As deadly accidents fuel tensions within the factory, Wen is torn between her growing feelings for Melik, who is enraged at the sadistic factory bosses and the prejudice faced by his people at the hand of Wen's, and her need to appease the ghost, who is determined to protect her against any threat - real or imagined. At the same time, she is lured by the mystery of the ghost. Guilt-ridden, Wen befriends the Noor, including the outspoken leader, a young man named Melik.

And after one of the Noor humiliates Wen, the ghost grants an impulsive wish of hers - brutally. Wen often hears the whisper of a ghost in the slaughterhouse, a ghost who grants wishes to those who need them most. This love story for the ages, set in a reimagined industrial Asia, is a little dark. Sixteen-year-old Wen assists her father in his medical clinic, housed in a slaughterhouse staffed by the Noor, men hired as cheap factory labor. Read Of Metal and Wishes by Sarah Fine available from Rakuten Kobo.

Nevertheless, it’s always refreshing to see fantasy showcase for Asian characters (Fine’s world seems to be Asian-inspired as well), and the romance is so darn swoonworthy that some readers won’t mind the flaws.This love story for the ages, set in a reimagined industrial Asia, is a little dark, a bit breathless, and completely compelling. In addition, the world outside of the factory is so poorly explained that it actually becomes a distraction: it isn’t quite clear what pieces are historical or purely fiction, or whether this is a creative merging of both. Unfortunately, too much of the plot hinges on Wen’s virtue, an abstract concept with which almost every character in the novel is obsessed. The metaphorically and literally scarred Bo is the true and complex star of this homage to Phantom of the Opera, and his melding of beauty and horror will likely be the most memorable element of this novel.

Even while Wen finds him intriguing, she recognizes she is falling for one of the Noor, and that she will risk almost everything to allow them to be together. The ghost is, of course, not a supernatural entity but rather a young man named Bo, who went into hiding after his body was mangled in the killing room of the slaughterhouse. This, plus guilt, is why she sells her own beloved dresses to help cover the Noor’s expenses after multiple accidents befall the workers at the hand of the factory “ghost” who will do anything to protect Wen. Wen lives with her father in the medical clinic at the Gochan One factory, and while she knows her family is in debt, she also knows that the Noor, the poorly paid workers they treat, are worse off. Book 1 in the Of Metal and Wishes series in the Historical Fiction, Teen & Young Adult (YA) genres.