"This book had a great story but poor development, by which I mean that I really liked the premise and could have really liked the characters too, but unfortunately neither of them actually underwent any changes in the story. Things happened to them and they reacted to them, but I didn’t get the feeling that either character was fully-rounded or even really three-dimensional �� they were just kind of ‘there.�� The length of the book didn’t bother me at all, as I love short stories and novellas, and the story didn’t feel rushed at all, but neither did it feel fully-told to me. A shame, because again, excellent premise, and I would have happily read more of the story if there had actually been more to it, like some kind of greater or more complex conflict, as opposed to what felt essentially nearly all like backstory. I also couldn’t help but notice the numerous punctuation errors and occasional sentence structure problems, which could easily have been resolved with a decent editor on board. Despite this, I enjoyed the read overall and would read more from this author in the future."

"Another myth and fairy tale type of story from Lily Lamb, this time giving a backstory of punishment for being different and outraging social customs just by being who he is to the Genie of the bottle who features in the well-known Aladdin story, with M/M romance also woven in.

It’s a testament to the imagination of the author, who looks at this character from another tale and thinks, ‘What is his story?�� We tend to accept characters as they are presented to us in such simple stories, without giving a second thought to the circumstances which led them to the where they are now. This is storytelling in the old-fashioned oral manner, albeit written down, which is largely being lost these days; it’s in the tradition of itinerant storytellers who travelled from place to place and entertained the locals. If they had an engaged audience who wanted more then it was part of the skill of the storyteller to extend and embroider the tales they were telling.

As such, it’s a page-turner, an easy and engaging read, and I look forward to more of Ms Lamb’s skilfully-told stories."

"More like this please.

I've read a lot of books by this author, and this one took me by surprise as being different from the norm.

Ahmet and Timur, male twins growing up together, are, through consequences that they can't change, subject to "wicked stepmother syndrome" until their eighteenth birthday.

All seems just about tolerable until Timur has thoughts that are not in line with the thoughts of village society.

Conflict starts and then, when you least expect it, the novel turns into a haunting story.

Well worth a read. More please Lily. "