You Wish by Mandy Hubbard

You Wish by Mandy Hubbard

Razorbill, 2010

Kayla has created a thick armor around herself. She needs to protect herself from the popular, snarky girls of her high school, her mom, who's forever too busy with her event planning business to spend any time with her, and her brother, Chase, a college dropout who's new goal in life is to aggravate Kayla to the point of insanity. So she's become a shell of her former self, wearing outrageous clothes, providing sarcastic ommentary whenever she feels the situation requires it, and basically shutting herself off from everyone except her best friend Nicole, who, up until this year, had the same ideas about life as Kayla. This year, however, Nicole seems to be changing. She's paying more attention to her appearance and she has a boyfriend (the boy Kayla's been secretly crushing on for three years). Kayla blames this boyfriend for everything wrong with her friendship with Nicole, especially when Nicole is obscenely late for Kayla's Sweet-16 party (hosted by her mom, who took the liberty of inviting potential clients to view the festivities.). Depressed and upset, Kayla makes a wish before blowing out the candles on her sickeningly-pink cake:

I wish all my birthday wishes came true. Because they never freakin' do.

The next morning, Kayla wakes to find a life-size, pink My Little Pony (complete with an ice ceam cone painted on its hindquarters!) outside her window. The days only get weirder, as every single birthday wish Kayla's ever made comes true. We're already sympathetic to Kayla's plight when she reveals that last year she wished she would kiss Ben. Who is currently dating her best friend. Can Kayla stop the wishes in time?

This was such an adorable book! I generally gravitate towards the really heavy fiction--you know, death, destruction, all that good stuff--but there are times when I like the lighter side of YA, as well. You Wish was such a fun read, and laugh-out-loud funny at times, like the morning Kayla suddenly woke up with gigantic boobs, when the day before she'd been flat-chested, or having a life-size, walking, talking Ken doll chasing you around town in his yellow convertible.

I was a little put-off by the brazen pink cover, and I think a lot of people might be, as well. But it works with the story, especially once readers get to know Kayla and realize just how much she hates pink, and all things girly. Overall, I think Hubbard did an excellent job of showing us why we should be careful what we wish for.

Enjoy your reading!
Christi