#NewReview~~The Wish Collector by Mia Sheridan
Stephanie’s 4.5 Blush Review
The Wish Collector is beautifully written. A story within a story. Rich, meaningful words woven together. Woven with mystery, romance, suspense, and timeless folklore. The Wish Collector alternates between the present and the past, history, and heartache. An emotional journey filled with hopes, dreams, despair, regrets and the magical pull of love. The mystery of New Orleans is the background and is filled with suspicions and traditions.
Clara Campbell is a bit lost and lonely. She is a ballet dancer who recently moved to New Orleans leaving behind her elderly father to pursue her dream. Clara is compassionate, sweet and straightforward. Clara speaks her mind although it is usually gentle yet firm. She thinks of others before herself.
Jonah Chamberlain feels hopeless, drowning in his sorrows. He is a recluse. Jonah pines away behind the great walls of the Windisle Plantation paying a self-imposed penance. He feels unredeemable. He has had many years to reflect on his actions and their consequences.
“I don’t read them all. I just collect them.” “You collect them,” she repeated slowly. “So I guess you’re the wish collector, then?”
Clara is fascinated by the legend of the “weeping” wall at the Windisle Plantation. She seeks it out and is surprised to find that someone is behind the wall. A friendship begins between Clara and Jonah, the mysterious man behind the wall. They talk and share their deepest secrets and regrets. There is a connection between them that is felt right through the wall and down to their souls.
“Help me help you, Angelina”
Inside the walls of Windisle Plantation are the spirits of Angelina Loreaux and John Whitfield who some believe still haunt the property. Their tragic tale has been passed down generations through storytelling.
“Love makes a place for itself even if there isn’t one, Mama,” she said quietly. “Love carves into the hardest of places.”
Mia Sheridan brings us a unique story of love and loss. I was both captivated and moved. It had a fairytale feeling with a grown-up twist. And yet it was still so believable. I was anxious as I wondered – What will happen? Why are Angelina and John not at peace? Will Jonah finally feel redeemable? As always Mia shows us that no matter what life throws your way, you can overcome it. There is always hope. Beautifully done Mia!
“…where there was love, there was always, always hope.”
Synopsis:
New Orleans, a city of mystery and magic, of secrets and dreams, and a history drenched in both love and the deepest of heartache.
When ballet dancer Clara Campbell arrives in New Orleans, lonely and homesick, she is immediately captivated by the story of Windisle Plantation and the tragic tale that is said to have transpired beyond its gate. Legend has it that it is abandoned by all living souls, but to Clara’s great surprise, it is not a ghost she hears through the stone wall surrounding the property, but a flesh and blood man. A scarred stranger with a pain deeper and darker than the churning waters of the Mississippi river that flows beside his self-imposed prison.
The ruined man behind the wall hides himself from the world. The last thing he expects is to find a friend in the selfless girl who speaks to him through the cracks in the rock. The girl who keeps returning week after week. The girl who makes him wish for things he has long since given up on. The girl who strikes both fear and hope within his wounded heart. But there can be no future for them, no life beyond Windisle, for no one knows better than him that monsters only live in the dark.
The Wish Collector is the story of shame and triumph, of loneliness and love, and the miracle of two hearts connecting despite the strongest of barriers between them.
