Twenty-Eight and a Half Wishes by Denise Grover Swank

Rose has such a powerful story about her life, being trapped and the growth she has to do. As a mystery, this book lacks a lot of substance. Rose's story of how she broke free was so much more compelling than the mystery.īut this is a mystery, and it is a mystery I have to review. I would have loved this to be a literary fiction and not a mystery. Ugh, given all the publicity around this book, I thought I would like it much better, and I almost thought I would when I began reading 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. Somebody thinks Rose has something they want and they’ll do anything to get it. Joe’s new to town, but it doesn’t take a vision for Rose to realize he’s got plenty secrets of his own. 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.

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.

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. She’s had plenty of visions, usually boring ones like someone’s toilet’s overflowed, but she’s never seen one of herself before. For Rose Gardner, working at the DMV on a Friday afternoon is bad even before she sees a vision of herself dead.

Twenty-Eight and a Half Wishes by Denise Grover Swank