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Jenny Pox (The Paranormals #1)

by J.L. Bryan (Goodreads Author)

3.64 of 5 stars 3.64 · rating details · 3,239 ratings · 584 reviews

Eighteen-year-old Jenny Morton has a horrific secret: her touch spreads a deadly supernatural plague, the "Jenny pox." She lives by a single rule: Never touch anyone. A lifetime of avoiding any physical contact with others has made her isolated and painfully lonely in her small rural town.

Then she meets the one boy she can touch. Jenny feels herself falling for Seth...but...more

Paperback, 214 pages

Published July 22nd 2010

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Mar 21, 2012 Giselle rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: ebook, adult, horror

When I first came upon this book months ago, I thought it was a paranormal romance based on the few reviews I had read. It's only recently that I was told it's actually more horror, comparable to Carrie, and aimed at 18+. This brought it right up my reading list because I love horror novels, Carrie was one of my favorite movies, and this premise screams at me (really!)! As promised, Jenny Pox is horrifically awesome with a deadly touch, a sweet romance, and a brilliantly wicked villain!

Jenny has...more When I first came upon this book months ago, I thought it was a paranormal romance based on the few reviews I had read. It's only recently that I was told it's actually more horror, comparable to Carrie, and aimed at 18+. This brought it right up my reading list because I love horror novels, Carrie was one of my favorite movies, and this premise screams at me (really!)! As promised, Jenny Pox is horrifically awesome with a deadly touch, a sweet romance, and a brilliantly wicked villain!

Jenny has never been able to touch anyone without causing them to break out in oozing boils, or at worse - die. Consequently, she has grown up without any friends, getting mocked for her "covering up" fashion and loner status. From the get-go, I wanted to take Jenny and hug her. She has such a sweet personality that, because of her touch, people never got to know. She also deals extremely well under her circumstances. It makes it easy to sympathize with her, besides rooting for her to kill everyone. What? For real!

A masterfully written villain, Ashleigh is quite the character. I loathed her; she is manipulative, she is malevolent, and she literally wants to rule the world. It's not hard to guess that she is the one making Jenny's life a living hell. As far as villains go, this one really gets under your skin. I thought her role was ingeniously crafted; you can easily imagine how, if something is not done soon, she can, and will, become unstoppable.

We do have quite the sweet romance woven into this horror novel as well. At first I wasn't too keen on Seth. I didn't understand why he was so open to cheating, or why he was with Ashleigh in the first place, however that was before I realized how much power she had over him. Afterwards, I warmed up to him and was positively rooting for him and Jenny to be together. They make an awesome team along with having great chemistry.

Comparing it to Stephen King's Carrie is not misleading. The plot is clearly different, but it has the same feel with plenty of deaths and gory descriptions. The ending: if you guess it, I will give you a million dollars! No kidding! In a way it's really different than what I was expecting, completely changing the bigger plot of the story, however it's so well thought of, taking me so much by surprise, that I think I loved it! I'm absolutely looking forward to reading the rest of this series and I definitely recommend it to fans of horror novels - although take note that in no way do I consider this a YA novel. Even though the characters are in their teens, there is sex, drugs, gore, violence, death - really, a whole lot of awesome!

--
For more of my reviews, visit my blog at Xpresso Reads (less)

23 likes · like · see review

Apr 15, 2013 Nenia Campbell rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: ya-baby-ya, x-series-bk-1, x-2010s

Jenny Morton is cursed . Not your average G-rated fairytale-type-of-curse, either, but the really hardcore kind. Her very touch causes a deadly supernatural plague . Over eighteen years, she has resigned herself to the fact that she can never be intimate with another human being, doomed to spend her life alone and isolated. All that changes, though, when Jenny realizes that she's not the only one in her city to have special powers - there's another, a boy named Seth, and he is immune to her tou...more Jenny Morton is cursed . Not your average G-rated fairytale-type-of-curse, either, but the really hardcore kind. Her very touch causes a deadly supernatural plague . Over eighteen years, she has resigned herself to the fact that she can never be intimate with another human being, doomed to spend her life alone and isolated. All that changes, though, when Jenny realizes that she's not the only one in her city to have special powers - there's another, a boy named Seth, and he is immune to her touch .

Some people have compared this book to Carrie, and that is definitely an apt comparison. Jenny really is unpopular. Not, like, mainstream YA unpopular where the girl has one best friend who fights her battles for her. Except for her dad, who spends most of his time drunk to forget about her curse, Jenny is utterly and inescapably alone. Bryan makes her a compelling case, though, because she's a victim of circumstance. She didn't ask for her curse, she tries her best not to hurt people, and she works hard to add money to the household and support her dad. I found her imminently likable, believable, and genuine. Like Carrie, I was rooting for her. And unlike Carrie, my cheers were satisfied. This book has a happy ending .

And the villain, Ashleigh? Oh. My. God. She is a bitch on wheels. Bryan could have easily turned her into a walking stereotype, but her weaknesses made her that much more frightening because it makes her seem so much more...well, real. The subplot with Ashleigh's involvement with the Far Right, and her use of it to gain power in her Republican town was really well-done, and does a good job of weighing some of the major political hot-buttons right now without coming off as preachy (no pun intended; also, I'm a bit biased, being a total Lefty when it comes to politics - I'm sure others were pissed off by this book. I can't really blame them). In fact, his use of religion and politics as a basis for spreading horror and gaining power was downright Stephen King of him, in a good way. (view spoiler)

But the best part of all? This book is currently available for free download on kindle . I strongly suggest that you take advantage of this author while you can, because I suspect he will be Going Places. Despite being self-published, the grammar and editing were nearly flawless, the characters were multifaceted and complex, and the plot marched on at a quick but even pace. I was seriously impressed. If more indie authors were like J.L. Bryan, the world of vanity publishing would be a much happier, magical place.

4.5 stars!(less)

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Mar 29, 2012 Ariana rated it 1 of 5 stars

Shelves: paranormal

The beginning was absolutely fantastic with the girl realizing for the very first time how deadly her touch was, but after that it didn't hold my attention for too long (even though I read 50% of it). I have many complains (plot, characters, dialog, etc), but I am not in the mood to talk about them.

If you have it on your to-read list, you should give it a try, it might work for you better :)

PS: the ebook might still be $0.00 on Amazon.

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Oct 25, 2011 Darkfallen rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: read-n-reviewed

I have been wanting to read this series for a while. Everyone around me loved it...couldn't get enough of it. So when I started this I was beyond excited to sink my teeth into this book!

Unfortunately...it kind of stopped there. I have to say, for me, this is really more of a 2.5 stars. It's better than a 2, but not quite a 3. And if I am being perfectly honest with you, there were times when I just didn't want to finish.

So let me tell you why...

I think this book could have been a piece of awesom...more I have been wanting to read this series for a while. Everyone around me loved it...couldn't get enough of it. So when I started this I was beyond excited to sink my teeth into this book!

Unfortunately...it kind of stopped there. I have to say, for me, this is really more of a 2.5 stars. It's better than a 2, but not quite a 3. And if I am being perfectly honest with you, there were times when I just didn't want to finish.

So let me tell you why...

I think this book could have been a piece of awesometastic wonderment with about 20,000 less words. Yes, yes I know! Me saying that the book was to wordy? Who would have thought?! But please before you lynch me, hear me out. I kept getting lost in the filler. Every book has, and needs filler, but with Jenny pox there was too much in my opinion. When we were in the middle of the crazy plot line, right at the heart of it, when everything was going down...I was captivated by it. But all the parts in between just felt odd and out of place. Just not so necessary, and that kept pulling me back out of the story.

So one minute I'm gripping the Kindle...

The next, I'm starting to yawn...

Overall I did really like Jenny & Seth. I loved their relationship together. Even though at times I had to question if this was YA. There are a few erotic scenes mixed in where any mother of a teenager would be yelling Fade to black! FADE TO BLACK!!! But on the other hand it was kind of nice to read a story about teens, actually acting like teens. Drinking, drugs, sex...not so much rock-n-roll *winks* All of these are in there. Oh and don't forget the conniving popular princess. Yes, yes this book had all of the elements to potentially make a great YA story...unfortunately for me I just found it a bit out there. And NO I'm not talking about the paranormal aspect of it. In fact I LOVED the paranormal parts. It was the mundane regular bits and pieces that ruined it for me.

As a mom would I let my child read this book?
Well I can tell you that at the age of 16 if I were to read this book nothing in here would be news to me. Then again I wasn't the best kid at 16. But as a mom of a potentially good kid would I want them to read a book with verging on explicit sex? Probably not. For all the parents out there reading this I would also like to tell you there is some pretty detailed pot & cocaine use as well in this book.

Overall...
As much as it pains me to say this...I guess this book just isn't for me. But don't take my word for it. There are a ton of great reviews out there for this whole series and I think you should definitely try it out for yourself. Even all my online besty bookworms loved this book. SO you might too!(less)

13 likes · like · see review

Jan 11, 2011 Stacey Benefiel rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

All sorts of people recommended this book to me-friends, writers, book bloggers, people on Goodreads. I have no idea what took me so long to finally get to it, because it is just the kind of book I like. I couldn't read Jenny Pox fast enough!
This book is a lot of different things, not just another YA paranormal/supernatural romance. There are plenty of grusome images and vivid descriptions to delight a horror lover, plenty of high school antics and cliqueishness for people who like contemporary...more

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Apr 04, 2012 Lori rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: favorites, must-read, paranormal-adult, thrillers

I picked this up after reading Tamara Rose Blodgett's fantastic review of the book. So glad I did. It was fabulous. From the first to last page I was sucked into Jenny's story.
Jenny is inflicted with a curse that causes people to break out into the plague whenever she touches them. I would love to say that she tries to lead a "normal" life but she doesn't. How could she even attempt to. She goes on because she knows her dad (her only family) needs her. Not only can she never touch anyone, she is...more I picked this up after reading Tamara Rose Blodgett's fantastic review of the book. So glad I did. It was fabulous. From the first to last page I was sucked into Jenny's story.
Jenny is inflicted with a curse that causes people to break out into the plague whenever she touches them. I would love to say that she tries to lead a "normal" life but she doesn't. How could she even attempt to. She goes on because she knows her dad (her only family) needs her. Not only can she never touch anyone, she is tormented for her shyness and social awkwardness by an evil hag named Ashleigh Goodling. Ashleigh has her own power of touch and her boyfriend Seth can heal with his touch. When Jenny steals Seth from Ashleigh all hell breaks loose in thier small town.
What I loved:
Jenny- I see a lot myself in her. I was a completely shy socially awkward teenager. I endured my fair share of teasing for ridiculous reasons that I couldn't change. She is a character that I think alot of young and old girls (like me) can identify with.
Jenny and Seth have crazy chemistry. The scenes they are together are my favorite parts of the whole book.
Ashleigh- love to hate her. She was great and JL Bryan gave her alot of depth.
The ending was amazing. I thought I might just read this as a stand alone novel and pass on the rest of the series. Needless to say half way through this book I downloaded the other two on my kindle.
What I didn't:
I really don't have a lot that I didn't like about the book. Other reviewers have commented that it rings of CARRIE by Stephen King. I have never read the book or watched the movie so I can't really fault the book for that. I do know the general concept of CARRIE so I do see how people can see the similarities.
I think some readers will be put off by the back and forth chapters that are split between Ashleigh and Jenny. Often, time overlaps and you see the story from both sides. It could get confusing, I guess. I'm an old pro at this type of style. I've managed to make it through all of George RR Martins' Game Of Thrones series. The back and forth of characters and timelines is nothing compared to those books. Also don't let that comparison scare you off. Martin gives very tedious description of landscapes, food and goes off on tangents about rugs. No such problems in this book. Bryan flawlessly flows from character to character. It's really a beautifully executed book.
Really the book deserves FIVE freaking HUGE STARS.
This book is really intened for older YA readers. It has lots of sex, some violence and drug use. At the very least it needs to be read by a teen whose parents have taken the time to discuss these issues with them. I think there a lot of hot topics in this book and possibly reading this book with your teen might be a good way to bridge those topics.
*As Rhianon Frater points out JL Bryan does not endorse this book as a YA novel* That was my error and not his. (less)

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May 17, 2013 Cory rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: No idea.

Shelves: covers-that-give-me-warm-fuzzies, fantasy, paranormal, romance, horror, kindle, freebie, new-adult, 2-stars, abusive-manipulating-protagonists, dafuq-did-i-just-read, dont-judge-a-book-by-its-cover, gritty-and-gloomy, i-threw-up-a-little-bit-in-my-mouth, too-much-wharrgarbl, well-that-escalated-quickly, what-a-trainwreck, what-has-been-read-cannot-be-unread, why-the-hype, wtfbbqsauce, characters-id-like-to-strangle, quite-disturbing, theyre-all-just-horny

“You avoided Jenny Mittens because you despised her, not because you feared her.”

1. Sentence:
"Jenny sat in the red dirt and played with a plastic dinosaur."

What in all of the hells was this?!
It all seemed like one big clusterfuck to me.

I got this book when it was free on Amazon. Not gonna lie, it was the cover that caught my attention; the blurb, however, not so much. While I have no idea what paper birds and a skinny girl have to do with the story, it really is a pretty cover. I hoped that th...more

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Jan 11, 2013 Crystal Starr Light rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: ebook, what-the-hell-did-i-just-read, horror, urban-fantasy

Jenny Morton cannot touch anyone - because the moment she does, the other person breaks out in lesions. Her birth caused the death of her mother; an incident at elementary school scars her forever as "Jenny Pox".

Fast forward to high school. Jenny just tries to make it through a school day and avoid nemesis, Ashleigh Gooding. But she can't keep her eyes off Ashleigh's hot boyfriend, Seth. And then through tragic circumstances, Jenny and Seth meet...

I liked bits and pieces of this a lot, and prett...more

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Jun 30, 2012 Raeleen rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: my-ebooks, own, 2012, favorites, mature-ya

Okay, this book was SO CRAZY. It kept me interested all the way through, and I THOROUGHLY enjoyed it.
It was such a creepy, sexy, haunting, thrilling, romantic, emotional book, and I can't wait to read the sequel (even though I don't know what it could possibly be about, so many insane things happened in this book, I don't know what more there could be! I guess I'll have to wait and see)

This book made me do all sorts of crazy things:

and by the end I was like

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Oct 05, 2010 Christine rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I already stated in the interview with Jeff Bryan yesterday that this book really managed to surprise me. When I started reading, I expected a girl-meets-boy YA book with paranormal touch. Turns out I was wrong.

Jenny Pox tells a powerful and intense story of an outsider who has to struggle to live with her horrible power. It begins with a very disturbing scene introducing Jenny as toddler playing with a snake and killing her with her touch. It´s disturbing because even if she´s so small, Jenny i...more

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Dec 02, 2012 Kyle Strickland rated it 4 of 5 stars

Jenny Pox was a fantastic surprise as I am not generally a fan of books about teenagers.

I feel that, as a piece of art, it has something very important to say. Jenny in this book is a metaphor for the outcast. It shows how ugly people can be on the inside and really explores what it would take to push a good person to the edge. Then, it shows in graphic detail, just what happens when someone goes over.

The only reason I didn't give this book five stars is because of its ending. It explains too mu...more

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Jan 02, 2011 Michelle rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: paranormal, ya-teen, supernatural-powers, ipbr-recommended-read, reviewed, 4-and-5-star

Do you hear that slurping sound? That's me…getting sucked into this book.

The three main characters in this story are Jenny, Seth, and Ashleigh. Each wields a different supernatural power. At first they don't know this about each other but soon they discover each other's secret. Jenny and Seth just want a normal life, but Ashleigh has other plans. Their lives are intertwined more than they realize and eventually Ashleigh's evil intentions are discovered. Jenny and Seth are the only ones who can s...more Do you hear that slurping sound? That's me…getting sucked into this book.

The three main characters in this story are Jenny, Seth, and Ashleigh. Each wields a different supernatural power. At first they don't know this about each other but soon they discover each other's secret. Jenny and Seth just want a normal life, but Ashleigh has other plans. Their lives are intertwined more than they realize and eventually Ashleigh's evil intentions are discovered. Jenny and Seth are the only ones who can stop her.

Jenny is the shy loner -- by necessity. She cannot touch anyone without giving them a disgusting pox or even, ya know...killing them. She has to cover her bare skin even in the summer and wear gloves at all times, hence the cruel "Jenny Mittens" nickname her classmates give her. The first couple of chapters set the stage for how Jenny has grown up living a lonely life, never able to touch or be touched without deadly consequences. I did kind of wonder how she could get through grade school unsupervised without being touched (except for the one incident between her and Ashleigh) and her power being discovered, but I decided to go with the flow and assume she was able to do this.

Seth has the opposite power to Jenny. He can heal with his touch. Their powers seem to cancel each other out and he is the only person Jenny can touch. Seth starts out as a bit of a jerk but you soon realize he is not quite himself because of Ashleigh. He turns out to be stand-up guy. Seth actually likes Jenny, and Ashleigh is none too happy about it.

Ashleigh's power is to make people feel love...love for her or love for each other. She is like an evil and selfish cupid. People become her puppets and she uses this power for her own selfish reasons regardless of the consequences to that person. She is the ultimate mean girl: nasty, manipulative, cruel, devious, power hungry, selfish, and vengeful. She has no remorse and no redeemable qualities. Nothing and nobody will get in her way to get what she wants. She is the character you love to hate.

At 103K words, this is a fairly long novel, but it read very quickly as I was totally absorbed by the story. At one point I had to stop to recharge my ereader and I was impatient to get back to it. There were times when there was more description than I would like as I'm more of a dialogue kinda gal, but it still held my interest. This book is labeled horror and for most of the book I didn't really see it that way, but when you get to the Carrie-like climactic scene you can see why it might be considered horror. It was pretty gross, but given Jenny's power of inflicting an instant plague-like disease on people, it makes sense that it played out this way.

The main characters are in high school and much of the story revolves around the school environment so you might take this as a YA book. However, I would probably recommend this book to the older end of the teen audience or adults as it does have quite a bit of casual drug use and a couple of brief sex scenes.

So, overall I thought this was a well-written and absorbing story. There were actually quite a few typos but I was so into the story that they did not distract me like they usually do. If you like stories with superpowers, high school angst, villainous mean girls, a sweet romance, and a dash of the horrific (and don't mind the gross factor), then you might like this one. Oh, and there’s a dog in the story – just icing on the cake! :)(less)

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Jun 15, 2011 Vanessa Roberts rated it 5 of 5 stars

Stop what you are doing.

Go here: Jenny pox

And buy this book.

It is A.MAZE.ING.

I'm not even halfway through and I can tell you - it's like nothing I've ever read. Take Carrie add Mean Girls and multiply by Thinner.

Seriously.

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Feb 09, 2011 One Pushy Fox rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I definitely thought Jenny Pox would be your standard YA fare, albeit very good, when I started reading it but, yes, a little more than a third into the book we take a turn for the ADULT. Which I really enjoyed. Despite how dark a view on humanity is presented by the characters in Mr. Bryan's book, I really enjoyed them all, even the truly evil Ashleigh!

And the writing is definitely engaging. It's such an interesting story and so well written I too was racing back to my kindle to slip back into...more

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Jan 03, 2012 Mari Stroud rated it 5 of 5 stars

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. Wow, I am so blown away by and in love with this book. Firstly, readers should know that, while this book centers around high school characters, it is not YA and is not recommended for people under eighteen by its author. A good thing, because I was going, "...uh, Aud's not kidding about YA going into some dark places, damn." Secondly, I read It at the age of eleven and haven't turned into a serial killer yet, you'll be fine. Jenny Pox is too good for you not to read it based upon genre expectat...more Wow, I am so blown away by and in love with this book. Firstly, readers should know that, while this book centers around high school characters, it is not YA and is not recommended for people under eighteen by its author. A good thing, because I was going, "...uh, Aud's not kidding about YA going into some dark places, damn." Secondly, I read It at the age of eleven and haven't turned into a serial killer yet, you'll be fine. Jenny Pox is too good for you not to read it based upon genre expectations. The heroine, Jenny Morton, seems at first glance to be your basic high school misfit made even more physically monstrous based upon her ability to kill with a touch. Her enemy, Ashleigh, doesn't seem to be anything more than the typical bitchy cheerleader who plays upon her looks and a certain superficial charm to get what she wants. Ashleigh's boyfriend, Seth, is the dumb jock that our misfit heroine is inexplicably attracted to even though he's a giant tool.

None of this is actually true.

Jenny Morton is a good person, but she's not passive and shy by nature the way that most heroines of her trope are. Ashleigh trades on her sex appeal, but she has the ability to drive people so wild with lust that they'll do anything for her, right down to committing murder, and she's not interested in getting a hot date for prom. Ashleigh wants to rule the world; if she's not stopped while she's young, she has a good chance of doing it. Seth is a dim bulb (and the book doesn't try to pretend otherwise, up until the very last chapter when it does), but his surface assholery is due to Ashleigh's mind control. Left to his own devices, he's actually very sweet, even though his power doesn't come anywhere near the destructive potential of Jenny and Ashleigh. And that is why I adore this book. The two girls have pee-down-your-leg terrifying abilities, and neither of them is rewarded for thinking small in their use of them. Jenny gets rapped on the knuckles pretty hard for thinking like a hometown girl while Ashleigh is ranging so far ahead, is smarter than Seth (which both of them acknowledge and don't have ego-boo moments over), and unleashes one of the most gripping climaxes I've ever read when she finally settles in to use them. I actually would have preferred that Poor Doomed Seth stayed dead, because I liked the goodnatured and strangely normal (phenomenal cosmic power and all) boy more than I did the omniscient godling, but that's such a minor nit against such a great book.(less)

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May 20, 2013 Ashley rated it 5 of 5 stars

This book is a trip. Really good but a trip nonetheless. First off Ashleigh is a world class manipulative bitch. She screws everybody over in her master plan to rule the world. Her thing is if you touch her you'll love, adore, desire, or worship her depending on however thick she wants to lay on the energy. She used her best friend to give her boyfriend head, she tricked half the girls in her senior class to get pregnant, got the principal suspended and turned an angry mob against two innocent t...more

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Mar 10, 2013 Elizabeth Carter rated it 1 of 5 stars

Shelves: ya-series

Once I finished it, I had to conclude that this was one of the worst books I've read. It had so much promise, but a lot of the conflict just came off as silly. I'm a rather forgiving reader - as long as something vaguely makes sense or can be rationalized to a certain extent, I'm good. There was so such chance to rationalize Jenny's behavior. As others have stated, there is just so much filler that slows down the action. It wouldn't have felt at all like filler if Jenny had been easier to relate...more

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Feb 02, 2013 Jennifer rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2013-reads, flights-of-fantasy, nook, ya

When it says YA, think MATURE YA.

I felt like I was reading three different books. In book one, we have poor Jenny Morton, learning how to survive in a world where she must never touch anyone. Outcast, a sad, artistic and hardworking introvert, her only real problem is her nemesis, the Preacher's daughter Ashleigh.

In what feels is the second part of the tone of the book. One word: Sex. (view spoiler)...more

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Jan 14, 2013 Sophie Grayling rated it 4 of 5 stars

Jenny Pox is one of the most different books I have come across in a while, when I was reading I was pleasantly surprised that it was such a good book. The book is available for free on Amazon. I wanted to give some of the free e books a try, I didn't expect it to be such a great novel.

One of the things I loved most about this book was the mixture of young adult, paranormal romance and horror genres. For me it was a really interesting as sometimes the book seemed so "normal" then all of a sudden...more
Jenny Pox is one of the most different books I have come across in a while, when I was reading I was pleasantly surprised that it was such a good book. The book is available for free on Amazon. I wanted to give some of the free e books a try, I didn't expect it to be such a great novel.

One of the things I loved most about this book was the mixture of young adult, paranormal romance and horror genres. For me it was a really interesting as sometimes the book seemed so "normal" then all of a sudden you were hauled in to the horror or paranormal, though sometimes it did seem not weave well together. By this I mean parts of the book seemed to become one genre, e.g this chapter was young adult, that chapter paranormal, the next pure horror, but when I reached the end I knew I had thoroughly enjoyed my time reading it.

My favourite character was Ashleigh, the antagonist of the novel. I just loved to hate her. She brought mean girls to a whole new level and I was always was surprised with her actions and motives. She was not your normal, stereotypical high school bitch, she was really conniving and intelligent with her evil plotting and scheming. It was really nice that Bryan interchanged the narratives between Jenny and Ashleigh so the audience gets to see Ashleigh's character, the author has done well with his character development.

I did really like Jenny too, in her own ways she surprised me and at some points she plainly left me stunned. I thought she was going to be quite a boring character, riddled with timidness and shyness, the damsel in distress kind of girl though she has this deadly power. I was dead wrong. You learn that Jenny is an audacious and pretty fearless apart from her fear of killing someone.

The only thing I wish was different is that I wish the relationship developed differently between Seth and Jenny, I was surprised at how bold and brazen Jenny was with him given that she is hardly ever around people and has never had a crush before, the excitement could of been built up better on this. It felt like her feelings just developed in an instant just because he had a power, there were some parts in the book where I realised that if I was more emotionally invested I would of been upset but I wasn't so.

I would definitely recommend this book to anyone over sixteen. Though it is a young adult book there are some erotic scenes but they're not so glamorised, there is also drug and alcohol abuse and the novel can get really dark at times.(less)

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Dec 29, 2012 Darcy rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2012, e-book, ya, psychic-gifts

I wouldn't have picked this one up, but it was picked for the BOM for one of my groups.

I thought the first half was boring, but I kept reading because I was curious to see where things would go with Jenny and her pox. Ashleigh and her group brought the means girls to a whole new level, it was like they were on steroids. It wasn't hard to hate Ashleigh and I found myself rooting for her to get hers. In the end that is just what happened and I couldn't have wished for a more gruesome ending for he...more

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Nov 21, 2012 Anna rated it 1 of 5 stars

So, Jenny can spread a deadly disease with her hands, or any part of her body. She can't touch anyone. Her dad has a special suit just so he can cuddle with her and her mom died when she was born.

Obviously, the girl's troubled.

So she finds a boy she can touch. And finds out that her arch rival at school, Ashleigh, has some sort of power too, but it's like the power of love, so she makes people love her, and she uses this skill for evil purposes. Jenny, at this point, is feeling a little bitter,...more

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Oct 29, 2012 Jolie rated it 5 of 5 stars

Jenny was an outcast in her town. She learned at an early age not to touch people. Why can't she touch people? Because her touch at the best injures people and at the worst kills them.

Then she finds a kindred spirit, Seth, who's touch heals. She also finds out that he can touch her. That his power cancel's hers out. Unfortunately, he has a girlfriend, her name is Ashleigh and she is Jenny's worse enemy.

This was a really good book and Jenny was a very sympathetic character. From the first chapter...more

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Oct 11, 2012 Cindy rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: own-on-kindle

This book is... different. That's the only word I can think to describe it.

Jenny Pox reminded me of Carrie. You know, the girl that goes to Prom, ends up being Prom Queen or something like that, then gets pig blood dropped on her:

,then sets the school on fire, then goes home to bathe and ends up almost being murdered by her psychotic mom?
Yeah, that Carrie.

Only better.

Jenny Morton knows that she can never touch anyone. Anyone she touches ends up catching “Jenny Pox”, a term the preacher's daught...more

1 like · like · see review

Oct 02, 2012 Brandy Jeffus rated it 5 of 5 stars

First, I must warn you; this book is not for the faint of heart. JL Bryan does an incredible job of thoroughly describing some really nasty scenes here. Beside the gross factor (which you have to have when you're writing about a girl who spreads the plague), I really liked this book and read it within a couple of days. It was an easy read and you really get drawn into the story of this poor girl and her terrible fate.

I really loved Jenny. She is an amazing character and it was so hard for me to...more

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Sep 30, 2012 Aubrey rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: ya-paranormal

I really enjoyed this book. It had a little bit of romance to it, but mostly it was about three high-school seniors learning the extent of their crazy powers: one (jenny, who I absolutely loved) hurts/kills people with just her touch, two (Seth, whom I also loved) heals people with just his touch - and is the only one that can touch Jenny without consequences, and three (Ashleigh, who is just terrible) can manipulate people into loving her, and really takes advantage of that gift. Ashleigh and S...more

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Sep 01, 2012 Laura rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2012, america, gothic-and-horror, paranormal-supernatural, urban-fantasy-magical-realism, youth-fiction

I absolutely loved this book! There wasn't a dull moment! However, there were moments that made even a fan of Gothic and horror like myself wince.

Jenny is born with a touch that spreads disease, and even kills. The kids in primary school call her Jenny Pox. Later, it becomes Jenny Mittens, and she becomes an outcast, mocked for the long clothes and mittens she wears to protect others from her deadly touch. She lives with her caring alcoholic father, who really does his best to take care of her....more I absolutely loved this book! There wasn't a dull moment! However, there were moments that made even a fan of Gothic and horror like myself wince.

Jenny is born with a touch that spreads disease, and even kills. The kids in primary school call her Jenny Pox. Later, it becomes Jenny Mittens, and she becomes an outcast, mocked for the long clothes and mittens she wears to protect others from her deadly touch. She lives with her caring alcoholic father, who really does his best to take care of her. I thought the hug masks at the beginning were really sweet and touching.

Jenny has resigned herself to a life alone, until one day, she discovers that a boy called Seth also has powers. Healing ones. He can touch her without being harmed. The only thing is, his girlfriend, Ashleigh, is dangerous, and hates Jenny.

I loved the slow discovery of what the powers could do, and of Ashleigh's increasingly awful schemes. I found the characters well-written. At first Seth seemed like a stupid sex crazed jock, but he soon became a well-rounded character and the reason behind his behaviour with Ashleigh was explained in a very clever way. I enjoyed the far out manipulative things Ashleigh did.

Jenny was well written because she suffered so much, but did not spend too much time dwelling on it and complaining, as characters who have way less problems in their life have done in other stories. I also liked the supporting characters, such as the sweet lady who ran the Five and Dime, and Ashleigh's shyster preacher father.

I thought the story moved just slowly enough to let you know the characters and let their developing relationships seem real, but not so slow that it became boring. I found I believed their relationship, which I sometimes have trouble with in other books.

As I said, it gets quite horrific near the end, and I actually found myself cringing. But I loved that the author didn't hold back, and went the whole way with it.

The explanation was also very imaginative and well-written, I really loved it.

I enjoyed this book from start to finish, it only took me two days to read it, and I barely put it down. In the end, I loved that it was a story about a young girl dealing with destructive powers, and trying to find a place in the world despite unimaginable odds.(less)

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Aug 31, 2012 Amy rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: read-in-2012

I've gotta stop reading this paranormal stuff on the Kindle app on my phone but lately I just can't seem to stop ploughing through it all, like I'm regressing in quite a disgusting way. I've always loved sci-fi and fantasy but I totally blame the YA urban dystopia I've been reading lately - The Hunger Games, The Knife of Never Letting Go and the Chaos Walking trilogy, Divergent and Insurgent - for my descent into paranormal tweendom. From there it was a short step into the frankly addictive nove...more

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Aug 28, 2012 Tina rated it 1 of 5 stars

1.5 stars. The first chapter should have been the whole book, left it as an AMAZING creepy little short story. I would have given it 5 stars then, but no...it just kept going on and on and on and on and...well you get the idea. It starts with a weird little girl who kills anyone she touches. Then we meet the class cool girl, who cliche enough is a complete B, who likes to be in charge of everything and everyone. Oh ya and the cool girl she likes to drug people without them knowing and start orgi...more

4 likes · like · see review

Aug 12, 2012 Elizabeth (Stuffed Shelves) added it

What is the book about?

It all started the day Jenny's mother gave birth to her and Jenny took her mothers life by simply touching her. See, Jenny has a plague that cuases her to fester up boils and blisters by touching others, eventually leading in their death.

Jenny's father raised her to keep her hands covered in gloves and to keep her distance from others but it didn't take long for her schoolmates to realize she wasn't normal thus nicknaming her Jenny Pox.

She's accepted her fate of having t...more

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Aug 01, 2012 Jennifer Defoy rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2011-reads

I liked the story good enough. It just took me quite a while to get into this one. Once I got about half-way through the story I was attached and it went really fast. But getting to that “I don’t want to put this one down” point took a while.

The premise of the story is pretty neat. Jenny has a “Midas Touch” of sorts, only it’s in reverse. She’s shunned by her father and by her peers. If life isn’t hard enough for a teenager already poor Jenny’s been dealt the worst hand of all. I really felt so...more

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topics	posts	views	last activity
Basically Books!: Jenny Pox by J.L Bryan (June 2012 Group Read)	12	43	Jun 30, 2012 04:49am
opinions on this book	5	41	May 09, 2012 01:58pm
What happened to Jenny's Dad?	3	31	Apr 13, 2012 07:56pm
Age limit?	5	49	Feb 02, 2012 02:33pm
Kismet Book Touring : Paranormal Series on tour in October	18	6	Nov 04, 2011 10:13am

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About J.L. Bryan

J.L. Bryan studied English literature at the University of Georgia and at Oxford, with a focus on English Renaissance and Romantic literature. He also studied screenwriting at UCLA. He lives in Atlanta with his wife Christina, dogs Violet and Tiger Lily, and cats Shadow and Sue.

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Quotes from Jenny Pox

“Let’s try it,” he said.
“This is serious,” she said. “You could get hurt. Or die.”
“But if we can touch, that means we can make out, right?” he asked.
“Maybe.”
“You want me to risk my life for maybe?” He grinned.” — 17 people liked it

“Will you keep me safe?” she whispered.
”I promise.”
”Then I’ll go anywhere with you.” — 9 people liked it

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Jenny Pox (The Paranormals #1)

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