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A review by rosemarieshort
The Wish Granter by C.J. Redwine
3.0
I am solidly torn when it comes to this book. Whilst I live for fairytale retellings, and a Rumplestilskin version is very welcome, I just felt like there was something...off about this read. It took me a while to work out what. The story is about a kingdom ruled by a ill-fated wish, a wish granter who has evil intentions, a fiery and smart princess with a sweet, badass (also non-problematic which was cool) love interest. All great elements. I think my issue, on reflection, was the pacing.
If I rated the last 100 pages it would be 4 stars. The first 100, 2 stars. The middle is solid 3 star territory. The build of everything; the romance, showdowns with the big bad, even character development all came too slowly, then all at once. It made the first couple of reading sessions a drag and the last a lot of fun. Saying that, if you’re willing to stick out that first quarter, The Wish Granter has plenty to offer. My favourite moments were interactions between Ari and Teague - her intelligence and fast talking versus his evil cunning were definitely fun. There’s a scene where he tells her about his past that I loved - I wish there had been more of that!
As well as having a pretty great heroine, I enjoyed the hero - Sebastian has his own backstory, his own demons and whilst his actions are pretty solely surrounding his feelings for Ari, his character isn’t built on being a love interest, and I really enjoyed that.
Overall, a fun read but had I had a Wish Granter myself I would have asked for more mythology / Teague history. He’s the titular character, after all, and that addition would have really made the story more compelling in my eyes.
If I rated the last 100 pages it would be 4 stars. The first 100, 2 stars. The middle is solid 3 star territory. The build of everything; the romance, showdowns with the big bad, even character development all came too slowly, then all at once. It made the first couple of reading sessions a drag and the last a lot of fun. Saying that, if you’re willing to stick out that first quarter, The Wish Granter has plenty to offer. My favourite moments were interactions between Ari and Teague - her intelligence and fast talking versus his evil cunning were definitely fun. There’s a scene where he tells her about his past that I loved - I wish there had been more of that!
As well as having a pretty great heroine, I enjoyed the hero - Sebastian has his own backstory, his own demons and whilst his actions are pretty solely surrounding his feelings for Ari, his character isn’t built on being a love interest, and I really enjoyed that.
Overall, a fun read but had I had a Wish Granter myself I would have asked for more mythology / Teague history. He’s the titular character, after all, and that addition would have really made the story more compelling in my eyes.