As You Wish by Jackson Pearce

[description from Amazon]

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.

Jackson Pearce spins a magical tale about star-crossed lovers, what it means to belong . . . and how important it is to be careful what you wish for.

Review:

I was super excited to read this because of the fun-sounding premise, and because I love reading Jackson's blog and watching her vlogs, but unfortunately I'm not as big a fan of this book as everyone else. Don't get me wrong- I really liked it. Everyone else is calling it OMGAMAZING! and there was one huge part of the story that I just did not like. But more on that later.

In the beginning of the book, Viola is pretty "I'm invisible my life sucks I want to be popular waaaaaah." I've seen plenty of characters like that, so it was nice to see how her story unfolded because she became a lot more tolerable as the book progressed. I can't spoil it, but I like how her first wishes turned out because they allowed her to develop a lot and realize some important things. Plus, the wishes results' were super amusing. I very much enjoyed that she is an artist too, because I don't read about artists very much.

I liked how Jinn was a narrator also; the supernatural characters in books often don't get to tell their stories, let alone male supernatural characters. Because he gets his own narration, it's much easier for him to be a realistic character because the book is not filled with nothing but Viola talking about how lovely/annoying he is. He's got a lot of snark in him, which was super fun, and I loved when he talked about his job and the genie world. I had a clear picture of what goes on there, and it sounds super fun.

The thing that bothered me most about this book, the one I mentioned earlier, is that Viola and Jinn's romantic relationship felt much too rushed, especially near the end. Sure, there was the initial "do I like him/her? do they like me?" thing going on, and then a little more, but the end of the book almost made me cringe. I think they declared their love much too quickly, which just made me mad. Maybe it's because I don't like cheesy endings anyway, or that rushed relationships are definitely in the top five things I hate most in books, or that I was so mad I was blinded by it. Maybe it was because I needed to hurry up and finish the book because I needed to send it off to someone else, so I wasn't paying close attention to the details. Whatever the reason, it just didn't sit well with me personally. If I ever get to reread this one my opinion might be changed because I know what I'm getting in to and I can pay closer attention to the things leading up to the end.

Do I recommend As You Wish even though I had a big problem with it? Definitely. As You Wish is still a fun, light book that I'm sure will charm many.

As You Wish will be released on August 25- this Tuesday!

7-7.5ish/10 (I can't choose. Sue me.)

Links: Jackson's website and blog/twitter/amazing youtube channel

HarperTeen/Hardcover/$16.99/Amazon/B&N/Borders/IndieBound

*This is Traveling to Teens tour stop! ^^