Book Review: Jinx by Meg Cabot

In the spirit of the Meg-A-Readers Blog Hop, I'm going to be reviewing one book by Meg Cabot every sunday for the duration of the event!

This week I'm looking into Jinx. I remember reading this book shortly after it was released and enjoying it to bits. I love that the story was about a girl who might or might not be a witch, since that used to be pretty rare until a few years ago. 

The Deal: Jean Honeychurch as as much bad luck as you can expect from someone nicknamed Jinx. Ever since she was born, strange things keep happening around her - not to mention the fact that she's a total klutz - and when one those 'strange things' goes a bit too far, Jinx gets send off to her rich uncles in Manhattan, where she hopes to leave her bad luck behind.

Not that it seems to be working. Her uncles - The Gardiners - are nice, her younger cousins sweet, but her cousin Torrance - once a sweet, funny kid who climbed trees and played with Jinx - has turned into a complete stranger, one that's obsessed with the magical legacy of their family. A legacy that seems to have fallen on Jinx's lap.

Her new school is all right enough, and the Gardiners' dreamy neighbor Zach welcoming -even if Jinx is pretty sure he's in love with the Gardiners' au pair, and he's just being nice to her because he's a decent human being - and soon Jinx starts to feel at home... sort of. 

Until Torrance's thirst to get her hands on the family's legacy -a.k.a becoming a witch - goes a bit too far. 

My Thoughts: A couple years before paranormal exploded all over YA - leaving morose angels, sparkly vampires and mopey werewolves all over the place - there was Jinx. At the time, it was the darkest of Meg Cabot's books, but it was still all the things you expect of a book by Meg: it was fun, with a bit of romance and a likable heroine. 

Jean was a sweet girl, one with whom it was easy to relate, she made a few mistakes and had to face the consequences of them, and at the same time she had to learn to accept herself for who she was - even with the strange, witchy gift in the family. Zach Rosen, was a really sweet guy and it was easy to like him - even if he was a bit too perfect. 

Torrance as a mean girl, and she worked well in her role, she was jealous and selfish and a little crazy but it worked well for the story. 

The other characters were a bit more less developed, wich I think helped to make the story move at a faster pace, making this a fairly quick read. 

Jinx is that rare breed of paranormal that is funny without being campy, 'dark' without being depressing.