Three Wishes

By: Kristen Ashley

Narrated by: Carly Robins

Length: 15 hrs and 40 mins

Publisher's Summary

When Lily Jacobs was born, she inherited Fazire - a genie. Her family had three wishes and they'd only ever used one so Fazire was stuck in the human world. This worked since he'd become a member of the family anyway.

Even with a genie, Lily's young life wasn't perfect. To escape the kids making her miserable at school, Lily buried herself in romance novels. One day, when the teasing was just too much, she used one of her wishes. She told Fazire she wanted to find a man like in her books and she made the most complicated wish Fazire had ever heard. Her wished-for man had to be impossibly handsome, virile, fierce, rugged, and ruthless (amongst a dozen other things).

He also had to think she was beautiful and he had to love her more than anything in the world.

Nathaniel McAllister wasn't born to a life where there were such things as genies granting wishes. His life was filled with drugs, crime, and neglect. He was running errands for a gangster before he was in his teens and, even though life and hard work led him to wealth and respectability, he always knew, deep down, he was dirty. When Nate met Lily he knew he was no good for her but as virile, fierce, rugged, and ruthless as he was, Nate was no match for the pull of sweet, innocent Lily.

Unfortunately, Lily's wish included that she and her hero go through trials and tribulations to test their love. And Fazire wasn't only a good genie, he loved Lily - so he gave her exactly what she wanted.

©2011 Kristen Ashley (P)2017 Audible, Inc.

Cute but long

This was such and interesting Paranormal romance. We start with a woman that is sent a vase from her husband from overseas. Unfortunately, when she receives this gift, her husband was a casualty of war. What neither of them know is that it's actually a genie. Because he can't grant the one wish that she wants, she passes her 3 wishes on to her daughter (Sarah). Sarah makes a wish and passes the remaining wishes on to her daughter Lily. Lily, wishes for something that's so complicated that it winds up making her future a little complicated.

I loved the Genie as a family companion through generations. He was funny and lovable and his relationship with all the characters was endearing. However, I wish he had been a bigger part of the story. Yes, it is a romance novel, but there were so many large parts with no magic whatsoever. I also felt like this could have been about 6 hours shorter. I love a details and depth but at times it dragged on... and on... and... on. Also I wasn't a fan of the hero. I know he's supposed to be like the guys in the romance novels but he's incredibly pushy. She says no and doesn't listen to her.

Carly Robbins was great. She captured the energy of the characters.

Annoying leads

I've struggled to finish the book. Purchased this because of the reviews here in Audible and was disappointed. The plot has potential but the overall story is so-so and the leads utter cliché. The narrator is good but I find the male lead in this story VERY hard to like. For someone who is considered a "genius", he handles simple situations like an idiot. Hardly spoken ANYTHING meaningful throughout the series. He only speaks sentences when he makes demands to the female lead, when he claims her in bed, and when he SHOUTS at her vulgar words because she buys him a gift or wears pajama outside the terrace. The book gives the excuse that he doesn't reply or speak often because something is suddenly tugging at his heart he can't speak. His heart is probably being tugged all throughout the book then.

He makes promises but doesn't keep them and pushes people away because of "his oh so daaark past". For someone who is considered "a person who feels everything" he's very insensitive to those around him. If you remove his "devastatingly oh so perfect good looks", he's practically and TRULY an empty, pathetic, and insecure character who can't seem to make up his mind. One moment he forces the female lead to be with him, next moment he's sulking and pushing her away.

Overall, a robot has more character than this sad excuse of a male lead.

I loved it but...

There were too many similar misunderstandings that if either character would have communicated at all things would have worked out fine. By the end I was thinking, really!? I thought the characters had both grown up & now we are back to the same sort of misunderstanding?? (The thing that is holding you back is really not that big of a deal! Frustrating. ) Having said that, there is a lot to like too so I give it a 4

Horribly detailed and long sex scenes

Horribly detailed and long sex scenes.
Too long and I normally love long stories.
Cannot recommend this book.

I adore this book

Would you listen to Three Wishes again? Why?

Absolutely. I really love the characters and the concept. I haven't come across very many genie stories and was delighted with this one. Fazire was a great character and really added a lot to the story (and not just because he's the genie). I wish KA would turn this into a series.

What did you like best about this story?

While this isn't really a "be careful what you wish for" story, I think it touches on the dream of what we want and the harsh reality of actually getting it. For Lily, I think the struggle of getting through to the other side wasn't as romantic as she thought it would be when she was a 14-year-old making her wish. Was it worth it? Listen and find out!

Have you listened to any of Carly Robins’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

Yes. She reads Mariana Zapata's RCM and does a great job of it. I enjoyed her performance of this book.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Yes, and I pretty much did.

Your Wish is My Command

Genie book. How cute, right? I was thinking this would be a light, fun read without too much drama or feels. Then I started listening and realized, "Dude, what were you thinking? It's Kristen Ashley." That woman knows exactly how to break my heart, mend it, test it, break it again and then put it back together better than it was before. I am a listener exclusively (I don't read for pleasure), so when a KA book makes it to audio, that is my first time to experience it. I had heard of this book for years but didn't know much about it aside from the title.

What a fabulous surprise this was! I absolutely loved it. Yes, I laughed, cried, loved, hated, hurt, longed, rejoiced and mostly felt thankful for the gift of this beautiful, sweet, wonderful story. I would say it's my favorite, but then I think of all my other "favorites," and it's all I can do to force myself not go back and re-listen to every KA title in my library (which is all of them....plus a pre-order).

The Worst

This book had such a good set up and it seemed like it was going in such a good direction. The narrator is really good too! Then it gets a time warp that ruins everything. The romance is totally killed, and it gets on this torturous woman-hating binge. The romantic interest is abusive, the story gets forced. It made me so angry listening to it because I wanted to give her information on how to get the fuck away. All because he has a bad past. Jesus. Everyone in the story are some of the of the most poorly written one-dimensional people. I listened to the end because I thought maybe it could turn around, but apparently, I hate myself the way the writer hates women.

Best I've heard in years

I haven't written a review in years but had to about this book. This story has it all and is not your standard basic story line romance. I enjoyed every minute!

No means no.

It was an okay book. Not enough genie, but ok. What I did not like was when she said,"No," the "hero" just kept pushing. That just isn't good. He was domineering and cranky, withdrawn and yet overbearing. His background gave him reasons not to be trusting, yes. Crabby with a heart of gold, though, is still crabby.

there were enough twists and turns that I wasn't sure exactly how things were going to turn out so I kept listening. Parts were very predictable and other parts were well done. I am sure I would not listen to it a second time but it was interesting the first time around.
I am pretty middle-of-the-road about this book. Hence the three stars.

Fun

Very cute but a teeny bit long. Very interesting story and well written characters. Thanks for bringing it to Audible.

Good in parts, but not a keeper

I enjoyed the first part of this book – it really helped to form the characters, and set the scene for the actual romance that followed. I also enjoyed the fantasy element to this book which was really only a background to the plot, but featured a genie who was easily my favourite character in this story.

However the eight year separation of the H and h was the result of an impossible set of coincidences. When the H re-enters the h’s life, any resistance to his unreasonable demands is swept away by the power of his kisses. It would have been nice if h had a bit more backbone, but even with a live-in genie to help, she was completely incapable of managing successfully as a single parent and had no savings, no friends, no social life, and could not even poach an egg. She sacrificed so much for her child that she regarded painting her own bedroom as an unnecessary luxury, and when gifted £7million(!) immediately locks it away in a trust fund for the child. Seriously: She didn’t pay off her mortgage, buy a dependable car, get some decent furniture, a reliable fridge or washing machine. That’s just clueless, and NOT the actions of a loving and responsible parent. And who, in this century, would agree to a loveless marriage in the ridiculous belief that this would be better for a child?

A central part of the plot expected the reader to believe that an abused and neglected pre-teen boy who resorted to petty crime to survive, was to be held responsible for those actions as an adult. However his adoptive father, formally a major crime boss, was depicted as a benign father and grandfather. That said, the H’s treatment of the h was awful. He deliberately got her pregnant to trap her (!), then made little attempt to find her when she suddenly disappears. Eight years later he forces his way back into her life, makes endless promises to “take care of her”, but then suddenly rejects her, and humiliates her with an incredibly repugnant sex scene (Even more repugnant was the h allowing this to happen). Some serious grovelling should have followed, but in true spineless fashion the h just accepts him back with minimal resistance – again.

Wierdly enough, even with all these irritations, Kirsten Ashley’s writing is so good that I finished this book and in some strange way actually enjoyed parts of it – mainly the bits about the genie! But the ending was bizarre with the last “wish” being used on something so incredibly trivial and unimportant, that it only served, once again, to display the endless self-flagellation of the h.

This book would make a really good historical romance, as the separation and solo-mother struggles, and the coercion into marriage would have made more sense. As it was, I enjoyed parts of this, but I don’t think I will be listening to this one again.

Magical... will make you laugh, cry and wish you was Lily

This was my first audio book, the title recommended by my sister... I can't say how much I loved it... absolutely brilliant, a must read for everyone!!!

Three wishes

Very good story , but didn't think the male voices where clear enough. Got a bit mixed up with who was who.