Review: . I wouldn't call it a sappy romance novel, but more of a light hearted coming of age type of romance
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 12 15, 2012
I found the first book of the Djinn Masters Legacy series to be very riveting and I would throw it into the Fantasy Romance category. This is a YA book about a 17 year-old girl who gets her world turned upside down when she finds out that genies are real.Cat has moved with her family across the United States following her father's work, although no one exactly knows what he job really is. Cat has been having realistic dreams for as long as she can remember and seeing a dark man sitting on her bed when she wakes in the middle of the night... at 2:32 am...every night.Cat starts out as a normal teenage girl hanging out with her friends, reconnecting with and dating the high school quarterback and her 3 brothers who play football and 1 is a budding rock star. This all changes when she is informed she has the chance to become a real life genie, with all of the magical powers it entails. However she also gets all of the problems that would accompany an all-powerful genie.The plot starts out very mysteriously as we don't know who the black man is, or the handsome blonde man, or the woman who looks like Cleopatra and causes Cat some pretty extreme nightmares. As the plot unfolds we slowly learn of these people and what roles they will play in Cat's final decision of wither or not to accept Finnegan's (black man) powers. At this point Cat's life takes a turn for the worse as her nightmares increase as well as the disruption it's causing with her home, school and social life.Cat and all of her supporting characters fill the plot in nicely and Emily wrote each one of them incredibly realistically. Each has many noticeable traits and mannerisms that could apply to almost any person in real life. I found it very fun to read as Cat went through each situation and not only gained insight into the magical world, but also insight into who she is and what she wants to do with her life.As a romance you expect the drama, and you get it, but it's not so much that it pulls from the Fantasy portion of the storyline. It has the regular teenage angst of a YA novel intricately woven with the adult feelings of loss and regret. I wouldn't call it a sappy romance novel, but more of a light hearted coming of age type of romance where Cat learns there is way more to life then high school and summer camp.The ending was left open and I am waiting to see just what happens in the second book of the series. The major plot lines were all tied up, but as in real life, the romantic aspect seems to be a constantly changing aspect of Cat's life. Will the next book hold the answers to the questions Cat still has? I can't wait to find out!