Picture drawn by Maggie Stiefvater, 2009. Header made by S.F. Robertson, 2010.

Thursday, August 27, 2009

Fresh New Voice of YA- As You Wish by Jackson Pearce


As You Wish by Jackson Pearce
Ever since Viola's boyfriend broke up with her, she has spent her days silently wishing—to have someone love her again and, more importantly, to belong again—until one day she inadvertently summons a young genie out of his world and into her own. He will remain until she makes three wishes. Jinn is anxious to return home, but Viola is terrified of wishing, afraid she will not wish for the right thing, the thing that will make her truly happy. As the two spend time together, the lines between master and servant begin to blur, and soon Jinn can't deny that he's falling for Viola. But it's only after Viola makes her first wish that she realizes she's in love with Jinn as well . . . and that if she wishes twice more, he will disappear from her life—and her world—forever.

Pearce's debut is an extremely cute and compelling read. I read this in three days (was also reading two other books at the same time) and loved every minute of it. It's a fresh take on the paranormal genre, dealing with a genie rather than vampires, werewolves, or fae. What I also really liked was how Pearce did the chapters- going back and forth between Viola and Jinn's perspectives. It was great seeing them through each other's eyes and how they both fell in love with each other. The characters were all fleshed out and written well. I loved the humor in this book too, particularly around page 50 where Jinn reveals that he gave Keanu Reeves fame- I laughed out loud reading that whole scene. And of course I loved Lawrence, the gay best friend/ex-boyfriend, as I always do whenever a gay person is around in a book; he was a great friend to Viola and was just all-around awesome. I kinda want to be his boyfriend- Jackson, could we work something out? :P Anyway, the ending was great, and had me smiling like a loon. A highly recommended read!

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