Finishing up with Jessica Darling

I read Sloppy Firsts and Second Helpings a couple weeks ago but, alas, had to wait for the library request to go through to get my mitts on the last three books in the saga of Jessica Darling. This was alright though because as much as I like Jessica and have enjoyed reliving my high school days through her journal entries, I just feel very hot and cold about Marcus Flutie. But, I still had to find out how the series ended. (There very well may be spoilers in this...)

Charmed Thirds

by Megan McCafferty

359 pages

In this book, the writing format starts to deviate from the first two books just slightly. Instead of this book being just one year in the life of Jessica Darling, it ends up being all of her college years at Columbia, while Marcus is in California being, well, Marcus. During their first year on opposite coasts everything seems to be going great...then the time apart starts to wear on them a bit (especially Jessica because who in the world knows what Marcus is thinking!?) and after a particularly stressful week of "Are we really ready to be this serious?" thoughts, Jessica gets drunk and ends up fooling around with a Republican (gasp! Oh noes!!!) co-ed. This brought back some raging memories from my past...wow...because I seriously did this same exact thing to MY high-school-into-college-boyfriend, so I can kind of relate (except we weren't soul mates by any stretch of the imagination, like Jessica and Marcus seem to be).

Anyways, when Marcus finds out, he takes a vow of silence then sends himself off to a completely secluded ranch for troubled men (or something like that) in the middle of the desert where he can have no contact with anyone, except by letters. He then begins sending one word postcards to Jessica each month, because leaving her to be alone in the desert without saying goodbye isn't hard enough on the girl. Ugh. Stupid Marcus. At this point, I hate him. But, in the end, he shows up at her door with a Barry Manilow decoupaged toilet seat cover and a box full of his journals that he wrote (mostly about Jessica) while in the desert. Awww...love him again...even though I will never read those journals and desperately want to...

Fourth Comings

309 pages

Now the book format changes again. It's still in journal entries, but it's intended to be read by Marcus. It begins with Jessica explaining why she is getting drunk at 3 in the afternoon at a Princeton college bar. "I'm breaking up with my boyfriend today."

What?!?! But you and Marcus just got back together! Noooo!!!

Okay, well it comes out that Marcus applied to Princeton (without telling Jessica) and got accepted which means he's a 23 year old freshman living in the dorms. And I totally understand what she means when she tells him that she can't handle that because he's going to be the mysterious older guy who gets nicknames (there was a guy in my dorm who was a grad student and looked like D'Angelo so that was his nickname) and girls will throw themselves at him (yup they did). So, when Jessica returns to his dorm from the bar to break up with him, he ends up getting down on one knee and proposing. Everyone say "awwww!!!" Yup, I was excited for them at first too. I really liked Marcus (again) at this point! Jessica is of course shocked, somewhat appalled, yet can't find it in herself to say yes (or no). So she takes the next seven days to write in her journal to Marcus all her thoughts and what leads her to her ultimate decision. At the end of this book, it was my favorite of the series.

Perfect Fifths

255 pages

Then I opened this book and realized that THIS was my favorite of the series. It's written in third person (which completely makes sense when you read the book) so you get to read both Jessica's AND Marcus' thoughts! YAY! Finally! A little insight into Marcus.

So it's three years after Jessica and Marcus ended their relationship (she said no) and they haven't spoken since. Of course neither has gotten over the other, but they can't be the one to make the first contact. Jessica is at the airport, running to catch her flight when she literally runs right into Marcus. She ends up missing her flight and the rest of the book is the 18 hours that follows and how they reconnect and rediscover who the other is and who they can be together. It's all incredibly sweet and I absolutely (FINALLY!) love Marcus because I finally can be in his head a little and he's grown up a bit and doesn't seem to do things just for a reaction so much any more. Seriously, this was the perfect ending to the series and it's worth reading the other four books just to get to this one.

The ratings for Thirds, Fourths, and Fifths, respectively are: 7.5, 8.5, and 9.5 out of 10 stars. I would definitely recommend this series.

Review: Sloppy Firsts

Sloppy Firsts

by Megan McCafferty

304 pages

First in Jessica Darling series.

I've been hearing a lot of great things about this book (the entire series really) lately. I figured that it would be a book that would be just perfect to read while laying in the sun...light read, not needing a lot of thought, if I drift off, no big deal I pick it up later...and I was definitely right. I read this entire book on the 4th of July while laying out on the pontoon boat at my in-laws' lake cottage! It was perfect.

The novel is about Jessica Darling. It follows her through the second half of her sophomore year of high school until the middle of her junior year. The actual dates? January 2000 through December 31st 2000. And ya know what? That's the exact same years that I was a sophomore and junior in high school. Hmmmm...this could be interesting! The novel is also told in monthly letters to her best friend, Hope, who was forced to move away after her older brother had dies of a drug overdose and Jessica's journal entries. Guess what? When I was in high school, at this exact age, I kept journals too. Yup. Sure did. And, they sounded a lot like some of Jessica's entries dealing with the cliques, being a brainiac, nerdy type, captain of a sports team, trying to not be defined by the super jock who may like you...it all hits close to home. And makes me kind of want to read those old journals again (except I can't because I shredded all that incriminating evidence long ago!) All this just shows that Jessica Darling is REAL. and funny. and refreshing. She's not the typical popular high school girl that everyone LOVES but secretly hates. She's friendly but not overly so, sometimes angsty, argues with her parents, and ends up having a pseudo non-relationship with a guy that she probably shouldn't.

Anyways, for this review, I don't think that the plot matters so much. I mean, we've all been to high school and remember what it was like. A lot of Jessica's experiences are ones that we've all had or heard about or were there watching. So far, I'm really enjoying looking back at the high school experience through Jessica's eyes. Just so long as I don't ACTUALLY have to relive it! Oh, and everyone I know LOVES Marcus, except I kinda don't...am I going to start liking him? when?? I know in high school, I probably would have had a huge crush on him though...at least that shows that I've grown up a bit right?? hahaha :)

8.5 out of 10. great for the beach/lake/pool. Now on the Second Helpings!

Review: Someone Like You audio book

Someone Like You

by Sarah Dessen

272 pages (paperback)

or

6 hours and 10 minutes on 6 CDs (audio)

I was scoping out the selection of audio books at my local library (which was not as large as I expected) and I came across this Sarah Dessen book. Since I had never before listened to an audio book (*GASP!*) I decided that I didn't want something really long because I didn't know if I would really like it and I don't have a very long commute or rides in the car in general. I decided this one would be perfect. I've been hearing good things about Sarah Dessen from the YA readers I know plus, at just over 6 hours, it wouldn't take me weeks to finish.

The book is about a girl named Halley who is an angst-filled, not so good with the self-esteem teenager who is *shocker* not getting along with her therapist mother. On top of all these 'growing into a young woman' changes and family issues, her best friend Scarlett's summer boyfriend slash love-of-her-life dies in a motorcycle accident. A few weeks later, Scarlett discovers that she's pregnant with said love-of-her-life's baby. Yikes. While helping her friend deal, Halley meets bad-boy Macon Faulkner who begins to corrupt her into sneaking out, skipping school, etc. He's pretty much every guy I dated in high school when I wanted to upset my parents all rolled into one. Yikes again. So, throughout the book, Halley has to figure out who she really is and wants to be, how to help her friend through this hard time in her life, and how to get along with her mother again.

When I started this audio book, I couldn't decide if I liked it or not. Then, I realized that I was thinking about the storyline throughout the day so it wasn't that I didn't like the characters and plot, I just didn't really like the reader! Her voice was just kind of annoying. She would try to change it for the male characters, but she had such a feminine voice, that it would just end up sounding like Urkle, you know...kind of nasal-y and high pitched for a guy? Not exactly pleasant to listen too. Also, I had to look up what Macon's name was online because at first I thought she was saying 'Nathan' and then I thought it was 'Mathan' and then I thought maybe 'Macon'? but what a weird name! so I had to look it up to be sure. That was annoying. And really, the only thing that really bothered me in the book itself was that one of Halley's pet peeves was how SO many people messed up her name, but I don't see Halley as that odd of a name? I mean, Halley's comet. I get it, so I guess I didn't understand why everyone in the book had such a hard time with it and thought that it was SUCH a strange name. Macon is definitely a lot stranger!

I think that I could really like audio books, as long as I find ones with good readers. Also, I went through this book a lot quicker than a thought I would. I guess the 30-40 minutes round trip to work plus time spent running errands, plus a weekend trip to Kalamazoo (just over an hour) really adds up more than I thought that it would.

Okay, now for the points:

8 out of 10 for the book. Entertaining storyline, fun characters, pretty realistic view of high school drama.

3 out of 10 for the reader. She put forth the effort in trying to do other voices, but it just didn't work for me.

9 out of 10 for audio books in general. I think that I will be trying out another one! Any recommendations??