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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
"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
I bought this book a long time ago and if I had read it then I'd probably it is enjoyed it a lot more but this book wasn't very fast paced and it wasn't a story what really kept you in tree and what was going on on it was about a girl called Jane and her cousin called Tori and their grandma being a witch and she was the witch in the family or her and Jane were both witches but apart from this there wasn't much what was going on apart from Zack's relationship with Jane as them just been friends there's not really much more to say about this book as there wasn't really much going on I really wanted to love this book because of when I got it but it just didn't
My Cousin borrowed me this book, because she doesn't like reading and she has only enjoyed a handful of books in her life. This was one of them. I talk about books that i've read all the time and she didn't want to be bored by my talking. So she told me to read this book, so wee have a conversation starter. I have her to thank for finding this book.
I had never read any of Meg Cabot's books until now. It was very different to other book i have read, i'll give it that.
The characters were interesting and Tori was just...scary by the end of it. (Really? A butcher knife!?) The ending was good. Not excellent, not great; Just good.
Of course, like i had said before: i hadn't read any of Meg's books before, so this was a bit of a shock. but i own some of her other books, so i'll give them a chance, too.
I had never read any of Meg Cabot's books until now. It was very different to other book i have read, i'll give it that.
The characters were interesting and Tori was just...scary by the end of it. (Really? A butcher knife!?) The ending was good. Not excellent, not great; Just good.
Of course, like i had said before: i hadn't read any of Meg's books before, so this was a bit of a shock. but i own some of her other books, so i'll give them a chance, too.
I absolutely loved it, lol, it had me from 'I've never even BEEN to Long Island!'
This book was much more edgy and dark than any of the other Cabot books I've read. I picked it up on a whim when I saw it at the library in my new town, so just from the little summary I didn't pick up on the fact it would be largely about witchcraft. However, it still maintained a fairly light-hearted level of fluff, romance and humor characteristic of Cabot that made it a nice break from the other books I've been working on lately. I also thought the villain was scary psycho in a fairly realistic way for someone that age. Overall, I was entertained.
Again, not one of her best. She's had good YA books, but this was not one of them. Thoroughly predictable plot lines and over-the-top teenagers really take away from this story. I thought that we knew basic things the whole time but they turned out to be 'surprises' in the end. Just a silly YA book.
It was a cute story if you didn't read too much into it. I think it lacked a foundation for really getting to know Jean and was not very believable even looking over the whole thing. Everyone in the story seems really under concerned about Tory's issues for a long time and even less concerned about Jean's.
Spoiler
witch
funny
lighthearted
relaxing
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Not a standout but Meg Cabot is Meg Cabot
Jean Honeychurch, also known as Jinx thanks to her rotten luck, has just moved in with her Aunt & Uncle in New York. From small town preacher's daughter to the big-city and the luxury of having her own room and living in the lap of luxury at first things seem perfect. Then Jean discovers that her cousin Tory has developed a few quirks since they met last - like deciding to become a practicing witch and leading her own coven. When Tory decides Jean is a witch too and possibly more powerful, she makes Jean's life miserable with their escalating rivalry.
The book started out with promise and nose-dived quickly. Jean is too good to be true and damn annoying as well. Her continual need to blame herself for everything, her pessimism and utter cluelessness when it comes to Zach, the proverbial gorgeous guy next door, all combine to form a flat one-dimensional character that I have no sympathy for. The action and plot are predictable with far too many pop-culture references thrown in to make it hip, which fails miserably. Cabot's dialogue and description are fine, although she has a tendency to use cliches. The prose overall isn't bad. The basic story and characterization, however are inately flawed. Not something I'll ever be tempted to pick up again or would recommend.
The book started out with promise and nose-dived quickly. Jean is too good to be true and damn annoying as well. Her continual need to blame herself for everything, her pessimism and utter cluelessness when it comes to Zach, the proverbial gorgeous guy next door, all combine to form a flat one-dimensional character that I have no sympathy for. The action and plot are predictable with far too many pop-culture references thrown in to make it hip, which fails miserably. Cabot's dialogue and description are fine, although she has a tendency to use cliches. The prose overall isn't bad. The basic story and characterization, however are inately flawed. Not something I'll ever be tempted to pick up again or would recommend.