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rashikathebookowl

Rashika, The Book Owl

So my name is Rashika and I am weird. I read a lot (duh) and I watch a lot of TV. I also like to review. Check out my blog (where I co-blog with awesome people).

Entertaining if a little disappointing

Jinn and Juice - Nicole Peeler

***This review has also been posted on The Social Potato

I adore Jinn stories. Jinn are my favorite PNR creatures ever so whenever I hear about a book coming out that features them, I get superrr excited. Just like I was about this one. Sadly though, it didn’t amaze me the way I wanted it to.

There are so many things about it that I love and so many others that just didn’t work for me and this book just makes me want to throw my hands up in the air with frustration.

I am going to start off by saying this, Oz was a horrible love interest. He was so incredibly bland. And don’t get me wrong, I adore sweet guys,  I am totally on team good guy but Oz did not mark it. He was bland. Boring. He had no personality. Good guys are awesome and being good doesn’t mean you have no personality, but just because you’re good doesn’t mean you have one so… yeah. Oz definitely fell into the category of love interests who were just pretty much there. Oz has his purposes, sure, I mean he is Lyla’s master but that didn’t mean I thought he was a suitable love interest. In fact, the actions of his character are contradictory. He binds Lyla without her permission and then says it’s for the greater good. He is ‘supposed’ to be a nice guy but if he was so perfectly good and speshul HE COULD HAVE ASKED. But nope. Obviously some things just don’t work that way. Not that everything needs to go my way but I would have been able to get behind his actions with more ease if he wasn’t characterized as this good guy who can basically do no wrong (except binding Lyla without her permission).

The romance was also pretty much a nightmare. Nick and I were talking about this and she made a casual comment about how she had more chemistry with her pillow than the two characters had and she is totally right. Trying to compare their chemistry with the chemistry I have with my pillow would not be fair because my pillow and I have a very intense relationship, the kind these two cannot ever hope to have. *shakes head* It bothers me because when you read urban fantasy, you kind of expect the romances to have chemistry, it may not be all about the romance and I am 100% fine with that; what I am not fine with is the main couple having no chemistry. And moreover, their romance making no sense. THIS HAPPENS OVER THE COURSE OF A WEEK and the L word is used. WHAT IS THIS? Bah humbug. Rashika is so disappointed it’s annoying.

My rant aside, I can finally move on to the awesome bits, because believe me, this book does have a lot going for it.

For example, it has the best cast of best friends ever.They support her but at the same time, they rememeber to call her out on their shit. They tell her when they don’t agree with her, which is so important in friendships but when Lyla knows that what she is doing is the ‘right’ thing, her friends are willing to support her, regardless of the fact that they don’t necessarily think it’s the best idea.

Isn’t that what friendship is about? If I had Lyla’s friends as friends, I would never have to worry about someone trying to stab my back because they would have it.

Lyla is also a fun main character. Sometimes I got annoyed with her because whenever Oz came into the picture she would basically do things that made me question her. She is such a fun and feisty character and so easy to cheer for. I loved her wit and I just loved being in her head, even when she was swooning over a guy for no reason (that’s how I felt at least).

This book is fantastically paced and even if it was kind of long, I was flipping through the (digital) pages very quickly (considering that I was travelling and don’t usually like reading while on the move).

The world is built so fantastic too and I absolutely loved how this book included a completely different take on the idea of a true name. The world is so artistically developed and while it has many elements of typical urban fantasy novels, the author also managed to make certain ideas her own and I loved that!

This is a totally brain candy read and while many aspects of it disappointed me, I would not say I regret reading it. It was fun and had a wonderful cast of characters (except for Oz. Go away Oz, I don’t like you. Although don’t actually go away because then that would suck.) and fun world building and a well rounded plot. I may not have liked the ending and may have been more than a little frustrated by it but I won’t hesitate to continue to series so if you’re curious, I’d still say that you should give it a shot.

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