tenderness. The ending wasn't complete for me; I wanted it to be more definite and truly hopeful. It didn't wrap everyone's lives up quite like I would have liked.

As a fan of magical realism, I was ecstatic to win an early copy of this book from the author. The setting is quaint and cozy Nowhere, North Carolina, and the main character has the ability to grant wishes, including her own. She meets a woman named Catch who has a little magic of her own, and there is yummy baking involved. The themes of second chances and choosing happiness were uplifting, and overall, as you can tell by my rating, I was completely charmed by this magical book!

I liked this book, better after I had finished. I couldn’t love it while I was reading it. It is written with a style that had me wanting more, a little more insight into the characters. The creativity in the story is really compelling but that might also be what made me weary of the story.

I won this book in a Goodreads giveaway AS WELL as received it from netgalley! Whoops! Anyhow, I just wanted to say my review will reflect my true opinions about the book.

Rating: 3.5 *

When I started the book I was immediately swept up in the story. The characters are lovely and the writing is cozy. There were a few moments I was confused-- wondering why a character ended up in a room or something-- but, this might have been fixed since I received an uncorrected ARC. This was a quite fun read.

I really liked the concept of the wishes and secrets but, I didn't think the story delved into it much. I thought could have been done to explain the powers to the reader yet, at the same time since the main character was so confused it made sense that the reader was in the dark too.

I also didn't like the ending-- I'm sorry! It was nice, cute, and had a final tone but, I thought there were strings that still needed to be dealt with.

Rachel Monroe has a secret. Well, two related ones, really: she can make wishes come true, and when she was 10, she accidentally wished her brother would get lost. Which he did. Permanently. Now no one remembers he ever existed except for Rachel, and she spent years in therapy because of it. That one careless moment shattered her family, and ever since then, Rachel has been doing her best to hide from her ability. She thinks she has succeeded until the day she accidentally grants the wish of her best friend's daughter to have a unicorn--or a pony with a party hat on its forehead, anyway--and Rachel decides to flee in order to protect those she loves.

Magic isn't so easily evaded, however, and Rachel soon finds herself out of gas in the small town of Nowhere, North Carolina, taken in by an eccentric old woman who can bind secrets by baking them into pies and who is harboring secrets of her own. She meets new friends, gets a job, and is starting to fall in love with the next door neighbor. For the first time in her life, Rachel begins to feel at home, which is a good thing, because the town won't let her leave. Not the townspeople--the Town itself. Since she can't run away again, when word of her wish-granting secret gets out, she has to come to terms with her ability in order to avoid continuing to live a life of fear and guilt.

This is a good choice for fans of Sarah Addison Allen, as it had a similar feel and concepts (semi-sentient fruit trees, anyone?). There were quirky and engaging characters, a charming town, and magic in the air. A delightful read, to be sure.

It would make an excellent book club selection--there were so many times I wished I could discuss this book with someone! For example, does anyone else feel like there should have been more significance to the poisoned plum tree--how it got poisoned and what might have happened when it was ripped out? Or Rachel's family photo--I was surprised Rachel didn't use it as proof both with her parents at the time of the accident as well as with Ashe when the truth about her brother came out.

This book also made me want to eat pie. Lots of pie. Sadly, the ARC I received from Bookbrowse/the publisher in exchange for my honest review didn't include any. *sigh* Ah well.

For readers' advisors: character, story, and setting doorways were all strong. There is a fair amount of swearing, which didn't bother me but might bother some people (things like "damn" and "bat-shit crazy"). Some kissing, touching, and removal of a shirt but no actual sex scenes. No violence.

Absolutely charming book about forgiveness, second chances, friendship, love, and self-acceptance. I could pour all kinds of commentary into this text, but to sum up, this is exactly the kind of book I hope to write.