#REVIEW: One Wish Away

ARC Review: One Wish Away by Kelley Lynn

Title: One Wish Away

Author: Kelley Lynn

Publisher: Bloomsbury Spark

Publish Date: November 24, 2014

Book Summary:

Be careful what you wish for…

Lyra has always been ahead of the curve. Top of her class in school, a budding astronomer, and with a best friend like Darren she barely has time to miss the mother who abandoned her family years ago. She's too busy planning to follow in her father's footsteps, and to become the youngest astronomer at Space Exploration and Discovery.

When a star goes missing Lyra is determined to get to the bottom of it only to discover her braniac dad is the mastermind of a top-secret government experiment. They promise to build a perfect world, one galaxy at a time, but with every tweak of the present, a bit more of the future starts to crumble.

Lyra has to go undercover to reveal the truth and let humanity decide if the consequences are worth more than wishing on a star.

Review

One Wish Away by Kelley Lynn was an ARC I received via .pdf by YA Bound Book Tours for reading/viewing purposes only. In receiving this ARC, I will post an honest, true review reflecting my opinion over this book. This review is my opinion and hasn’t been influenced by any other party.

Cover: I really like this cover. It’s really pretty. Also, it fits the books mood perfectly. If I’m being completely honest, I choose to read this book based on the cover. I really like it.

Characters:

Lyra- I liked Lyra. She was a nerd and she had problems like any other person. She didn’t have a lot of (hardly any at all) friends. She wasn’t Miss Perfect Polly like some other characters; she actually had flaws. I feel as if that made her more real.

Darren- I didn’t really like Darren. I’m not really sure why; I just didn’t like him. I don’t really have any thoughts on him. He was a nice guy, but I don’t really know him well enough to judge him.

Dad- I would hate to have him as my dad. He’s never around; he’s just a bad dad. I don’t think his name was ever mentioned (if it was, I don’t remember). He’s a genius which is cool, but he needs to be there for his kid. His work can’t always be the top priority.

Secretary Morgan- Secretary Morgan, aka the Secretary of Defense, is a douche. He is concerned about fixing everything that he doesn’t see what he is doing. Even when Lyra tries to show/tell him, he doesn’t listen. I did not like him. I wonder if the actual Secretary of Defense acts like him...

Iris- Iris was by far my favorite character. She was not afraid to speak her mind, and I loved that about her. She’d challenge the Secretary, and she was really the only one with the guts to do it. She thought each scenario through, so everyone would be aware of every outcome. She wanted to help all of the people. I want to be like her, not afraid to speak my mind.

Plot: This was a really cool concept. I loved the idea of the wish machine. It was so cool! Also, I loved how to make the wishes come true they used stars. I mean I would hate that, but it’s a brilliant idea. I wonder how Kelley Lynn came up with that idea. Also, she had to be very knowledgable on all of the stuff. There are a lot of science-y (is that a word?) things in this book, including complicated words. Either that kind of stuff interests her, or she did a lot of research.

I really loved the nerdy stuff in this book. It starts off at a competition, I don’t know what it’s called but it’s like Math/Spell bowl but with all subjects. I can’t think of that word right now. I like books with nerds, I really connect with them.

The plot made sense through One Wish Away. Most situations were explained in depth. The only thing that I didn’t really understand was the man in the red porsche. I have no idea where he came from, and still we have no idea who he is after Lyra’s conversation with him. Also, Lyra and Darren’s romance seems to be just thrown in there as an afterthought. It really didn’t have to be added into the story at all.

Ending (SPOILERS): The ending seemed to be a bit rushed. I think there were supposed to be suspenseful moments as they were fighting Bennett (who came out of nowhere), but it moved too quickly for the suspense to register. I get that maybe Lyra didn’t get enough time to think about anything, she just had to do something, but how she was feeling maybe should have been included. It needed some more details.

Now what I said before about Bennett. He really came out of no where. I was shocked he was the one that tried to stop them. I did not suspect him at all; I figured it would have been the Secretary or someone, not Bennett. But throughout the book, Lyra did keep mentioning at how Bennett creeped her out. I guess I missed that bit of foreshadowing.

AND it ended on such a suspenseful note. Like where’d the cop go and where did red porsche guy come from? Is Lyra going to get arrested? I have too many questions! I’m pretty sure there’s going to be another book, and I can’t wait! I want my questions to be answered!

Overall: I really liked this book! I loved the idea behind it! It was very original, and if you’ve read my previous reviews, you can tell I love originality. Also, One Wish Away isn’t your typical book. It’s different from other books in this genre. I love books like that! This book was so intriguing; I didn’t want to put it down!! And I was so busy this past week, I hated that I hardly had time to finish it. I would pick it up any time I’d have a few minutes. I did really like this book.

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