Wednesday, September 16, 2015

I Wish by Elizabeth Langston Review

"What Lacey needs is a miracle. What she gets is a genie with rules.

Lacey Linden is hiding the truth of her life—a depressed mom, a crumbling house, and bills too big to pay. While her high school classmates see a girl with a ready smile and good grades, Lacey spends her evenings seeking ways to save her family. On a get-cash-quick trip to the flea market, Lacey stumbles over a music box that seemingly begs her to take it home. She does, only to find it is inhabited by a gorgeous "genie." He offers her a month of wishes, one per day, but there's a catch. Each wish must be humanly possible.

Grant belongs to a league of supernatural beings, dedicated to serving humans in need. After two years of fulfilling the boring wishes of conventional teens, he is one assignment away from promotion to a challenging new role with more daring cases. Yet his month with Lacey is everything that he expects and nothing like he imagines. Lacey and Grant soon discover that the most difficult task of all might be saying goodbye."

YABC. 

Wow, this is I Wish, the first book in the I Wish series. Now, this is a book I really enjoyed reading. I love Grant the genie, I love the lack of musical numbers, I love Lacey, I love the minor relationships, and I love the plot. Most of all, I love the romance between Lacey and Grant. *swoon* 

Here we go. Let's break it down. 

YA Paranormal, I Wish stars a genie named Grant and a normal girl named Lacey. Lacey finds a magical music box, and after doing a little cleaning, Grant appears out of nowhere. Boom. Of course, Lacey thinks she's insane, which results in a little humorous piece of dialogue I particularly enjoyed (but that isn't my most favorite part of the novel). Dialogue is great. 

Told from Lacey's POV with some report statuses written by Grant, the book goes through the ups and downs that is Lacey Linden. Lacey Linden is a complex character, and she truly runs the family. Her mother is depressed and ill while her brother is too young to fend for himself. Tired, hard-working, and amazing, Lacey manages to keep it all together and under her control. But with Grant... things spiral out of her control. It makes an interesting conflict and plot. Lacey's character development is great, and she really changes throughout the book. 

Grant is a genie who doesn't understand the human emotion spectrum. As the book goes along, Grant picks up things and forms human connections. It is an intriguing sight to see, especially from Lacey's perspective. Lacey, with her need for control, doesn't exactly like it, but she can't force her brother to not form attachments with Grant. And slowly, Lacey backs away and gives her family the space they really need. All with Grant's help. 

The romance is an amazing part of the book. Grant and Lacey's relationship is on a time limit, and they are on a timer. As much as they want to love each other, they simply just can't. And the forbidden-ness and the connection between them makes me a dedicated Lacey/Grant shipper. My new OTP. 

The humanly possible twist for a genie's wishes makes me laugh a bit. Yes, it makes sense and making genies do the wish manually does seem a little harsh, but the world building does help form the book. 

Overall, I Wish is an amazing new beginning to a new series. With a (sort of) emotion-lacking genie, a stubborn girl, and her wayward family, this book is on my "favorite books" list. I can't wait to read the sequel! 

Rating: Four out of Five

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