Simple Wishes

It's OK.

Too slow for my taste. Adele came across too whiny I wanted to scream: Get over it!

Great book! Must read if you like realistic romance!

Adele Matin is a woman with a problem. She made a careless mistake that cost her job in New York City at an art gallery. Without a job, her apartment soon followed. She returned home to Grumble Knot on Notch Lane (don't you just love these names!), a house which her mother Marge had left to her in her will. She hadn't been back to rural Pennsylvania since she was seventeen - when she had left with these thoughts - to make it in New York City and be rid of her past and her demanding and unloving mother for good. So her return to Grumble Knot seemed to her the worst possible thing that could happen, but she had no where else to go.


Jay Westvelt had been taking care of the cabin in the years since her mother had died. He was a recluse and an artist who lived in a cabin called Tarpaper - next to Grumble Knot. He and Adele soon become close, even though they both seem to have issues from the past that are threatening their future.


Beatrice is Adele's Korean neighbor who was also Marge's friend. She knows the secret that Marge did not want her daughter to find out. She also has a secret of her own. She does her best to keep Adele from digging into the past.


As Adele and Jay grow closer, Adele also begins closing in on the secrets that she is sure everyone is keeping from her. When she finally uncovers the truth, will it send her back to New York City where a new job in a new art gallery awaits? Or will she finally learn to trust and believe in love?


I enjoyed this book very much. It had conflict, romance, mystery, heartache. The characters were great and I felt like they were people I could actually meet! They were dealing with issues that are relevant today - conflicts between mothers and daughters, teenage sex, family skeletons. As for the romance factor, I enjoyed reading a book that wasn't "love at first sight - sparks flying" and then "happily ever after". Jay and Adele had to learn to trust each other and had fights and misunderstandings along the way. This was a good read for right before Valentine's Day!

A Good Romance

I am impressed with Simple Wishes, by Lisa Dale. Admittedly, I haven¿t heard her name before doing this review, but I won¿t hesitate to recommend her. Simple Wishes and Seeds of Affection are her two titles, though I am unsure which came first. Lisa Dale grew up in rural Northwestern New Jersey before attending McDaniel College in Westminster, Maryland. She worked briefly in publishing before going back to school to get an MFA in fiction at Fairleigh Dickinson University. Lisa resides in New Jersey with her boyfriend.
Adele Matin moved to New York years before to escape a lonely childhood and small hometown life. She built a life for herself and appreciated the anonymity the city gave her, until one horrible mistake brought all that contentment crumbling down at her feet. Fleeing to the rural cottage she inherited from her mother in Pennsylvania, Adele determines that the situation is only temporary, and as soon as she is back on stable ground she¿ll go back and resume her life again. However, her extremely attractive green-eyed artist neighbor, Jay Westvelt, is proving that living in the country has its perks. As Adele begins to soften and dare to hope for a normal life, secrets from her mother¿s past resurface, making her want to flee once again and get swallowed up by the big city. Can she get over the past to truly move on? And can Jay convince her to stay with him and take the risk to love someone?
It¿s pretty rare, even for the most gifted of writers, to genuinely and effortlessly invoke powerful emotions in the reader. Lisa Dale throws you into the characters heads and hearts, making you feel their pain, their joy, and their triumph. There wasn¿t a dead spot in the whole book where I lost interest and, this is saying a lot because I¿m a quick reader, I had this done in no time as I couldn¿t put it down. The setting was superb and I adored the secondary characters greatly. I especially liked the little bit of Korean culture she snuck in there, too, through Beatrice¿s character. Lisa Dale was very good at dropping bombshells throughout the storyline, as well. I think in this genre, you always root for a happy ending, even when you know it¿s coming. But this book makes you stand up and shout, growl with frustration, and almost needs an applause at the end.
Simple Wishes, by Lisa Dale, is a well-written, emotionally packed, blissful read and unlike others of its kind.

Kelly Moran,
Author and Reviewer

More a deep family drama with a romantic subplot

With her failure at making it in New York followed by her mom Marge¿s death, Adele Martin quits her job as an art gallery manager and leaves Brooklyn to return to the Pennsylvania mountain cottage she grew up in to consider what next. Adele and her mom had a falling out over the former leaving for the big city and now she feels guilty over their estrangement although she knows part of the problems was her mom¿s secret past. Aunt Christine comes by to see her niece for the first time in years and weekend warriors the Lopresti family invites her to Korean fare.

Adele meets her next door neighbor, the only year round resident, artist ¿Hermit Jay¿ Westvelt. They are attracted to one another, but have differing opinions about Marge. As they fall in love, she begins to learn the deepest secrets about her unknown father, her mother and her aunt that make her want to flee the Pocono¿s for Brooklyn and the restraining order she left behind. Jay hopes to persuade her that mountain life is good when filled with love and besides the big city of Scranton is nearby.

More a deep family drama with a romantic subplot, SIMPLE WISHES is an interesting character study of a woman who begins to learn what love is and is not after meeting Jay, Skipper the dog, her aunt and the Lopresti family. Before them love was conditional with controlling strings and IOUs; after them she begins to realize love can be unconditional just there. Although the story line lacks action with the focus on the characters¿ emotions, fascinatingly, the Lopresti teen granddaughter is her prime teacher, as Adele sees history repeat the same errors she made, but will she understand in time to save her relationship with Jay starting with her real given first name.

Harriet Klausner

Good Read...

Lisa Dale
ISBN: 0-446-40689-9
Forever
Hatchett Book Group
January, 2009
Reviewed by Laura for Reviewyourbook.com
3 Stars
Good read¿
Simple Wishes is a good read. The characters are real, and I thought Jay was extremely likeable. The book was, at times, slow, and I found myself becoming frustrated with the character of Adele. The story has merit, and it did draw to a very satisfying conclusion; I just found it slow in getting there. All in all, it did what a book does--entertain.

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