Book Review: How Not to Make a Wish

How Not to Make a Wish by Mindy Klasky

Released: October 1, 2009

Publisher: Mira
Pages: 336
Rating: 2 stars

Kira Franklin loves the theater. The theater is her life.

But stage manager Kira's down-at-the-heels dinner theater is failing fast; she's about to find herself out of a job. While cleaning out a prop closet, Kira discovers a dusty brass lamp. When she polishes it, she's astonished to discover a genie, bound to grant her wishes.

The first wish is easy: Kira arranges to stage manage a production of Romeo and Juliet at the prestigious Landmark Stage, where the hunky Drew Myers plays a leading role. She soon discovers, though, that wishes and genies (not to mention true love) aren't always what they seem!

A year later, Kira Franklin – still recovering from a break up, jobless and an extra thirty pounds heavier – is in desperate need of a miracle. One day, she gets that miracle in the shape of a genie. Now her troubles are over…or so she thinks. Her wishes end up making her life anything but easier. Every wish seems to just turn into a huge fiasco – like when she wished away her extra thirty pounds, her family and friends began to think she was anorexic.

How Not to Make a Wish sounded interesting when I read the back of the book, but I’m disappointed to say it was anything but. It was ridiculously predictable, and the plot really fell flat. I had a hard time trying to actually finish the entire book. The characters lacked depth and were too whiny for my liking. I also felt like the genie, Teel, was just thrown in to mix things up a bit because not really anything was revealed about his character. He just popped in every now and again to help move the story along.

How Not to Make a Wish was not a book for me and I think it’s safe to say I won’t be reading the rest of this series.