by Beryll & Osiris Brackhaus
M/M Paranormal/Mythology
Review Copy supplied by authors
4 Stars
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Blurb:
Loving Djinni’ is a charming, screwball-y paranormal m/m romance about ancient magic meeting modern men, and how true love still is the strongest magic of them all.
Left to die in a sealed tomb, David, an educated and good-natured New York arts dealer and part-time forger, stumbles over an old oil lamp. But instead of producing a little light for David’s last hours, it conjures forth a veritable djinni.
An ancient, tempting, puckish djinni, who in David’s company prefers to show himself as an irresistibly handsome, fit and barely legal teenager. Quite literally an incarnation of trouble waiting to happen.
So what’s a modern man to do with his three wishes, when he can have anything except the one thing he truly desires - to mend his broken heart?
***
Review 4 Stars:
David has recently spit up with his boyfriend, Stanley, who accuses David of being such a nerd, he's so boring and Stanley doesn't know what he ever saw in him. David's confidence is at rock bottom so when an opportunity arises to actually go on a dig on a real Egyptian tomb, David decides to go on the spur of a minute trip, despite the fact that he's never done anything like this before.
Renowned as an art and antiques dealer, David also has a bit of a criminal streak and has more than once palmed off fakes with fraudulent papers as to their origins. So the fact that the dig isn't strictly legal doesn't faze him at first. But he should pick his adventurers more carefully next time, if there is next time, for they attack him, knocking him out and resealing the tomb afterwards, leaving David to die alone
Until he found a very strange lamp.
Locked in a lamp for thousands of years, Sharu, an immortal djinni is only ever temporarily set free when a mortal finds the lamp, rubs it and gets granted three wishes. As soon as the third wish is made however, it's back into the lamp he goes.
He hates mortals, sees them as nothing more than vermin and he's such a trickster than he can twist the wishes around somewhat, depending on what the mortal asks for.
Their relationship starts out fairly rock at first, each not sure if trusting the other is a good idea, but they do gradually get to know one another, not just as master and slave.
David has no wish for a slave, and despite some of his criminal leanings, he is not cruel or malicious and wants to do the right thing by Sharu. He wonders if there is some way of breaking the curse, of setting Sharu free, but Sharu doesn't think there is. After all, he'd been cursed to be imprisoned for eternity.
There's a bit of humour, a bit of angst and lots of fun banter back and forth between the two heroes.
The relationship is more of a slow burn, but when they do get there, boy does the passion sizzle between them. And there's lots of delicious UST throughout the book before they get there.
In the book, there are quite a few references to Sharu looking young, or barely legal at times, which threw me out a bit somewhat. Sharu seemed to take a form of a young man round about nineteen. I'm in the UK, where the age of consent is sixteen, so reading about someone who looks around nineteen as barely legal was a bit jarring. Just say he looks like a young man, that's all that was needed.
That aside, it was a fun, adorable read. It was refreshing to read a paranormal story which wasn't populated with werewolves and vampires. It's a bit quirky in places and made me smile.
And if you want to know if David and Sharu get their happily ever after, you'll just have to read the story to find out. Suspend disbelief for a few hours and give it a go.
***
About the Authors:
Beryll and Osiris Brackhaus are a couple currently living their happily ever after in the very heart of Germany, under the stern but loving surveillance of their cat. Both are voracious but picky readers, they love telling stories and drinking tea, good food and the occasional violent movie. Together, they write novels of adventure and romance, hoping to share a little of their happiness with their readers.
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