Jinx

The only luck Jean has ever had in her life is bad luck, hence her nickname Jinx. Jean has been sent to her aunt and uncle's in New York to get away from the culmination of her bad luck back home in Iowa. But Jean's bad luck sticks with her bringing conflict with her cousin Tory who is convinced that one of them is to inherit the strong magical powers that run in their family line. Now Jean must decide whether to embrace her potential magic powers to keep Tory from harming others, particularly their adorable neighbour Zach, on whom Jean has a massive crush.

I'm a long time Meg Cabot fan but this novel fell short for me. While Jean was perfectly adorable and her flirtation with Zach as full of charm as Cabot is always capable of, I felt show more like the constant hinting around the bad thing that happened back in Iowa was dragged out too long. Also, as naive as Jean is, I had serious doubts that she'd be quite so obtuse. A quick read but not up to the standard I expect from Cabot. show less

Oh my gosh - does the girl ALWAYS have to get the guy at the end of Meg Cabot books? Her books are pretty predictable, because you KNOW that the story will end with the realization of a romantic relationship between the heroine and her love interest. Too, the main character is the book was way too goody-goody to be relatable. The thing I like about most of Cabot's characters is that they're kind of bumbling and flawed. Jinx was too innocent and pure-hearted to be believable. My advice: Go for the Princess Diaries instead!

I love Meg Cabot. I want to be Meg Cabot (or, at least, her BFF. We'd make awesome BFFs. We could go get slushie drinks and chat about books and writing. It'd be fabulous.). She's an incredibly prolific writer who knows her audience like the back of her hand. Her books are all enjoyable reads and JINX is no exception.

I picked this book up from the bargain shelf at Books-A-Million (Boy-howdy I love this shelf. Pair it with my teacher discount and I can walk out of there with a huge pile of books for my classroom that my kids are interested in reading. Yahoo.) and decided to make sure I read it myself. It was a quick and easy read, with fun (and nasty) characters that were easy to get behind and root for--and against.

Poor Jinx (Jean) is show more sure she's cursed: she's a terrible klutz, always crashing into things and breaking stuff. Her first day in NYC and her aunt and uncle have forgotten her at the airport, no one is home at their house to greet her except for the nanny, and, when her cousin finally gets home, Jinx is completely embarrassed in front of her cousin's friends AND a super-cute guy (how else would you feel if your cousin announced to everyone you had to leave home because you were being stalked?).

Tory, Jinx's cousin, is a great bad girl. She's evilly snarky, mean, back-biting...I just wanted to smack the black eyeliner right off her face (exactly the way I think you should feel about a bad girl!).

Zack is a really sweet guy--the perfect foil for Jinx. Too bad she thinks he's in love with Petra, the nanny. But he shows her the town and she's happy to just be friends with him. He's actually a bit too sweet for my tastes. I like a little more bad boy to temper that sweetness.

There were parts of the book when I was worried Jinx wouldn't get a stronger backbone and stand up for herself. However, she performs admirably when she has to (though I was reminded a bit of that movie THE CRAFT. Remember that one? With the group of witches and the crazy chick? Yeah, that.). All in all, JINX is a fun read. Go Meg, my new BFF! show less

I'll start this review off by saying that Meg Cabot is one of my favorite authors. The way she writes is like smooth butter. Her novels are always so easy to read since they're so fluently written in a literary voice that speak directly to the reader. As much as I love Cabot's writing, I occasionally have trouble rating some of her books. Such was the case with this one.

There wasn't anything about Jinx that I particularly disliked. The humor, the setting, the characters were all very great, actually! I just somehow felt like something was missing from the actual story.

Overall, I give this book 3.5 stars. If you're a fan of contemporary novels with some supernatural tidbits thrown in, this book would be a safe bet!

First of all I have to note that this review is for the unabridged audio book and I really do think listening to books is a bit different than reading them. In this case it is even more important to note this as I think I might have enjoyed the story a little more had I read it.

Jean Honeychurch has been known as "Jinx" for most all of her life. Even at the time of her birth lightning had struck the hospital causing a major evacuation of patients. Since that time her luck hasn't improved very much. Now Jean has moved from her native Iowa to her aunt and uncle's in NYC for reasons she'd rather not discuss. Reasons that unknown to anyone else, she feels completely responsible for.

Despite her resolution to leave "Jinx" behind it seems like show more her luck isn't going to change just with her location and soon Jean is embroiled in even more trouble thanks to her cousin Torrance.

This story was okay, but for some reason didn't seem to have the same appeal to me as some of Cabot's other work. It might have had to do with Jean, who I really did find kind of annoying, with her defeatist attitude and obtuseness when it came to witchy powers, relationships and her friendship with Zach. The words, "too stupid to live" actually entered my head more than once during the last few chapters. Or, my dissatisfaction could have been because of the reader. For whatever reason I seem to like male readers much more then female ones, but this one was even worse than most. When I started listening I actually cringed through the first chapter and thought about not finishing. I did finally adapt to the narrative, but I can't say that ever grew to really enjoy it. This is probably all personal preference and I wouldn't discourage anyone from listening to the audio book just because of my own reaction. Although I think this book could have been better all the way around, it is one that I had wanted to read for a while and I am glad I finally got the chance to, if not actually read, listen to the story. show less

“The thing is, my luck’s always been rotten” is a sad but true quote that follows the protagonist through their life.

This book follows the unfortunate life of a girl named Jean more known as “Jinx” She escaped from her home state, Iowa, to live in the big city of New York with her aunt, uncle, and cousins. During her stay in New York, she finds new possibilities, friends, and a lover. The main conflict of this book is that she finds a dangerous secret hidden from her that only her cousin, Tory, knows about. Tory wants to use this secret for the worse, which can put danger on everyone around her, so Jinx is trying to figure out a way to stop her; in hopes of getting rid of her bad luck.

This book gave off a sense of reality show more mixed in with the world of fantasy. The characters also felt realistic and the author didn’t write them off as just good people in high school because we know that isn’t true. For example the main characters Jinx and Tory. Jinx is a relatively quiet character who is scared of doing anything because she thinks her bad luck will mess her up. And Tory is like many teenagers who are snobby, rude, and a party animal that wants to do everything while she is still young.

The theme of this book is even if you might think that bad luck always follows you, you can do good things to change it. Ever since she was born, Jinx had always had a source of bad luck following her. Whether it was from a stalker trying to get her or having bad luck on the people around her. For example, Zach was almost ready to be squashed by a vehicle, when JInx quickly saved him from disaster. This impacted Jinx because now she thought she could be more helpful even though her bad luck might get in the way.

I recommend the novel, “Jinx” by Meg Cabot because the characters have notable character development, a subtle romance, and a witchy twist. However, the book felt a little rushed. So, if you like novels about a girl trying to get over her fear of bad luck then this novel is for you. show less

16-year-old Jean is called "Jinx" by her family due to her chronic bad luck. To get away from an ex-boyfriend in Iowa, she moves in with her aunt's family in Manhattan, and finds that her cousin is trying to practice black magic - and soon turns it upon Jinx herself.