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book_gremlin42's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Sexism, and Gore
Minor: Sexual content and Pregnancy
lisawreading's review
5.0
Jinn and Juice is the first volume in a new urban fantasy series -- and I loved it! Full of the adventure, danger, and snarky humor that are trademarks of this author, Jinn and Juice tells the story of a jinni living in modern day Pittsburgh. It's delicious. See my full review at Bookshelf Fantasies.
blodeuedd's review against another edition
3.0
Poor Leila, cursed to be a Jinni, to serve her masters as they see fit. But when the book starts she is free and hoping to stay so since her curse will be ending soon *fingers crossed*.
But what kind of book would that be? A boring one. So insert a Magi that needs help and that needs a Jinni. He finds her, he binds her, she is pissed! But then who would not be. She is his slave.
But ;) of course these two are slowly gonna think, huh, he/she is hot. There is romance after all in this book. And the Magi is really nice, and Leila is hot. But slowly. Nothing is really happening in this book. They have time. There are more books.
Ok so I told you about the hint of coming romance. Now let's talk about the danger. First, find a kidnapped teen. Second, what is going on? Why are people gunning for them? A race against the clock. Tick tock, in more than one way.
I liked the jinni mythology, that was great, honestly I could have read only that. I like interesting world building and I have not seen a lot of Jinnis around.
Interesting start, I'd like to see more
But what kind of book would that be? A boring one. So insert a Magi that needs help and that needs a Jinni. He finds her, he binds her, she is pissed! But then who would not be. She is his slave.
But ;) of course these two are slowly gonna think, huh, he/she is hot. There is romance after all in this book. And the Magi is really nice, and Leila is hot. But slowly. Nothing is really happening in this book. They have time. There are more books.
Ok so I told you about the hint of coming romance. Now let's talk about the danger. First, find a kidnapped teen. Second, what is going on? Why are people gunning for them? A race against the clock. Tick tock, in more than one way.
I liked the jinni mythology, that was great, honestly I could have read only that. I like interesting world building and I have not seen a lot of Jinnis around.
Interesting start, I'd like to see more
k8s's review against another edition
2.0
Not really my thing, but, having said that, it could make an amusing B movie.
inmyhumbleopinion's review against another edition
4.0
I am always looking for something different. This is a different kind of love story. Jinn and Juice introduces you to a whole world of paranormal characters including those that are misfits like Leila a human cursed to be a Jinni for a thousand years unless she is bound when the time is up then she will be cursed for another thousand years etc. Needless to say Leila doesn’t have the best attitude but she is unbound and her sentence is up in 35 days. Or is she? Enter our hero Ozan Sawyer, a Magi with the ability to See, Call, and Bind jinn, who is on a quest and needs Leila’s help willing or not.
I had a bit of trouble getting started (mostly because of Leila’s attitude) but then got sucked in and couldn’t put it down. This is a terrifically scary and wonderful world. I was a little put out by the ending but will race to buy the next book if only to see what happens next.
I had a bit of trouble getting started (mostly because of Leila’s attitude) but then got sucked in and couldn’t put it down. This is a terrifically scary and wonderful world. I was a little put out by the ending but will race to buy the next book if only to see what happens next.
moirwyn's review against another edition
4.0
This review originally appeared on my blog, Books Without Any Pictures:
http://bookswithoutanypictures.com/2015/07/01/jinn-and-juice-by-nicole-peeler/
Imagine a world where magical creatures are real and live among us. We don’t see them, because they keep to themselves and try not to shatter our worldview. These beings have their own pecking order, and even though we’re at the bottom of the chain, we could be a threat if we were to band together and try to eradicate them. And so, they hide in the shadows and go about their business. Now, imagine that all of that is happening in Pittsburgh.
I grew up in Western Pennsylvania, and Pittsburgh was the nearest real city to my hometown. That means that I’ve spent a decent amount of time there over the years, on everything from benign school trips to shenanigans involving lederhosen, shot skis, and dancing on tables at the Hofbrauhaus. So when I heard about Jinn and Juice, the first in a new urban fantasy series that just so happens to be set in Pittsburgh, I couldn’t resist.
The protagonist is a belly-dancing Jinni named Lyla. She works at a club that’s frequented by other supernatural types, and she’s built up a relatively happy life. But Lyla isn’t a normal Jinni. She wasn’t born that way. Instead, she was the victim of a curse that transformed her from an ordinary human girl into a jinni, and all the rules that go with it. When she is bound by a master, Lyla grows exponentially stronger, but is no longer free, and can be forced to do unspeakable things (although, as Lyla points out, there are loopholes in the way that she fulfills wishes. For example, if her master demanded sexual favors, she could make it seem to him like something was happening, when he was really interacting with a piece of fruit instead of a person).
For Lyla, Pittsburgh is a safe haven for the magi who want to enslave her. In the world of Jinn and Juice, magic is most effective around certain nodes of power. Pittsburgh has one of the strongest nodes in the world. However, the mining and steel industries polluted the node with iron, and so Pittsburgh’s magic remains tainted and inaccessible to most magical beings. Lyla wants nothing more to be human again, which is possible if she remains unbound when the curse comes to its end, and staying in Pittsburgh has gotten her extremely close to achieving her goal.
That is, of course, until a handsome stranger binds Lyla. But Ozan isn’t your typical magi who thinks of jinni as chattel. He fully acknowledges that binding Lyla is a reprehensible thing to do, but he’s trying to save a missing child from a terrible situation, and he’s exhausted all other options. The moment that Oz binds Lyla, she realizes that her unique situation as a jinni who was created rather than born means that she’s the only being who can channel Pittsburgh’s magical node as if it were any other. This makes Lyla a target for the mechanations of Kourous, the jinni who cursed her nearly a thousand years before.
Jinn and Juice was an entertaining read filled with colorful characters. I loved reading the descriptions of Lyla’s friends, who are fiercely protective of her when Ozan appears on the scene, and become almost like family. Even though Lyla spends the entire book struggling to become human, one of the themes that permeates the book is that she’s already found support and happiness just being herself. And even though I was rooting for her happiness, I’m not quite sure that becoming human is what would really make Lyla happy. I think she’d be better off if she could find a way to keep her magic without being vulnerable to being bound, because after a thousand years, it feels like she’d be casting off a significant portion of her identity rather quickly, and I think she’d miss it once it was too late. But that’s probably me overthinking it, because Jinn and Juice isn’t a particularly deep novel. And to me, that’s okay, because there are times when a light feel good adventure with a smidgen of romance is perfect. I read most of it in airports and some of it while jetlagged, and so I was glad that it wasn’t so much a thinking book as a forget-your-surroundings-cause-magic book. I’m also a big sucker for books where the setting becomes equally as important as characters, kind of how like in Crime and Punishment the city of St. Petersburg becomes the embodiment of Raskolnikov’s troubled mind. Not that Jinn and Juice is anything like Dostoevsky, but still, you get the point.
…and I just realized that this review is already significantly longer than usual, and I haven’t even gotten to the romance part. I’m gonna have to stop myself here, because to be fair, you probably were getting pretty close to the tl;dr point at least a paragraph ago (for folks who didn’t grow up on the internet, tl;dr = too long, didn’t read).
In summation, Jinn and Juice is a fun travel read that creates a magical alternate version of one of my favorite cities. It’s probably not for everyone, but I’ve been on a bit of a jinni kick lately, and enjoyed it quite a bit.
http://bookswithoutanypictures.com/2015/07/01/jinn-and-juice-by-nicole-peeler/
Imagine a world where magical creatures are real and live among us. We don’t see them, because they keep to themselves and try not to shatter our worldview. These beings have their own pecking order, and even though we’re at the bottom of the chain, we could be a threat if we were to band together and try to eradicate them. And so, they hide in the shadows and go about their business. Now, imagine that all of that is happening in Pittsburgh.
I grew up in Western Pennsylvania, and Pittsburgh was the nearest real city to my hometown. That means that I’ve spent a decent amount of time there over the years, on everything from benign school trips to shenanigans involving lederhosen, shot skis, and dancing on tables at the Hofbrauhaus. So when I heard about Jinn and Juice, the first in a new urban fantasy series that just so happens to be set in Pittsburgh, I couldn’t resist.
The protagonist is a belly-dancing Jinni named Lyla. She works at a club that’s frequented by other supernatural types, and she’s built up a relatively happy life. But Lyla isn’t a normal Jinni. She wasn’t born that way. Instead, she was the victim of a curse that transformed her from an ordinary human girl into a jinni, and all the rules that go with it. When she is bound by a master, Lyla grows exponentially stronger, but is no longer free, and can be forced to do unspeakable things (although, as Lyla points out, there are loopholes in the way that she fulfills wishes. For example, if her master demanded sexual favors, she could make it seem to him like something was happening, when he was really interacting with a piece of fruit instead of a person).
For Lyla, Pittsburgh is a safe haven for the magi who want to enslave her. In the world of Jinn and Juice, magic is most effective around certain nodes of power. Pittsburgh has one of the strongest nodes in the world. However, the mining and steel industries polluted the node with iron, and so Pittsburgh’s magic remains tainted and inaccessible to most magical beings. Lyla wants nothing more to be human again, which is possible if she remains unbound when the curse comes to its end, and staying in Pittsburgh has gotten her extremely close to achieving her goal.
That is, of course, until a handsome stranger binds Lyla. But Ozan isn’t your typical magi who thinks of jinni as chattel. He fully acknowledges that binding Lyla is a reprehensible thing to do, but he’s trying to save a missing child from a terrible situation, and he’s exhausted all other options. The moment that Oz binds Lyla, she realizes that her unique situation as a jinni who was created rather than born means that she’s the only being who can channel Pittsburgh’s magical node as if it were any other. This makes Lyla a target for the mechanations of Kourous, the jinni who cursed her nearly a thousand years before.
Jinn and Juice was an entertaining read filled with colorful characters. I loved reading the descriptions of Lyla’s friends, who are fiercely protective of her when Ozan appears on the scene, and become almost like family. Even though Lyla spends the entire book struggling to become human, one of the themes that permeates the book is that she’s already found support and happiness just being herself. And even though I was rooting for her happiness, I’m not quite sure that becoming human is what would really make Lyla happy. I think she’d be better off if she could find a way to keep her magic without being vulnerable to being bound, because after a thousand years, it feels like she’d be casting off a significant portion of her identity rather quickly, and I think she’d miss it once it was too late. But that’s probably me overthinking it, because Jinn and Juice isn’t a particularly deep novel. And to me, that’s okay, because there are times when a light feel good adventure with a smidgen of romance is perfect. I read most of it in airports and some of it while jetlagged, and so I was glad that it wasn’t so much a thinking book as a forget-your-surroundings-cause-magic book. I’m also a big sucker for books where the setting becomes equally as important as characters, kind of how like in Crime and Punishment the city of St. Petersburg becomes the embodiment of Raskolnikov’s troubled mind. Not that Jinn and Juice is anything like Dostoevsky, but still, you get the point.
…and I just realized that this review is already significantly longer than usual, and I haven’t even gotten to the romance part. I’m gonna have to stop myself here, because to be fair, you probably were getting pretty close to the tl;dr point at least a paragraph ago (for folks who didn’t grow up on the internet, tl;dr = too long, didn’t read).
In summation, Jinn and Juice is a fun travel read that creates a magical alternate version of one of my favorite cities. It’s probably not for everyone, but I’ve been on a bit of a jinni kick lately, and enjoyed it quite a bit.
diaryofthebookdragon's review against another edition
3.0
As soon as I saw the cover I was instantly attracted to Jinn and Juice. It had glamorous, Vegas feel with humorous vibe (thanks to the tagline). I’m always looking forward to read new urban fantasy authors and I could not wait to find out what Nicole Peeler had in store for me.
"Nowadays magic was something for Dungeons and Dragons. In books, vampires sparkled and really wanted to marry teenagers who tripped a lot. Hollywood only dreamed about jinn. And none of these creatures or powers really existed in the same universe as chaos theory, or particle accelerators, or atomic bombs… except they did."
Jinn and Juice is set in Pittsburgh, where Leila is a belly dancer in a burlesque club called Purgatory. And it’s not an ordinary club – Purgatory caters to special clientele, only paranormal beings are customers. Purgatory is a colorful place where it’s not unusual to see “a pooka snorting a line of faux-brosia off the bared tits of a weredeer”.
Add to this the fact that Pittsburgh’s steel industry taints magic so no pure-blood paranormal creatures can use it – that promises a diverse cast of unique characters. And, oh boy, Nicole Peeler sure does deliver!
Except for Leila, who is a jinni, we have oracles, trolls, will-o’-wisps, spider-wraiths, etc. They all form a strange group of weird friends and reminded me of a big dysfunctional family.
The problem, when we have a such a strong group of secondary characters, is that that they took my attention (and affection) from main characters. Leila was ok, expect for her potty-mouth, but I was too distracted with will-o’-wisp’s shenanigans or charmed by Rachel’s sassy comments.
“Girl, everybody is a zygote compared to you,” Rachel said, tutting at me in her own mirror. “You are like a gabillion years old. If you use age as an excuse not to get any, you will have to go down on Methuselah.”
“I am not going down on Methuselah. That shit’s gotta be bitter by now.”
As for Leila’s master, Oz, he was something rare in urban fantasy novels: truly kind and gentle male. But his silence and thoughtfulness only somehow made him pale comparing to others. And his questions to Leila about everything (and her explanations) were sometimes boring.
IN THE END…
Although that moment when I fall in love with main characters never happened, I was truly charmed by secondary cast and impressed by descriptions of parallel paranormal world Nicole Peeler invented. I will continue reading The Jinni series and who knows, maybe Leila and Oz will also grow on me in time.
Recommended for everyone looking for interesting urban fantasy series with big diverse paranormal cast of characters (if you don’t mind that there will be a lot of swearing).
Disclaimer: I received this ebook from NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review. This text is also posted on my blog Bookworm Dreams in a little bit more styled edition.
"Nowadays magic was something for Dungeons and Dragons. In books, vampires sparkled and really wanted to marry teenagers who tripped a lot. Hollywood only dreamed about jinn. And none of these creatures or powers really existed in the same universe as chaos theory, or particle accelerators, or atomic bombs… except they did."
Jinn and Juice is set in Pittsburgh, where Leila is a belly dancer in a burlesque club called Purgatory. And it’s not an ordinary club – Purgatory caters to special clientele, only paranormal beings are customers. Purgatory is a colorful place where it’s not unusual to see “a pooka snorting a line of faux-brosia off the bared tits of a weredeer”.
Add to this the fact that Pittsburgh’s steel industry taints magic so no pure-blood paranormal creatures can use it – that promises a diverse cast of unique characters. And, oh boy, Nicole Peeler sure does deliver!
Except for Leila, who is a jinni, we have oracles, trolls, will-o’-wisps, spider-wraiths, etc. They all form a strange group of weird friends and reminded me of a big dysfunctional family.
The problem, when we have a such a strong group of secondary characters, is that that they took my attention (and affection) from main characters. Leila was ok, expect for her potty-mouth, but I was too distracted with will-o’-wisp’s shenanigans or charmed by Rachel’s sassy comments.
“Girl, everybody is a zygote compared to you,” Rachel said, tutting at me in her own mirror. “You are like a gabillion years old. If you use age as an excuse not to get any, you will have to go down on Methuselah.”
“I am not going down on Methuselah. That shit’s gotta be bitter by now.”
As for Leila’s master, Oz, he was something rare in urban fantasy novels: truly kind and gentle male. But his silence and thoughtfulness only somehow made him pale comparing to others. And his questions to Leila about everything (and her explanations) were sometimes boring.
IN THE END…
Although that moment when I fall in love with main characters never happened, I was truly charmed by secondary cast and impressed by descriptions of parallel paranormal world Nicole Peeler invented. I will continue reading The Jinni series and who knows, maybe Leila and Oz will also grow on me in time.
Recommended for everyone looking for interesting urban fantasy series with big diverse paranormal cast of characters (if you don’t mind that there will be a lot of swearing).
Disclaimer: I received this ebook from NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review. This text is also posted on my blog Bookworm Dreams in a little bit more styled edition.
sjj169's review against another edition
2.0
This was a case of cover loving. I saw that beautiful cover and squeed my fan-girl yell.
Then I smacked myself upside the head when I started reading this.
A pretty cover does not a great book make.
After almost making it the thousand years needed to escape her Jinn curse Leila ends up being bound by a dumb-ass. A bland, boring, spineless dumb-ass.
Ozan Sawyer binds her to help him find a missing girl who of course is in jeopardy.
Borrringgg.
The side characters gave this story a star all of their own, they were fun and there is a whole bunch of stuff going on with this story. I just wish more time had been spent on world building and less on worrying about making a love connection between the two main characters.
I didn't hate the book but I'm erasing it from my mind for being vanilla.
Then I smacked myself upside the head when I started reading this.
A pretty cover does not a great book make.
After almost making it the thousand years needed to escape her Jinn curse Leila ends up being bound by a dumb-ass. A bland, boring, spineless dumb-ass.
Ozan Sawyer binds her to help him find a missing girl who of course is in jeopardy.
Borrringgg.
The side characters gave this story a star all of their own, they were fun and there is a whole bunch of stuff going on with this story. I just wish more time had been spent on world building and less on worrying about making a love connection between the two main characters.
I didn't hate the book but I'm erasing it from my mind for being vanilla.
marimoose's review against another edition
3.0
chllybrd's review against another edition
3.0
A great pace, interesting and eccentric characters, and a bit of romance is what you will find in JINN AND JUICE.
Leila spends her time belly dancing at Purgatory. She has remained a free jinn for a long while, her curse is almost up and she looks forward to being human again. She was feisty, loyal and easy to like. The romance was OK at best. Oz is a Magi and Leila is his bound Jinn so right off the bat they are in a master/slave relationship. Granted Oz is not your typical Magi and doesn't treat her like crap, but he needs Leila so he isn't willing to free her even though her curse could be permanent if he doesn't. They slowly build up a romance and respect for each other, but things are always in the way and they aren't willing to go full in. Maybe book two will find them officially a couple.
JINN AND JUICE has a great cast of secondary characters and I really loved all of Leila's friends and their loyalty towards her. The world of The Jinni could be a little more built than it was. You do get some explanations of pasts and you definitely have a good idea of everything that is involved in the world, but it didn't feel like we got everything.
JINN AND JUICE has a great cover and a great author wrote it, so it was a given that I would read it when I had the chance. My chance came, I read it and although I did enjoy JINN AND JUICE I didn't fall in love with it. I'm not saying I won't read more when future books come out, but they won't be on my must read list either.
* This book was provided free of charge from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Leila spends her time belly dancing at Purgatory. She has remained a free jinn for a long while, her curse is almost up and she looks forward to being human again. She was feisty, loyal and easy to like. The romance was OK at best. Oz is a Magi and Leila is his bound Jinn so right off the bat they are in a master/slave relationship. Granted Oz is not your typical Magi and doesn't treat her like crap, but he needs Leila so he isn't willing to free her even though her curse could be permanent if he doesn't. They slowly build up a romance and respect for each other, but things are always in the way and they aren't willing to go full in. Maybe book two will find them officially a couple.
JINN AND JUICE has a great cast of secondary characters and I really loved all of Leila's friends and their loyalty towards her. The world of The Jinni could be a little more built than it was. You do get some explanations of pasts and you definitely have a good idea of everything that is involved in the world, but it didn't feel like we got everything.
JINN AND JUICE has a great cover and a great author wrote it, so it was a given that I would read it when I had the chance. My chance came, I read it and although I did enjoy JINN AND JUICE I didn't fall in love with it. I'm not saying I won't read more when future books come out, but they won't be on my must read list either.
* This book was provided free of charge from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.