Broken Wish (The Mirror, #1)

Sixteen-year-old Elva has a secret. She has visions and strange powers that she will do anything to hide. She knows the warnings about what happens to witches in their small village of Hanau. She's heard the terrible things people say about the Witch of the North Woods, and the malicious hunts that follow.

But when Elva accidentally witnesses a devastating vision of the future, she decides she has to do everything she can to prevent it. Tapping into her powers for the first time, Elva discovers a magical mirror and its owner-none other than the Witch of the North Woods herself. As Elva learns more about her burgeoning magic, and the lines between hero and villain start to blur, she must find a way to right past wrongs before it's too late.

The Mirror: Broken Wish marks the first book in an innovative four-book fairy-tale series written by Julie C. Dao, Dhonielle Clayton, Jennifer Cervantes, and L. L. McKinney, following one family over several generations, and the curse that plagues it.

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Perfect for readers who want:

• Fans of fairy tale retellings.
• Gorgeous, poetic writing that feels like a fairy tale.
• Sibling bonds.
• Strong friendships and platonic love.
• Books about witches.
• An exploration of the power of promises.
• A middle-of-the-road fairy tale that’s just dark enough and guarantees no happy endings.

Many thanks to Disney-Hyperion and Rockstar Books for a copy in exchange for an honest, unbiased review and for inclusion in this tour.

I confess I’ve never read a Julie C. Dao book, even though her books have been on my TBR for a while and I’ve heard wonderful things about her. This one, though … this got me. I’m a sucker for fairy tale retellings, and this one just grabbed my attention. Plus, I read an excerpt, and the writing? *chef’s kiss*

Broken Wish is a retelling that blends together several fairy tales in a nod to the stories we all know and love, but with a fresh take, focused on friendship, the power of promises, and the ways in which magic can be used—for good and for evil.

Dao clearly has a talent for writing. I have no complaints on that front. The prose is absolutely gorgeous, and the whole thing felt perfectly like a fairy tale. I’ll admit that there were times there just didn’t seem like a direction or plot, so it felt a little slow until something happened again to give it a direction. The ending was also a little … sudden? There were things about the ending I loved and things I didn’t, so middle of the road. Overall, though, I really enjoyed it, will definitely keep an eye out for the rest of this series, and I do plan on picking up more Julie C. Dao books for sure after this.

Dao does a marvelous job creating a dreamy, fairy tale atmosphere, filled with magic and gorgeous, atmospheric writing.

I mentioned there were times when the plot was a bit slow or meandering, but honestly, I never had the desire to actually set it down and leave it, because the masterful writing more than made up for the occasional lag in the plot. You know how sometimes wine connoisseurs will sip their drinks slowly to savor the taste? That’s what reading this felt like. You know, even though I totally downed this whole book in a rush because I have zero amount of chill or patience. The point is that I wanted to savor it.

Not only does Dao’s writing perfectly elicit the feel of a fairy tale, it takes it one step further by blending in little nuggets from a whole host of tales we’re familiar with.

I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again: I’m a huge fan of little Easter eggs in stories. It feels like winning a treasure each time you find one. Which is why I’m not going to delve too deep into specifics on this front, but there were definitely little nods to other stories, from mentions of the Grimm brothers and their stories (which I loved) to scenes that include iconic fairy tale items.

Read this one with eagle eyes, reader, because there is so much good stuff to be discovered!

I loved the focus on platonic love in this. While there is some romance, the spotlight really goes to the sibling bonds and the friendships and the many ways there are to love another person.

I’m not usually a huge fan of romance in the best of times, so it may come as no surprise that the little romance in this did absolutely nothing for me. But the friendships and sibling bonds? YES!

Elva has always been close with her younger brother, Cay. Both of them believe in magic and see the world with the same curiosity and wonder. Unfortunately, Elva’s secrets drive a rift between the two of them. To be fair, growing older and growing up is hard with siblings, because not only do you have to navigate how to be yourself but how to be with these other people who are also trying to find themselves. I loved the honest struggle in this book of wanting to protect your loved one but not quite knowing how to go about it.

My two favorite friendships in this book, though, are actually foils, each one truly testing the boundaries of friendship. I can’t say much about them, because they’re spoilers, but I loved the way they were similar and yet very different, but asked the same question: how important is friendship?

The theme of this book is really promises … whether you keep them, how you break them, and what consequences that might entail.

Going in, I didn’t expect to love this aspect nearly as much as I did. Promises have a sort of power unto themselves, though, once spoken into existence. Breaking them has consequences. So you really have to ask yourself: how much am I willing to give up for the sake of not keeping my word?

The way this is spun is so unique in that it’s really a discussion about the birth of family curses, where they come from and how they come to be.

I’m sure it won’t surprise you that a lot of fairy tales have to do with some sort of curse, often one that’s no fault of the actual cursed person. This book peels back the curtains a little and shows how someone’s fate can be altered by the actions of the previous generations, sometimes without them even have intended it.

I absolutely loved this discussion, because how often do we promise to do things without giving it any thought? It’s so simple to utter, “I promise,” without really thinking there’ll be consequences to it if you just break that.

This entire book conjures up the feelings of a fairy tale, sitting somewhere between the traditional happy ones and the darker Grimm’s ones, with a feeling that not everyone gets a happily ever after.

This book promises nothing, which is honestly so refreshing for a retelling. It feels like a fairy tale, but unlike Disney stories, not everything is guaranteed to end up all sunshine and roses. It’s definitely a bit darker. Unlike Grimm’s fairy tales, though, it’s not so dark that a parent might hesitate to let their child read it. Broken Wish walks a fine line somewhere in between that allows just enough room for surprises. I just loved that nothing was guaranteed or even as it first seems, and it really makes you question first impressions.

While I thoroughly enjoyed everything, I still found myself wanting a little more: from the characters, the plot, the world.

It didn’t feel as fleshed out as it could have. The characters don’t really seem to have motives. They appear to be stumbling from one plot point to the next for convenience, rather than some inward desire. This changes for Elva toward the middle of the book, which is the part that I like best, when there seems a clear direction of things.

I loved the world, but I wanted more about it, too. It’s like we get a little bit of a primer, just the basics, but there’s not much delving into the real interesting parts like the magic and such.

About Julie C. Dao

Julie C. Dao is the author of the acclaimed Rise of the Empress duology, including Forest of a Thousand Lanterns and Kingdom of the Blazing Phoenix, as well as the follow-up novel Song of the Crimson Flower. A proud Vietnamese-American who was born in upstate New York, she now lives in New England. Follow her on Twitter @jules_writes.

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3 winners will receive a finished copy of BROKEN WISH
**US Only**

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