A review by readingundertheradar
As You Wish by Jackson Pearce
4.0
Head to my blog at http://www.happybookloversblog.com
I've had this book forever, and this week when I was picking out what I was going to read, it was sitting on the top of my "A" pile. (Yes, I have all my books alphabetized.) So I grabbed it, and sure enough, I finished it that night. This book was so cute.
Jinn appears to Viola (he's a jinn, which is essentially a genie, but she calls him Jinn because she's weirded out that he doesn't have a name) because she's desperate to feel like she belongs. Which, okay, I get, but I don't get how she can be wishing so badly that she conjures a jinn because she's got her whole life ahead of her, but that's okay. The book got so good I ended up not caring.
She's an artist, and she struggles with painting for passion, and as the book develops and she becomes better friends with Jinn, she begins to develop that skill to do so. It was great watching Viola grow as a character. Of course, at first, she thinks she wants to be popular and have the boy and hang with all the cool kids in school. The interesting spin was that Jinn didn't have to deal with this old version of Viola on his own — he befriended her best friend and former boyfriend, Lawrence (who was actually gay, but it still hit Viola hard). I really enjoyed the friendship between Jinn and Lawrence, it made this book more than just a cutesy fluff book, it added some actual dimensions to the characters.
As far as the plot, yes, it was extremely predictable. But this book was SO FREAKING CUTE I didn't care. None of the predictability actually mattered because I was just so in love with the premise and Jinn and Lawrence. Definitely a super fun summery read.
I've had this book forever, and this week when I was picking out what I was going to read, it was sitting on the top of my "A" pile. (Yes, I have all my books alphabetized.) So I grabbed it, and sure enough, I finished it that night. This book was so cute.
Jinn appears to Viola (he's a jinn, which is essentially a genie, but she calls him Jinn because she's weirded out that he doesn't have a name) because she's desperate to feel like she belongs. Which, okay, I get, but I don't get how she can be wishing so badly that she conjures a jinn because she's got her whole life ahead of her, but that's okay. The book got so good I ended up not caring.
She's an artist, and she struggles with painting for passion, and as the book develops and she becomes better friends with Jinn, she begins to develop that skill to do so. It was great watching Viola grow as a character. Of course, at first, she thinks she wants to be popular and have the boy and hang with all the cool kids in school. The interesting spin was that Jinn didn't have to deal with this old version of Viola on his own — he befriended her best friend and former boyfriend, Lawrence (who was actually gay, but it still hit Viola hard). I really enjoyed the friendship between Jinn and Lawrence, it made this book more than just a cutesy fluff book, it added some actual dimensions to the characters.
As far as the plot, yes, it was extremely predictable. But this book was SO FREAKING CUTE I didn't care. None of the predictability actually mattered because I was just so in love with the premise and Jinn and Lawrence. Definitely a super fun summery read.