"Chest of Wishes" -Book Review

"Chest of Wishes" is  listed as a paranormal romance novella  by Natashiah Jansen and Zhu Hsia. It is also the first novella I've ever read. I prefer full length novels myself because you can really get to know the characters and get immersed in their world. Which is why I have to say this story would've been better as a novel. As it is it's a fun quick read with an intriguing premise that catches you up in it's tale right away. However to make it a novella a lot of details were smudged over and a great deal of the story was told to us rather than shown. Since I'm a novelist myself I am unfamiliar with novella writing etiquette, although telling instead of showing is considered a "No, No" with traditional novel writing. I feel like the author could have shown us the portions that were simply told and the story would have been richer, and the mystery aspect of it more intense.

A personal pet peeve of mine is when the characters are never physically described, which is the case with this story. I had to go a long just imaging generic people in the roles rather then feeling like I was reading real flesh and bone individuals. I still enjoyed the story despite this but some description would have made this story just a little bit better.

I am unfamiliar with modern day Egypt society so I was confused as to weather it's normal for Egyptians to have western names like Adam, Mark, George and Mary. It took me a bit out of the story as the love interest was named Isis and her mother and father had Egyptian sounding names. Every one else's names made them sound like they were English or American not Egyptian. Again like I said maybe this is normal in Egypt today. However it seems really out of place for the wealthy Egyptian family to have a daughter named Isis and a son named Adam.

I enjoyed the back story twist that involved Mark's mother. It added a whole other layer of intrigue which I think was nicely done. Overall I really enjoyed the tale of "Chest of Wishes". I just wish it had been told with more attention to detail while keeping the energy level building to the finale. I would recommend it to anyone who likes quick, fun, reads with an element of magic and history.

Now go forth and pick it up for yourself. It is available now for just .99 cents. You can get it here.

Till Next time,
R.J. Craddock