Second Helpings

Second Helpings
Author: Megan McCafferty
Series: Jessica Darling (#2)
Publisher: Three Rivers Press
How Received: library

“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-l...more “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.

After struggling through the first few chapters in Ian McEwan's Atonement, and reading a few lines of Chapter 12 in Robert Jordan's Crossroads of Twilight (the tenth book in the series) I finally picked up the sequel to Sloppy Firsts, a novel aptly entitled Second Helpings.

Woohee, am I glad I did!

Megan did something few authors have done for me -- she made me like the sequel just as much, if not more, than the original! I was quite literally laughing out loud (and scaring the crap out of my mother, who happened to be walking up the stairs and thought I was crying. Sorry, Mom! ^^) [SPOILER ALERT] It made me mad when Jessica hooked up with Len Levy. Honestly, her and Marcus Flutie were meant to be! I won't say if they got back together... that's more of a spoiler than even my blog can handle... but by the time the book ended, I was happy. [END SPOILER ALERT]

All in all, I loved the book. :)

Overall Rating: 10 of 10, in a heartbeat.
Sloppy Firsts or Atonement?: Anything over Atonement... anything... anything!

Happy reading!

~Nicole B.

PS: All images come from Amazon.