Review of The Wish Collector by Mia Sheridan

Release: November 24, 2018

Genre: Contemporary Romance - retelling themes

Multiple POV - 3rd person

Heat: Very slow build. Very. When something happens, it's pretty fade to black

Type: Standalone

Length: 468 pages

Format: ebook borrowed through Kindle Unlimited

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Synopsis

New Orleans, a city of mystery and magic, of secrets and dreams, and a history drenched in both love and the deepest of heartache.

When ballet dancer Clara Campbell arrives in New Orleans, lonely and homesick, she is immediately captivated by the story of Windisle Plantation and the tragic tale that is said to have transpired beyond its gate. Legend has it that it is abandoned by all living souls, but to Clara’s great surprise, it is not a ghost she hears through the stone wall surrounding the property, but a flesh and blood man. A scarred stranger with a pain deeper and darker than the churning waters of the Mississippi river that flows beside his self-imposed prison.

The ruined man behind the wall hides himself from the world. The last thing he expects is to find a friend in the selfless girl who speaks to him through the cracks in the rock. The girl who keeps returning week after week. The girl who makes him wish for things he has long since given up on. The girl who strikes both fear and hope within his wounded heart. But there can be no future for them, no life beyond Windisle, for no one knows better than him that monsters only live in the dark.

The Wish Collector is the story of shame and triumph, of loneliness and love, and the miracle of two hearts connecting despite the strongest of barriers between them.

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My Review

★★★★☆

Stunning. Eloquent. Heart breaking. Poignant. Ethereal. Heart warming.

The Wish Collector turned out to be a mash-up of several themes that the author was able to not only keep track of, but was able to turn it into something beautiful. Jonah was damaged. His brother came to him, asked him to choose, and warned him that the path he was on would lead him nowhere good. Jonah didn't listen and his life became one of tragedy. Burdened by his sins, riddled with remorse, he became a recluse, hiding from the world and holding his scars close to the vest. That is until Clara burst into his life and brought back the light.

“Do you know why it’s called the weeping wall?”
“It’s said that the wall weeps tears for the heartbreak and tragedy that came to pass behind it, for the spirits still trapped within.”

I'm the wrong person to ask if I believe in spirits because I do and I don't, depending on the day. Or my mood. But I was so intrigued by the story of Angelina and John. I loved how it served as the subtext for the romance that was building between the main characters. Clara was equally curious and her determination to find out the truth led her to the weeping wall, which led her to Windisle, which led her to Jonah. The story of the ghosts was sweetly romantic and utterly tragic. A slave and a soldier fighting in the civil war for the south, in love and striving for a hopeless future with each other. How can your heart not break and yet hope? Did their tale give me a strange sense of foreboding? Yes. I was sure my heart would be broken some more. And it was.

“Love makes a place for itself even if there isn’t one... Love carves into the hardest of places.”

Clara had such a pure heart and I think she was the perfect foil to Jonah's doom and gloom. Here was this guy who had isolated himself from the world, falling for the sweetest girl of all, who continued to drag and pull and force him out of his self-imposed exile. Yes, he was once an arrogant s.o.b., but I truly believe he learned his lesson - the hard way. He suffered such a huge loss and he had punished himself enough. I loved how the spark of life Clara brought to him drove him to a world of goodness. She inadvertently showed him the path of righteousness and I was thrilled that he found new purpose.

If you love angst and feels and slow burning romances, you'll love this story just as much as I did!

About The Author

Mia Sheridan is a New York Times, USA Today, and Wall Street Journal Bestselling author. Her passion is weaving true love stories about people destined to be together. Mia lives in Cincinnati, Ohio with her husband. They have four children here on earth and one in heaven.

Website: http://miasheridan.com
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