Book 960: With Love from Wish & Co. – Minnie Darke

The recommendation for this book arrived from the publisher way back in April and me being me assumed I’d have PLENTY of time to read it before it was published.* But then I didn’t read it early, we got a puppy and I started school, so yeah needless to say it took me a lot longer to read than expected.

Thankfully it wasn’t the writing or the story that forced the long delay! For the most part, the story kept me engaged and moving forward with only a few slower spots or wait what moments.

With Love from Wish & Co. Is the story of Marnie Fairchild, a professional gift buyer who makes a HUGE mistake that causes major drama for her business and her best client. There wasn’t anything groundbreaking about the story, you could see what was coming when it was coming and why it was coming from miles away. And I’m not talking just about the mistake, but the love interests, the family store, it was all very expected, but that didn’t take away from Darke’s writing or storytelling.

The one unexpected curve ball was Luke’s surprise (the main love interest). That one definitely caught me off guard and I felt helped shape and grow his character even though we didn’t really know him before the big reveal but learned more via flashback. I could’ve done with less of the client story, but it was intricately tied to Marnie and Luke. I’ll even say the mistress being included added to the overall story and Darke’s decision to use her as the epilogue and not the main protagonists worked and left the core story in a good place and provided growth and movement for two minor characters.

Now they were inside one of those moments, each of them trying to read the other’s body language, trying to work out whether or not the other person expected that they would stop and talk, or merely smile and carry on. Marnie, although she had just bolted out of an exhibition to avoid him, now found that she didn’t want Luke only to smile and walk on. Perhaps something in her face communicated this fact because he stopped walking, waited for her to reach him. (Chapter 7)

The best part of Darke’s writing was the setting for me. The way she had Marnie describe her grandfather’s store at various times really sold the story and Marnie’s motivations for the entire story to me. There were other characters including Marnie’s mom and Luke’s siblings that paled in comparison to the character of both Wish & Co. (Marnie’s current store) and Fairchild’s (her grandfather’s store).

Recommendation: This was a delightful read. There were a lot of characters and sub-plots but thankfully they were all unique and I was able to keep them separated. Darke could’ve simplified the novel significantly, but in the end, they all tied together and were resolved and each augmented the others. I’m not sure I’ll seek Darke out in the future with so many MM Romances out there, but I’d definitely recommend her to others.

*I received a copy of With Love from Wish & Co. via NetGalley in return for my honest opinion. No goods or money were exchanged.

Opening Line: “Alone in the quiet of Wish & Co after closing time, Marnie Fairchild decided to give it a try.”

Closing Line: “