Wishes and Wellingtons

I got this for free from my Audible membership as an Audible Originals monthly pick. This was a cute story and a well done audiobook. I have a number of other books from Julie Berry and she always writes cute middle grade/YA fantasy reads.

The audiobook was very well done and I enjoyed listening to it. I would recommend to those who enjoy audiobooks.

Maeve hates the girl’s school her mother has sent her to. However, the find of a fishy tin with a genie inside makes her life infinitely more interesting, dangerous, and complicated.

There is some interesting magic in here and I really enjoyed the friendship between the characters. The Victorian era London setting was well done. Maeve is a very plucky young woman who has wonderful dreams of show more adventure and equality for her fellow young ladies.

I would have rated this higher if not for Maeve’s constant awful decision making. Maeve makes one bad decision after another and I was constantly frustrated by her. She has a genie for goodness sakes and she never once uses it in an intelligent way that actually helps to solve her problems.

I actually enjoyed Alice and Tom more than Maeve as characters. I wish Maeve’s character had been a bit more consistent and actually learned from her numerous mistakes.

Overall this was a cute story with a frustrating heroine. While I loved the magic, the friendship, the adventures, and the setting..I was constantly frustrated by Maeve’s string of poor decisions and how she never learned from her mistakes. I would tentatively recommend to those who are looking for a cute story about genies and friendship. show less

A fun adventure story about an English girl at boarding school who discovers a genie in a sardine can. Non-preachy lessons about friendship and selflessness ensue. Beautifully narrated by Jayne Entwhistle.

You really can’t help but love Maeve Merritt. She’s got dreams and she’s a bit troublesome and holds grudges but also, she’s a good friend and a nice person. Ragtag collections of misfits and lovable characters are some of the best protagonists, because you can’t help but cheer them on.

And it’s our characters – Maeve, Alice, and Tommy – that make Wishes and Wellingtons absolutely charming. We’ve got Maeve – our lovable tomboy with snark and big dreams. Tommy, the proud orphans with a kind heart. Alice, who is sweet and humble and clever. They’re not the most original character types, but that doesn’t make them any less enjoyable. These familiar tropes are well-done within their own parameters, and because this show more book feels like younger YA, I don’t think they needed to be any more complicated than they were.

The plot here was pretty predictable. Maeve finds a genie and proceeds to somewhat misuse her wishes because genies are tricky like that and it happens. The ending rolls out precisely the way I thought it was going to, finding an ending among all the easily avoidable obstacles. I knew pretty early on that the story would be predictable, so I didn’t go in looking for a complicated tale. Instead, I decided just to try and enjoy the journey. And I did, more or less. It wasn’t a long book. It was an easy read.

Wishes and Wellingtons is an Audible original, which means the only way anyone has access to this story is through an Audible membership. I got it as one of my free monthly originals last year. I think that this book would be really successful with young readers who are interested in fantasy or magical realism. That’s one of the bummers about these Audible originals to me – it limits the audience. Wishes and Wellingtons would be a good fit for children, middle graders, and young adults. Because of the direction YA has taken the last few years, offering more and more mature characters, it feels more like MG but I feel like, properly, this should be YA.

Generally, this was a cute book. I would recommend it for the audiences I mentioned above. I can’t say that I would re-read it, necessarily, but it felt similar to Theodosia and the Serpents of Chaos and gave me more of what I would have wanted in good storytelling. If there were more books in this series, I’d probably check them out from sheer enjoyment of the characters and casual curiosity, but nothing high priority. It was cute and fun, and if you’re looking for an audiobook that’s good for a car ride with young teens, this one isn’t bad! show less

An excellent romp through a girls school in Victorian England with a spirited thirteen year old heroine who has no patience for bullies. This was a fun, delightful read with Genies included. Highly recommended.

There's some nice setting trope, but I failed to suspend my disbelief, not in the fantastic but in the characters. It didn't land.

There's some nice setting trope, but I failed to suspend my disbelief, not in the fantastic but in the characters. It didn't land.

DNF @ 8%. Not rating because I didn't get very far, and I'm not the target audience anyway. But still: I couldn't stand the main character. She's a pretentious little snot as far as I can tell. (Though, truly, maybe that's the whole point. I didn't get far enough to find out.)