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I kinda need to explain myself here before I get to the review proper: around 2007-2008ish, I started falling out with Meg Cabot’s books, particularly her YA books. I wasn’t really connecting with the characters emotionally (to be fair, I was going into my senior year of college), and the plots weren’t grabbing me, and there was just so much that was coming out that I really couldn’t keep up with and it felt like Cabot was spreading herself too thin. And I read Jinx for the first time, and I…reacted badly. And I hadn’t gone back to it until a few months ago, because I didn’t know if I was going to have the same reaction. But I finally gave in and decided to give this another go.
In hindsight, I will say that my initial rating may have been too harsh. This is an acceptably enjoyable book, that meets my standards for what I expect from Meg Cabot…but I will say it’s still on the lower end. Jinx feels like a weaker version of Avalon High, to me at least. Jean is essentially another one of Cabot’s trademark heroines—geeky, awkward, not really popular or unpopular (aside from being bullied from the one Mean Girl) and while being a flawed teenager, is generally good at heart. And that’s fine, except that this is a really unmemorable book for me overall. Aside from the overall plot, I honestly barely remembered the details about the book aside from “It’s about a clumsy girl and her Mean Girl cousin who are descended from a witch and they’re fighting over a boy.” (Actually, when I was writing this out earlier, I could not remember Zach’s name at all and I just finished rereading this the other day.) I completely forgot that Jean’s a violin player or that she does more magic than just the two main spells that the plot hinges on, or that Jean makes a friend other than Zach when she starts school.
And I’m not saying that this is a bad book because of that, nor am I trying to be dismissive of it. I’m really not. But there’s nothing about Jean that jumps out and grabs me like some of Cabot’s other books have. There’s nothing about the plot that grabs me and goes “This is really good fluff that I’m going to devour in like a day and feel good about.” As I said at the beginning, part of the reason that I didn’t like this book when it first came out was that I felt like Cabot was falling back on safe tropes because she had so much on her plate. (I think she was up to about four books in a year at that point, as opposed to two now.) It’s also why I had such a hard time getting through Airhead those first few times—again, I’ve read this before, I want to see something new.
Speaking of seeing something new, the other reason that I’m largely lukewarm on this book is because the main plot is “Our Heroine vs. Bitchy Mean Girl.” This is the same problem I had with the Airhead trilogy, and it is disappointing to see Cabot go back and use it so many times. Especially since we really don’t know much about Jean and Tory’s relationship aside from they used to be a lot closer five years ago. We don’t really know much about why Tory decided to go this route aside from the implication that she’s going through a phase and/or because of spoiled rich kid problems. And if it’s because of the latter, she doesn’t really convince me as a villain. I do like that Tory’s bullying of Jean is more of the nonmagical mean girl kind, and her revenge backfires not because of any magical foreshadowing, but she’s so shortsighted and doesn’t realize that the people she’s trying to convince will see right through her.
As for the witchcraft angle, I can’t say that I really have an issue with it. It is very much the Meg Cabot school of “here’s the bare details and some stuff you may recognize from pop culture” (I swear, she lifted a scene from The Craft for this) and that she presents it as inoffensively as possible. It’s not as bad as it could be. (My best friend’s family practices British Traditional Wiccan; I’ve been debating giving this to her and watching her implode because I’m evil.)
Again, this is not a bad book, and I do take back my original, knee-jerk rating, but that doesn’t mean it’s without its problems and criticisms. And it is more because it reads to me as very rote, very safe plotting of Cabot’s during a period where she had too much on her plate, and it does show here. I wouldn’t recommend for most people starting Meg Cabot, and would even leave it up for a completist fan.
In hindsight, I will say that my initial rating may have been too harsh. This is an acceptably enjoyable book, that meets my standards for what I expect from Meg Cabot…but I will say it’s still on the lower end. Jinx feels like a weaker version of Avalon High, to me at least. Jean is essentially another one of Cabot’s trademark heroines—geeky, awkward, not really popular or unpopular (aside from being bullied from the one Mean Girl) and while being a flawed teenager, is generally good at heart. And that’s fine, except that this is a really unmemorable book for me overall. Aside from the overall plot, I honestly barely remembered the details about the book aside from “It’s about a clumsy girl and her Mean Girl cousin who are descended from a witch and they’re fighting over a boy.” (Actually, when I was writing this out earlier, I could not remember Zach’s name at all and I just finished rereading this the other day.) I completely forgot that Jean’s a violin player or that she does more magic than just the two main spells that the plot hinges on, or that Jean makes a friend other than Zach when she starts school.
And I’m not saying that this is a bad book because of that, nor am I trying to be dismissive of it. I’m really not. But there’s nothing about Jean that jumps out and grabs me like some of Cabot’s other books have. There’s nothing about the plot that grabs me and goes “This is really good fluff that I’m going to devour in like a day and feel good about.” As I said at the beginning, part of the reason that I didn’t like this book when it first came out was that I felt like Cabot was falling back on safe tropes because she had so much on her plate. (I think she was up to about four books in a year at that point, as opposed to two now.) It’s also why I had such a hard time getting through Airhead those first few times—again, I’ve read this before, I want to see something new.
Speaking of seeing something new, the other reason that I’m largely lukewarm on this book is because the main plot is “Our Heroine vs. Bitchy Mean Girl.” This is the same problem I had with the Airhead trilogy, and it is disappointing to see Cabot go back and use it so many times. Especially since we really don’t know much about Jean and Tory’s relationship aside from they used to be a lot closer five years ago. We don’t really know much about why Tory decided to go this route aside from the implication that she’s going through a phase and/or because of spoiled rich kid problems. And if it’s because of the latter, she doesn’t really convince me as a villain. I do like that Tory’s bullying of Jean is more of the nonmagical mean girl kind, and her revenge backfires not because of any magical foreshadowing, but she’s so shortsighted and doesn’t realize that the people she’s trying to convince will see right through her.
As for the witchcraft angle, I can’t say that I really have an issue with it. It is very much the Meg Cabot school of “here’s the bare details and some stuff you may recognize from pop culture” (I swear, she lifted a scene from The Craft for this) and that she presents it as inoffensively as possible. It’s not as bad as it could be. (My best friend’s family practices British Traditional Wiccan; I’ve been debating giving this to her and watching her implode because I’m evil.)
Again, this is not a bad book, and I do take back my original, knee-jerk rating, but that doesn’t mean it’s without its problems and criticisms. And it is more because it reads to me as very rote, very safe plotting of Cabot’s during a period where she had too much on her plate, and it does show here. I wouldn’t recommend for most people starting Meg Cabot, and would even leave it up for a completist fan.
Now that exams are over and I'm home for Christmas, I found myself in the mood for light reading. I have always found Meg Cabot's books perfect for that. They are so easy to just pick up and get into right away. Until fairly recently I had only ever read her MEDIATOR series, which I adore. But my sister is a huge fan of Meg Cabot, so her bookshelf had plenty to choose from. I have now read the first three books in THE PRINCESS DIARIES. But I wanted a change, so I grabbed JINX next.
Not disappointed at all. I picked it up and was immediately absorbed into Jean's world through Meg Cabot's easy first-person narrative. And this book was not what I was expecting at all. I know Meg Cabot can do supernatural. I just had no idea that that was where THIS book was going. But I liked it.
I just wish her heroines would NOTICE when a guy likes them. I mean, Mia thought it was so out of the realm of possibility that Michael might like her, and then when he FINALLY tells her, she thinks he's joking. And Suze? Well...that was a little more complicated, given the whole ghost thing and whatnot. Anyway, I still found the romance in this book as cute as can be, as always. Fun read. And now I am in a witch mood and am turning to [a:Diana Wynne Jones|4260|Diana Wynne Jones|http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1193516584p2/4260.jpg] and HOWL'S MOVING CASTLE.
Not disappointed at all. I picked it up and was immediately absorbed into Jean's world through Meg Cabot's easy first-person narrative. And this book was not what I was expecting at all. I know Meg Cabot can do supernatural. I just had no idea that that was where THIS book was going. But I liked it.
I just wish her heroines would NOTICE when a guy likes them. I mean, Mia thought it was so out of the realm of possibility that Michael might like her, and then when he FINALLY tells her, she thinks he's joking. And Suze? Well...that was a little more complicated, given the whole ghost thing and whatnot. Anyway, I still found the romance in this book as cute as can be, as always. Fun read. And now I am in a witch mood and am turning to [a:Diana Wynne Jones|4260|Diana Wynne Jones|http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1193516584p2/4260.jpg] and HOWL'S MOVING CASTLE.
This one was a short easy book to listen to. It wasn't interesting until about part 3 or part 4. Just as I was going to stop listening it got really good. If the whole book was that good I would have given it 4 stars for sure.
When I read this book I couldn't put it down it held me captive for a few hours. But to be honest, though I couldn't put it down it wasn't a great book. After I'd finished it i was sorely disappointed and wondered why on earth it had captivated me so much. It was like an easter egg, great on the outside but empty on the inside.
I don't know why but I enjoyed it. Maybe it was because of my Meg Cabot obsession then...
I read this solely because almost everyone I know who loves YA loves Meg Cabot. I can see loving this when I was a teen but as an adult it was pretty meh. The plot was such a silly fantasy: poor country girl gets to live in NYC! With rich relatives! Hot boy falls for her immediately in spite of her gangly ways. Hell she's even a real witch! As an old cynical woman, I just can't swallow this stuff anymore.
Meg Cabot has for quite awhile been one of my favourite authors, and she did not disappoint with Jinx. Cute, fun, and believable despite the magical event, I'd definitely recommend it for those of you who like romance.
I probably would have loved this back in middle school. Cute, a bit juvenile. My gay ass wanted Jean to end up with the girl that Tory spurned.
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 in the novel, but she's completely blind when it comes to Zack. It wasn't a believable level of denial; it was clearly just to give the romance a little zing. That downgraded this book from a three star rating to a two.