Bye for Now

Bye for Now: A Wishers Story
by Kathleen Churchyard

272 pages
Published August 23, 2011

Thanks to Net Galley and the publisher, Egmont USA, for letting me read this before its release in exchange for an honest review.

The candles dripped onto the icing as Robin deliberated. What could she possibly wish? She wanted to wake up the next day and learn all her problems were gone. But since her problems weren’t going to disappear, she didn’t want to be Robin anymore.

“I wish I was somebody else,” Robin wished. And in that moment, she meant it. She blew out the candles.

After the worst eleventh birthday ever, Robin wakes up the next morning in the body of Fiona, an eleven-year-old girl from London with an amazing life. Fiona is gorgeous, with glamorous parents, and she’s the star of a major theatrical production. Why would Fiona have wished herself out of her own body? Slowly, Robin discovers a whole network of girls like her—girls who have gotten their wish and are living somebody else’s life. But what happens when Robin finally decides she wants to go home? Does anybody in the Wishers network know how to make this happen?

In this exciting first novel, Kathleen Churchyard asks: What if you wished for someone else’s life—and it came true?

***

This book comes out on Tuesday!

I think every girl, when she's about eleven, wonders what life would be like if she was part of a different family. Bye for Now takes that idea and twists it into a wonderful, fun, exciting adventure that girls of all ages will love.

Ms. Churchyard has created compelling, believable characters. She nailed the wonderful cultural depth and language differences. The vicarious trip to London that is this book is thrilling.

4/5 stars