REVIEW! Jinxed by Amy McCulloch

This book came in my August Book Box Club and I really liked the sound of it, also helped by the cat silhouette on the cover. As with the other Book Box Club books, I buddy read this one, although this time the buddy read involved 8 of us being in the same room reading it.

My Rating: ★★★★

So the blurb for this book (taken from Goodreads) is:
Lacey Chu has big dreams of becoming a companioneer for MONCHA, the largest tech firm in North America and the company behind the  "baku" - a customisable smart pet that functions as a phone but makes the perfect companion too. When Lacey finds out she hasn't been accepted into Profectus - the elite academy for cutting edge tech - it seems her dreams are over. Worst of all, rather than getting to choose one of the advanced bakus, she’s stuck with a rubbish insect one. 

Then, one night, Lacey comes across the remains of an advanced baku. Once it might’ve been in the shape of a cat but it’s now mangled and broken, no sign of electronic life behind its eyes. Days of work later and the baku opens its eyes. Lacey calls him Jinx – and Jinx opens up a world for her that she never even knew existed, including entry to the hallowed halls of Profecus. Slowly but surely, Jinx becomes more than just a baku to Lacey – he becomes her perfect companion. But what is Jinx, really? His abilities far surpass anything written into his code or built into his motherboard. He seems to be more than just a robotic pet. He seems ... real.

I really liked this story, the story was well thought out, even though it does end on a cliffhanger, which will frustrate the hell out of me waiting for the next book. Jinx is the sassiest robot cat you’ll ever have the pleasure of meeting and is definitely my favourite character. Our buddy reading group have decided that this was essentially Pokemon meets Robot Wars.

I absolutely cannot stand Carter, he reminds me of a worse version of Draco Malfoy. Although I am hoping for more character development in the next book, for us to find out what sort of man his father is for him to be the way he is. I think his father must not have been there, for him to be so actively doing literally anything for his father's approval.  

I think my only issue, and reason this only got four stars instead of five was the 'romance', it seems in most YA books there's always that girl who swoons over a guy. Now I'm not saying there should be no romance, but the girl is always head over heels, and her whole world revolves around the boy. It would be nice to have more YA stories where a girl can keep her head around a guy that she has a crush on.