Her tears grant wishes. Her next tear will end her life.

She didn’t ask to be the Wishtress.

Myrthe was born with the ability to turn her tears into wishes. But when a granted wish goes wrong, she is cursed: the next tear she sheds will kill her. She must travel to the Well to break the curse before it can claim her life—and before the king’s militairen find her. To survive the journey, Myrthe must harden her heart to keep herself from crying even a single tear.

He can stop time with a snap of his fingers.

Bastiaan’s powerful—and rare—Talent came in handy when he kidnapped the old king. Now the new king has a job for him: find the Wishtress and deliver her to the schloss. But Bastiaan needs a wish of his own. He gains Myrthe’s trust by promising to take her to the Well, but once he gets what he needs, he’ll turn her in. As long as his growing feelings for the girl with a stone heart don’t compromise him.

Their quest can end only one way: with her death.

Everyone seems to need a wish—the king, Myrthe’s cousin, the boy she thinks she loves. And they’re ready to bully, beg, and betray her for it. No one knows that to grant even one wish, Myrthe would pay with her life. And if she tells them about the curse . . . they’ll just kill her anyway.

Myrthe has become the new Wishtress after her parents’ deaths, and spends years suffering under her grandmother’s dominating will. Longing for escape and the knowledge she needs to understand her Talent, Myrthe reveals her secret with a raw wish that freezes the vital canals of her homeland. When a Bane bearer curses her to die with her next wish, Myrthe must find her way to the legendary Well of Talents—her only hope for wisdom, life, and freedom. In Nadine Brandes’s Wishtress, tears grant wishes and curses lurk in the darkest corners of the heart. Questions of guilt, morality, and choices bubble as heroes search for justice and truth. Plot twists keep the story flowing, and readers will enjoy the story’s many fractured and fallible characters.

Best for: Teens and adults who like fantasy with dark problems and clever solutions, fans of Leigh Bardugo.

Discern: Discussions of abuse, murder, sexual assault, and violence; some violence with blood; a source of power has certain parallels with Deity, but without specifics; someone claims to be the voice of a demonic power source.