Books have a taste. Some taste like cigar smoke or chocolate, maybe lavender, or soil, or peppermint.
But when I read the words, I can taste them - like an aftertaste on my tongue.

The Jinn Daughter tastes like spicy chai, fireplace smoke, and sour pomegranate juice. It is warm and cozy, but sharp and bitter too. It feels like a safe home, and a dangerous knife-edge all at the same time.

Rania Hanna is a goddess when it comes to storycraft.
Her love for storytelling - not just this story, but the telling of stories as an act, practice, and art - is beautifully obvious in this book.

You have Nadine, forced to tell the stories of the dead; Layala, eager to create her own story in the world; and a whole other cast of characters telling, making, and destroying stories.

By the end, I felt at peace. I understood Nadine in a way I have rarely understood other characters in other books.

This book touches on the difficult lines of mother-daughter relationships, the magic of everyday moments, the way our actions alter the future, the dedication of a mother to her child, the timeless expanse of true love, the sacrifice love demands from us, and the irresistible pull to our destiny.

This book is magic, just like a perfectly brewed cup of tea is magic. Not because it is unusual or divine...but because it just is.

Very eager to see what Rania Hanna writes next!

I'm not sure if Im the right audience for this book. I'm not a parent. However, it was well written and kept me reading the entire way through. I liked the story of a mother trying to do what's right for her child and how the love a parent has can be all consuming. This just made me really concerned for the daughter character. Overall, I think its a solid story - just not my cup of tea.