Sloppy Firsts by Megan McCafferty

Jessica Darling is devastates when her best friend Hope Weaver moves away from Pineville, New Jersey. Now, instead of having a kind and considerate person to help her endure the agonies of high school, Jessica is left on her own to face the Clueless Crew, her supposed “friends,” her mom’s obsession with Jessica’s older sister Bethany’s upcoming wedding, and her dad’s concern for nothing else but Jessica’s track meets. Without Hope, Jessica’s life is a mess. She can’t sleep at night, her normally perfect grades are slipping, and the invasion of two new people in her life, jaded Hy from the city and mysterious bad boy Marcus Flutie, is only more confusing. In this funny and realistic novel, McCafferty explores the trials of being a teen in a witty and unforgettable story.

This is not my first time reading Sloppy Firsts; I enjoyed this story so much the first go-around that I had to reread it, which only goes to show how much I love Jessica Darling’s tale. Jessica seems to be no more than your average teen, precariously balancing school, friendship, and home life, but her observant and slightly critical nature sets her apart from the masses at Pinevillle High. Her overdramatizations and sarcastic wit make her story so appealing and entertaining. McCafferty captures so well a teenage girl’s mind when she’s just beginning to question her life, from family to friends to herself, and boy-craziness is just starting to set it. Jessica is such a great protagonist to read about because of the combination of her intelligence and humor which I can relate to. The problems that Jessica encounters everyday are rather ordinary, but it is this that makes Jessica so easy to connect to and her story so meaningful and realistic.

I recommend the Jessica Darling series to every teen girl out there as well as any woman who can remember the horrors of high school. Fans of Anatomy of a Boyfriend by Daria Snadowsky and How Not to Be Popular by Jennifer Ziegler will also enjoy the wonderfully written Sloppy Firsts.

Rating: 4.5

Review copy from personal collection