Jessica Darling, who has just graduated from high school, attends Columbia University in New York city with psychology as her major. At the same time, she takes a prestigious internship job at True Blue, a hip teen magazine, and her lover from high school--Marcus Flutie, a bad boy turned serious--goes off to California to attend a Buddhist college. Although several of Jessica’s old friends and schoolmates reappear periodically, Jessica manages to make or lose new friends, also. While in college, Jessica’s heart stays with Marcus, even if she finds herself in wild situations that help her to grow and discover herself at the end.

Jessica and Marcus’s relationship is one of a kind, and even though so much comes in between them, they manage to connect repeatedly. The uncertainty of Jessica’s life and the way she overcomes her difficulties and outgrows anything negative in her life is the main theme in the story.

learning about voice. As an example:
“Often mistaken for Marin’s au pair, my sister is the
textbook definition of a MILF. If I had it in me to lift my hind leg, I would’ve pissed on her…" “the irony is that the intern-ship itself will actually extend the Marcus-free part of my summer. Get
it? It’s an enigma, wrapped in a riddle, wrapped in a clusterfuck.”

the marvelously saucy language of the heroine and the lively writing style of the author.

read all the Megan Mccafferty books.

wishing I were young enough to grow up reading Megan Mccafferty.

Megan Mccafferty is a former editor for Cosmopolitan, YM, and Fitness magazines. She wrote in Glamour, CosmoGIRL!, Maxim, Details, and other national publications. She also created a fiction serial, "You Think Your Life Is Crazy," for teens on Twistmag.com.

Mccafferty’s books are: Sixteen, a short story anthology; the Jessica Darling series with Sloppy Firsts; Second Helpings; Charmed Thirds; and Fourth Comings.

Mccafferty lives and writes in New Jersey.

I enjoyed this book thoroughly, even though I had not read the two previous books. In addition, the ending of Charmed Thirds did not disappoint at all.

The characters in the story are fully developed with humor, insight, and originality. Jessica’s witty, smart, hilarious voice with its teensy jargon is a delight and the intelligent weaving of the plot makes the reader stay with the story to the end.

Interested in buying this? Support Writing.Com by making your purchase of Charmed Thirds: A Novel   from Amazon.Com!

Created Oct 16, 2007 at 5:16pm • Submit your own review...