Second Helpings | Second Helpings: A Jessica Darling Novel

Smart, funny, ironic and touching | Second Helpings: A Jessica Darling Novel | Megan McCafferty

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	• Second Helpings: A Jessica Darling Novel Megan McCafferty Three Rivers Press, 2003 - 349 pages average customer review:based on 199 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Disappointing...

As much as I loved "Sloppy Firsts," as much as I admired Jessica Darling and identified with her in that book, I just can't bring myself to give this sequel more than 3 stars, simply because I don't like how this story unfolded.

For one, I thought Jessica digressed in this installment. I no longer found her funny and spazzy, I found her immature, whiny, and, for all her school smarts, dumb. I didn't like her relationship with Len, I thoroughly hated her sudden obsession to lose her virginity to just about anyone. Where did her self-respect and idealism go?

But even more, I disliked the direction Jessica's relationship with Marcus took. I couldn't believe that Marcus would do so little to win her back and she, in her turn, would be so dense. I didn't like that their relationship was almost non-existent for almost a year and a half and then escalated within hours and culminated in... fade into black.

Having said all this, I have to note that "Second Helpings" was not a complete waste. There were some funny pieces, some sweet moments and some sexy poetry. However, I am not as excited about this series as I was after reading "Sloppy Firsts" and will have to take a long break before I attempt reading the next book.

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Second Helpings

product arrived in good time and was exactly as described. i feel safe buying from amazon!

Smart, funny, ironic and touching

Summary: Jessica Darling is a senior now, and she's making the hard choices about where to go to college and what she wants out of life. She's still dealing with the fallout of a broken heart, dating her academic rival, and dealing with an anonymous and accurate school gossip ezine. Once again, the reader is privy to Jessica's thoughts through her diary.

Review: After getting to know Jessica Darling in Sloppy Firsts, I was really rooting for her in this novel. I desperately wanted her to make the right choice for college. There is still plenty of candor, insight and humor, but Jessica's reactions to the September 11th attacks still surprised me. I'm curious to know how these events affected McCafferty's story: were they an impetus or did they help shift the story to accommodate timeliness? It's impossible not to compare the two novels, and Second Helpings takes everything wonderful from Sloppy Firsts and makes it better. Jessica is smart, funny, ironic and vulnerable, and all of these things make her absolutely delightful to read about.

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Love it b

Absolutely love the book! Great seller, very fast shipping! Can't wait to do business again!

?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.

With keen intelligence, sardonic wit, and ingenious comedic timing, Megan McCafferty again re-creates the tumultuous world of today?s fast-moving and sophisticated teens. Fans of Sloppy Firsts will be reunited with their favorite characters and also introduced to the fresh new faces that have entered Jess?s life, including the hot creative writing teacher at her summer college prep program and her feisty, tell-it-like-it-is grandmother Gladdie. But most of all, readers will finally have the answers to all of their burgeoning questions, and then some: Will Jessica crack under the pressure of senioritis? Will her unresolved feelings for Marcus wreak havoc on her love life? Will Hope ever come back to Pineville? Fall in love with saucy, irreverent Jessica all over again in this wonderful sequel to a book that critics and readers alike hailed as the best high school novel in years.

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