I was given a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.Where do i start? Right, it was awesome. This book contains two short stories, one is the beach which is about a man who wanted the beach all to himself so he made a negotiation with Efil, who's more like a professional genie slash salesmen. He thought he was making a good deal, thought about it long and hard so that there will be no consequences but in the end, let's just say that the deal wasn't in his favor. This is similar to the second story, short time, and like the first story, the man made a deal with the devil (government that is) that he could have everything he wanted in 6 months in exchange for working with a special "assignment" from the government. Of course, the gullible man that he is, he falls for it , suffers mental torture on his own and eventually falls for another bad deal.i honestly think that this would be a great tale for teens and up, it's like a more mature version of the tales we've come to know and love.Those tales we had when we were kids and got us scared and guilty whenever we do anything that was at par with the bad guy in our story books. These stories help us realize that our decisions no matter how seemingly small it is, creates impact. And that consequences and "payment" for "good deals" should never be taken lightly. I'm giving this 5 stars and obviously, seeing how much i enjoyed this, The Beach is highly recommended. Yet another excellent work by Jaye Frances. (Seriously, no kidding she's awesome.)
