Alexandra Bullen
Books:
- Wish
- Wishful Thinking
Website | Blog
If you could wish for a different life, would you? What if that life changed everything you thought was real?
Adopted as a baby, Hazel Snow has always been alone. She's never belonged anywhere--and has always yearned to know the truth about where she comes from. So when she receives three stunning, enchanted dresses--each with the power to grant one wish--Hazel wishes to know her mother. Transported to a time and place she couldn't have imagined, Hazel finds herself living an alternate life--a life with the mother she never knew.
Over the course of one amazing, miraculous summer, Hazel finds her home, falls in love, and forms an unexpected friendship. But will her search to uncover her past forever alter her future?
In the heart-pounding, luminous sequel to WISH, Alexandra Bullen asks the question: If you could wish for a new life...would you?
Wishful Thinking on Martha’s Vineyard
When people hear that there’s a companion novel to Wish, most of them assume that the new book takes place in San Francisco. It would make sense if it did, since Posey, the magical seamstress whose wish-granting dresses are at the heart of both books, works out of her San Francisco shop.
But it’s a book about wishes! And lonely Hazel’s very first wish is to meet the mother she’s never known. This wish brings her not only back in time, but also across the country, to a small island off the coast of Massachusetts, called Martha’s Vineyard.
And considering that this island is pretty important, both to the book and to me (I’ve spent summers here since I was three and am now a year-round resident) I thought I’d offer up a little photo tour of island inspiration.
Many people don’t realize how big of an island the Vineyard is. It’s certainly not huge, but it does take a good hour to drive from the cliffs of Gay Head (where Jaime’s Wampanoag grandmother lived) to the Edgartown lighthouse (which Hazel imagines photographing from Reid’s upstairs window.)
When Hazel first arrives on the island, she gets a job working on a gentleman’s farm, which is basically just a fancy-shmancy estate with guest houses and a barn and a few animals that are kept just for show. I loosely based Rosanna’s estate on the property above, which happens to be where President Obama stays on his island visits! (I said shmancy, didn’t I?)

As Hazel gets to know her way around, she begins to realize that the island has two sides: the swanky, summertime scene, and the more laid-back, local experience. On a double date at Lucy Vincent beach, Jaime teaches Hazel how to search for arrowheads in the red clay cliffs, a much-loved pastime amongst many of the “real” islanders I’ve known.
But that doesn’t mean she doesn’t also enjoy the more touristy parts of island life. Hazel and Jaime get to know each other on the steps of The Flying Horses (the country’s oldest carousel) and Luke takes Hazel on a picnic date at Illumination Night, an end-of-summer tradition in Oak Bluffs.
Hazel’s Vineyard summer ends up being magical for a number of reasons, but even without the time-traveling and wishes coming true, there’s something about this place that makes it very hard to leave.
Just ask these guys:

Needless to say, it was so much fun to be able to incorporate a few of my favorite island settings into the book, and I hope you enjoying reading about them just as much!
I have two finished copies of Wishful Thinking by Alexandra Bullen up for grabs!
Official Contest information:
- to enter, please fill out the form below
- entrants must be 13 years of age or older
- contest deadline is January 26, 2011
- contest open to residents of US & CANADA
- ONE ENTRY PER PERSON!
- check out my Contest Policy/Privacy Policy