Three Wishes Delinsky, Barbara

From Library Journal Hit by a truck in the little town of Panama, Vermont, waitress Bree Miller awakens in the hospital with memories of a bright white light and a voice granting her three wishes. The only person who believes her near-death experience is newcomer Tom Gates, the driver who hit her. These two lonely people are drawn together by their shared experience, and, to the eventual delight of everyone in town, they fall in love and marry. Tom and Bree have never been happier, but both remember the three wishes as well as Bree's belief that she'll die after the third wish has been granted. Readers will want to keep a box of tissues handy for this beautifully written tearjerker. Fans of Delinsky's recent work (A Woman's Place, LJ 2/15/97) will not be disappointed, although those who loved her earlier books may find the new one a bit unexpected. Highly recommended for popular fiction collections. -?Elizabeth Mary Mellett, Brookline P.L., Mass. Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc. Product Description A best-selling author presents a modern-day fable and love story in which a waitress awakens from an automobile accident to find her dearest wishes have magically come true and discovers the value of taking risks. 125,000 first printing. From School Library Journal YA?On a bitterly cold October evening, a truck skids across icy roads into a car that slides uncontrollably into pedestrian Bree Miller. The driver, Tom Gates, spends days helping the woman recover both at the hospital and later at her home. As they fall in love, Bree eventually tells Tom about her near-death, out-of-body experience and her recollection that she has been granted three wishes by the Being of Light she met during the episode. Once the three wishes are granted, she feels that she will die once more. Bree uses one wish as a test but the result is ambiguous, so she can't be sure if it is luck or the true power of the granted wish. It is only after her death that Tom has the hindsight to see that Bree's three wishes had been granted. Delinsky draws detailed portraits of her characters, from physical attributes to personalities. The picture-perfect, small-town Vermont setting is effectively drawn. The mystery of Bree's mother's identity adds another layer to the intriguing plot. For YAs who are fond of Lurlene McDaniel's novels, Delinsky's book is a natural progression into adult writing of the same genre.?Pam Johnson, Fairfax County Public Library, VA Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc. From Booklist Best-selling contemporary women's fiction writer Delinsky has written a sentimental love story that will be appreciated by her fans. The story follows 14 months in the life of Bree Miller, a waitress living a quiet existence in small-town Panama, Vermont. Bree is alone in the world; her father and grandparents are dead, and she was abandoned by her mother at birth. One night, she is walking home from work during a snowstorm when a jeep that is hit by another car plows into her. When her heart stops on the operating table, she has a near-death experience, during which she is embraced by a bright white light and promised three wishes if she returns to her body. Upon awakening in the hospital, she finds that the man who hit her (a handsome, single, wealthy author) has been at her bedside since the accident. Bree, who has been unlucky in love, immediately falls in love with him, and he (who up until this point has been a somewhat of a cad) falls mindlessly in love with her. The rest of the story is concerned with Bree using up her three wishes: to cement her relationship with this man, to find her lost mother, and to become pregnant (she is infertile as a result of the accident). Although much of the story positively drips with pathos, fans will enjoy the various small subplots and the surprise ending. Kathleen Hughes From the Publisher When a surprise October blizzard hits Panama, Vermont, blanketing the sleepy little town with severa