Being a Genie May Not Be All It’s Cracked Up To Be in “Bottled”

Bottled, by Carol Riggs is a delightfully refreshing tale of a young woman turned genie, who is imprisoned in her bottle for centuries, bound to obey whoever has possession of it. Adeelah longs to find Karim, the man she loved when she was still mortal, but she is running from another, Faruq, who seeks her throughout time. The reader doesn’t know all this right away, of course. Instead, Riggs skillfully unfolds the back story throughout the story, revealing the details in small doses which capture and hold readers interest and keeps the pages turning.

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After a slew of horrible masters, Adeelah finally finds herself with a truly good master, who allows her to search for her Karim, the love in this magical romance. We learn the full story of how Adeelah’s imprisonment came to be, but all is not as it appears. When Adeelah learns the truth about Karim, she has some tough decisions to make. Can she reunite with Karim after learning the truth about his centuries old deceit and betrayal?

Bottled is a well crafted story, with plenty of tension and just the right amount of intrigue to keep the reader coming back for more. Riggs has created a wonderfully unique and interesting character in Adeelah, with just the right amount of naivity to convince me of her eternal youth, and a perfectly evil villain in Faruq, who only wishes to possess Adeelah’s bottle for his own selfish purposes. The pacing, too is perfect and the story moves along smoothly. The rules of the world are established from the beginning, enabling her to deliver fully the promise of the premise. because even genies have their limitations and the reader knows what they are. And I must compliment Riggs on her choice of cover art. The cover for this book is gorgeous. I love it. I give Bottled five quills.

Kaye Lynne Booth does honest book reviews on Writing to be Read, and she never charges for them. Have a book you’d like reviewed? Contact Kaye at kayebooth(at)yahoo(dot)com.