Jinx in What's the Name of That Book???

Aug 15, 2007 Chelsea rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy, fiction, youngadult, contemporaryfiction, 2007

Oh, Meg Cabot. One day you will write a book featuring a main character that is not completely stunted in the romantic awareness department. One who can look at the boy who is suddenly spending lots of time with her, in spite of her new country/super secret powers/general likability, and realize that maybe he, you know, has the hots for her.

On that day, I will likely propose to you on the spot.

Until then, well... It was cute. Teen Idol was better. Try not to make Mia too annoying in the next Pri ...more

64 likes · Like · see review

Oct 27, 2007 Emma rated it liked it

Meg Cabot is the author of the wildly popular "Princess Diaries" series (adapted into two Disney movies starring Anne Hathaway and Julie Andrews), the "1-800-Where-R-You" books (loosely adapted into a short-lived series on Lifetime), "The Mediator" books (not yet adapted into anything), among a variety of other books for teens and adults.

"Jinx" is Cabot's latest standalone teen novel.

As her nickname might suggest, it is not easy being Jinx. Jean Honeychurch has been unlucky since the day she was Meg Cabot is the author of the wildly popular "Princess Diaries" series (adapted into two Disney movies starring Anne Hathaway and Julie Andrews), the "1-800-Where-R-You" books (loosely adapted into a short-lived series on Lifetime), "The Mediator" books (not yet adapted into anything), among a variety of other books for teens and adults.

"Jinx" is Cabot's latest standalone teen novel.

As her nickname might suggest, it is not easy being Jinx. Jean Honeychurch has been unlucky since the day she was born, with her luck only getting worse from there. Jean was even unlucky with her name: not Jean Marie or Jeanette, just Jean (although her last name does hearken back to Lucy Honeychurch in Forster's "A Room With a View" which is cool even though Cabot never mentions this fact in the story).

It is because of her bad luck that Jean has to leave her family and friends in Iowa to come and live with her aunt and uncle in New York City. Readers don't learn exactly why Jean has come to New York until the middle of the novel. Until then Jean alludes to the reason she had to flee in annoying asides noting how no one knows the "full story."

Jean had hoped to escape her bad luck in the big city, or at least dodge her reputation. But Jean's glamorous and sophisticated cousin, Tory, has other plans. In fact, she has a lot of plans where Jean is concerned. After another of Jean's unfortunate accidents, Tory realizes that Jean is magically gifted, which ties into an old family prophecy. Thrilled to have another witch in the house, Tory invites Jean to join her coven. But, for reasons that are revealed later in the story, Jean refuses. Family feuding and intrigue ensues.

I liked the story here. But I wanted to like it more than I did. It was funny and light, which is really hard to achieve in writing. But certain elements of the prose were quite annoying. Every time Jean alluded to the "full story" of her trip to New York, I had to fight a strong urge to skim ahead and see what she was talking about. That's how long it took for Cabot to explain everything.

Allusions like that are fun to build up the story, unfortunately Cabot doesn't use them very well in the narrative. Instead of creating tension the asides just make Jean seem like a pain for not explaining herself sooner. At the same time certain parts of the plot are predictable enough that it seems silly to build them up quite so much.

Jean is also an infuriating heroine. She is incredibly likable, but also painfully naive and gullible. Cabot seemed to take Jean's "country fresh" personality way to far. Jean is so sweet that she is a veritable doormat to her less-than-loving cousin. Again and again Jean also shows herself to completely oblivious to what's going on around her. This behavior might be sweet for a country girl, but it seems forced--even for a sixteen-year-old from Iowa who may not be as worldy as this semi-jaded city dweller.

This book wasn't great, but it wasn't bad either. (If the plot sound interesting, by all means give it a try.) I enjoyed reading it, but I expected more from the story and the characters.

You can find this review and more on my blog Miss Print ...more

7 likes · Like · see review

Jan 29, 2008 Wealhtheow rated it it was ok

Shelves: ya, fantasy, urban-fantasy

To avoid an unpleasant ex-boyfriend, Jean moves from her small town to stay with her aunt and uncle in NYC. There, she's surprised at the dark changes her cousin Tory has undergone, but not surprised to learn that she's just as unlucky as ever. To protect herself from Tory's malign influence, Jinx slowly delves into her magical heritage, all the while unsure whether magic is real or not. The conflict was interesting; the romance was not. Jinx has a smart, common-sense approach to everything else ...more

1 like · Like · see review

Nov 18, 2008 Jessica rated it really liked it

Shelves: youngadult, witches

Really fun! And quite a departure from Cabot's other books. This one is a fantasy, and I wish I had read it during Halloween. ...more

1 like · Like · see review

Jan 19, 2012 Sara ♥ rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: audiobook, young-adult, romance, paranormal, 2012, urban, 2016, challenge-audio-500-2016

October 12-14, 2016

I just remembered the main character was a witch... but NOTHING else! It was pretty cute. I'm not a huge fan of witchcraft though, so the cousin freaked me out a bit. My favorite parts were Zach and Petra... :) Other than that, I completely agree with everything I said before!

May 12-13, 2012

I don't know when I read this book the first time, but WOW, I didn't remember ANYTHING about it! I didn't even know who the love interest was (until he appeared on the page, then it was pr ...more

Like · see review

Jun 26, 2007 Sara ♥ rated it really liked it

Shelves: young-adult, books-i-own, paranormal

July 31, 2007

This was a really cute book! It's about a girl named Jean... her family calls her "Jinx". Her great-grandmother was a witch, who was burned at the stake. Apparently she had prophesied that one of her female descendants would be a great witch. So this book is about Jean's adventures with wondering whether or not she's a witch. And of course, her adventures also center around a very very hott boy named Zach. :)

It's Meg Cabot, so of course it's good. [i]Pants On Fire[i/] was better, bu ...more

Like · see review

Oct 15, 2007 Jackie "the Librarian" rated it really liked it

Shelves: youngadult, magic, romance

I zoomed through this book, it was so much fun! A frothy mish-mash of Summer of Fear by Lois Duncan, a la The Craft, mixed up with large dollops of Gossip Girl. Yes, Jean was very naive, but I liked how she was willing to trust and look for the best in her cousin Tory. It's not like the story was ever going to become a tale of dark terror. Romantic, mysterious, humorous and very enjoyable! ...more

Like · see review

Sep 08, 2007 Kelaine rated it liked it

Shelves: teens

I liked it, but didn't love it. Meg Cabot's effort in dabbling in witchcraft was interesting, but the characters and storyline weren't as engaging/exciting as her other supernatural series'.

...more

Like · see review

Feb 12, 2008 Nora rated it liked it

Cute, but a little frustrating that the main character is so unable to figure out that the boy she loves does really love her back. A little too blind for me.

Like · see review