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If I Had One Wish: I’d Wish That You Were Here
If I Had One Wish: I’d Wish That You Were Here, by August E. Allen, introduces us to Wynter, a snowman whose heart aches with loneliness. One quiet winter’s night, he lifts his gaze to the stars and makes a simple wish, for friends to share the snowy world around him. His wish is answered with gentle magic as a pair of cardinals and a colony of bunnies arrive, filling his days with laughter, warmth, and companionship. Though Wynter delights in this newfound joy, a quiet longing remains. He comes to understand that those he misses are never truly gone; they remain close, tucked deep within his heart, and with friends by his side, he will never be alone again.
Wynter is a character brimming with charm and relatability. His yearning for connection mirrors our own human need for belonging. The story’s closing realization, that love endures across distance and even loss, is both poignant and universal. It speaks to anyone who has felt the absence of a loved one and found comfort in the strength of family and friends.
The illustrations enrich the narrative beautifully. They capture Wynter’s solitude with quiet grace, then burst into joy and warmth as his companions gather around him. The snowy scenes evoke the enchantment of winter nights and the anticipation of the holiday season, adding layers of coziness and wonder to the tale.
If I Had One Wish: I’d Wish That You Were Here is a gentle reminder, cloaked in snowy wonder and touched with starlight. For young readers, it offers a way to understand the complexities of missing someone, whether through loss, distance, or change. For adults, Allen provides a reminder of the healing power of companionship. Heartfelt, tender, and visually delightful, If I Had One Wish is a perfect winter read for families to share.
Pages: 30 | ASIN : B0FNDJ4JQ5
An Eye for Vengeance
In the dust and blood of the frontier, one man’s world was torn apart. Jed McCallister watched his family slaughtered, his body broken, and his eye carved open so he could never look away. Left for dead, he was found by the Crow, healed by their medicine man… and cursed with the Eye for Vengeance. Beneath a leather patch, a hellish red light waits. When revealed, ghosts rise to rip the souls from their flesh, hands rise up dragging them screaming into Hell. Blackwood thinks he’s untouchable. But Jed has returned. And he has but one purpose… vengeance.
Split
Split, by Michael Swartz, is a haunting story about Ethan, a boy born with genetic chimerism, carrying two sets of DNA and the confusion, pain, and strength that come with it. The novel follows him through a gauntlet of bullying, identity crises, and family wounds, all while his body betrays him with asthma, and his mind struggles with the fear of becoming like his violent father. Along the way, friendships bloom, love steadies him, and the truth of his condition forces him to question who he really is and who he wants to become. It is both a coming-of-age tale and a raw look at survival when the world tells you that you are broken.
The writing is sharp and urgent, with scenes that left me squirming in discomfort, not because they were bad, but because they were so brutally real. The cafeteria humiliations, the suffocating asthma attacks, the relentless bullying, all of it dropped me straight back into the shaky insecurity of youth. Swartz doesn’t soften the edges. He makes you sit with the pain, and in that pain, I found a strange kind of beauty.
At the same time, there’s a tenderness here that surprised me. Moments with Mo and Aia glowed like little lanterns in the dark, and those relationships kept the story from sinking into despair. I loved how the book didn’t give easy answers about identity or fate. Ethan’s split nature felt like a metaphor for all of us who feel divided between who we are and who we’re supposed to be. I kept thinking about genetics versus choice, destiny versus defiance, and it made me restless in the best way. I didn’t agree with every decision Ethan made, but I understood them, and that made the story hit harder.
I would recommend Split to readers who want more than just a story, to anyone who likes books that dig under your skin and refuse to let go. Teenagers who feel out of place, adults still wrestling with family scars, and anyone who has ever carried the weight of being different will find something of themselves in these pages.
Pages: 264 | ASIN : B0F9MWLMNY
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