Review: Sloppy Firsts (Jessica Darling book 1)

Sloppy Firsts (Jessica Darling #1)
by Megan McCafferty
Published August 28, 2001 by Crown Publishing Group


When her best friend, Hope Weaver, moves away from Pineville, New Jersey, hyperobservant sixteen-year-old Jessica Darling is devastated. A fish out of water at school and a stranger at home, Jessica feels more lost than ever now that the only person with whom she could really communicate has gone. How is she supposed to deal with the boy- and shopping-crazy girls at school, her dad’s obsession with her track meets, her mother salivating over big sister Bethany’s lavish wedding, and her nonexistent love life?    -goodreads



Rating: 4/5

Review: 
If at one point in the future and you come across this book, please please please don't judge it by its blurb. Does the blurb make the book sound extremely....bland? Typical? Clichéd? Just not good in general? HECK YES. But in reality, this book is extremely witty and utterly unforgettable!    

This book is written in a kind of journal format--but really it's more of a 1st-person narrative--and that means No. Holds. Barred. You get extreme insight into the mind of Jessica Darling: aka one of my all-time new favorite narrators. You guys. Seriously. Jessica Darling is like the person we all wish we could think like--smart, insightful, wickedly hilarious, and extremely cynical.This might not be making sense, but once you've read this book, you'll understand why one (like me!) would be a little envious of the way Jessica Darling's brain works. Not only that, but if Jessica was a real person, I would SO want to be friends with her (but not the kind of friend like the Clueless Crew)! 

The plot itself.... hmm.... yeah, pretty clichéd, but the way that Jessica narrates it (and also some events regarding a Marcus Flutie) make it surprisingly refreshing read, despite it's overused storyline. The interesting thing is there's no real climax--or more accurately, you know those plot maps you learn in school? The ones with intro, rising action, climax, falling action, and conclusion? There's none of that in this book which was...new. But made the book a much more real depiction of teenage life.

And as for Marcus Flutie... Oh Marcus...*smiles stupidly* I loved his character. He starts out as a dreg, but is actually kind of a genius, and often challenges Jessica intellectually (which, let me tell you, is not easy). You could argue that his background/character is rather clichéd or incredibly refreshing from other YA guys. Like I said, I personally like him, and especially all his conversations with Jessica. The only thing I didn't like was how he was practically MIA for a big chunk of the book! Also, there's no real "relationship development" between him and Jessica until the last quarter of the book! Which was quite unfortunate for me when I was reading the middle, but had me gobbling up the end and pining away for the next book...

 OH! Haha and on a totally random note, can I just say that I LOVED Pepe/Pierre?! He was hands down my favorite character, after Jessica and (eek!) possibly rivaling Marcus??!


Overall, this book was unexpectedly amazing! Again, I have learned to not judge a book by its blurb. (Now if only I could stop doing that for covers...) I highly recommend this to people who are in high school and heck even people who aren't just so they can get a hilarious kick out of a great narration of those special 4 years. :)


~Quotes 
This is my new hobby. I watch my life depart minute by minute. I anticipate the end of everything and anything -- a conversation, a class, track practice, darkness -- only to be left with more clock-watching to take its place. I'm continually waiting for something better that never comes. Maybe it would help if I knew what I wanted.

All subjects are the same. I memorize notes for a test, spew it, ace it, then forget it. What makes this scary for the future of our country is that I'm in the tip-top percentile on every standardized test. I'm a model student with a very crappy attitude about learning.

The higher my GPA gets the more I realize high school is useless.

"This wasn't Pepe Le Pew. No, this was a different guy altogether. One who had grown four inches and twenty-five pounds of muscle in less than three months."
This was Pepe Lew Puberty.