Friday, July 13, 2012

Just One Wish by Janette Rallison

Goodreads Description: "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 finds 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."


My Review: Janette Rallison strikes again! She is honestly becoming my favorite chick-lit author. Just like all of her other books, Just One Wish is light-hearted and interesting without becoming a cliche---and it's so funny that I almost died of laughter at some parts. The plot made this book awesome! The crazy things Annika did to meet Steve---well, let's just say I had to put the book down at some parts, because I couldn't stop laughing. It was honestly like watching one of those comedy movies where the main characters do all these insane things to achieve their goals. It was wonderful. And, to balance all that humor out, Rallison threw in the bittersweet wrench that was Annika's little brother, Jeremy, who was struggling with cancer. Just when things to too funny, Annika---and we, the readers---would remember WHY she was doing all these mental things, and it really added depth to the book. I liked Annika's character; she was very determined and stubborn and courageous. I was impressed by her determination to meet Steve. And when she had her tiny moments of weakness---when she allowed herself to feel the fear for her brother, and to feel the Grim Reaper creeping up on her (legitimately)---it made me feel bad for her. She was a very strong and honest character. I also really was won over by how Rallison made Steve a nice guy. For some reason, a lot of YA authors portray movie stars as jerks---and while SOME celebrities may be jerks, they can't ALL be horrible people, right? They have lives and families and emotions, too. So I was glad when Steve was portrayed realistically, and not as the cliche "handsome, arrogant Hollywood jerk", a route Rallison could easily have taken. I also liked how Annika didn't really deny her feelings for Steve---how refreshing! Denial gets kind of annoying, eventually. Anyway, back to the point: this book was sweet. It was pretty short and very to-the-point. No words wasted. It was funny, but also very painful at times, which made it all the better. I highly recommend it, as I've done with all of Rallison's other books that I've read. 

Cover: Ehhh. It's not exactly the BEST cover, because it's very simple---which I guess is sort of the point---but the color is kind of depressing. And then, when I was searching online, I found another cover that was basically the same, but had a more peppy color, so I liked it a lot better. Here is the other cover. 

Overall Grade: A+

1 comment:

  1. I loved this book too! I don't think I've ever read a book that made me laugh so hard! I haven't read any of her other books yet but I think I should.

    New follower here! =)

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