Granted - Michelle Merrill

14:55:00 Victoria 0 Comments

The existence of genies may be the best kept secret in the history of the world.

After being trapped in the Sahara Desert her whole life, sixteen-year-old genie Brielle finally gets her first assignment in Tri-Cities, Washington. She eagerly heads out into the human world to grant her first wish so she can gain her magic. Unfortunately, her assigned human, Addie, gave up believing in wishes years ago and would much rather everyone just leave her alone.

Complicating everything is Rock, Brielle’s childhood friend turned enemy. Brielle doesn’t need him ruining her first trip out into the human world. Too bad she can’t keep her mind--or her eyes--off him and his annoyingly cute dimples.

To make matters worse, genies in the Tri-Cities area are suspiciously dying. One broken lamp could be an accident, but after three, Brielle suspects someone has uncovered the genies’ secret and is slowly killing them off one by one. 

With the Genie Council ignoring the threat, Brielle desperately needs to gain her magic so she can stop the murderer before she--or Rock--is the next genie to die.

Brielle was born a genie. As every genie before her, on her twelfth birthday her lamp will be assigned to a human. As soon as her human makes a wish, her magic is unlocked to grant wishes. Unfortunately, everything does not work out the way it should. For a genie, being without any magic and on lock down is basically the worst thing that could happen. Finally, after four years of waiting, her wish is fulfilled (kind of ironic for a genie, isn't it?) and she is assigned to her first human.

She is assigned to a caretaker, whose name is Vicky. Basically, the caretaker is the person who will help you adjust to human life. She understands very quickly that she has been assigned to a human only because one of the genie in the region has been killed. And this is when our story begins. Nor does she have to help out her protégée but she also has to find out who kills every genie in the region and why? In her quest, she will bring along Vicky and Rock - another genie in the region. And let me tell you that the attraction between Rock and Brielle is quite... rocky (I know, probably the worst play with words but that's how you love me). They go from hate to "friendship" and then to a possible love.

I have to admit that Brielle was kind of annoying at the beginning, acting like a spoiled brat even if I can understand how the perspective of being locked down without anyone could be quite... boring and painful. She liked complaining and playing the victim. But then, I grew fond of her when she actually takes matter into her own hands when no one really wishes to find the genies murderer (which confused me a little bit. Genies are killed and the others are just like "whatever").

The first character that we encounter is Rock. Through Brielle's perspective, we quickly understand that there is no love between them (even though I think that Brielle was mostly driven by jealousy because he has had several assignments over the years and her, none). He was mysterious. It tooks me some time to figure out where he stood. There was a part of mystery around his involvement in all these disappearances. However, at some point, this brave dude really (and I mean, reaaaaally) deserved a good slap in the face to bring him back to reality. He refused to see the truth and it was crystal clear about what was happening around him. But he really redeemed himself when Brielle had her burnout and was to stay in the nurse's office. He was so sweet and caring. I think my heart melted a little bit.

Brielle was at first some kind of spoiled brat who turned out to be quite brave and caring. She would do anything for her friends. She is the only one to care about what is going on with all these lamps breaking (which leads to genies' deaths). It will take her quite some time before Addie makes a wish (we almost thought this day would never come). I was disappointed that she did not try to make a move on Travis. I loved that dude so much. He seemed funny and loving. I was like "Girl! If you're waiting for Prince Charming, you'll have to wait a freaking long time!".

And the final character I would like to talk about is Addie. I don't really know if I liked her or not. I can understand when someone is very introverted. But she was very "fade" compared to the other characters. I felt like she was using Brielle in a way. She did not seem to be the real friend material. And she was waaaaay too forgiving towards the end (you'll understand when you come to that scene".

In conclusion, it was quite a nice book with a very original storyline. I mean I had never read books with genies before. I really did like the plot around the genies dying and Brielle taking the matter into her hands. The chemistry around Brielle and Rock was definitely a big plus. In other words, be prepared for the second book.

Tags: book, books, book review, blog, blogger, book blogger, book community, young adult, literature, fiction, Granted, Michelle Merrill, fantasy