Wishing Too Hard

by Vee Olane

Have you ever wished you could turn back time?

Pregnant Maria has made a mistake, a huge mistake and now her husband Luigi is dead.

If only she didn’t have to deal with the fallout; sharing a cramped flat with her sister, trying to keep the restaurant going, and holding down a fulltime job. And not forgetting the small matter of the father of her unborn child…

270 pages, Paperback

First published January 30, 2014

About the author

I'm Vee Olane, mum, wife, and author based in London.

When I'm not reading or writing, I like to make mosaics from old tiles, pebbles etc. I also love making my own soft furnishings, cushions in particular.

Reviews

[Mary Mitchell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved it!

Love the series. Will continue till the end. Hard to put down. Maria's story is hard not to read .....

[Cynthia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Maria is married to Luigi, they want a family but Luigi cannot father a child. His brother he hasn't seen in 20 years comes home. They were going to ask to use his sperm, but before they could to that Maria and Tony (Luigi) couldn't keep their hot little hands off each other. One night turns into a nightmare when Luigi walks in on them in his bed, he turns spins and walks out. Maria screens at Tony telling him to get out, it’s his entire fault. Everybody leaves, Luigi comes home, the house is empty. I can only guess what he is thinking. He dies of a heart attack. Maria is pregnant, Tony must be the father, no wait he can’t have kids either.

We have two men the doctor said can’t have kids, she has been with no one else. One of the must be father, the question is which one?

How why Maria didn't leave a note, or call him is any ones guess. Luigi comes home, no note, nothing. Her clothes are gone, wow he must have thought she left with Tony. She left him for his brother, he tears the house us and dies of a heart attack. She never calls, she never goes home. The next thing you know the police is calling her to tell her he is dead.

I do find this story believable. You hear things of this nature every day. Tony hasn't seen his family in 20 years, they are not close. I think it is safe to say that they may be blood but they don’t know each other. Even though it is wrong of Tony to have a one nightstand with his brother wife, it is understandable that he goes for it. He has not feeling there of family.

Maria lives with this man, is close to his mother and said she loves Luigi. But she just couldn't fight the attraction she has to Tony. Wrong is wrong, at least take responsibility for your actions. All Maria thinks about is herself, poor, poor me.

It was a drama read, which isn't something I enjoy reading. There is no winner in this book, they are all losers. A very sad story of how people think of nothing but themselves, their wants and needs not caring about hurting others. It is a reminder to ourselves think before we do, not only could you be screwing up your life, along with other peoples. But you might never be able to say you’re sorry, the other person might die. I sure wasn't expecting this type of book. It was a sad, easy read. Just not my cup of tea, I see too much drama in very day life. I am not a drama person so it was a hard read for me. I am sure there are people out there that will love this book. There is so much more in this book, how they deal with the issues, learning how to moved on and start over.

[Amie's Book Reviews · Rating 3 out of 5]

WISHING TOO HARD by Vee Olane

The story quickly grabs the reader's interest. Luigi Clementi is found dead in his home. It appears he died of a heart attack.

His wife, had wanted nothing more than to have a baby. The couple had planned to ask his brother, Tony to be a sperm donor since Luigi was unable to produce his own.

However, during Tony's visit from America to their London flat, Tony seduces Maria and they fall into bed together. But, when Maria glances toward the bedroom door, she sees that Luigi has come home early and has caught them together.

Coming to her senses, Maria throws Tony out, but the damage is done. In her shame, Maria packs a bag and goes to stay with her sister.

The next day she discovers that Luigi is dead from a heart attack and she believes it was her actions that killed him.

To make matters worse, she soon discovers that she is pregnant. Luigi's restaurant is failing and the bills are all overdue.

Pregnant and widowed with a job that does not pay enough to cover her expenses, Maria is in trouble.

Will Maria find a way to forgive herself? Who is the father of her baby? Will Maria be able to move on?

Honestly I had a hard time empathizing with Maria. How can I empathize with a woman who cheats on her husband. I know it was only one time and she regretted it instantly, but she still did it.

Her struggles with how to survive financially after her husband's death are both realistic and believable.

The major issue I had with this book was the incompetent editing. There were a multitude of editing errors and typos. Here is an example of just a few:

"Women like me who don't take their wedding vowels seriously." This should be "vows" not "vowels"

"His dark eyes bored into me like a laser, intense and scotching." This should be "scorching" not "scotching".

"Both of them straining, the views bulging in Luigi's wiry arms..." This should be "veins" not "views".

I give this book. 3.5 out of 5 stars.

[Annette · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was not a typical story of a couple stuggling with infertility. Our main character, Maria, is consumed with becoming a mom, so much so she put terrible pressure on her husband. She can not see a world without her getting her way. Demanding her husband come up with a solution seems all a part of reaching the goal. This does not serve her. Our common theme is Maria's actions and the consequences.

This story seemed a series of disappointments, tragedies or rejections for Maria. They were harsh and made for a sad story. In what may have been an attempt to give our storyline depth we barely glimpsed a new problem for Maria and began seeing how it would be handled until another presented itself. Sadly we all know in life that can be reality. Even so it may have served the book more to have fewer situations and developed those better. I would love to have seen her gain a more straight forward victory emotionally, physically and socially of at least one thing. It is always good to see the resilience of the human nature and a woman's ability to overcome adversity. For example, if we had seen her overcome her fears and again be able to live independently in her apartment.

I enjoyed the diversity of characters. The other characters: momma, the sister and the brother-in-law gave the story some variety and were fairly well developed. As we get to know our characters we began to understand they each have hurts, needs and fears which likely affect their behaviour.

I did enjoy reading this and didn't want to put it down until I saw how things worked out for Maria. I recommend this book for two reasons. Pleasure of reading a good story. Challenge to see how our thoughts and actions can affect others and the how severe the consequences can be.

I was given an advance reading copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

[Angie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought this was a wonderful book. I could sympathise with one bad thing happening after another. People make mistakes in their life and she paid a heavy price for what she did with her husbands brother Tony. With all the bad things that happened one after another at least she had her sister for support. Nikki was a strangely developed character, I did not understand how she could be so neglectful to her children, have no job and it seemed at times no morals; Yet be so helpful with decisions that Maria lacked being able to make. I think that Maria was a well enough developed character to at least handle the financial affairs that you need to do after your husband passes. She sure enough handled the men at her job. But it was a great story and wish I had known that there was a book before this because I would have read it first. I hope that she writes another book in this series due to the fact that the ending came too soon..

[Malin · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was not a "feel good" book. One married couple struggling with getting pregnant but it turns out it is not very easy. Almost from the very beginning things are starting to spiral downwards for the wife and continues on and on. You get to follow her struggle with the grief and consequenses with her actions and her way back to a normal life again without her husband.

One thing that made me pretty pi**ed off was the main caracters sister. Not in any way is it acceptabal to wrongly accuse someone for raping someone just beacuse you got caught cheating, or say you got drugged and that you got HIV to your partner as a joke. Those were some things that actually wanted me too stop reading the book.

The book had some minor flaws in the editing and a few words was missing in the sentences throughout the book. Besides that it felt well written.

[Eddi · Rating 3 out of 5]

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