Jinx

Jinx by Meg Cabot is one of my most favorite books of all time. This book, written by the well known author of the Princess Diaries series, tells the story of 16 year old Jean Honeychurch.

Jean, or "Jinx" as everyone calls her, has been in the midst of misfortune all her life, ever since she was young things just seem to go wrong everywhere she goes. Even when she was born, lightning struck the hospital causing all the power to go off. So when she is practically stalked by an obsessive lover and is forced to move to New York to stay with her Aunt and Uncle, it is the least of her worries.

Her cousin Tory is messed up, doing drugs, staying out to all hours of the night and seems to think she is a witch, Jean as well. Might she be one?

This book is a nice and easy read. It is skillfully written (thanks to Cabot's experience) but is not to heavy like some books. The story has been carefully planned and is almost a mystery in the fact that you don't know exactly the full story till the very end.

Written in first person is always a nice way to go for teenage fiction. I find this because of the emotional rollercoasters that are experienced during these years. That is why the book is so nice, because you really get a sense of this girl's personality.

It is funny though how predictable Cabot's books are though (in the romance sense). It is always the same.

Unpopular girl likes hot blond jock. They get together. Jock turns out to be an idiot. They split up. Girl goes with unpopular but handsome brown haired guy that she didnt realize liked her. They live happily ever after.

Despite this, the books are still great entertainment. I love Jinx, so read it!

A Great and Terrible Beauty

This book, A great and Terrible Beauty by Libba Bray, and the follow ups Rebel Angels and The Sweet Far Thing, is one of the best series I have read in a long time.

It is set in the years 1895-1896 and is filled with poofy skirts and tight corsets. It is a perfect picture of the time, from gossip filled tea parties to grand balls in enormous halls. This particular story is about a girl named Gemma Doyle.

Gemma Doyle has always been a bit unusual. She is not the type to sit and drink tea and gossip with the other girls in her home in Bombay, India. With her flaming red hair and "unsettling" bright green eyes, she has always been a bit unconventional. So of course, though wanting it very much, being shipped of to a London all-girls boarding school after her mother's sudden murder, complicates her life even more.

You see, Gemma is prone to visions. Sometimes useful, sometimes dangerous but no matter what that good-looking, mysterious, young, Indian man that is following her says, she cant get rid of them, they are part of her. These visions, and some outside help, help her discover the existence of the shadowy Order and her mother's connection with it. This leads her to discover the realms, a world between worlds where anything can exist and along with her friends Felicity, Ann and Pippa, she sets off too explore it, but it is not all than meets the eye.

This series is extremely well written and explores a lot more than you would expect than a book set in the 19th century. It talks about love, friendship, death, adolescence, sexism and of course, racism. When reading this book you start to think about everything in a whole new light. Why shouldnt women go to university? And though you may be thinking "But they can now! That was years ago!" this book shows it from the inside, from the mind of a woman in that time. How she thought about it, and how she dealt with it. She didnt think it was all that strange! That was how it was.

I also think that Libba Bray has found a way to connect the book with the reader. The way you can find yourself in each of the main characters. For instance, i am most like Gemma, I am a bit different and very wary, i like to look after my friends. But Felicity and me share the same love of standing out, we are both attention seekers. Then there is Ann. Ann is a very very shy and quiet character. You now may be thinking "hang on, how can u be like her if u r an attention seeker?" well, my answer for that is this, she loves acting and singing, just like me!

On another note, when reaching the end of each of the books, though being a series, it does not finish abruptly. Although the plot is unfinished, and the story not rapt up until the very last book, it is still satisfying. Libba has finished each of them in such a way that they can almost stand alone. This may also be because there is so much to think about when reading them that your head is full of thoughts and questions so that to pick up the next book would be overload!

Overall, an excellent read and i suggest it for anyone aged 13-30.