Thumped by Megan McCafferty

Goodreads Summary: It's been thirty-five weeks since twin sisters Harmony and Melody went their separate ways. Since then, their story has become irresistible to legions of girls: twins separated at birth and living different lives, each due to deliver sets of twins . . . on the same day! In a future where only teens can "bump," or give birth, babies mean money, status, and freedom.

Married to Ram and living in religious Goodside, Harmony spends her time trying to fit back into the community she once loved and believed in. But she can't seem to forget about Jondoe, the guy she fell in love with under the strangest of circumstances.

To her adoring fans, Melody has achieved everything she always wanted: a big, fat contract and a coupling with Jondoe, the hottest bump prospect around. But this image is costing her the one guy she really wants.

Cursed by their own popularity, the girls are obsessively tracked by their millions of fans, who have been eagerly counting down the days to their "Double Double Due Date." Without a doubt, they are two of the most powerful teen girls on the planet, and there's only one thing they could do that would make them more famous than they already are:

Tell the truth.
Why I Read This Book: I read the first book in this 2 book series, so of course I was going to get this one too! You can find my review for book 1, Bumped, here.

Review: I didn't like this book as much as I had liked Bumped. Bumped wasn't the best book ever or anything, but the concept of the story is really great, and I even liked that the characters in Otherside were kind of superficial and thought it was really creative that McCafferty created a language basically of future teens. What got to me was how unrealistic Harmony and Jondoe were. I found it really annoying, and even the way Melody and Harmony interacted got on my nerves. The saving grace of this book was Zen, he was definitely my favorite character.

The most redeeming quality of the book, was I know that McCafferty's description of how humans would behave if a virus like this did truly exist, seems scarily accurate. I mean, pregging from profit? I can pretty much already picture it. Terrifying.

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Second Helpings (Jessica Darling Book 2) by Megan McCafferty

Goodreads Summary: “Knowing that I’ve just done something that will take decades off my parents’ lives with worry, you’ll excuse me for not getting into the fa-la-la-la-la Yuletide spirit this year... The only difference between Christmas 2001 and Christmas 2000 is that I don’t have a visit from Hope to look forward to. And Bethany has already packed on some major fetal flab. Oh, and now Gladdie doesn’t need to ask a bizillion questions about my boyfriend, because she’s already gotten the dirt from you know who.”

Jessica Darling is up in arms again in this much-anticipated, hilarious sequel to Sloppy Firsts. This time, the hyperobservant, angst-ridden teenager is going through the social and emotional ordeal of her senior year at Pineville High. Not only does the mysterious and oh-so-compelling Marcus Flutie continue to distract Jessica, but her best friend, Hope, still lives in another state, and she can’t seem to escape the clutches of the Clueless Crew, her annoying so-called friends. To top it off, Jessica’s parents won’t get off her butt about choosing a college, and her sister Bethany’s pregnancy is causing a big stir in the Darling household.
Why I Read This Book: Its a sequel to the first Jessica Darling book, Sloppy Firsts, which I thought was great!

Review: I liked Second Helpings even better than Sloppy Firsts. I thought Jessica grew a lot in this book, much like I think a lot of seniors in high school do. I thought she made keen observations in this book, which she definitely lacked in the first one. Jessica is a great character, and I sort of see myself at that age in her a little bit. Some of the best parts of this book was when Jessica finds her voice without hiding behind the school paper. There is many times she manages to stand up and say what she feels or thinks, where the Jessica from Book 1 definitely wouldn't have been able to. The book kind of makes Jessica seem a bit self centered, however that doesn't bother me because it's written as her journal, so really it should be all about her. It would be different if it was written in another style, but I'm okay with it like that. Also, as much as some of Jessica's choices made her seem like she was growing up, other were just plain dumb. But, I thought that made the book pretty funny, because realistically, she's 17, of course she is going to make ridiculously stupid choices sometimes! The only part of the book that really made me think 'WTF?!' was that everyone was so OBSESSED with sex. Even people who had never had it. (Which obsessing over being a virgin - normal. Obsessing over how horny you are when you have almost no sexual experience - not normal). I thought it was a bit odd that Jessica claimed to be so freakin' horny all the time. Maybe that is normal and I was just an asexual teenage though... who knows.

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Bumped by Megan McCafferty

Goodreads Summary: In 2036 New Jersey, when teens are expected to become fanatically religious wives and mothers or high-priced Surrogettes for couples made infertile by a widespread virus, 16-year-old identical twins Melody and Harmony find in one another the courage to believe they have choices.


Why I Read This Book: This was another book that was pretty popular on the blogs awhile back that I had marked to read.


Review: This book was OK. It took me awhile to get into it because I didn't like either Melody or Harmony very much at all. It gets better as the book goes on, with the last 1/3 of the book being quite good. The idea behind the book is really good, being that pregnant teens are the world's hottest commodity, but I felt that the book lacked some of the information surrounding this. I guess because it was mostly from the two girls POV, but I would be interested in some of the background of the story as well. You don't learn much about either girls past, and the book has a lot of holes which will hopefully get explained in the coming book.

Overall, it was enjoyable, but not as good as what I think it could have been. I expected a little bit better from McCafferty because I love the Jessica Darling series so much, but I am still looking forward to seeing what happens in 'Thumped'.

Rating:

Sloppy Firsts by Megan McCafferty

Goodreads Summary: “My parents suck ass. Banning me from the phone and restricting my computer privileges are the most tyrannical parental gestures I can think of. Don’t they realize that Hope’s the only one who keeps me sane? . . . I don’t see how things could get any worse.”

When her best friend, Hope Weaver, moves away from Pineville, New Jersey, hyperobservant sixteen-year-old Jessica Darling is devastated. A fish out of water at school and a stranger at home, Jessica feels more lost than ever now that the only person with whom she could really communicate has gone. How is she supposed to deal with the boy- and shopping-crazy girls at school, her dad’s obsession with her track meets, her mother salivating over big sister Bethany’s lavish wedding, and her nonexistent love life?

A fresh, funny, utterly compelling fiction debut by first-time novelist Megan McCafferty, Sloppy Firsts is an insightful, true-to-life look at Jessica’s predicament as she embarks on another year of teenage torment--from the dark days of Hope’s departure through her months as a type-A personality turned insomniac to her completely mixed-up feelings about Marcus Flutie, the intelligent and mysterious “Dreg” who works his way into her heart. Like a John Hughes for the twenty-first century, Megan McCafferty taps into the inherent humor and drama of the teen experience. This poignant, hilarious novel is sure to appeal to readers who are still going through it, as well as those who are grateful that they don’t have to go back and grow up all over again.

Why I Read This Book: If I am being completely honest, I read this book because my name is Jessica, and I am illogically drawn to books with characters that have my name.


Rating: I thought this book was great. I read it while I was on vacation and driving in the car. It was short and sweet, and I though Jessica Darling was a great main. Two major beefs with this book - 1) Some characters (who I like) seem to drop off. I guess this makes sense as they sort of drop from Jessica's life, but I wanted to know what happened to them. 2) Since this is journal style writing, if my trip to see my BFF that I've been obsessing over got cancelled, I would go on for days in my journal about how depressing it was, and it just seemed that it wasn't a big deal. Anyway, these are easily overlooked, and I though the book was pretty good for a contemporary teen fix.


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