the rules, and the moral compromises. Take Alix E. Harrow's 'The Once and Future Witches'—it's not strictly a genie book, but the magic there has that same feel of ancient, volatile power bargained for with words and blood. It makes the magic feel earned and dangerous, not just a free ticket.
There's also this wave of 'personified cosmic force' romance, like in Olivia Atwater's 'Ten Thousand Stitches', which is more fairy godmother than genie, but scratches that same itch of a magical being bound to serve a human's desires, with all the tricky loopholes. The romantic tension comes from the power imbalance and the slow realization that the servant might be the one truly in control. I'm way more into that dynamic than the traditional three-wishes setup.
Honestly, the most compelling modern 'genie' story I've read recently wasn't even labeled as one—it was a side character in a web serial who was essentially an imprisoned spirit in a lantern, and the protagonist's entire arc was about figuring out how to free them without triggering a catastrophic clause in the binding contract. That's where the genre's headed, I think: less 'be careful what you wish for' and more 'who forged these chains, and why?'