The Jessica Darling series

[carrier76]

So, I finally finished this book. I have to say, it was good, but there was definitely something "off." As far as Jessica's ever-meandering personality, I think that was pretty on-par for someone of her age and having her experiences. However. I DID NOT think that she should have given Marcus a second look after all of the b.s. that went on there. I was excited to see that she and Hope were going to have some road-trip time at the end of the book. Also, I wasn't bothered as much by her bitchiness and insensitivity in general as much as I was by her lack of appreciation for her parents' support. Bethany hit the nail right on the head, and yet she still didn't learn anything. I did think it was funny that she had to work at Wally D's. I thought that was karmic.

I'm excited to see what happens in book 4.

[bee]

While college can be an up and down experience, I was startled and horrified by a lot of Jessica in this one. Even the smallest details like her acne suffering seemed to suggest how miserable her time was. And she wasn't communicative at all, with Hope, Marcus or even her diary. A book that's a girl's diary ONLY SHE'S NOT WRITING IN IT. There was also a lot of information thrown in that seemed out of place. Jessica write that she had given four people blow jobs? Um, so who were at least two of those? If one of them was geeky-guy-whose-name-I-can't-remember-right-now, why didn't we hear about it in book two?

Her bad decisions seemed more random and hurtful than in the past, and made less sense. The warmth of books one and two, perhaps with less Marcus, was sadly missing. His spam poetry was one of my highlights of the book.

[carrier76]

Well, Len Levy clearly would have been one of them....and in the 2nd book she referred to things they did but said in the diary that she wasn't going to get specific (I've read that book about 5 times). Marcus, and who?

I hated the guy that she was dating/sleeping with in the dorms. Boo.

[Deleted]

Pardon my use of quotes instead of apostrophes; my computer is being stupid and won"t let me use them, for whatever reason.

Anyway! My friend borrowed Sloppy Firsts from me many moons ago, and a few days ago I remembered she had it and asked for it back. I read the entire thing yesterday, and I have to say, I think this book (and the series) is one of my very very favouritest evah, in the world. God, I love it so much. I found Jessica (or Meghan McCafferty"s writing style, anyway) annoying from time to time on this, my gazillionth reread.. but everything else is so perfect. I hate it when I finish books that I like so much; it"s like, what do I do now?

And God, it"s so very very true to life. To top it all off, since the last time I read it I"ve had the dubious pleasure of being involved with a sort of Marcus of my own (eh - more of a Jordan Catalano, actually) and he"s exactly who I pictured while reading the book. Sigh.

I reread Second Helpings a month or two ago, but I think I"ll start it again this weekend and order Charmed Thirds from the library tomorrow. I hope it"s not disappointing - you guys and quite a few others (on lj communities) have said it"s just not as good as the first two.

[dnt]

Ironically, since I did not like Charmed Thirds, I seem to be the first Greecie to have read Fourth Comings!

I actually liked it. Fourth Comings is another journal (two, actually) that Jess writes over the course of a week with the intention of letting Marcus read it when she’s done. As the book opens, Marcus is starting his freshman year at Princeton while Jess is living in NYC with Hope, Manda and Manda’s boifriend, Sasha, and she’s tired of the constant long-distance relationship, so she’s decided to break up with him. Marcus counters by proposing to her and gives her a week to make up her mind.

Jess is infinitely more likable in this book, in my opinion, anyway. She’s also much more perceptive, although maybe I feel that way at least in part because I totally agreed with her decision for all of the reasons she discussed (I don’t remember how to do spoilers). I thought it was the satisfying conclusion to the series that Charmed Thirds should have been.

[dragonfly80]

I loathed Fourth Comings with the intense fire of a thousand suns. I preordered this book months ago just hoping that the author had given back to us the decent Jessica Darling that she created in the first two. Whoo boy was I wrong.

Jessica is the most selfcentered bitch I've ever seen. It's all about her in the past two books. I am so sick of her bitching about money. She could have gone to Piedmont and sucked it up. In the 3rd book she admits she hates her job choices and can't use her major without obtaining additional degrees. I never get the impression that she even likes the city all that much or does anything within the sacred Columbia grounds to justify her "having to go there" attitude. At least Marcus remained true to himself and didn't sell out to fit the molds of classmates and friends.

It's also rude of Jessica to be such a bitch because he goes to Harvard. He's not asking her to live in the dorms with him, she just gets it in her head that she can not date a Freshman. This is the type of stupidity I'd expect from Manda or Sara, but not the original Jessica. And at the end when she has the balls to suggest if he had asked her different that she would have said yes. WTF has happened to Jessica? I don't understand her new rational of thinking. Especially after learning about the situation with Mr. Flutie, it seems that she would have had some sympathy for why Marcus chose to rush to college. Never once does Marcus say that by becoming engaged she would have to move or anything, it would just give the relationship some security. It's also remarkably selfish of Jessica to keep insisting that he should come to New York. Why? Maybe if we really saw Jessica enjoying the city then I could buy it. She just seems to like to complain about everything these days.

Jessica's sarcastic observations were cute in high school, hell we all do that. But she never grew up. She went to college and bitched her way through it. SHe moved into the cupcake and continued her bitchy, judgemental existance. Hell by comparison I enjoyed Sara and Scotty far more than Jessica in this book.

Also the above quote about how many men Jessica's been with is actually that she's kissed 5 guys, dry humped 4, jerked off 3, gone down on 2 and had sex with 1.

I would assume they break down as:
Kiss- Scotty, Cal, Len, Marcus and William (at that point in the book) later to be added Bastian & Kieran.

Dry Humped- Cal, Len, Marcus and William

Jerked Off- Marcus, Len, William

Blown- Len and Marcus?

Sex- Marcus.

[dnt]

Modified because I think my post was too spoiler-y. I think I can leave this, though, because I'm still bitter:

I am very, very sad, however; in the book, Jessica refers to watching Grease 3: Return to Rydell. I was like, how could I have missed this? Grease 3 has yet to be released, which I suppose is a blessing. Four years ago, I remember gossip about Britney Spears being in it. Today, God forbid, they might cast Hilary Duff. Who knows; it may release in 2012 starring Ali Lohan as Dolores Rebchuck, head of the Pink Ladies, class of 1967.

[bee]

Another disappointing book ... even in the angst of the first two there was still fun, and wonderful moments with Marcus that just made my toes curl. There is so incredibly little of that in the third and fourth book.

About my favourite part in this one was Sara and Scotty, which is pretty sad considering I also half-gagged half-laughed reading about them.

My least favourite thing was that the end of Charmed Thirds had a road trip with Jessica and Hope, and Marcus's journals, and then Fourth Comings completely bails on all of it. Jeez. Not to mention the ridiculous of four years of college crammed into one book and one week into another.

I love beyond love the first two books but doubt I'll bother again with the others, they're just not ANYWHERE near worth it. Which sucks.

[carrier76]

I haven't had the $$ to buy it yet...but you guys are scaring me. I'm going to get it, but for now I'm rereading Charmed Thirds. It's better the 2nd time around.

[Deleted]

I'm in the midst of a massive binge with these books. In two days I have two down, two to go -- I've read the first two a bajillion and eight times each, Charmed Thirds only once (on account of me not owning it) and I've yet to read Fourth Comings. I'm so exciiiiited, although I really hope they're not let-downs. It was a long time ago that I read Charmed Thirds, and I don't remember being too impressed by it.

I first read Sloppy Firsts when I was 15 or so, like Jessica in that novel; it's interesting to read it (and Second Comings) now that I'm almost 19, and see how my perspective's changed and how much more I relate to certain things in the novels and don't relate to certain things. I LOVE THESE BOOKS.

ETA, a few weeks late: I read the other two, and I'll be damned if I'm not disappointed. Man!

Also, I've read on the livejournal community for the series that Megan McCafferty is working on a fifth (and last) book, to be released in 2009. Fingers crossed it has some (any!) amount of the awesomeness contained in the first two!