There is no escape from the horrors of middle school. A trio of girls finds a girl they'd rather be with than to be themselves only to realize she wants to play their game. Disturbing. ( )

“Can you wish for the same thing twice?” Grace asks one day, and we are surprised. We have never run out of things to wish for. Now we are ashamed to realize that our lives are filled with infinite longings.

This is a tough one. On the one hand, the writing is lovely and the author definitely has a way with words and turns of phrase. So to that end, I'd definitely try another of her works. On the other hand, I came away from this feeling jaded. True, everyone experiences teenage years differently and how girls interact with their peers varies person to person, place to place, year to year. But how it's portrayed in this story left me glum. I wanted to reach into the story and protect Grace. Help her.

It's kind of hard to explain, given how short the story is and without totally spoiling the plot, but the ending really didn't work for me. It's open ended, and rather than the possibilities leaving you with room to dream up a nice ending for the characters, you're just sort of left going, 'Well, fuck, that's depressing.'

I know the characters are young, but I cannot fathom the thought process of well, my younger friend has no idea what she's signing up for, so let's just throw her to the wolves and not watch in case it gets ugly. If the ending had been different, I probably would have liked this story because, again, the writing is lovely and I thought the start was very intriguing. But the ending? Not so much.