I enjoyed this and was happy it didn't end on a cliffhanger ( )

What originally got me interested was the cover of this book. That paired with the title clued me into this being a romance. I read it when I waiting for other ebooks to come in. The imagery, descriptions, and atmosphere were wonderful. I was just so interested every time Zahra transformed into something new and adapted herself so well. The author's descriptions of the location and time period worked a little too well: she slapped modern-day American romantic values onto a much older Persian setting. I had this same problem with "The Girl of Fire and Thorns" by Rae Carson. For love to matter in a marriage has been a recent invention. It would be fine, even expected, for both royal spouses to have concubines. Khoury procures just as much unnecessary, useless angst about it as Carson did, but Khory's is more subtle. I continue to be annoyed when authors do this.

The use of such wangst was turned into an interesting plot point a hundred or so pages from the end of the book. My annoyance lightened a little. I was relieved and glad when the princess found a clever way to subvert a decree, in a way, that was signed as the king's final command. I hoped she'd be able to rule her country--that her spouse would recognize her intelligence, confidence, and cunning, and step back. Sadly, that didn't happen. The action scenes with her in them were always interesting, but I was dismayed to also discover that the author can also write incredibly boring ones. I'm glad I got to read this, though. ( )

4.5 stars.

Jessica Khroury writes this enthralling book about a female genie, Zahra, whom Aladdin finds and falls in love with. I really loved the way she gave Zahra a backstory; she gives genies all a back story and origin.

Not sure why this book is grouped into a historical fiction shelf because, unless we find genies are real, there's no real life person or place in this story. There's a lot of romance and it's actually a fun romance ( I like how Aladdin nicknames her smoky). Zahra and Aladdin do play off each other well.


( )

A magical, imaginative retelling of Aladdin. The first law of the jinn is: Do not love a human. Zahra has already broken it once. Now, with a chance to earn her freedom at stake, her growing attachment to the newest master of her lamp might cause her to risk everything. Every wish comes with a price; the Forbidden Wish has the steepest price of all. ( )

I thought this book was really great. It was a fun, light read with great mythology and a nice slow burn romance. I've always been a fan of jinn and while watching the movie Aladdin and encountering the tale of Aladdin and the lamp of the Arabian nights, I found the relationship between Aladdin and the jinn to be really captivating, and as a romance lover, I always wanted a story where Aladdin and the jinn fell in love. I picked up this book mainly for that reason and it was well worth it.

My only complaint about the book is that I wish Zahra and Habiba had been in love romantically instead of seeing each other as "sisters" or "friends." Their love literally caused a war between the jinni and humans that had repercussions for 500 years afterward, Zahra uses the body of Habiba as her appearance and describes her looks as very beautiful and attractive in a way that isn't very friendly, and she's also telling the book to Habiba. I mean that's pretty gay. With this book, it's quite easy to adhere to death of the author and say that Zahra says their love was sisterly and only as friends because she could feel guilty over their love resulting in the Forbidden Wish, so that's what I choose to do and interpret Zahra as bisexual. Perhaps Zahra and Habiba were never shown to kiss, but their love story rang more romantic than familial to me! Besides, after you love someone so intensely, the brain often categorizes your love as familial since it's transitioned to a long term/more permanent love. ( )