Jinx by Meg Cabot

It's not easy being Jinx.

Jean Honeychurch hates her boring name (not Jean Marie, or Jeanette, just . . . Jean). What's worse? Her all-too-appropriate nickname, Jinx. Misfortune seems to follow her everywhere she goes—even to New York City, where Jinx has moved to get away from the huge mess she caused in her small hometown. Her aunt and uncle welcome her to their Manhattan town house, but her beautiful cousin Tory isn't so thrilled. . . .

In fact, Tory is hiding a dangerous secret—one that could put them all in danger. Soon Jinx realizes it isn't just bad luck she's been running from . . . and that the curse she has lived under since the day she was born may be the only thing that can save her life.

I really liked, this one. I don't always like Meg Cabot's books because they are a little too romantic for me, but this one had just a little. I could totally identify with the main character.

Some day Meg Cabot will write a teenage female main character who is not a)ridiculously naive b)emotionally stunted and/or c)romantically oblivious. I'll take any or all of the above - though a Meg Cabot book that contained all of those requirements would probably cause me drop said book on my foot in utter shock. Since my foot is doing ok, this book obviously treads the same path as other books by this author.

Leaving the above request aside, it's not a bad book. The basic plot idea has lots of potential and it has it's cute moments. It's just that somewhere along the way all of that basically gets lost. Jean's my life sucks lamentations and complete cluelessness in regards to Zach left me rolling my eyes more often than not. While I figured out the why behind Jean's move to New York pretty early on, it took almost the entire book to get the actual explanation. All things that will make me thinking twice before picking up the author's next book.

To be totally honest, I picked this up it realizing at first that it was YA! But still, it was a fun break with some interesting characters. I adored the love interest, especially for being so perceptive. ;) There were some interesting things happening with the narrator that kept me guessing. An absorbing magical tale!