Review: Esme’s Wish by Elizabeth Foster

#EsmesWish #BooksOnTour #BlogBlitz #Day1

Welcome to the blog blitz for Esme’s Wish by Elizabeth Foster, a fantastical mystery for tweens. Thanks for your company! 🐉 🏰

Esme’s Wish, Elizabeth Foster (author), Odyssey Books, 2017.

Synopsis:

When fifteen-year-old Esme Silver objects at her father’s wedding, her protest is dismissed as the actions of a stubborn, selfish teenager. Everyone else has accepted the loss of Esme’s mother – so why can’t she?

But Esme is suspicious. She is sure that others are covering up the real reason for her mother’s disappearance – that ‘lost at sea’ is code for something more terrible, something she has a right to know.

After Esme is accidentally swept into the enchanted world of Aeolia, the truth begins to unfold. With her newfound friends, Daniel and Lillian, Esme retraces hr mother’s steps in the glittering canal city of Esperance, untangling the threads of Ariane’s double life. But the more Esme discovers about Ariane, the more she questions whether she really knew her at all.

Review:

I was so utterly and completely entranced with this novel – yes, one of those you scorn at having to put down while you get some shut eye. It’s that kind of book that keeps you furiously carrying on with baited breath while the mystery unfolds, yet ‘wishing’ it would never end.

Debut novelist, Elizabeth Foster serenades us with the smoothest and silkiest of poetic language that casts you back to the classic writers of old. Her plot line is deliciously thick with its cast of complex characters and the clouded secrets overshadowing the truths of threaded questions. The theme of loss is integral to the protagonist’s motives and interpersonal development throughout the story, and Foster cleverly weaves this in with delicate, emotive essences. Not to mention, this spellbinding canal world she has created; a hypnotic compendium of mystical creatures, ethereal realms and phenomenal treasures to get transfixed upon.

The accidental, and unassuming star of this novel for tweens is Esme – a determined fifteen year old girl who refuses to accept the disappearance of her mother, and the new life path her father has chosen for them. When a peculiar sea bird captures her curiosity, Esme serendipitously gets swept away into another world – the magical city of Esperance in Aeolia. Traces of hints, memories and old momentos from her mother lead Esme to believe that Ariane’s exit is certainly ambiguous, to say the least. But why, and where is she now? With the help of her new friends, Lillian and Daniel, she embarks on a thrilling and illuminating journey. An adventure wrapped in wonder, suspense, doubt and incentive reward, and an unanticipated responsibility to restore the legendary land.

The finale meets you with a dramatic yet satisfying conclusion, although at the same time leaving you on tenterhooks lusting for more questions to be answered. Thank goodness Esme’s Wish is the first of three novels in the series, so hopefully the wait isn’t too long for the next instalment!

Here is a beautiful fantasy masterfully blended with the obscure and the eccentric to create a powerful other-worldly, yet often at times a close-to-home experience. It is a story of complex relationships, friendship, trust and the will of courage and hope to triumph over adversity. Strong readers from age ten will be granted the ‘gift’ of indulgence with Esme’s Wish. Highly recommended.

Review by Romi Sharp.

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#fantasy #mystery #youngadult #tweens 

Esme’s Wish Blog Blitz Schedule

Monday November 20 – Friday November 24

www.justkidslit.com/blog

PLuS!

Thursday November 23

Megan  Higginson – www.meganhigginson.com/blog

Friday November 24

Teena Raffa-Mulligan – www.teenaraffamulligan.com

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