JINX – Jennifer Estep
Bigtime Series, Book 3
Berkley Sensation
ISBN: 978-0-425-22062-7
September 2008
Fantasy Romance

Bigtime, New York ~ Present Day

While Bella Bulluci is grateful for the superheroes who protect Bigtime from the ubervillians, she doesn’t want to be like them. She’s perfectly content working as chairperson of the Friends of the Bigtime Museum of Modern Art and living in the Bulluci Mansion. Of course, the fact Bella has some unique powers of her own doesn’t help, especially when they decide to go haywire. Nothing worse than trying to eat a sandwich and having it explode on you. But it isn’t a life she wants, despite coming from a family of superheroes and remembering the times she waited at home for her father, who was later killed by ubervillians.

Working on the upcoming art benefit, Whimsical Wonders, Bella’s trying to make it the best show ever, and she’s received several loans of art objects to display from many of Bigtime’s elite citizens. Unfortunately, someone else is after a very special object…a blue star sapphire. At the benefit, an ubervillian barges in and attempts to take the sapphire. Luckily for her, not only do the superheroes come to the rescue, but so does Debonair, a smooth talking and utterly handsome, but shady mystery man who is also after the gem. Bella finds herself kidnapped by Debonair and soon is falling under his spell. Will it play havoc with her powers? Just who is Debonair truly, and what is he trying to hide? Will the ubervillians get the sapphire?

Action packed fun is the name of the game in JINX, another installment in Jennifer Estep’s Bigtime series. Bella’s reasons for not wanting the superhero lifestyle are understandable, given the fact that her father’s devotion to it led to his death. Her brother has taken over for their father, but...well, that is his decision. Bella is content to volunteer and mingle with the pillars of society, bringing good to the citizens of Bigtime. But when the art benefit is compromised, and she falls for Debonair, her life suddenly changes. A good or bad thing?

Debonair is charming and clearly attracted to Bella, but he doesn’t want to tell her who he really is. Given that readers should figure out his real identity pretty early on in the story, it’s amusing as well as understandable. The why and who are after the sapphire was a little harder for me to figure out, but the clues are there (I like a little bit of mystery with my fantasy). Other characters of note are the richest couple in Bigtime, Berkley Brighton and his wife, Joanne James, who own the coveted sapphire; and Grace, Abby, and Hannah, who are on the benefit committee with Bella and Joanne; all add their own unique flavor to JINX. Bella’s grandfather is a retired superhero, but that doesn’t mean he’s given up the thrill of it. Then there is Grace’s grandson, Devlin, who is shyly attracted to Bella; she doesn’t want to encourage him, but he’s always there and is sweet.

As you can see, a whole slew of characters fill the pages of JINX, and at times I felt as if I needed a scorecard to keep track of who was who. Of course, not having read the other books in the series is what caused my confusion, I'm sure. However, once I figured out the role each plays in JINX, it proved to be a highly entertaining read. Bella unwittingly finds herself attracted to what she perceives as the wrong man, when in fact he is the right one. By the end of the tale, I was glued to the pages, wondering what would happen next. Everything was tied up smoothly in the end.

For a fun, enjoyable fantasy romance, grab up your copy of JINX today.

Patti Fischer