October 31, 2005

Review: Love's Potion by Monica Jackson

Seeing as it's Halloween, I thought I might take a few minutes and post a review of a paranormal romance. I've got a couple of hours until the parties start, and it's not like any of those lazy-ass trick-or-treaters are going to climb the hill to our house. In the interests of keeping me out of the candy this year, we're giving out stickers. I suppose I ought to consider it a blessing the candy-craving costumed mini-criminals are too lazy to hike up here, because if they did climb the hill just for a lousy sticker, we'd get egged for sure.

But I digress (don't I always!). The book in question is Love's Potion, by Monica Jackson. I've been wanting to read it for a while now because I happen to like Ms. Jackson's blog, and because it's a very rare bird - a paranormal romance with black hero and heroine. So last week I hied myself on down to the local Borders and had a look around for it. I knew from reading Ms. Jackson's blog posts not to expect it to be in the romance section. Instead, it was tucked away in the Colored - er - African American Literature section.

Love's Potion is the story of Jasmine Flynn, a lonely New York CPA, who finds a djinn (genie) in an antique perfume bottle. Raziq the djinn is not your stereotypical puffy-pant-wearing, wish-granting, archaic, cross between M.C. Hammer and Mr. Clean; he's a denim-clad, modern-minded hottie who can make a woman's dreams come true, even (or, especially) if she's dreaming of him.

But when Jasmine lets Raziq out of the bottle, she lets herself in for a whole lot of trouble. The more time Jasmine spends around Raziq, the more she becomes immersed in the previously unseen magical world of angels, demons, and a power-hungry sorceress who sees Raziq's magic as a ticket to world domination. Before you can say Kazaam! Jasmine and Raziq are battling evil, and their growing feelings for each other.


As with Jackson's short story, The Way Back Home, the thing I enjoyed and admired most about this book was Jackson's talent for characterization. Jasmine and Raziq are relatable, well-rounded characters. The few brief scenes between Jasmine and her best friend Carmel feel warm and natural.

As a writer, Jackson blithely avoids the cliches and characterization-quagmires that tend to trap less skilled writers. Orphaned Jasmine has a sad background, but instead of coming off as an extraneous excuse for the Big Misunderstanding that will keep the lovers apart (as so often happens in modern Romance novels), Jasmine's survivor guilt with regards to her family and gun-shy attitude toward men seem natural, given her history.

Another thing I liked about Jasmine is that she isn't the typical goody-goody "everybody loves her" romance novel heroine. One of the aspects of her past that Jasmine has to overcome is her failed affair with a married man. In Romanceland, women who sleep with married men fall into one of two categories: innocent victims who didn't know their lovers were married, or evil bimbos who knew and didn't care. Jasmine doesn't fall into either category. She's a woman who did something wrong and is still paying the emotional price. Jackson handles her heroine's past so adroitly that I respected Jasmine more for her honesty and integrity in dealing with her past sins, rather than less.

Raziq's characterization is not quite as deep, but he still makes a great impression. He has an appealing attitude, and plenty of personal quirks that set him apart from the usual tortured, brooding, boring heroes of other paranormal romances. For one thing, Raziq actually likes being a genie. Like Jasmine, Raziq has lost loved ones in his past, but the loss doesn't turn him into a bitter Heathcliff-esque hermit. Instead, it makes his understanding, caring attitude toward Jasmine's past seem that much more natural.

If I have one complaint about this book it's that the romance aspect seemed to work better than the paranormal aspect. The characters felt real, but the magic felt...like a plot device. Raziq spends a bit of time explaining how his djinni magic works in the beginning of the book, but by the end of the book, characters are doing things that haven't really been covered by the rules.

In theory, I like the parallel between the characters discovering their love for each other and discovering new magical powers. But while I have a pretty good handle on self revelation, I felt kind of adrift when it came to the magic side. A few more rules and a smidgen of foreshadowing would have made it all seem a little less deus ex machina.

At 218 pages, Love's Potion was a tad slim for my $6.99. I read it in a little more than three hours, but it was a good yarn. And who am I kidding? I shell out $1.50 a pop for Godiva chocolate truffles whenever I'm feeling the least little bit PMS-y. I always say that quality is worth the price. Love's Potion was a well-told story, and I enjoyed it from beginning to end. I'll probably buy another Monica Jackson novel, though a few extra pages might make the purchase easier to rationalize.

Happy Halloween!

Posted by sk :: 10/31/2005 :: 0 comments

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