What We Wish For

From award-winning author Melody Maysonet, What We Wish For is a poignant YA novel that explores one teenager’s coming-of-age as she struggles through homelessness, family feuds, and her mother’s addiction.

Be careful what you wish for ...

Fifteen-year-old Layla Freeman likes to pretend her life is fine. After all, her mother is about to celebrate thirty days sober, and yeah, they’ve moved into a homeless shelter, but it’s only temporary, right? Her mom will get better, and in the meantime, it’s important that no one at school finds out where she’s been living for the past month. Layla has worked hard to build her reputation as a girl who doesn’t care what others think of her, but the truth is she does care—deeply—and she’s tripping over her own lies, especially to her best friend, as she tries to pretend nothing’s wrong.

With their time at the shelter running out, Layla hatches a plan to get help from her rich aunt and uncle, despite the long-standing feud between their families. When the plan backfires and her mom ends up in the hospital after an overdose, the silver lining is that she’s sent to fancy rehab—paid for by Uncle Scott and Aunt Tanya. Layla gets to move into her aunt and uncle’s mansion while her mom is gone and begins building a tentative friendship with her snobby cousin—even as her relationship with her best friend deteriorates.

Armed with new wealth, new relationships, and even a new mother figure, Layla thinks all her dreams have come true ... But secrets have a way of coming out, and one secret above all threatens to turn her world upside down—and destroy her entire family.