Wishtress by Nadine Brandes— a bookish review

 Book love | Book review 

Hello, lovely friend! 

Today I am sharing my book review of Wishtress by Nadine Brandes! This is such a beautiful book and an emotional rollercoaster! I hope you like this review! Tell me in the comments if you have read this book! 

She never asked to be the Wishtress. Myrthe was born with the gift of granting wishes with her tears. When a wish went wrong, Myrthe is cursed: her next year will kill her. To break the curse Myrthe must travel to the Well, a sacred place. On the journey, she must harden her heart or die. 

Bastiaan can silence time with a snap of his finger. Something went wrong, he stayed too long in the Silence and something dreadful happened. His mission is to destroy the Trials and open the Well to everyone and not just a select few. When the river is frozen over and all water sources are put in danger Bastiaan is given a mission by the new King. Capture the Wishtress. But when he knows her and his feeling begin to grow can he still hand her to the murder king? 

Their quest to the Well can only end in her death. Everyone wants a wish from her. No one knows of her curse, even if they did they would kill for her last wish anyways. 

With the world against her, can Myrthe get to the Well and be healed? Can Bastiaan move on from his past mistakes? Is there hope or will the Wishtress be killed and far worse forces take over all of Winterune?

“You give it up. You give it to the Well water inside of you. It created your Talent; it is helping write your story. Let it write healing in it.” —Nadine Brandes (Wishtress) 

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Cleanness: ⭐️⭐️⭐️.75*

Oh My Well this book is amazing! 

Nadine once again astounded me with her THEMES! Her themes are what made me fall in love with her writing at the beginning of this year. 

The way Nadine infuses her stories with biblical themes and truths is incredible and somehow always brings tears to my eyes with EVERY BOOK. I never expect it at the beginning and then halfway through I realize her story is like an analogy of the Christian faith. 

The ending was beautiful and was just like our faith and the choice we have as Christians (as humans) to choose God or not. We can choose. It isn’t forced on us, it is a choice each and every one of us needs to make. We all have the ability for light or darkness in our lives. There comes a time when we must choose. One cannot live with the other. The choice is ours. 

Writing rant: Something I thought was GENIUS was how Nadine chose to write Myrthe and Bastiaan. Myrthe is written in 1st person POV (I, me, my) while Bastiaan is written in 3rd person POV (Bastiaan, he, him). This is genius because by giving different POVs to the characters in this way, you get two completely different character voices! 

I have to say I love the way the characters were developed. They all felt real and like they had their own story. 

I love how Myrthe thought and how she expressed herself. She made mistakes but she learned from them. She grew as a character and she grew to be confident in herself. The ending when she is talking to the Well brought me to tears. That moment was so beautiful and intimate. It was a picture of my faith and I love it. 

I love how good Bastiaan is and how he has struggles. He made his own mistakes and had struggles he had to work through. He has character. I love how loving and protective he is of those he loves and how Myrthe became one of the people he cares deeply about. 

Runt was adorable and so perfect. I love his loyalty to Bastiaan and his backstory. I love how it was clear he was brought to Bastiaan for a reason and vice versa. 

Anouk. Oh, Anouk. Her story was so heartbreaking. Everything she went through and her pain was all so horrible. She is such a good character. I won't spoil it but I love the ending she had! 

All in all, this is an incredible book! This is definitely a new favorite! I would recommend this to 14 and above explained in the content guide.

Parent Guide: 

Profanity/Crude Language Content

None 

Sexual Content

Talk of characters liking each other. Two small kisses. 

SPOILER: Anouk’s past is revealed that she was sold into trafficking. It never goes into much detail but it is revealed she had a child with one of the men who took advantage of her. 

Spiritual Content

The Well is a look at God as is the Nightwell a look at the dark. Talk of believing in the Well and how the Well grants gifts. 

Violence/frightening scenes  

The opening starts with tragic deaths and a very traumatic experience for Myrthe. 

There are fight scenes that are violent at times. 

There is a character called the Murder King with a past. 

There is a torcher scene, multiple scenes that look like someone being possessed.

The trails are known for killing many people and can be frightening and quite intense when put in them. 

Drug Content

There are healing herbs and drugs but nothing bad. 

Sensitive Subjects (why I recommend this for 15+)

The loss of family and loved ones. 

Physical/mental abuse. 

Dealing with depression and suicidal thoughts. 

Dealing with guilt. 

Murder. 

Being taken advantage of. 

Anouk’s past is a sensitive subject (read more in sectual content=the spoiler). 

This is an emotional rollercoaster of a book but it is SO GOOD!!!! 

Discussion Time

Thank you for reading this blog post! I hope you liked this book review! 

I want to hear from you! Meet me in the comments and tell me, have you read this book? What did you think of it? Did you catch the biblical themes? Are there any books you’d like me to review? I would love to chat! 

If you have any questions or want to talk, make sure to comment down below or find me on Instagram @fablerosemc!  

Be sure to subscribe to this blog to stay in the know because I post new content here every week. 

XOXO Moriyah 💛