Review: Laugh out loud funny!
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 03 29, 2013
Originally Reviewed At: Mother/Gamer/WriterRating: 4.5 out of 5 ControllersReview Source: AuthorReviewer: AimeeKayI had so much fun reading Aladdin's Samovar. It was a fun and entertaining ride. There are a few things that I wish I could change (yes pun intended) but the good outweighs them. Let's start with the good.First, I loved Sweet's characters. I got lucky enough to get another main character that I really enjoyed reading about. Amber is far from perfect...but she is funny and endearing. I also really got attached to some of the supporting characters as well. Indigo was definitely amusing, she pretty much steals every scene she is in. Then there are people like Wanda, the Fairy Dogmother, her soul mate Tim, and ALL the VERY happy puppies! I even found myself laughing at the bad guys and eagerly waiting for what they would say or do next.Second I loved her description of The Garden State. There's one part where she describes the landscape and how it goes from industrial to farmland in basically the blink of an eye. I'm from Jersey so I can say her descriptions were spot on.Third the story itself just rolled right along. There was always something happening, even when it wasn't a huge action scene. Sweet even made reading about Amber running the bottle company amusing!The only two issues I have with the story mainly revolve around Jasper.One, I wish I could have found out more about him. The story hints at his back story, but there really isn't anything conclusive about the genie. Not how he became a genie or his powers or even his genie supervisors. All these things are teased at, but that's all and it kinda felt like there should have been more.Two, there is this underlying sexual tension between Amber and Jasper. They even start to get hot and heavy but then it, like his back story, just goes nowhere. It hints that there could be a relationship brewing between the two, even to the point that Jasper is breaking rules just for Amber because he cares about her. But the story never really gives any conclusion to their romance. And I don't mean just between the sheets, but they never even get into whether she cares about him or not. It just seemed with some of the build up earlier on in the book that there would be some definite romance by the end. Amazingly, this is the second book I've read where I've also wondered about the romantic build up that went nowhere, so maybe it is a new trend?Overall though, I really enjoyed this one. It was fast paced and funny. I'm giving it 4.5 out of 5 controllers if only because it felt like something was missing because of the lack of background or info on Jasper. However as for the characters themselves I want to give the author 5 out of 5 royalty award controllers, her characters were REALLY funny and even without going into an in depth background on all of them I found myself wanting to read more about them.