As You Wish
By Jude Deveraux
Publisher: Harlequin Mira
Release Date: March 6, 2018
Reviewed by Janga
Thanks to the machinations of psychologist Dr. Jeanne
Hightower, Olivia Montgomery, Elise Arrington, and Kathy Hanran find themselves
sharing a cottage on the Camden Hall estate in Summer Hill, Virginia. The women
meet as strangers, but as they share their stories of what has led them to this
point in their lives, a deep bond of friendship and affection develops.
Sixtyish Olivia is a newlywed. Widowed after a long,
unhappy marriage, she reunited with the love of her life and married him. But
she is filled with regret and anger over the more than four decades that she
and Kit Montgomery lost. Twenty-five-year-old Elise, only child of wealthy,
upper-crust parents, married to please her parents, but she is miserable in her
marriage. Her husband is in love with the Hispanic gardener’s daughter with
whom he shares a daughter. When Elise ends up in the hospital from an
accidental drug overdose, her husband claims it was an attempted suicide. He
and her parents place her in a mental institution from which Dr. Hightower
helps her escape. Elise regrets that she failed to run away from her wedding. Kathy,
now in her forties and childless, settled for a passionless marriage with a
husband who married the boss’s daughter. He loves his wife, but he is in love
with someone else and fears the divorce he is planning will devastate his wife.
He doesn’t know her as well as he thinks he does. Kathy regrets that she
settled for Ray and that she never demanded a place in her father’s advertising
firm commiserate with her talents.
A mysterious letter from Dr. Hightower directs the women to
a house where an awkward hostess offers them a special tea that will allow them
to go back in time to a moment of their choosing and relive a moment where they
made the choice that led to their regrets. After three weeks in the past, they
will return to the present where they must live with the consequences of their
changed lives. The story wraps up as the women reunite after their time travel
with each having made a choice that gave her a very different life from the one
she has in the first part of the story.
As You
Wish
is the third novel in Deveraux’s Summerhouse series, after The Summerhouse (2001) and Return
to Summerhouse (2008). The books are linked by Madame Zoya and her unique
offering rather than by characters, so each can be read as a standalone. The
reader’s enjoyment of the book will be strongly connected to her willingness to
suspend disbelief. Most of us have wondered at some time how our lives might
have played out differently had we made a different choice at some turning
point. In that respect, the story fulfills a common fantasy, but it works only
if the reader’s imagination proves stronger than her logic.
The three protagonists are likable enough, although I
suspect some readers will find it easier to relate to some than to others. I
found Olivia’s story the most interesting; the Montgomery connection was a
plus. The privileged Elise was the one with whom I had the most difficulty.
Other readers will likely respond differently. Although there is a romance
thread for each of the women and each gets her HEA, the novel is more women’s
fiction than romance. The women’s journey to self-realization and their
friendship provide the foci of the story.
If you like a bit of the supernatural and a bit of romance
mixed with conventional women’s fiction elements, you might like this book. If
you are a fan of older Jude Deveraux novels, you may decide you prefer rereads.
Oh yes! This does sound like a great book. Thanks for sharing the review.
ReplyDeleteYou have given me a problem. I am a big fan of Jude Deveraux's older novels. But, in a way, this one sounds interesting.
ReplyDeleteI definitely would like this one, and I haven't read her yet. I love discovering new reads!!
ReplyDeleteI have read the other Summerhouse reads and I'm sure I will like this one too!
ReplyDeleteIt is an interesting premise for a story. It is interesting. We all think of a do over for something. How much would it really change our lives and in what way? Would it be better? This is a book and series I will have to check out.
ReplyDelete