Wishing Day by Lauren Myracle, Julie McLaughlin (Illustrated by)

After their thirteenth birthday on a certain day, young girls go up to the willow tree on Willow Hill and make three wishes.  If they believe in magic, those wishes come true.  Natasha believes...

Katherine Tegen Books and Edelweiss let me read this book for review (thank you).  It will be published May 3rd.

This is really a story about people.  You know Natasha's insecurities and fears.  She misses her mother who went away and refuses to believe she might be dead.  Her father is not really there, his mind is elsewhere all the time.  Her aunts are too present.  And her sisters are a challenge. Her wishes are a bit confused but they give her strength.

The strangest character in the story is the Bird Woman.  She's more than a little odd and she starts talking to Natasha.  Natasha tries to avoid her but it's impossible.  When she starts talking about Natasha's mother, Natasha listens.

Natasha learns things about herself, her family and more as the story goes along.  She gets her first kiss but decides she's not ready for a relationship yet.  She gets some notes from her mother which confuse her at first because she thinks they're from a boy.  She also manages to get her third wish granted because she's growing up.  

More than anything, this is a tale of a young woman coming of age.