Welcome to a brand new TBR Tales, friend! After finishing Bat Eater and Other Names for Cora Zeng, I reached for two very different Young Adult stories—one nostalgic, one fantastical, both full of summer and change. I’m having the summer of my life with my baby and I wanted to revisit summers from another lifetime. The Summer I Turned Pretty by Jenny Han is a popular book series that I adored when I was growing up and I had been thinking about a reread for some months now. The second book is If Wishes Were Retail by Auston Habershaw, a Fantasy novel about a seventeen year old who works for a genie, selling wishes at the mall. I love the cover art and the concept.
The most obvious similarity between the books is that they are both about coming of age but I wondered if I could glean something else. So here I am, writing a brand new TBR Check in: What I am Reading Next post with a look at what these have to offer together.
Like the first post about A Sorceress Comes to Call and The Capital of Dreams, these stories are similar yet very different. This TBR Tales is a short reflection on these books and the versions of growing up they promise.
The Books
One is a tender romance by the sea, the other a magical tale set in a mall—both stories centre on young women seeking more than what life is offering them. Let’s start with taking a look at the books with their genres and synopsis:
Book 1: The Summer I Turned Pretty
By: Jenny Han | Goodreads
Genre: YA, Romance, Contemporary
Belly measures her life in summers. Everything good, everything magical happens between the months of June and August. Winters are simply a time to count the weeks until the next summer, a place away from the beach house, away from Susannah, and most importantly, away from Jeremiah and Conrad. They are the boys that Belly has known since her very first summer—they have been her brother figures, her crushes, and everything in between. But one summer, one terrible and wonderful summer, the more everything changes, the more it all ends up just the way it should have been all along.
Book 2: If Wishes Were Retail
By: Auston Habershaw | Goodreads
Genre: Fantasy, Contemporary, YA
In this hilarious debut fantasy cozy, a rebellious—but enterprising—young woman and an ancient—but clueless—genie set up shop at the local mall.
Alex Delmore needs a miracle. She wants out of her dead-end suburban town, but her parents are broke and NYU seems like a distant dream.
Good thing there’s a genie in town—and he’s hiring at the Wellspring Mall.
It’d help if the Jinn-formerly-of-the-Ring-of-Khorad knew even one thing about 21st-century America. It’d help if he weren’t at least as stubborn as Alex. It’d really help if her brother didn’t sell her out to her conspiracy theory-loving, gnome-hating dad.
When Alex and the genie set up their wishing kiosk, they face seemingly-endless setbacks. The mall is failing and management will not stop interfering on behalf of their big-box tenants.
But when the wishing biz might start working, the biggest problem of all remains: People are really terrible at wishing.
First Impressions
On the surface, it may not look like The Summer I Turned Pretty and If Wishes Were Retail have a lot in common but with young girls as protagonists, there are a few themes that I’m sure each will explore in its own unique way. Maybe gently and personally through the first person narration in The Summer I Turned Pretty and with humour in If Wishes were Retail with its third person narrative style. Family is going to be a grounding force in both stories. Belly and Alex are younger siblings to boys. I’m interested in seeing how their family structure will affect their personal growth.
Identity and Self-Discovery
This is a common theme explored in all YA books I’ve read. Both Belly and Alex are figuring out who they are while the world (and people close to them) try to define them. They are at very different points in this journey though. While in The Summer I Turned Pretty, Belly is fifteen and in the middle of becoming—no longer a child, not yet an adult, Alex is seventeen in If Wishes Were Retail. She doesn’t have a carefree summer ahead of her but days of work to support her family, or so they think.
How these two characters are changed at the end will be a nice contrast.
Hope and Disillusionment
Both books start with dreams of transformation, whether it’s love or escape. In The Summer I Turned Pretty, Belly enters the summer full of hopeful fantasies about love and what it means to grow up. Wishes are a symbol of hope but Alex will learn in If Wishes Were Retail that attaining her dream may not be as simple as it seems.
I’m curious how each girl will respond when fantasy gives way to reality—when what they hope for isn’t what life hands them.
Escapism and Reality
I’ve saved my favorite for the last as it’s metaphorical and I love analyzing those! For Belly, the beach house has always been far removed from responsibilities and reality. For Alex, the genie employer offers a means to a new beginning, her day job becoming an escape from the family she doesn’t want to deal with.
What both characters are going to learn fast is that these places of escape cannot remain untouched by the reality of life, whether it’s grief or simply the passage of time and the change it brings in people. I’m interested to contrast how Belly and Alex differ in learning that real growth comes when you stay present and deal with what’s in front of you.
The Reading Plan
I often have multiple books on the go so this time, I will be reading both a little every day. The Summer I Turned Pretty is a nostalgic read as I read it a decade ago while If Wishes Were Retail will showcase a different side of YA and be thought-provoking in its own way. Whether it’s love or freedom or success, Belly and Alex must learn what they really want—and what the cost is.
Final Thoughts and Invitations
Maybe my pursuits in contrasting stories through themes might seem random to you. Maybe it’s not something you would ever do yourself. If you’d asked me five years ago if that was something I’d be interested in, I would have asked why bother. But today, I find a lot of joy in this! It’s a reason to write, it’s a reason to read and see what reading offers as a whole.
As always leaving you with a few questions:
- Tell me what you are reading and what’s the next book you plan to pick up!
- Have you heard of The Summer I Turned Pretty or If Wishes Were Retail or both?
- If you had to pick one, which would you start with and why?
About TBR Tales
Dive into the world of TBR Tales, where the journey through the to-be-read pile becomes a rich narrative of literary exploration. Join me as I navigate the pages of books, reflecting on the joys, challenges, and unexpected treasures found along the way. From rediscovering old favorites to embracing new genres, TBR Tales is a celebration of the reader’s life. Sign up for the TBR Tales Exclusive Mailing List and get an email from me when a new post is available! Thank you for reading. 🙂
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