Book Review: Wish Upon A Star by Trisha Ashley

"The perfect gift isn’t always under the tree…

Single mum Cally’s life is all about her little girl Stella. She’s resigned to the fact that the only romance she’s going to get is from the rom-coms she watches, and with her busy job and her daughter, she doesn’t have time to even think about love.

But life gets very tough when Stella gets sick. Balancing her job as a recipe writer and looking after Stella is all consuming, so when Cally meets handsome baker Jago the last thing she wants to do is fall in love, especially when she’s been badly burned by a Prince Charming from her past.

Can laid-back, charming Jago unlock Cally’s frozen heart and help her find true love and magic under the mistletoe?"

Rating: 4/5

You can buy Wish Upon A Star as a paperback or an eBook now.

A few weeks before Christmas, I eagerly began reading Trisha Ashley's latest book Wish Upon A Star, which looked like a gorgeous festive offering. In fact, it was one of my favourite Christmas book covers this year, and considering what it was up against, that's no mean feat! I was really excited to start this book, I haven't read anything by Trisha for a few years so I hoped this would be a book I could really settle down and enjoy. I thoroughly enjoyed the story by the end, but my only moan is that it just wasn't really festive at all! Yes, there's a small bit at the end which is what the cover is based on, but for me, that cover is a tad misleading as this isn't predominantly a Christmas read, and I think that is what you are lead to believe when you see that! Either way though, it was still a very good story and worth the read.

Cally is quite happily a single mother to her little girl Stella, but Stella has had terrible health problems since she was a baby. Cally has had to cope alone, but lives with the fear that Stella may not make it to adulthood unless something is done quickly. She works hard as a recipe writer for magazines, and doesn't have time for love, instead devoting all her time to her daughter. When she is forced to move back home to live with her mother, Cally finally has to relinquish some control and starts to make friends in her new village. There's baker Jago whom she quickly befriends, as well as the other residents too, all keen to help out with Stella in any way they can.

The story is a very emotional one, and as a parent I found it very easy to get hooked into it. I felt desperately sorry for Cally dealing with such a sick child, it must be such a worry and Trisha Ashley dealt with it so well in the story. She really puts across Cally's emotions so well that you're feeling them along with her, hoping that something can be done to help Stella. Stella on the other hand is the most delightful little girl. Quite often, I feel authors miss the boat with child characters, writing them unrealistically or so that you end up disliking them. Trisha Ashley has really made Stella so likeable, you feel a lot of emotion towards her character and felt the relationship between mother and daughter was utterly beautiful to read.

The small town called Sticklepond where the story takes place is picturesque, and I really enjoyed the descriptions of it, from Cally's mothers home to the town, and even the people who live in it. There's a real community spirit around, some of which you don't tend to see much these days with everyone and their busy lives, so it was nice to read this book for me. Cally's job as a food writer also lends to amazing and vivid descriptions of cakes and all sorts being littered throughout the book, many of which I hadn't heard of myself before reading them here! Ashley makes them all sound mouth-watering and I defy you to read this book without feeling hungry at least once! Cally certainly seems to have a dream job!

Jago is the main male character in the book, a baker from the village who meets Cally when she's attending one of Stella's many appointments. He's the perfect male hero for the book, I was willing Cally to look past her horrid past relationship with Stella's father which didn't end too well, and see the good in Jago. He is written so well you can't help but fall in love with him a little bit, and the slow progression of the relationship between he and Cally was perfect, I really did enjoy reading it! Aside from the lack of festive feeling, I really did enjoy this book. It was an uplifting yet very emotional read that I was easily able to connect to as I read, and I felt Trisha Ashley really brought the characters and their situations to life with her writing too. Look out for appearances for characters from her other novels too, I always love it when authors do things like that within their stories! Wish Upon A Star is certainly a book I can recommend, with wonderful writing, a great cast of characters and a story you will truly care about. Brilliant reading.