Review: Jinn and Juice by Nicole Peeler

Jinn and Juice

Author: Nicole Peeler

Release Date: April 7, 2015

Publisher: Orbit

The Jinni Book #1

ISBN:  0316407356

ISBN13: 9780316407359

Genre: Urban Fantasy

Review Copy Source: NetGalley

Cursed to be a jinni for a thousand years, Leila nears the end of her servitude—only to be bound once again against her will. Will she risk all to be human?

Born in ancient Persia, Leila turned to her house Jinni, Kouros, for help escaping an arranged marriage. Kouros did make it impossible for her to marry—by cursing Leila to live a thousand years as a Jinni herself.

If she can remain unBound, Leila's curse will soon be over. But Ozan Sawyer, a Magi with the ability to See, Call, and Bind jinn has other plans.
Oz needs Leila to help him penetrate Pittsburgh's steel-soaked magic, a juice potent but poisonous to supernatural creatures, in order to find a missing girl with her own mysterious connection to Kouros. Unfortunately for Leila, becoming Bound to Oz may risk more than just her chance to be human once more—it could risk her very soul...

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. 

I gave it 3/5 stars

* This book was provided free of charge from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.