The wish list

by Melanie La'Brooy

Lucy, an actress who just can't get a break, is warm, funny, and a total addict for happy endings, except she can't seem to find one for her own life. When the devilishly handsome Byron appears, Lucy thinks she has fallen into her own personalised fairytale, except for the fact that Prince Charming turns out to be a little too bossy for our freewheeling heroine, who discovers she might just be better off with her ex-boyfriend - friendly, funny, familiar Tom. Set in the backstreets and bars of bohemian Melbourne, The Wish List captivates with its warmth, wit and energy.

Genres: Chick Lit, Romance, Audiobook, Fiction, Contemporary, Humor, Indonesian Literature

Paperback

First published August 1, 2004

About the author

Melanie La’Brooy is the author of five novels: Love Struck, The Wish List, Serendipity, The Babymoon and Bittersweet. For several years, Melanie worked for the art auction house Christie’s, in both Sydney and Melbourne, where she trained as a specialist in Australian paintings. Following the success of her debut novel she gave up her career in the art world to become a full-time writer. Melanie is very happily married and has two young sons. She usually lives in Melbourne but is currently residing in South Africa, where she is hoping to fulfill a long-term dream by finally having a genuine reason to wear a safari suit and pith helmet.

Reviews

[Simara · Rating 3 out of 5]

For me this book felt like an extended episode of Friends. It’s funny and has many “friends moments”. This is more of a story of a group of friends and the crazy things that happen to them. There is a romance story very a la Rachel and Ross kinda romance. It’s an entertaining story and funny but I wouldn’t call this a romance per se. It’s more fun than romantic. Narration was good and the Australian accent was spot on.

[Macy · Rating 2 out of 5]

What the heck did I just listen to?

[Robin Riedstra · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Wish List by Melanie La'Broody is stereotypical Chick Lit, as is Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice so there is certainly no shame in that. Who doesn't want a slice of Mr Darcy? It has fresh modern writing and a modern setting which gives it a lovely sense of newness without having to bend over backwards with shock tactics in order to entertain a reader. It is good, simple fun, with a bit of sexy sexing, which we've all come to expect from our modern Chick Lit. Lizzie and Dracy may have set readers' pulses raising with prolonged glances and so much slow blinking but todays reader needs a little more. So for an entertain read set it Melbourne with some fun and romance you can't really go past The Wish List. Enjoy. I did. I adore the nods to fairytale romance and classic love stories.

Recommended for anyone after a light, funny read. Get your tissues ready because you will laugh that hard.

[Graff Fuller · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 Stars

This was a fun book, but unfortunately it was a little too all-over-the-place. The shotgun approach of a plot...with too many moving parts.

I liked some of the characters, but unfortunately...there were some that I did NOT like at all, and they were important to the overall story.

There may be a progression of writing style and improvement on story...since the first book that I read of her's was from 2007 and this was published in 2005.

Time permitting, I will pickup another of her books. I also just saw The Tourist with Jamie Dornan (shot in Australia), so I was in the mood for their brand of humour.

It was just good.

[Bethan Hazell · Rating 2 out of 5]

2 stars. I hope this is the worst book I read in 2026. Lame, predictable story. Annoying characters. Some of the writing / phrasing was OTT & didn’t fit with the chick-lit style. It brought to mind that author fancies these words & wanted to include them in her book, eg:
1. ‘…Lucy said a trifle acidly, annoyed by Meg’s lack of perspicacity.’
2. ‘…retaining enough prudence to be aware that he needed to tread carefully.’
3. ‘…said Percy dismissively, his aristocratic hauteur aroused by Deelylah’s crude manner.’
4. ‘…seemed strangely unable to articulate the reason for his visit. Surveying his flaming countenance, Lucy put down the script…’

[Ida Anna · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 ...

It has its moments were it is rather funny. It did made me laugh out load at a few occasions, but in the between... There is just yo much unrelevant nonsense going on and it's hard to follow what is actually going on. It's a bit like everyday life in that sense. I would have liked a clearer focus to get a 3.

Its not a bad read thou, that's probably the strangest of it all. Will I listen to it again? Heck no!

I enjoyed the Aussie accents! :)

[Melissa · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was the second audiobook by this author that I had listened to. It was free from the Audible Plus Catalog. I enjoy this author’s writing style and found this laugh out loud funny just like Serendipity. This was very good, just not my favorite.

[Deborah Rusch · Rating 1 out of 5]

Perhaps something was lost in translation . I thought the characters were all mish mashed and overly dramatic. The book was drawn out and I should have just stopped , but audible oooks are usually entertaining. Sadly this one was not.

[Maureen Fromholtz · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was an enjoyable read with great characters and funny moments, but it is lacking story and depth. Nothing much happens throughout the entire book and you end up exactly where you knew you would with zero surprises along the way. Good enough - Two and a half stars

[Faye · Rating 2 out of 5]

A light hearted listen that made me laugh ,but having so many adverbs slowed the fun down given how the English and Italian characters were so stereotyped I was disappointed the Australian characters didn’t once say strewth or Sheila

[Karen Trenorden · Rating 3 out of 5]

Grew on me!!

[Veron · Rating 3 out of 5]

A tad rambling for the first half. But a few funny moments that kept me listening anyhow. Was an enjoyable story by the end.

[Natalie B · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was cute. I love a good Australian rom com.

[Heather McComas · Rating 3 out of 5]

Definitely some laugh out loud moments, but also some pull out your hair moments as well! The narrator of the book on audible definitely did it some good. She was definitely a great reader.

[Annie Deschamps · Rating 2 out of 5]

It’s cutesy friends going about their lives. I laughed out loud once, and I liked a few characters. I did finish it, but it was hard.

[Lamya · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hilarious and lifts one’s spirits up! I had so many LOL moments, and enjoyed it a little too much. It kept reminding me of ‘friends’.

[Tia · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF 100 pages in lol - all the characters are annoying and I don’t even know what the book is about and it kept switching POVs which confused me further

[Jean M · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun and easy holiday read. Love the Melbourne setting.

[RedReads]

DNF

[Catsalive · Rating 3 out of 5]

cover blurb:
Who says a modern girl can't believe in fairy tales?

Scatty, funny and smart, Lucy is a hopeless romantic. With an unshakeable faith in happy endings, she drives her friends Meg and Chloe crazy as she tries time and again to make her best friend Tom fall in love with her.

Then Lucy meets the man of her dreams - or so it seems. But when she's faced with a case of mistaken identity, a noble quest, a lovelorn serenade and a duel to the bitter end, Lucy must confront the eternal question: is true love fact, fiction, or something in between?
-----------------------------------------------------

Who says a modern girl can't believe in fairy tales? I say so! I don't say I wouldn't like them to be true occasionally, but I stopped believing them, along with Santa, by the time I got to Primary school.

I suspected I would find this annoying when I read the blurb saying: 'Scatty, funny & smart, Lucy is a hopeless romantic', & I was right. It's not that there weren't amusing parts, but the heroine, Lucy, was just too dramatic & stupid for me to like her - she was scatty & hopeless, but I didn't see much in the way of smart. It's hard to like a book when you don't like the main character. Tom & Chloe irritated me too. I did like Meg & Percy - particularly Meg's acerbic wit.

There were some enjoyable & amusing parts, but a lot of it bordered on the farcical - too over the top & unbelievable. Still, it was a light-hearted, easy read, & pretty well-written for what it is - a fairytale.

[Cindy · Rating 4 out of 5]

LOL ...
hanya itu yang saya pikirkan dan rasakan saat tamat buku ini. Walau agak aneh dan menyebalkan tapi ceritanya ringan dan rasional, dan mungkin bakal kita temui di dunia nyata bukan dongeng :D.
Dibuka dengan pertaruhan Meg dan Chlo kalau si Lucy ini akan kembali jatuh dalam rayuan Tom - Manta, Kekasih, atau Shabat. Agak bingung- untuk kesekian kalinya.
Nah, ceritanya Tom di sini orang model sinis sinis aneh keren gitu sih, tipe rasional, dibanding romantis, dia jahil dan suka sekali deh yang namanya menggembala mr.P nya. Dua tahun kenal sama Lucy yang bersetatus sebagai kawan, teman tidur, kencan, kekasih, musuh, dan mantan. Agak bingung mau ceritanya gmna , yg pasti kedua orang ini punya hubungan yg aneh, Lucy selalu berpacaran dengan siapapun, tapi pada akhirnya akan kembali ke pelukan Tom, sampai Bayron si Italian yg semohey itu datang, dan Tom merasa terancam.
Lucu pokknya ada saat nyedihka juga sih, tapi tetep feel ngakaknya dapet, bisa dibuat refresing otak yg lagi gak pengen baca yg berat dan menyayat hati.

4 bintang untuk Melanie :D

[Shannon Lorraine · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book. It is a stereotypical 'girly' book but it does lack of those typical 'girly' book page fillers. Such as, the Designer Label name drop. Too many books focused towards the late 20's - early 30's women contain so much high price-tag designer names within their storyline that it becomes hard to discern weather you are reading in fact a 'girly' book or simply a copy of Vogue.
Also the constant use of the work "F@*k" and friends can not be found. Yes it is a light read and you wont need too much brain power to get through but there are a few laughs within the pages and I finished up feeling as though I had watched a feel-good movie.

[Soph - Lock&Key · Rating 2 out of 5]

Alright I guess the main reason why I didn’t like this book was because it was not aimed at my age group. The characters were all over thirty and I guess I don’t like that.

I know that when you’re older you have different priorities but seriously. How shallow minded can one group of woman be? Its ridicules but it’s not just them the men were equally bad.

The book was written well so that is why I am giving in two stars instead of one but apart from the writing I cannot think of anything that I liked about this book!

[Nandina K. Sastraprawira · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lucy adalah seorang wanita yang sangat eksentrik, pintar, dan romantis. Ia menyukai happy ending fairytale, hanya saja dia belum menemukan kebahagiaan dalam hidupnya sendiri. Ketika seorang pria tampan bernama Byron muncul, Lucy berpikir bahwa Byron merupakan pria impiannya. Namun di saat Lucy mulai menjalin hubungan serius dengan Byron, ia mulai bimbang akan cinta sejatinya. Apakah ia benar-benar mencintai Byron, atau haruskah ia memilih mantan kekasihnya -- Tom yang ganteng, baik, lucu, namun tidak siap untuk menjalin komitmen?

[Emma · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lucy, an actress who just can't get a break, is warm, funny, and a total addict for happy endings, except she can't seem to find one for her own life. When the devilishly handsome Byron appears, Lucy thinks she has fallen into her own personalised fairytale, except for the fact that Prince Charming turns out to be a little too bossy for our freewheeling heroine, who discovers she might just be better off with her ex-boyfriend - friendly, funny, familiar Tom. Set in the backstreets and bars of bohemian Melbourne, The Wish List captivates with its warmth, wit and energy.

[V H · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was a fun book. I didn't feel it was very exciting as I was reading it, but at the same time I found it hard to put down once I got into it.

One thing I didn't like was that some of the characters were VERY stereotyped. They weren't very believable, I'm not saying that people aren't like the way they were described in the book, but it's very rare. And when I read a book I like to think that it could be real, which was occasionally hard because of how some of the characters acted.

But It was an okay book. Made me chuckle a few times.

[Mandy Busby · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well this book has some really cool one liners....
yep well that is about it....and I love jokes so the one liners were enough to have me finish the book to see if anything was ever going to really happen of note....and no it didn't.....but I did have some laughs, which I enjoyed!!
3 is me being very gracious indeed.

[Jessica Prothero · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this when I was far too young to understand the complexities of this book. However, having read it later in life, I have a whole new appreciation for it and what it stands for in a modern woman's life and her experiences in love. I think it's very funny, witty and clever. It's an easy read, but sometimes that's exactly what you need.

[Cholifia Astri · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lucy adalah seorang wanita yang lucu dan pintar tapi sangat romantis. Menerutnya kisah cintanya yang bahagia ada di suatu titik di luar sana, menuggunya bersama seorang pangeran tampan.
Namun apakah cinta sejatinya hanya khayalannya saja???

[Alison · Rating 3 out of 5]

A typical modern romance, but Australian which was a nice change. Like Kinsella, full of humour, female sass and spunk and just a quick, easy read with a positive ending. I also liked a number of her other novels as well. Easy enough for both adults and older teens.