book review: The Epic Crush of Genie Lo by F.C. Lee

details

Format: Ebook — Length: 338 pages

The Epic Crush of Genie Lo is Buffy meets Chinese folklore filled with laugh out loud moments, some very realistic high school drama, and some well written action sequences. I read it for book club and it’s not one of my usual genres, but it was an enjoyable YA fantasy.

summary

Genie Lo is a Bay Area teen with two goals. First, get into a good college. Second, get out of California. She’s busy putting all her effort into meeting these goals when life is interrupted by Quentin, the strange new kid at school who seems to know Genie from a past life. But Quentin isn’t the only disruption to her plans. Genie soon finds her town under siege when a hundred demons from Chinese folklore escape hell. As Genie attempts to hold on to her college goals and her friends, she is thrown into a world of gods and demons, training and romance.

thoughts

This was a very enjoyable fantasy adventure story. Lee’s dialogue is on point for teenagers rather than feeling forced (at least as far as I can gather of the lingo of today’s youngins) and Chinese folklore is told with modern day flair courtesy of Genie. As a Californian, I got a great kick out of twist at the end. I wanted more of Genie’s friendship and found the character of her friend Yunie to be underdeveloped, but this could improve in the series’ next books. Also, her relationship with Quentin never clicked for me. They seem like a great team and I understand they have history, but I wasn’t loving the intense highschool romance.

I recommend this book for anyone who likes YA, fantasy, Buffy, or Chinese folklore. I enjoyed it, but probably won’t be reading more of the series since it’s not a genre I particularly like.