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Rating: 3.5/5
Genre: YA Fantasy
Recommended Age: 11+
Favorite Quote: "I mean, from what I do know about witchcraft -- doesn't it kind of mandate that practitioners use their powers for good instead of evil?"
Jean "Jinx" Honeychurch hates her family's nickname for her. It only reminds her of the misfortune that follows her everywhere. Such luck led to a bit of an issue back home, so now she's living with her aunt and uncle in New York City. She thinks she can turn her luck and life around, but trouble follows her halfway across the country and it's causing issues between Jean and her beautiful, glamorous cousin Tory, who isn't happy Jean is around. Soon, Jean realizes it wasn't just her bad luck she was running from, it's something far more sinister and ancient. The only thing can save Jean now is the curse she was born ​under.
Let's start by talking about how long I've had this book. Remember Borders? Remember when they closed? I bought this book from them during one such sale and it's sat on my bookcase ever since. I've only read it recently and I'm kicking myself for waiting this long. This book was fantastic! Meg Cabot writes beautifully and brings every character to life. She always writes very enjoyable books and they're easy to read, which is important because a lot of her books are aimed at younger children and newly young adults. This book wasn't her best work by far, but it was of medium level quality and it had a good message built into it: magic lies within you if only you can grasp it.
While I enjoyed the book in general, I did have some quips about it. I thought the pacing was very rushed. It's a children's book, but Harry Potter beats this book in length and most children have the attention span to read it. I felt the author needed to slow the story down a tad. I also thought the plot development was off. I could see the ending coming from a mile away and that made the book too predictable. The author also didn't entice me with Zach. All the other characters were generally well developed, but Zach was a little off in my opinion. I just couldn't like him much. I did like how he cinema sinned and pointed out how unreliable the narrator could be since the book is written in first person POV, but he stole my job from me and that's not right! Lol jkjk. Anyways, I think this would be a good book for an emerging YA Fantasy lover and a great transitional book for those breaking out of children's books to YA. It's not the best transitional book *coughHarryPottercough* but it's a good one to start with.
Genre: YA Fantasy
Recommended Age: 11+
Favorite Quote: "I mean, from what I do know about witchcraft -- doesn't it kind of mandate that practitioners use their powers for good instead of evil?"
Jean "Jinx" Honeychurch hates her family's nickname for her. It only reminds her of the misfortune that follows her everywhere. Such luck led to a bit of an issue back home, so now she's living with her aunt and uncle in New York City. She thinks she can turn her luck and life around, but trouble follows her halfway across the country and it's causing issues between Jean and her beautiful, glamorous cousin Tory, who isn't happy Jean is around. Soon, Jean realizes it wasn't just her bad luck she was running from, it's something far more sinister and ancient. The only thing can save Jean now is the curse she was born ​under.
Let's start by talking about how long I've had this book. Remember Borders? Remember when they closed? I bought this book from them during one such sale and it's sat on my bookcase ever since. I've only read it recently and I'm kicking myself for waiting this long. This book was fantastic! Meg Cabot writes beautifully and brings every character to life. She always writes very enjoyable books and they're easy to read, which is important because a lot of her books are aimed at younger children and newly young adults. This book wasn't her best work by far, but it was of medium level quality and it had a good message built into it: magic lies within you if only you can grasp it.
While I enjoyed the book in general, I did have some quips about it. I thought the pacing was very rushed. It's a children's book, but Harry Potter beats this book in length and most children have the attention span to read it. I felt the author needed to slow the story down a tad. I also thought the plot development was off. I could see the ending coming from a mile away and that made the book too predictable. The author also didn't entice me with Zach. All the other characters were generally well developed, but Zach was a little off in my opinion. I just couldn't like him much. I did like how he cinema sinned and pointed out how unreliable the narrator could be since the book is written in first person POV, but he stole my job from me and that's not right! Lol jkjk. Anyways, I think this would be a good book for an emerging YA Fantasy lover and a great transitional book for those breaking out of children's books to YA. It's not the best transitional book *coughHarryPottercough* but it's a good one to start with.
Meg Cabot requirement
Jinx by Meg Cabot is about a sixteen-year-old named Jean, or "Jinx," called by that nickname because of the bad luck that seems to follow her. Jean moves to live with her rich aunt and uncle in New York to escape from a stalker. There her cousin Tory becomes convinced that she and Jean are witches, but as boys and conflicting morals come up between them, they end up enemies.
This book has tension and an engaging plot. The idea of it is interesting, and there's a desire to find out exactly what went down with Jean's stalker. However, Jean's character is difficult to like. She complains a lot about "bad luck" when she does actually give us examples, it's things such as her name is a guy's name in France. It's hard to be sympathetic through her whining. Also, the writing...was bad. Let's just say...Cabot should learn that...ellipses are something that should...be used sparingly. Even...in dialogue...when most people do pause. Authors also should NOT feel the need to CAPITALIZE everything that they think should be EMPHASIZED. Smart readers can tell what's important WITHOUT capitalizing so much. Because there's mention of drugs, drinking, and passing reference to sex, this book is best for mid to older teens, and will appeal mostly to girls.
Jinx by Meg Cabot is about a sixteen-year-old named Jean, or "Jinx," called by that nickname because of the bad luck that seems to follow her. Jean moves to live with her rich aunt and uncle in New York to escape from a stalker. There her cousin Tory becomes convinced that she and Jean are witches, but as boys and conflicting morals come up between them, they end up enemies.
This book has tension and an engaging plot. The idea of it is interesting, and there's a desire to find out exactly what went down with Jean's stalker. However, Jean's character is difficult to like. She complains a lot about "bad luck" when she does actually give us examples, it's things such as her name is a guy's name in France. It's hard to be sympathetic through her whining. Also, the writing...was bad. Let's just say...Cabot should learn that...ellipses are something that should...be used sparingly. Even...in dialogue...when most people do pause. Authors also should NOT feel the need to CAPITALIZE everything that they think should be EMPHASIZED. Smart readers can tell what's important WITHOUT capitalizing so much. Because there's mention of drugs, drinking, and passing reference to sex, this book is best for mid to older teens, and will appeal mostly to girls.
This is another of the Meg Cabot books I liked. I liked the magaical realism--you aren't sure if it is magic or just coincidence. The main character was both likeable and proactive.
3* - a solid fun middle grade book, pacing is a bit off but I've found that with a few middle grade books I've come back to reread recently. Overall a fun little reread of a book from my childhood (helpful that I had forgotten most of it!)
The entire story was really cute. It got into the different life styles people can have even though they're all related. Personally, I liked how everything was neatly tied in a cute little bow. Jean and Zach are quite the pair as well.
This was a cute little book. The main character drove me nuts! I don't know how she couldn't tell she was liked. Also, they professed their love for each other at the end of the book -- so frustrating since they're only 16 or so and only knew each other for a month. It was cute but not the greatest book I've ever read. I would recommend it to others though. It was very predictable and "cute" is really the best word I can come up with to describe it.
defiantly my favorite Meg Cabot book of all time,i read it twice in one sitting.
First, I'll just say that I do love Meg Cabot. She's funny, she tells good stories, and she has interesting plots. But this story was a total miss.
CHARACTERS
The main character was so annoying. Not in the character-development-anti-hero way. But this one was a goody-goody-wisdom-spewing-mary-sue-forces-of-good way. I didn't even get through the book because the entire time I was rolling my eyes at the main character.
REALISTICISM
Also, she didn't seem too surprised that she had magical powers. I don't think that's very realistic.
PLOT
Maybe it's because I read this a while ago and didn't finish it, but there wasn't a significant plot.
OUTRO
And maybe I should have read the entire book because if I did I would have liked it better, but I was basically dragging my feet through this one. It wasn't funny, it wasn't a good story, and it did not have an interesting plot.
Until next time, goodreaders
CHARACTERS
The main character was so annoying. Not in the character-development-anti-hero way. But this one was a goody-goody-wisdom-spewing-mary-sue-forces-of-good way. I didn't even get through the book because the entire time I was rolling my eyes at the main character.
REALISTICISM
Also, she didn't seem too surprised that she had magical powers. I don't think that's very realistic.
PLOT
Maybe it's because I read this a while ago and didn't finish it, but there wasn't a significant plot.
OUTRO
And maybe I should have read the entire book because if I did I would have liked it better, but I was basically dragging my feet through this one. It wasn't funny, it wasn't a good story, and it did not have an interesting plot.
Until next time, goodreaders
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.