Exactly What I Wished For

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It may be no surprise to the people who have read my reviews before that I would absolutely love this book. It focuses on my favorite character-focused plot: a main character who suddenly finds themselves surrounded by people they can’t trust and must find out who is truly on their side.

But one way this book changes up the usual format is by introducing a cast of supporting characters who make it clear to the main character that they are on her side no matter what. Often in these sorts of books, the main character breaks long standing friendships and finds themselves alone in their darkest moment. But in this book, her friends and family are patient and understanding that the main character’s trust has been broken and that she needs to build up those relationships again in order to feel secure.

I also loved the writing style in this book. Even though this book focuses on more of a serious topic, it still balances humor really well. The entire experience felt like being a teenager with how messy and complicated everything was, but with the sense that everything would turn out okay in the end.

One of Jo’s biggest lessons in this book is learning that other people have feelings and are alive in the same way she is, which I really appreciated seeing. As someone who also deals with being a little too self-centered and having a hard time understanding others’ viewpoints, I could really relate to Jo and her problems.

I feel like many readers will have differing viewpoints on the ending of this book. As Jo figures out which people in her life matter and which she should stop listening to, she makes a few hard decisions about characters readers may come to love. I ended up really caring for every character in Jo’s life, and while the ending of this book is a little sad when it comes to thoughts of some of the people in her life she distances herself from, its open ended enough that I can feel hopeful everything will turn out okay in the future.