Wish for Me by A. Star
(The Djinn Order #1)
Publication date: April 27th 2015
Genres: Adult, Fantasy, Romance, Steampunk
Synopsis:
Three wishes. Two lovers. One destiny.
When the snarky Glory St. Pierre discovers the gold mechanical vase in her deceased grandmother’s basement, she has no idea that she has uncovered a priceless treasure: a genie lamp. With a real genie inside. A very sexy genie with a not-so-sexy grudge against the entire human race.
Irving Amir hates being called a genie. He’s a Djinn, and he is none too happy to be in the service of Glory, who is as intolerable, and beautiful, as humans come. Now he owes her his gratitude for freeing him and three wishes. Damn his luck.
But an arrow through the shoulder alerts Irving to the fact that he is being hunted, and after a truce dinner with Glory ends with them both almost being killed, hating each other goes right out the window. As feelings change and love starts to develop, they must dig through the secrets and lies to find the truth…a truth neither of them will ever see coming.
This book is not suitable for ages 18 and under.
Review:
Wish for Me by A. Star is the first instalment in The Djinn Order series. It is an action-packed steampunk, adult, fantasy and romance novel.
The novel is narrated in the first person by Glory St. Pierre, who seems rebellious but is plain obnoxious. Glory stumbles on a strange looking vase which turns out is more of a genie or Djinn lamp. The contraption, nothing like the lamp Aladdin finds, houses the Djinn Irving Amir, who gives Glory the chance to make three wishes. The two characters start out their relationship on a sarcastic note but an arrow to Irving's shoulder quickly changes their relationship.
Although there is significant character development for Glory, the protagonist and narrator, I did not like her; I liked her sometimes but those instances were few. The first few chapters put me off the two characters but bit by bit I began to like Irving Amir and respect him.
Apart from the sweet-talk and "uber-sexy abs" and away from the early dislike of humans, Irving is overall an experienced, wise and loveable character, as opposed to Glory.
"Humans are shallow creatures with shallow desires and they only ever wish for shallow things. Fame, infinite wealth, love from the one who would not love them otherwise… the story is always the same." This Irving's view of human in chapter one, but as the novel progresses, his view begins to change and begins to fall for Glory and she for him, although at first she is more attracted to him sexually than anything else.
The sarcasm coming from both characters offers a bit of comic relief every now and then to ease the tension, which is a lot in the novel.
After Irving gets a poisoned arrow to his shoulder and Glory accidentally wishes for magic, things change drastically. Both become hunted by more than one side.
The ending of Wish for Me was much stronger than I anticipated. Not only that, many of the hunter-prey roles become reversed as Irving and Glory must team up with enemies to fight other enemies.
A. Star uses several Arabic words and names, which I thought was cute considering Arabic is my mother tongue.
I enjoyed the contraptions created by Irving. He likes to tinker and create. In his realm, everything is mechanical – the steampunk element – and I enjoyed the description of many of his creations, especially Nagi.
One of the things that bothered me while reading, however, was the author's constant and repetitive use of "questioned". I mean there are options like "asked" and "said", and certainly others, but the excessive use of "questioned" irritated me beyond measure – it was worth a star or half a star in my rating.
Also, there were several major shifts, from tit-for-tat arguments to romance in a jiffy. I didn't like that and felt it disrupted the flow of the novel. It also felt awkward in places.
The adult content in Wish for Me is mainly because of the language and a couple of love scenes, which I didn't see as romantic or at least not what I was expecting with the author's bio (below). Still it is unsuitable for ages 18 and under.
I did enjoy the action in the novel and felt like I was in a movie.
A. Star uses several interesting and creative images such as "Irving still treated me like a pimple he was itching to pop."
Several revelations come at the end of the novel, paving the way of the second instalment in the series, which I would like to read if I get the chance.
Overall rating: 3.5 stars
Note: I received a free copy of Wish for Me via Xpresso Book Tours in exchange for an honest review as part of this blog tour.
There is a tour-wide giveaway, open internationally for a $10 Amazon GC, a signed print copy of Lover, Divine + a bookmark - ends 6 August.
About the Author:
A. Star is a fan of dirty passion. She loves to read it, and she damn sure loves to write it. She is the author of the Mythos: Gods & Lovers series, the Djinn Order series, and the Knights of the Joust series. She is a night-owl and a coffee junkie, and the only sneaker she would be caught dead wearing Converses.
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