Wishtress by Nadine Brandes Review

 Happy Friday Friends :)

I pray today finds you all doing well, and I want to thank you all for joining me for another book review here on The Preppy Book Princess.

I'm so thankful that it's already August 12th today, as that means August will be over before we know it, and we can finally move of out the awful summer season, and into the wonderfulness that is fall.

Are you a fan of summer? Or like me do you prefer the fall time of the year? I'm not crazy about the heat, and I'm much more a fan of chilly, rainy days. I also can't stand bugs or crowds, and I've noticed both seem even worse than usual this year.

Also, I often find people seem grumpier in the summer, and I'm not sure if that's from the heat, or trying to keep up with busy schedules, but fall always seems to usher in with it a more serene setting, and it's another reason I love it so much.

This summer I've been spending a lot of time hiding in my quiet, air conditioned house with great books, and today I'd like to share my review of my most recent read with you all.

It's another title from my list of My Most Anticipated 2022 Releases.

I hope you'll all keep reading down below for my full review.

Wishtress by Nadine Brandes:

Source: Publisher via NetGalley

Publisher: Thomas Nelson

Publication Date: September 13th, 2022

Genre: Young Adult Fiction/Fantasy/Christian Fiction

Synopsis:

She didn't ask to be the Wishtress.

Myrthe was born with the ability to turn her tears into wishes. It's a big secret to keep. When a granted wish goes wrong, a curse is placed on her: the next tear she sheds will kill her. She needs to journey to the Well and break the curse before it claims her life--and before the king's militairen track her down. But in order to survive the journey, she must harden her heart to keep herself from crying even a single tear.

He can stop time with a snap of his fingers.

Bastiaan's powerful--and rare--Talent came in handy when he kidnapped the old king. Now the new king has a job for him: find and capture the Wishtress and deliver her to the schloss. But Bastiaan needs a wish of his own. When he locates Myrthe, he agrees to take her to the Well in exchange for a wish. Once she's fulfilled her end of the deal, he'll turn her in. As long as his growing feelings for the girl with a stone heart don't compromise his job.

They are on a journey that can only end one way: with her death.

Everyone seems to need a wish--the king, Myrthe's cousin, the boy she thinks she loves. And they're ready to bully, beg, and even betray her for it. No one knows that to grant even one of them, Myrthe would have to die. And if she tells them about her curse . . . they'll just kill her anyway.

(synopsis from goodreads)

My Review:

Wishtress by Nadine Brandes was one of my most anticipated 2022 releases, and after finishing it, it took me a little while to gather my thoughts coherently enough to sit down and write a review. It really wasn't entirely what I was expecting, but in a way that was a good thing as the story definitely kept me intrigued, and I especially loved the parallels to the Christian walk of faith, and overcoming temptations and struggles to follow who we know we should be following (Jesus).

Told in the dual POV's of Myrthe and Baastian, the reader is treated to a whirlwind fantastical story that showcases the extreme lengths some will go to for ultimate greed and power. Myrthe was born with the "wishtress" talent, but she's spent her entire life being taken advantage of by the only one who knows she has it. Baastian was granted his "timesnap" talent as young man, and has relied on it ever since to try and bring about the change he desires to see in the world. When the current king is murdered, and his son's desire for political power involves unethical and inhumane choices, Myrthe and Baastian end up joining together for a pilgrimage to the well of talents to try and put a stop to the new king's orders. However, the well is more powerful and complicated than either could have ever even imagined, and the answer is not as easy as they initially believed.

With fantastic world building, and a complex magical system, Wishtress was a book that easily pulled me into its complex intricacies, and I read the majority of it in only a couple of reading sessions. I ended up preferring the secondary characters to the main ones, as I really loved Anouk and Runt, but the story overall was one that held my attention, and felt original from a lot of the other young adult fantasy novels I've read.

My only complaints would be that I didn't really care for either Myrthe or Baastian as main characters, and I would have liked a little more development and growth to be seen in both of them by the end. I thought their romance was incredibly insta lovey, and it didn't seem believable how fast the feelings grew between them with everything they'd been keeping from each other, and how few interactions they'd truly had within the story. I also really enjoyed the majority of the magical system, but a couple of the components concerning Baastian's talent were kind of confusing, and didn't make sense to me how they jumped from one point to the other. 

Lastly, I was a little confused by the ending. This is clearly labeled as a stand alone, and yet to me, the ending came across like it was setting up for the next book. Not sure if this was the author trying to leave things to the imagination of the reader, or if there will be eventual plans for a second book.

Final Rating: 4/5.

Overall a wonderful fantasy story with great allegories to the Christian faith, complex world building and a brilliant magical system. I'd recommend this one to anyone who is a fan of clean young adult fantasy, and fantasy novels with a bit of a more complex magical system.

Thanks so much to Thomas Nelson for allowing me to advance read and review this one!

I voluntarily read and reviewed a complimentary advance reader copy of this novel from the publisher (Thomas Nelson) via NetGalley. I was not required to give a positive review. All thoughts and opinions are my own, and this is my honest review.

Thanks so much for reading guys! I hope you all have a great rest of your weekend, and if your area is currently under a heat wave like ours is, then I hope you get the chance to stay cool, and curl up with some amazing reads! :)