REVIEW: Twenty-Eight and a Half Wishes by Denise Grover Swank
"For Rose Gardner, working at the DMV on a Friday afternoon is bad even before she sees a vision of herself dead. She’s had plenty of visions, usually boring ones like someone’s toilet’s overflowed, but she’s never seen one of herself before. When her overbearing momma winds up murdered on her sofa instead, two things are certain: There isn't enough hydrogen peroxide in the state of Arkansas to get that stain out, and Rose is the prime suspect. Rose realizes she’s wasted twenty-four years of living and makes a list on the back of a Wal-Mart receipt: twenty-eight things she wants to accomplish before her vision comes true. She’s well on her way with the help of her next door neighbor Joe, who has no trouble teaching Rose the rules of drinking, but won’t help with number fifteen-- do more with a man. Joe’s new to town, but it doesn’t take a vision for Rose to realize he’s got plenty secrets of his own. Somebody thinks Rose has something they want and they’ll do anything to get it. Her house is broken into, someone else she knows is murdered, and suddenly, dying a virgin in the Fenton County jail isn’t her biggest worry after all."
I really loved this book! As the story unfolded I grew so attached to Rose, I wanted her to stand up to everyone and she doesn't waste a single minute of her new found freedom. She turns into such a sexy, confident woman almost overnight and it's so great to see the real her finally break free. The visions she has are betrayed well, it can be easy to make it sound cheesy and corny but it just worked, it seemed almost natural!
The whole book had me captivated and I was desperate for Rose's innocence to be proven! Joe was a bit question mark for the majority of the book which is kind of great because it keeps you so engaged, I had theories galore! The list Rose makes is hilarious and sweet, so many things she wants to do that you just can't believe she's gone 24 years without! She gets a hell of a lot thrown at her in this book, and really, she handles it all brilliantly considering!
I did question her sister at times, Violet obviously cares deeply for Rose but at times I saw her mother come through, she was very abrupt about the changes Rose was making and some might agree that Rose changed a lot very quickly but I completely sided with her, she had 24 years being controlled and she finally got the chance to be herself so why waste a minute? Especially if you are suspected of murdering your mother and might be jailed at any point!
The big twist at the end took me by surprise, I might have just been caught up with the romance not to really think about it, but I literally couldn't put this book down! I stayed up until 2am reading it, woke up at 8am and finished it! There are loads more books in this series, which eventually I will get to. This book was free but the rest are about £2.50 each, not unreasonable but I know I'll need to read all the others and be skint before I know it! Ha!
I thoroughly recommend this book if you want some quirky, mystery with giggles and romance! Super endearing, super captivating.
