Jinxed by Day LeClaire was one of the first romance books I ever read, and it was a real treat to experience.
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Jinxed by Day Leclaire
Rating: 
Published: 1990
Illustrator: Frank Kalan
Imprint or Line: Harlequin Romance #3028
Book Series: The Wacky Ladies #1
Published by: Harlequin
Genres: Category Romance, Contemporary Romance
Pages: 192
Format: eBook, Paperback
Buy on: Amazon, AbeBooks
Reviewed by: Introvert Reader
SPOILER FREE REVIEW 😊
The Book
Day LeClaire’s Jinxed has the honor of being the third romance I read. I recall my first four romances so vividly since they mysteriously arrived free of charge in a package on my doorstep during midwinter of 1990.
This was right before my parents split up, and the five of us kids moved into a different house with my mom and her new boyfriend. Dark times, but those romances were bright spots for me.
There were four Harlequin Romances in the box: Game Plan, Arafura Pirate, Spell Of The Mountains, and Jinxed.
Jinxed was the best of the bunch.
The Characters
Our leading man Stephen was the precursor of what would be my favorite type of hero: blond, blue-eyed, with an icy demeanor.
His stuffed-shirt attitude was due primarily because of the burdens put upon him by his family. His father died when he was young, he was over-protective of his younger sister, and he had an acrimonious relationship with his vain, youth-obsessed mother.
Stephen took life way too seriously and just needed some wonderful, outrageous woman who would make him loosen up and have some excitement.
The heroine Kit is just that! However, she was a total klutz–whose antics enraged Stephen.
Kit was also intelligent, great at her job, lots of fun, and loved by her nieces and nephews.
She was the most relatable heroine I’d come across so far. At age 12, I adored her character because I, too, was quite clumsy. (Who am I kidding, was?).
The Plot
Stephen is known as the “Iceman,” a super serious blond wall of muscle. He’s the President of a cutthroat business empire of–making toys?
Kit worked for Stephen in the development department of his company, where she created lots of amusing games for kids and an occasional messy explosion.
I remember Kit causing accident after accident. The last straw for Stephen was when she ruined both her clothes and her boss’s white silk shirt with ink.
Fortunately, Stephen was such an anal-retentive type that he had a closet in his office filled with backup white shirts. Plus, his ensuite bathroom was fully equipped with a shower in case he got dirty on the job.
Steam Factor: Sugary Sweet
As this was a mild and sweet Harlequin Romance, he never got dirty doing the dirty!
But then Kit ruined his backup shirts as well. That shameless hussy Kit just wanted to see him shirtless! 🙂
Final Analysis of Jinxed
Jinxed was so funny and sweet. It was a real screwball romp. Day LeClaire’s hit it out of the park with her first at-bat, as Jinxed was her debut as a romance author. It must have been relatively popular because Harlequin retold it in manga form!
I’m upping my rating on this one by half a star because nostalgia always wins.
Even so, this was an excellent read, and one I’d enjoy reading today for the first time as much as I did back then.
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| Overall: | 4.7 |
Synopsis
THEIR RELATIONSHIP BEGAN WITH A BANG
Whoever said that playing with toys all day was child’s play had never worked for Stephen “the Iceman” St. Clair.
Kit knew he didn’t approve of her as his toy company’s new head of Testing and Research. So she was ready for a chilly reception after the unfortunate explosion in the lab. But she wasn’t ready for the bizarre chain of mishaps that proved she was jinxed.
Just as she wasn’t prepared for the storm of reaction that proved Stephen St. Clair was more like a volcano than in iceman when it came to dealing with her.
Jinxed by Day LeClaire
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