The Secret Ingredient of Wishes by Susan Bishop Crispell

This is an interesting look at wishes.  If you could grant wishes, would you?  How careful would you have to be when you made them?  What if you really didn't mean to do what you wished?  How do you recover from making your little brother disappear?

Thomas Dunne Books sent me a copy of this book to read for review (thank you).  It has been published and is available now.

This story was just bit beyond believable for me.  The story line is good, I enjoyed the characters and I especially liked the small town she found when she decided to leave her past behind.  Rachel is not the strongest young woman.  She has guilt over losing her brother, her father leaving her mother and her mother's suicide.  She's been surviving but she keeps living with that guilt.  In an attempt to leave that behind and move on with her life, she packs up and heads out with no particular destination in mind.  She's heading towards the beach and will try to pick up the pieces there.  Unfortunately, she runs out of gas in a small town and can't go on with her journey right away.  It's the best thing that ever happened to her.

She ends up staying with an old woman who makes pies for the whole town.  It's named Nowhere and that's an appropriate name.  It doesn't take long until Rachel notices people visit Catch at the back door and request certain pies.  Those pies have a magical ingredient baked in them that helps them keep secrets, fall in love, and more.  Rachel's still too scared to tell Catch about her own magic.  She does help her bake pies and deliver them though.  And the male neighbor next door is fascinating.

There's trauma, drama, gossip and more in this story.  There's the knowledge that once you've wished something, you can't change it.  It's like that old adage:  Be careful what you wish for; you might get it.

This was a pleasant read and has a positive ending.  It was a bit far-fetched to me but it was enjoyable.  See what you think!