Great Reads brings you book reviews on teen books that parents will love from such great young adult authors as Garth Nix, Clare Dunkle, DJ Machale, Stephanie Meyer and many more.

Thursday, June 14, 2007

Careful What You Wish For: Lucy Finn

"Careful What You Wish For" is a first novel by Lucy Finn. It is the story of Ravine (pronounced Rah-Vine), a smart lawyer who finds herself a single parent to Brady. Unable to keep her previous, semi-lucrative career, she moves back home and takes up residence in the house her grandfather left her. Life is an interesting challenge, and becomes even more so when she receives the gift of a "diaper genie" with an amber bottle inside. When she uncorks it, Gene appears in a puff of smoke and declares himself to be a genie, her genie to be exact, and that she's been given the gift of three wishes. Once she's made them, he'll be free to go home- 1949, where he was cursed by a Caliph after crashing in WWII.

Ravine doesn't know what to make of it, but Gene is obviously real and so is his magic. It doesn't help that he's handsome, young (29), and obviously crushing on his new master. So what's a girl to do?

I really enjoyed "Careful What You Wish For". Ravine is an instantly likeable character whose story is told from the first person point of view (always slightly awkward for "adult" scenes, but Finn handled them well). She makes real world references and paints a terrific picture of the little town of Noxen. It's a terrific example of magical realism. A great read!

No comments: