Megan McCafferty does an amazing job at bringing to light all the insecurities and inner musings of teenage girls the world over in Sloppy Firsts. Popularity, boys, school, SAT, college, family, boys, friends, gossip, and, did I mention boys? As you read through each journal entry you can’t help but think that these are your journal entries from when you were in high school (and, let’s be honest, even from now).
Jessica Darling begins to document her life the year her best friend, Hope, moves away with her family due to a tragedy in the family. Without Hope, Jessica is forced to become closer with the other girls in her clique despite the efforts she goes to to keep distant from them. Throw in some unwanted (or, maybe not so unwanted?) attention from a boy Jessica barely knows and you yourself are thrown back into your high school experience. As you are reading you begin to feel a part of everything that is going on and you begin to see Jessica, Hope, and the other characters as your personal friends. When you put the book down you begin to feel withdrawal from your new friends and you are forced to pick it back up and keep reading.
McCafferty doesn’t just skim the superficial surface of high school life – she goes deeper and really gets to the heart of the problems girls go through, not just in school, but in life. There isn’t one character that you can’t relate to and, a lot of the time, you find yourself shouting “Yes!” when you come across something you have thought or said. What is best about this book is that it’s only one in a series. I have read three of them already and, from high school, to college I have been able to relate the whole way and I am eager for more.
Do yourself a favor, pick it up the next time you’re at the bookstore. Maybe it’s not a classic, but you will definitely feel good after reading the Jessica Darling books. You’ll laugh, maybe cry, and you will without a doubt fall in love with the characters and yourself in the process.
-S
-S
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