Annie Nutter, unremarkable looking and one of the “invisibles” at school, has just finished another stellar day.
Yeah, not really.
Being made to feel humiliated on the school bus, followed by finding out her mom almost married a guy that’s now a billionaire before she settled on her dad isn’t the recipe for a fantastic evening.
But when Annie gets zapped by one of her dad’s wacky inventions, she wakes up in what she initially thinks must be a dream.
Her name is Ayla Monroe. She lives in a mansion, her family has loads of money, and when she looks in the mirror she looks like a WAY improved version of herself.
It doesn’t take long to realize, though, that this is no dream. She’s in an alternate universe where her mom did marry that billionaire – and she’s the queen bee of the school, girlfriend of one of the hottest guys she’s ever seen, and… her family is miserable.
Annie may be Ayla on the outside, but inside she is still the plain, unpopular girl from Pittsburgh. If she gets a chance to go home – does she want to take it?
One thing I really liked about Don’t You Wish is that it gives the reader a good chance to get to know Annie and her middle-class life before anything changes. Seeing her at Wal-Mart with her mom, glimpsing her messy home life and friendship was a great way to contrast what changes.
At first, I felt that her “dream” was a bit more cliché than I prefer – but with time I came to see more nuances to this alternate universe. Annie didn’t act in a cliché fashion to what was presented to her, which made Don’t You Wish more than a girlish fantasy.
I really soaked it up. The realizations, sensibilities and perceptiveness of the novel were increasingly mature, and sometimes painful. Plus, there’s great romance, heartache, and a true dilemma to whether or not she’d want to return home – or even if she can!
Don’t You Wish is a gobble-it-up kind of book! I cared about Annie, who is actually a strong, principled heroine. And, the end! Oh, the end gave me shivers of happiness!
This is a book that gives an excellent look at how choices morph you’re life and how regret is useless – it’s better to appreciate what you have!!! Fun read!
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