I’m incredibly proud to share that Escala’s Wish has been awarded the Kirkus “GET IT” Award.
If you’re not familiar with what that means, here’s why this matters.
Kirkus Reviews is widely regarded as the most respected and toughest review outlet in publishing. Their reviews are known for being blunt, critical, and unsparing. Most books reviewed by Kirkus do not receive awards—and many don’t even receive positive notices.
The “GET IT” Award is Kirkus’ way of flagging books that stand out from the thousands they review each year.
It’s reserved for titles they believe deserve special attention from readers, booksellers, librarians, and the broader literary community.
In other words, it’s not a participation trophy.
What makes the award especially rare is that it’s not something authors can apply for separately. Kirkus decides—based entirely on the strength of the work—whether a book earns that distinction.
About 25% of books Kirkus reviews receive the GET IT award. If you get a STAR award (I didn’t), only about 10% of the books earn that.
To put that in context: big titles like Fourth Wing received Kirkus review headlines that were a mix of praise and critique, half-positive and half-negative. Fourth Wing did not receive a GET IT Award. Another title with a mixed headline, Alchmeised, did receive the GET IT Award—but it’s notable that its Kirkus headline was a mix of praise and criticism.
For Escala’s Wish, however, Kirkus described summarized their in their headline as follows:
“A classic quest narrative that lovers of fairy tales are likely to enjoy.”
There is nothing negative in that headline, and yet we know that Kirkus DOES write criticism in headliners, so I was over the moon.
To have a debut novel not only reviewed favorably by Kirkus but also to be of high enough quality to earn a coveted GET IT Award is incredible to me.
I actually cried on the Zoom call when Kirkus called to explain the award.
This recognition means a great deal as the book heads into libraries conventions and book festivals, and the fifth book contests I have entered.
More than anything, it tells me the story I wrote is resonating with readers, even critical ones—and that’s the highest compliment I could ask for.
