When opposites attract, they are screwed three ways from Sunday.

Frannie learned the hard way that a McHottie doesn’t always equal marriage material. Besides, she’s happy with her vanilla life. She has friends, a career and a double-D-powered vibrator. Then Fate shoves her, literally, into Prince Charming’s lap. His declaration of love at first sight is cute—and spikes her bullcrap meter into the red zone.

She’s more than willing to give in with her body. But she’s barricaded her heart behind castle walls—and permanently welded the gates shut.

Tragedy taught Jinx that time is too precious to waste, so when a series of uncanny coincidences thrusts Frannie into his life, he holds on tight. He knows she thinks he’s several fries short of a Happy Meal, but he’s determined to breach the fortress around her heart and give her a Happily Ever After.

Even if he has to carry her fanny-first into his kingdom.

WARNING: Includes jelly shoes, a narcoleptic cat, and meatloaf. The steamy sex scenes may lead to fogged windows and wet panties, so proceed at your own risk. Do not attempt to read without the following items: tissues, napkins for spewed beverages, and a booty call on speed dial.

I discovered Inez Kelley through Carina Press, as she is one of the co-authors of the Dirty Laundry series together with Ginny Glass. Her Carina Press debut was a fantasy romance titled SALOME AT SUNRISE which was offered for review to ROOB and I passed it on to my fellow ROOB-reviewer Leontine as I know fantasy romance is totally her thing and fantasy (romance) and I don’t go really well together.

However as I was looking through Inez Kelley’s website I saw she also had written a contemporary romance (you all must know by now how much I love contemporaries) titled JINXED and this one really caught my eye. I decided to get it and read it on the flight to L.A. As it turned out I did other stuff on the plane (watched movies and read other books) and ended up reading it in the evenings in the first hotel I stayed in.
When I told Inez I was going to read JINXED she offered me two warnings:
1. Your fellow travelers will look at you strangely when you start laughing out loud and
2. Go to the toilet before you start reading because you’ll be peeing your pants with laughter.

Well, her warnings were right on the spot. JINXED is absolutely hilariously funny. It tells the story of Frannie (Frances) Sullivan, accountant and Jinx (Francis) Sullivan, founder and owner of a toy company. Yes, hero and heroine have the same name and for that alone Inez Kelley deserves praise for pulling it off. Frannie and Jinx meet on a flight to the US and for Jinx it’s love at first sight. He sees his destiny in Frannie, a future happiness he once saw slip through his fingers with the love of his life and now having found a second chance at happiness he’s determined to hold on to it. Frannie, however is determined to not be burned by love after marrying whom she thought was her dream-man and seeing her dream turned into a nightmare by a horrible verbally abusive and cheating husband. The harder Jinx tries to convince her they belong together, the harder Frannie tries to deny it and push him away.

Inez Kelly describes this push-and-pull game in a hilariously funny but also very emotionally touching way. I’d be rooting for Jinx on one page and understanding and supporting Frannie on the next. Couple this with Frannie’s narcoleptic cat, Jinx’s first trip to the drugstore to buy Frannie female hygiene stuff, a scene straight from Cinderella put in a contemporary setting and a wedding that went anything but normally and you have one of the most funny and endearing contemporary romances I’ve read in a while. I laughed so hard I almost peed my pants and my stomach was still hurting the day after I’d finished the book. But I also cried at some wonderfully emotional scenes where both Frannie’s and Jinx’s pain seeped through the pages and made me want them to work it out and find the happiness they both deserved.

The secondary cast of characters was as wonderful as the leading couple was. Two of them were Frannie’s best friends: her boss Steve and the office manager, Tracey. They brought a small secondary romance and lots of humor to the story and I loved them for it, especially Tracey. Then there was Jinx’s family, a tight-knit bunch of wonderful people and an honorary mention must be made of Frannie’s cats Hocus, who got drunk on a beer Jinx left unattended (…seriously peed my pants with that scene) and Pocus, her narcoleptic cat who’d just fall asleep and keel over on the spot and lie there snoring.

As said JINXED is funny, touching and a great contemporary read that underneath the laugh-out-loud humor, packed an emotional punch that won’t leave you for a while after finishing the book.

9 out of 10