Just One Wish by Janette Rallison

Summary:

Seventeen-year-old Annika Truman knows about the power of positive thinking. With a little brother who has cancer, it’s all she ever hears about. And in order to help Jeremy, she will go to the ends of the earth (or at least as far as Hollywood) to help him believe he can survive his upcoming surgery.

But Annika’s plan to convince Jeremy that a magic genie will grant him any wish throws her a curveball when he unexpectedly wishes that his television idol would visit him. Annika suddenly fi nds herself in the desperate predicament of getting access to a hunky star actor and convincing him to come home with her. Piece of cake, right?

Janette Rallison’s proven talent for laugh-out-loud humor, teen romance, and deep-hearted storytelling shines in a novel that will have readers laughing and crying at the same time. (from Amazon)

Review:

Before starting this, I had extremely high expectations. Since, for one, isn't the cover so cute? Plus, Janette's previous books have been great, so I was hoping this would be the same deal. Luckily, it was a darling book. Though, it had a quite a few flaws.

First off, I loved the characters. Annika was a strong teenage girl that I admired a ton, because of how far she would go to make all of her brother's dreams come true. Plus, the relationships she had with her parents, best friend, and brother were cute and real. Relationships that were perfect, but still flawed. Lastly, I loved how Annika could still have a wicked sense of humor in a time of such pain. By the way, the others such as Steve, Madison, and Jeremy were once again fun people to read about and made the story flow quite nicely.

Though, the plot wasn't all that great. For the first part, it was basically all talk and no action, which made it extremely hard to get through. Luckily, after 140 pages it quickened up with the action and dialogue between the characters. Making it an okay book overall.

( Minor spoiler ahead) The other thing I didn't quite like about the plot was that it sometimes seemed like this could NEVER happen in real live. Since, what security guard would actually let two teenage girls on to a TV set. Plus, it really surprised me when Steve basically dropped all of his plans to go see Annika's brother, because what Hollywood actor or actress would do that in real life? Probably none. Though, even with these unrealistic details, Just One Wish was a still cute book. (end of spolier)

Overall, Just One Wish is a was a quick read that I suggest to fans of Janette's previous books or people who liked Meg Cabot's Teen Idol.

Grade: B-

Just One Wish is now out. You can find out more about it here. Also, be sure to check out Janette's website.

* Much thanks to JL for sending me this book! :)