Cloudwish by Fiona Wood

Publication: October 18th 2016 (first published 2015)

Publisher: Poppy

Series: The Six Impossiverse #3

Genres: YA, Contemporary, Romance, Cultural

Format: ARC Source: Publisher via NOVL

My Rating: 

For Vân Uoc, fantasies fall into two categories: nourishing or pointless. Daydreaming about attending her own art opening? Nourishing. Daydreaming about Billy Gardiner, star of the rowing team who doesn’t even know she’s alive? Pointless.

So Vân Uoc tries to stick to her reality–keeping a low profile as a scholarship student at her prestigious Melbourne private school, managing her mother’s PTSD from a traumatic emigration from Vietnam, and admiring Billy from afar. Until she makes a wish that inexplicably–possibly magically–comes true. Billy actually notices her. In fact, he seems to genuinely like her. But as they try to fit each other into their very different lives, Vân Uoc can’t help but wonder why Billy has suddenly fallen for her. Is it the magic of first love, or is it magic from a well-timed wish that will eventually, inevitably, come to an end?

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*I received a copy of this book for free, from NOVL, for review purposes. All opinions are my own.*

~REVIEW~

Cloudwish is a book that I wish I loved more than I did, but it is still an enjoyable read. When I read books with characters that I don’t identify with culturally, I try to overload as much information that I can about them. Van Uoc is one of those characters. I love her quite nature and also her thoughtfulness. She weighs everything out before acting, and that is not a trait that you see very often in young adult fiction. Wishing for something and to actually have it happen? Yeah, I’d question it. Especially if what you wished for could, in essence, be bad for you. 

The writing in this book is, no doubt, beautiful. I just wish there was more interaction between the characters than the inner monologue of Van. Yet, those inner musings help you get to know her as a character. I found her struggles to be very genuine. Her being on the side of poverty, and attending a private school on scholarship lets you know that she’s intelligent. Her dreams of being an artist seem impossible to achieve when she has parents who want her to be something else. Can I relate? Not really, but I’ve seen what parental pressure does to people. 

I love that this story has a POC protagonist. Van struggled to with her identity. Is she to embrace her Vietnamese background, or live her life as the Aussie-born girl that she is. Will she be judged because her parents are refugees? I think the author brought forth real emotions about this situation. I’m pretty certain that a lot of teenagers (as well as adults) struggle with their backgrounds like this. There are refugees and immigrants around the world that have a hard time finding their place in the countries they land in. Van may have been born in Australia, but her parents weren’t. 

As I stated before, I really wish there was more interactions between Van and Billy. He was not what I expected since he was known to be a pretentious rich boy most of the time. I think a little more character development would have been nice. That said, it really didn’t come across as romance to me; not with all that Van had on her mind. She really likes him and she has spent her time at school being invisible, but still wanting to be seen by him. And when he starts to notice her, Van goes deeper into her thoughts about who she is and why he wants to be with her. 

Overall, I enjoyed this story. I love the cultural diversity in this book more than anything, so if you need to add some to your shelf I recommend reading Cloudwish.