Wishtress Review: The Gift and The Curse
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What if a single tear held the power to stop time? In Wishtress by Nadine Brandes, magic becomes both a gift and a curse as Myrthe discovers her ability to grant wishes with a tear. But every wish comes at a cost, and in a world teetering between the rule of an old king and the rise of a new one, no one knows who to trust. As Myrthe navigates the Militairen tracking her down and the growing feelings she canât quite deny for Bastiaan, whose stone heart carries its own secrets, the stakes reach a breaking point.
With its intricate magic system and deeply human characters, Wishtress blends fantasy and heart-stopping tension in a way only a Nadine Brandes book can. Ready to dive into a story where love, loyalty, and time itself are on the line? Letâs unravel the magic.
She never asked to be the Wishtress
Hey Besties! I hope you are doing well, on this wonderful Thursday! Today I bring you an ARC Review of Wishtress by Nadine Brandes. This book was one of my most anticipated reads for the second half of 2022. Continue reading to find out what I thought.

With every tear, she is able to grant a wish. Myrthe is the Wishtress, she never chose this Talent, it was thrust upon her at birth. This is obviously a big secret she must keep. When a wish she decides to grant goes wrong, a curse is placed on her: the next tear she sheds she will die. She needs to journey to the Well of Talents, to break the curse before it claims her lifeânot to mention she is wanted by the King.
Along the journey, Myrthe must harden her heart to keep herself from shedding a single tear. But it seems like everyone needs a wish-the king, Myrtheâs cousin, Aunok, and the boy she wanted to love, Sven. They will do anything to get the wish they so desire. No one knows that to grant even one wish, will literally be her last. And if she tells them about her curse . . . they will kill her anyway.
He can stop time with the snap of his fingers
Bastiaan is a Talented, he can stop time (once a month) with the snap of his fingers. This Talent comes in handy when he decides to kidnap the old king in order to change his mind about the Well of Talents. Now the new king, the Murder King Mattias, has a job for him: find and capture the Wishtress and deliver her to the schloss. When he locates Myrthe, he agrees to take her to the Well in exchange for a wish. He has it set in his mind that once sheâs fulfilled her end of the deal, heâll turn her in. But what he didn’t expect is for him to fall for her, and want so much more than the wish.

Extended Thoughts
Wishtress, is wonderful, and magical. There are unexpected plot twists, lovable and very unlikeable (dare I say you will hate at least one of them) characters, and logical world-building. One thing that I loved about the book was that each chapter had a cliffhanger making you want to keep turning to the next page!
Brandes doesn’t just focus on the world-building alone but also makes fully developed characters that have you rooting for them– I really appreciated that. They are imperfect, and flawed which makes them all the more relatable. Brandes sends them on a quest to find the light in the darkness, to understand if redemption is really possible, and that love and sacrifice can change everything. I have no doubt that you are just going to love Wishtress.
Wishtress was released Tuesday, September 13, 2022
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