Jinx

Meg Cabot has the formula to writing a teen book down pat. She knows how to plan out her plots well: Hapless Girl meets Boy who she a) doesn't like or b) is best friends with and doesn't like romantically. Then, Hapless Girl finds out she has something extraordinary in her life (either supernatural powers, unknown royalty, or internal strength), followed by denial, denial, denial, a lot of complaining, and eventual acceptance. To finish, she realizes she loves the Boy she either hates or is best friends with. Happy ever after.

This formula, however, does not work when used over 40 times by the same author. I admit, I sucked the first "Princess Diaries" books up when I was 13. I adored "1-800-Where-R-U." I couldn't stop reading the "Mediator." They were fresh and funny. They were somewhat original, set apart from the rest of the YA genre. Cabot's latest works-- Jinx, How to be Popular, Mediators #5 and #6, and definitely 1-800 #5-- are attempts to recreate the magic of the past. To be frank, they are boring because we have already read these stories before. Jean (or "Jinx") is a character who questions herself a lot and, much like Sam from "All American Girl", does not realize that the BOY OF HER DREAMS actually likes HER. This was true with Michael Moscovitz and Scott from "Teen Idol."

Another reason Cabot's latest book "Jinx" is not up to par with her past work is because of its contrived characters. Jean's ex-boyfriend stalks her and her roommate is like one of the cheerleaders from "Princess Diaries" but with all black on. The basic Cabot bad-guy character is either a hypocritical jealous girl or a mental patient.

Now, for the most part, these books are still sweet and charming (that is, if you're a soccer mom screening your daughter's books). I'm no longer 13, or even a teen, so maybe these books just don't suit my fancy. But when you read a teen book that is remarkable, you don't need to be a teenager to like it. It is a good book on its own without that YA label. Cabot garners to that label because it helps her hit the New York Times bestseller list, and I guess that's all that matters at this point.

If you're tempted to read "Jinx" try one of Cabot's older works instead. In my opinion, "Teen Idol" is her last work before her decline, so start there and work your way backwards. To put it simply, "Jinx" is just another version of her previous books.

I have to say, I thoroughly enjoyed Jinx. Meg Cabot has a definite hit with this book.

Jean "Jinx" Honeychurch has had bad luck all her life. Straight from birth in fact. She has recently arrived in New York City to stay with her aunt, uncle and cousins. To start fresh from some of the bad luck she left behind in Iowa. Jinx has a lot of guilt on her shoulders so she is looking forward to hopefully leaving her bad luck behind her.

Too bad it is not that easy. Her extended family is a pleasure to be with, all except Jinx's cousin, Tory. Tory is unhappy, rude, and in general, is making Jinx's life a pain. It doesn't help that Tory is crushing on her neighbor Zach in a big way, but Zach seems to have eyes only for Jinx. Talk about an uncomfortable situation. And when witchcraft and their shared history is brought into the mix, Jinx's life becomes even more complicated because Jinx has power. Tory knows it and she wants that power for herself. She'll do anything she can to get it. And believe me, she is not above stooping to very low levels.

So what makes this book so much fun? It is the lead character, Jinx. She is just a very real persona. She is suffering from some very painful truths that she doesn't want brought to the light. Things like mixing witchcraft and a person's free will. On top of that, she is dealing with a new living situation, a new crush, a new school, and the need to finally have some good luck. Some great luck! Meg Cabot really created a wonderful character in Jinx. Teens and heck, even adults, will empathize with the fears she faces on a daily basis, the challenges of dealing with cruel people, with rumors, and with a very confusing ancestry. Luckily, Jinx has style and a panache all her own and she will win you over from the very first page.

I really enjoyed how Meg Cabot intertwined witchcraft and adolescence. There are some really great messages in this book, but you won't feel like you've been hit over the head with them. Subtle, sly, and humorous, Jinx has all the marks of an entertaining paranormal read.

I thought it was cute. I was hoping there would be more supernatural witchy stuff in it. It just seems to me that the more Meg Cabot writes, the less I like each of the new releases and the less original they are. The whole 'bad luck' thing reminded me of thet Lindsay Lohan 'Just My Luck' movie.

[[ASIN:0060837640 Jinx]] starts out just about the same as any Meg Cabot book. Girl has hidden problem alluded to but not openly discussed, girl sees hot guy who makes her insides melt but doesn't know how to get him to notice her, girl makes a fool of herself trying to get said cute guy. But before too long, you find out that Jean is anything but a normal Cabot heroine.

Jean Honeychurch arrives in New York City thinking that her life can only get better after a stocker forces her to move from her small hometown in rural Iowa to live with her aunt, uncle and spoiled cousin Tory. There Jean finds out Tory has changed drastically from her five-year-old self who used to ford creeks and climb trees; now Troy is a little too into boys, likes to mess around with drugs and alcohol, and even fancies herself a witch.

And of course, Jean instantly falls for the boy next door, Zack, who likes the au pair who already has a boyfriend back in Germany. But don't worry, because Troy will stop at nothing to get Zack for herself even though she is dating Shawn with the agreement that they are really only friends with benefits.

If that love triangle (or pentagon) isn't complicated enough for you, throw in the fact that Troy is practicing black magic, Jean thinks she's cursed and Shawn starts getting a little sloppy at his job as the local drug pusher at their elite Manhattan private school. That is when things really start to get good.

Reading this book reminded me why I love Meg Cabot so much. While her romances are pretty formulaic and her characters tend to sound just about the same from book to book, Cabot really shines as a paranormal writer. With the whit and romance of her 1-800-Where-R-You series ([[ASIN:1416927050 When Lightning Strikes (1-800-Where-R-You)]] and [[ASIN:0060874309 Missing You (1-800-Where-R-You, Book 5)]]) and the darker edge and great dialogue of her Mediator series ([[ASIN:0060725117 Shadowland (The Mediator, Book 1)]] and [[ASIN:0060724692 The Mediator #6: Twilight (Mediator)]]), Meg Cabot brings the world of witchcraft and dark magic to an entirely new level.

As a general rule, I'm a big Meg Cabot fan. So when I bought this book, I expected to really enjoy it. I was so disappointed! There was practically no plot, no real conflict, and Jinx's problems weren't EVER explained fully, so I was left completely confused. There was little to no character development, and Jinx was really inconsistent when it came to her belief (or disbelief) in magic.
Overall, I was sorry to have spent money on it. What a shame!

Jean is known by her family as Jinx because bad luck seems to follow her wherever she goes. It is back luck that has lead Jinx to move to New York. She is running away from some trouble she believes she has brought on herself. Is it just bad luck or something else?

Jean moves in with her aunt and uncle and cousins, including similar-aged Torry. Jean remembers Torry as being a fun childhood companion, but this new Torry looks and acts completely different. She dresses all in black, takes drugs, and is convinced she is a witch. After Jinx saves the life of hot neighbor Zach by pushing him out of the way of a car, Torry believes Jinx is also a witch. But that's ridiculous, right?

When Jinx refuses to join her coven and catches the eye of Zach, who has been a long-time crush of Torry's, it starts a war between the cousins.

While I appreciate Meg Cabot and everything she has done for young adult readers, this book really got on my nerves. I am tired of stupid protagonists. It was hard for me to sit and listen to Jinx let her cousin repeatedly walk all over her. In addition, it was clear from early on that Zach had a crush on Jinx, but she keeps thinking he has a crush on the au pair, Petra, who lives with Jinx's aunt and uncle. It isn't until the end of the book that Jinx finally stands up for herself and admits that she is special.

You might remember I had a similar reaction to the book Haters by Alisa Valdez-Rodriguez. That book was also about a female that had special powers (intuition and spirit ancestors) and also had a jealous female after her. Both girls had spiritual guides encouraging them to embrace their abilities to avoid danger. Like Jinx, Paski seemed to let people walk all over her, even though she was supposed to be this strong biker chick. I would have liked Jinx to have a little more attitude. Maybe the book wouldn't have had the same conflict, but it certainly would have made her more interesting to listen to. I would like to see authors draw strong female characters that have character and don't take no flack.

As someone that goes by the name Jinx I was of course drawn in by the title of this book when I saw it at my high school library. Honestly though I've heard of Meg Cabot I was thinking this seemed out of her field and probably wouldn't be that good. I was impressed by this story and wish there were more of this style from Meg Cabot. It has some very fun and interesting twists and I'd really love to see it as a movie too.

I am so sick of protagonists who do nothing but complain. By the end of the first chapter I wanted to pull my hair out, I was so sick of the lead character Jinx repeating to herself how every bad thing that happened to her was due to her bad luck. I wanted to reach into the book, grab her by the collar, and yell "We get it, you have bad luck, can we please move on?" The problem isn't that I can't suspend my disbelief to allow for witchcraft or a curse. The problem is that this character, like so many of Meg Cabot's other characters, spends the first third of the book (or more!) whining incessantly.

The rest of the narrative is more of Cabot's usual YA formula, and I'm getting a bit bored with that, too. I cannot tell you how sick I am of the girl who can't tell when an attractive guy is blatantly flirting with her, until right at the very end when he finally has to spell it out for her. Much like the internal griping, it's been done ad nauseam. This book offers nothing new to the genre or even to Cabot's body of work. The tricks she uses here were used much more effectively in the "Princess Diaries" series, and at least there we got to see some real character growth.

Get "Jinx" from the library. Or better yet, try "All American Girl" or "Princess Diaries" or even "Avalon." Those are much better introductions to Meg Cabot.

'Jinx' was kind of weird and seemed really thrown together.
I couldn't find any real plot to the book and the climax was...anti-climatic. Jean was a very confusing character and she went from believing in magic one minute and then all of a sudden not believing. It seemed like magic was just thrown in to make the novel more interesting but it didn't work...it just made it confusing.

Also, it seemed like magic was supposed to be a big factor in the story but it ended up not being a factor because almost none of the things Tory did to Jinx involved magic. It seemed like the book was setting up for this big face-off between Jinx and Tory where they both use magic to battle each other but it never happened. Neither of the girls used magic at the end.

The ending was pretty weird...and that's about all I can say about it.

Overall, this book left me scratching my head...in fact I'm scratching my head right now trying to remember if there was anything I really liked about the book.
The most confusing book I've read in a while. I wouldn't have expected this from Meg Cabot.

This is one of Meg Cabot's best, in my opinion. It may be about witchcraft, but it wasn't overdone to unbelieveable extents. I enjoyed reading about Jinx and how she learned from her experiences. I guess I can call it a way lighter, fluffier version of The Craft. Plus, even though it happened to be about witches, I could actually relate really well to what was going on.