Three Wishes by Stephanie Bond
When I decided to read this book, I knew that Stephanie Bond was two things -- a well read author and an author of romance novels. Now, romance novels are not usually in my wheelhouse, and I had not read this author before, but the title and cover art left no question that this would be a story that incorporated a little of the Arabian Nights legend in its telling. I wasn't wrong.
Okay -- so first, let's talk about what I liked about the book.
First and foremost for me, in almost every instance, is proofreading and editing. For this, Ms. Bond gets an A+. No misspellings, no grammar mistakes, no misused words. Kudos -- and I played around with giving the book 4 stars on this alone.
Second, Bond does a very nice job of characterization, creating characters that are identifiable and real, and whom the reader finds easy to like -- even the most 'villainous' of the bunch was likeable.
Also, her story was fun -- boy desires girl, girl desires position and wealth, girl has boyfriend who can provide both. Can true love win in the end? Toss in an old copper oil lamp, a mysterious, even mischievous Oriental carpet, a flock of butterflies, and a befuddled Djinn and what's not to like (I'll tell you what later)?
Good plotting, pacing and a nice, every loose end tied up in the denouement.
Fun twists and turns and a lot of humor throughout.
If you love romantic comedies, you will love this book. It is a quick summer read.
So, why didn't I rate it higher than 3 stars?
First, although I occasionally read romance, it's not really my favorite genre.
For one thing, there's the predominance of sex, as if romance is somehow all about the fusing of body parts. For those of us who live in the real world, the reality is that love is more often a lot of work, a lot of stress and, if we're very lucky, occasionally includes really good sex. I wish today's romance writers were more concerned with the euphoria that accompanies lovemaking than with the physical mechanics. So, I find myself either laughing at or skipping over most of the soft porn descriptions to get on with the actual story. Some writers can do sex, even explicit sex, well -- I didn't find Bond to be one of those.
For another, it seemed a little cheesy, almost bordering on orientalism. The protagonist's name? Ladden. Really? The love-interest's name? Jasmine. The carpet? It flies. The oil lamp? The Djinn was imprisoned in it until Ladden sets it free as he is cleaning it. Sigh. And, please note that I am using the correct word for the Arabic male magical being: Djinn, not Genie. And the female is a Djinni or Jenny, again not Genie or Jeanie. I know, I know, I'm swimming upstream of years and years of cultural misappropriation, but it still galls me that authors that do their research in most other areas think it's okay to just perpetuate this mistake (and, yes, I Dream of Jeanie was a favorite of mine, too).
So, I'll give credit where it's due. Bond is a skilled novelist who does great characters, good plotting, and cares enough about her readership to go the extra mile with editing and proofreading. I'll say it again -- if you are a romance fan, you'll love this book. But, it's just not my taste.