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When Aladdin discovers Zahra’s jinni lamp in a lost underground chamber, Zahra is thrust back into a world she hasn’t seen in hundreds of years, only to discover that magic is now forbidden and even Zahra’s existence is illegal. Until her new master has selected his three wishes, Zahra must disguise herself and hide her magic to stay alive.
But when the king of the Jinn offers Zahra a chance to be free of her lamp forever, she seizes the opportunity. All she has to do is get into the palace. She can trick Aladdin to use one of his wishes to become a prince in order to achieve that. There’s just one problem. Zahra never planned to fall in love with Aladdin along the way. Saving herself would mean betraying Aladdin, but is winning her freedom worth losing her heart?
As much as I love fairy tale retellings, I had a lot of doubts going into this book. I’d heard it had a lot of romance. Normally, I don’t like romance-heavy books; I find they lack character development and plot. But this story had a lot more going for it than I expected. The Forbidden Wish manages to take a familiar tale and make it into a new and exciting story full of lavishly described settings, powerful jinn, wishes that cannot be spoken, and interweaving stories that take place in both Zahra’s present and past, creating depth of character and showing that love can be not just between two romantically interested people, but among friends.
Rated: Mild, for very few uses of moderate language and several uses of mild language. There are many underhanded sexual references and jokes. One scene features kissing with tongue while another scene leads to intense kissing and partial undressing. Aladdin also shows a weakness for alcohol and gets drunk.
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