Customer Reviews

What You Wish for

5 star:		(20)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(9)

 

 

Helen Wood seems to have it all. She owns an exquisite home, beautiful clothing, and tasteful furniture. In reality, Helen lives the life of horror, a long time victim of spousal abuse. Her injuries have been so numerous, Helen wonders when he will kill her. Helen's sole companion and friend is her Yorkshire Terrier Lucie. This time her husband Daniel goes too far, hurting Lucie. Helen fights back by knocking him out with a poker. Grabbing Lucie, she flees to a vet to obtain care for her injured canine's leg.

The vet calls wealthy Isabel Tyger who runs shelters and an underground railroad for battered women. Taking one look at Helen and Lucie, Isabel knows. She places the Californian and her dog in New Jersey where they meet Sam. Sam and Helen fall in love, but she knows the dangerous Daniel still searches to find her to enact a most brutal punishment for what he regards as her betrayal.

Spousal abuse is rarely the centerpiece of a romance novel as it is considered to harsh of a topic. However, the adept Fern Michaels succeeds in showcasing the horrors of abuse without preaching pat solutions to a complex problem. Helen is not only ashamed... but so humiliated that she struggles with the concept of happiness. That is part of Ms. Michaels' message: abuse is more than physical, it is mental and emotional hitting the entire community. WHAT YOU WISH FOR is a deep and complex contemporary tale that combines an in-depth look at a troubling social issue with a bit of romance to takes some of the edge off it. Only the incomparable Ms. Michaels could make that combo work.

Harriet Klausner

I agree with one of the previous reviewers that Fern Michaels is one of our best writers. What You Wish For is a story of a woman in an abusive marriage who overcomes many obstacles including shame and humiliation to take back control of her life and eventually find happiness. I was so moved by this story that I've been checking out various womens' shelters in the area with a view toward volunteering my time to help out others in similar situations.

Not since "Sleeping with the Enemy" have I read the story but a victim of spousal abuse become a hero in her own right. Helen Ward tries to break free from "trailer park trash" past, she thinks she finds Prince Charming who turns out to be Prince Terror. I love the relationship she has with her dog, Lucie and I was hoping that she would had children and the end of the book. But instead, she does find love, happiness and unexpected wealth and that in itself is a blessing.

This is the first and last book I will read by this author. The subject matter interested me but the dialog in the book is just silly. Very contrived. A much better book with this subject matter is by Nora Roberts, who writes a million times better, called "Dance Upon the Air." Her subjects and dialog ring true, unlike Fern Michaels'. I was glad Helen became a strong woman by the end but I found the whole way she dealt with her husband to be far fetched. This book also has one of the worst editing jobs I've seen in a while. Sam's eyes are the bluest eyes she's seen and two pages later, he has a warm brown gaze. Then there's a whole paragraph about Max, the dog, and the next paragraph starts out, "She ran into his arms." The dog's arms? Oh, no, it's Sam again. It makes it hard to follow. This whole book is [weak]...

I really enjoyed this book. It grabbed my attention right at the start and I still didn't want to put it down at 2:30 a.m. This book had a lot of the things that I look for in a novel - suspense, romance, lighter moments, plus the villain was her husband (aren't they always?) I really felt for our heroine and her little dog in their predicament. I read bestsellers, favorite authors, just about anything out there, and I enjoyed this book more than anything else I've read this year.

This is one of the worst books that I've read in a long time, maybe ever. The characters in this book were all stupid and boring, and those with animals cared more about their pets than they did themselves. The main character (whose name I have already forgotten and don't care to look up) was a wimp with a comically, one-dimensionally evil husband who physically and mentally abused her. I guess that he was there to balance out those who she met later in the book, who were comically, one-dimensionally good. Anyway, the woman finally hightailed it out of her marriage only when her husband hit her dog. After she left, she got lucky in the most annoying ways possible; did this woman actually earn anything that she got once she moved? I have my doubts. Being a victim will get you only so far, but she definitely coasted on her status for the entire book. She was lame and uninteresting, as were her friends and her "troubles"; plus, she was so DUMB. People who care so little about their own self-preservation do not deserve to be cast in books as heroes. Fern Michaels did not do anybody any favors by writing such an insultingly bad book. Why isn't there a way to give zero stars?

I am glad I did not let the previous negative reviews stop me from reading this book. I found it to a very good read. The book begins with,Helen, a beat-down battered wife who is married to a controling over bearing abusive husband(Daniel). Daniel has destroyed Helen's self-confidence, her self-worth, her self-esteem, among many other things. He finally almost kills her dog,Lucie. Helen loves her pet like Lucie was Helen's child. One of the turning point of the the story is when Helen runs from Daniel to protect Lucie's life.

Helen comes in contact with people who can help her rebuild her life. They give her the opportunity to regain all Daniel has taken from her. I love the parts of the book that show how strong Helen becomes. The ending is equal to a fair tale story of love and happiness.

We were on a cruise of Tahiti, Bora Bora and other
ilands when I started this book. I stayed put and read
this book from start to finish. Nicely written, captivating,
a must read!

It was the worst beating ever. Bad enough he left her needing stitches, or that her black eyes will take weeks to heal. But for the first time, Daniel vented on the small dog Lucie as well. It was her breaking point. Striking back, Helen strikes back with a poker and flees into the night with the small terrier. A chance ride, a kind vet, and a connection to a women's shelter results in a new identity and new life for herself and the dog.

When Daniel's family oriented boss gives him an ultimatum, he finds himself either producing his wife or finding a new job. Had he behaved, he'd have taken the CEO's place when he retires. Now Daniel wants revenge. As a computer whiz, he knows all the gimmicks required to locate a woman who's gone underground. And he'll do anything to find the woman he blames for all that's gone wrong in his life.

Helen takes a new name, Nancy Butler, and begins the long path to recovery. She drives cross-country from California to New Jersey where a new life, with a home and a job, await. She meets a marvelous new friend Sam with a dog of his own. Slowly she learns to trust again, to be friends again, to fall in love. But always in the background lurks the dangerous memory of the man who wants her dead. As long as she's legally married to him, she'll never be free. Further, she has no doubt he'll never stop stalking her.

Fern Michaels turns adversity to triumph in WHAT YOU WISH FOR, a heart touching account of the painful world of shelters and subterfuge. Michaels draws us into the world of spousal abuse, a topic seldom touched among romance novelists. Rather than preaching to the choir, she follows the path of recovery, including reestablishing and redefining one's self-identity. This marvelous author brings a deep understanding of the issue of spousal abuse to her work, allowing her prose to lend her heroine strength and beauty to an otherwise ugly topic. In addition, Isabel Tyger is marvelous secondary character, ferocious to protect the women in her shelter, imperfect, deeply influencing many of the characters. WHAT YOU WISH FOR comes very highly recommended.

What You Wish For is one of Ms. Michaels' best efforts to date. Being a victim of spousal abuse I could certainly relate to this book. It took a long time and much effort on my part, but with the help of God and very good friends I have been able to move on and make a new life for myself. I thank Ms. Michaels from the bottom of my heart for writing about this subject and making more people aware of this serious problem.