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Co-written with Chelsie Hill from Sundance Channel's reality TV show Push Girls, Jessica Love's debut novel PUSH GIRL published on June 3, 2014 from St. Martin's Griffin/Thomas Dunne Books. IN REAL LIFE, a story about online friendship and love, comes out in 2015.

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Title: Jessica Darling's It List Author: Megan McCafferty Publisher: Poppy Publication Date: September 3, 2013 ISBN-13: 978-0316244992 240 pp. ARC provided by publisher I haven't read the original Jessica Darling books, but this first in a prequel series is a sure-fire hit for tween girls. Jessica Darling is about to start junior high when her older sister gives her list of things to do

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In the eight and a half months since we left them in Bumped, Harmony and Melody have become the most famous teens in the world, known as The Hotties. As twins who are pregnant with twins, they are swamped with endorsement deals for perfumes and energy bars, hounded by paparazzi, and copied by everyone who follows them on the MiVu. Yet they both are hiding secrets and stand to lose everything if they face up to their lies. 


Megan McCafferty's sequel, Thumped, will satisfy fans of the series. 

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Bumped Megan McCafferty

Ok, so in the future, there's a virus that ruins fertility after age 20. It affects large portions of the population. Because of this, teen pregnancy is OK. Some teens have sex with their boyfriends and then give up the children to nonprofit adoption agencies. Some go pro. They have agents and couples offer them large sums of money and other items (Car, college tuition, etc) and then pick a partner for the surrogate to procreate with. Melody has the perfect file and was the first in her school to go pro. The only problem is that she signed a contract years ago and her sponsors STILL haven't found her a guy. She should be on her second or third pregnancy at this point, but she hasn't even tried for her first. To make it worse, she's discovered that her adoptive parents, in addition to having groomed her her entire life to be the perfect pro candidate (which she knew) have borrowed against her equity and are financing their lavish lifestyle on the fertility she's not providing (which she didn't know.)

Her twin sister, Harmony, has just left the fundamentalist compound where she lives to meet Melody for the first time. Harmony's overwhelmed with her awe at the strange world outside of Goodside and her need to save her sister.

So, when Harmony gets a message meant for Melody about how they've finally found a guy (and not just any guy, but a super-celebrity! HOTTTT!) A comedy of mistaken identity ensues.

So, this is obviously the first in a series as there are lots of unresolved issues at the end of the book. Just FYI. Normally that's a deal breaker for me, but I'll give this one a pass because I love the world McCafferty has built. I like how she doesn't spend a lot of time explaining her technological advances, the virus, the slang, or the anything like that. Harmony is used to explain some of it but not an overly large amount. She does have a small role tour guide as we discover this world together, but mostly she's there to sort out her own feelings about her upbringing and her sister's upbringing.

It's told in alternating chapters and it touches on issues of fame, sex, religion, child birth, and a very, very, very believable future.

I am curious as to why people had to have sex to have babies. There's mention of how "petri-babies" are no longer scientifically possible (Because of the virus?) but it doesn't touch why a turkey baster won't work. And while adults can see some of the dark side to this world, it takes Melody a little while longer. The risks of pregnancy and childbirth are always downplayed like they'll never happen. Except, they do. (Which is interesting because so many of the pregnancy books currently on the market tend to overplay all the risks)

It's very different that the Jessica Darling books. But, Zen is much hotter than Marcus any day and this world is pretty horrifying and amazing all at once. I really want to read the next one.

I also like the do

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Well, all the catching up that I did in March didn't last through April. I've started on Entwined by Heather Dixon, which I'm enjoying. (I also started Delirium by Lauren Oliver, even though it's not part of the challenge.)But I never finished reading Bumped by Megan McCafferty.I hadn't really come up with a book review policy when I started the challenge, but last month I realized I needed to

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Great article in BusinessWeek about how companies are trying to balance the important and effective efforts of social networking with the overwhelmingly public aspect of employees airing dirty laundry. This is certainly something that applies to authors, as well. Authors often question the importance of being present on social sites and weighing the pros and cons of blogging. Is it safe to turn one’s Facebook page or blog into public therapy? Is a blog absolutely necessary?

One author, Megan McCafferty, who has very successfully kept a public blog, decided to end it today so that she can channel her energy into her books. Hers is not an issue of saying too much or diluting her image, it is more about time management. But the BusinessWeek article still poses a good question, can there sometimes be too much of a good thing? Are we giving away too much information? Is an open conversation a good thing when it comes to marketing?  We are in unchartered territory here and we have yet to discern a way to navigate ourselves into the best light.  Only time will tell, so stay on top of the information and news that is out there because that is the best way to make the most informed and appropriate decisions for you.

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Today's poetry selection comes from Megan McCafferty's upcoming novel, Perfect Fifths. One chapter is told entirely in senryu (a form similar to haiku, but more about human nature, than nature-nature), written between two characters.

XII. He writes

I like the way you
Fingertip-tap the paper
To count syllables

XIII. She writes

I like the way you
Silently lip-synch the words
To count syllables

XIV. He writes

So you've noticed, then
(I wonder what else you see
When you look at me)

XV. She writes

How about those Mets?
(Only what my heart can handle)
How about those Mets?

This is the final installment in the Jessica Darling series. Three and half years have passed since the end of Fourth Comings, and three and half years since Jessica and Marcus have seen each other, or spoken, or written.

Jessica is running through the Newark airport, trying desperately not to miss her flight down to St. Thomas for Bridget and Percy's wedding when she plows right into Marcus Flutie, which fulfills a voodoo prophecy he had received the week before. As Jessica tries desperately not to miss the wedding, Marcus tries desperately to not appear to desperate in front of Jessica, to not let on how he still has not gotten over her.

Perfect Fifths is not even a day long, tracking the time the two spend in awkward conversation at the airport, perpetually stalked by the also-stranded Barry Manilow International Fan Club. They try to catch up, but dance always around the issue of their romantic past, which is even more complicated than usual, given that the current 87th most-downloaded song on iTunes is something called "My Song Will Never Mean as Much (as the one he sang for you" which was written by Len Levy and, well, about them.

The only characters we really see are Jessica and Marcus, but we get updates on almost every character we have ever met in the series, as they fill each other in on the people they once knew, and those they still know. Marcus is very different than I remember him. This is not surprising, as he wasn't really in the last two books, and has just spent over three years at college. I would be worried if he hadn't changed. But, we didn't watch him change, so it took a little getting used to. I mean, he's still Marcus. He's just gotten over himself and is... acting like a grown-up. (Shocking at 26, I know.)

Even better though, we get a few chapters from Marcus's point of view. (The narrated sections of the book [so, not the senryu chapter] are all with an omniscient narrator, but they follow the actions and thoughts of either Jessica or Marcus.)

All in all, this was a most satisfying conclusion to the series. Jessica and Marcus are still the perfect foils for each other. Jessica's tired and worried, but her thoughts and tongue are as sharp as ever.

Fans need to read this. If you're not a fan, I'll just assume you haven't read them yet. Go pick up Sloppy Firsts and read it!

What I most loved about this, and about Fourth Comings, is that I long for books about 20-30 year olds that are above the usual chick-lit fare. Many people classify the Jessica Darling series as "chick lit", which I feel is not entirely accurate. Maybe it is, but it's smarter and more literary than most books in the field.

Anyway, a while ago, I posted about how I wished my favorite YA authors would write for my age group. The last two books in this series are what I'm wishing for. Books that are about people like me, women with careers and relationships, who aren't ridiculous caricatures of my darkest neurotic moments. Do you have any other recommendations for me? This is the type of book I long for.

Look for Perfect Fifths on April 14. And if you're in DC, come see Megan McCafferty in Tyson's Corner a few weeks later (just let ME ask the first Barry Manilow question, ok?)

Poetry Friday round up is over at The Drift Record.

UPDATE (3/28): I forgot to mention this yesterday, but Perfect Fifths was provided by the author, at my request. Also, I quoted the senryu from the ARC, so it might change in the final edition.

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