Review: Charmed Thirds (Jessica Darling #3) by Megan McCafferty
Title: Charmed ThirdsAuthor: Megan McCafferty
Series: Jessica Darling #3
Publisher: Three Rivers Press, an imprint of Crown Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc.
Publication Date: April 11, 2006
Pages: 359
Format/Source: Paperback/Purchased
Age Group/Genre: Young Adult, New Adult/Contemporary
Jessica Darling’s in college!
Things are looking up for Jessica Darling. She has finally left her New Jersey hometown/hellhole for Columbia University in New York City; she’s more into her boyfriend, Marcus Flutie, than ever (so what if he’s at a Buddhist college in California?); and she’s making new friends who just might qualify as stand-ins for her beloved best friend, Hope.
But Jessica soon realizes that her bliss might not last. She lands an internship at a snarky Brooklyn-based magazine, but will she fit in with the überhip staff (and will she even want to)? As she and Marcus hit the rocks, will she end up falling for her GOPunk, neoconservative RA . . . or the hot (and married!) Spanish grad student she’s assisting on a summer project . . . or the oh-so-sensitive emo boy down the hall? Will she even make it through college now that her parents have cut her off financially? And what do the cryptic one-word postcards from Marcus really mean?
With hilarious insight, the hyperobservant Jessica Darling struggles through her college years—and the summers in between—while maintaining her usual mix of wit, cynicism, and candor. (Photo and synopsis from Goodreads)
*Warning: This is the third book in a series. While I really don’t like spoilers, you might find some slight spoilers for the first two books in this review.*
The Greatness…
I read Charmed Thirds as a part of my self-imposed YA Contemporary Reading Binge last month, and I’m only just now getting around to writing a review, simply because my other reviews were a bit more time-sensitive. But better late than never!
And I really did enjoy Charmed Thirds, although not nearly as much as I LOVED Second Helpings. I like how Jessica is now in college, and we get to see how she copes with being away from family, away from Marcus, and away from her comfort zone. It really made me miss college. I’m the kind of person that LOVED college. I miss it all the time. And when I was in school, around the middle of July I’d start itching for homework. Yeah, I’m a dork, but this isn’t news.
I also loved how Marcus made haikus out of his spam email. Genius! And of course, as always, I love Jessica’s sarcastic humor. I also love how Jessica has matured in many ways in this book, compared to the previous two books. For instance, her perspective on certain people, mainly her mother and sister, grows and she begins to see them as the actual people they are, rather than just thorns in her side. McCafferty also gets major bonus points for referencing my absolute favorite Pearl Jam song, “Elderly Woman Behind the Counter in a Small Town”.
The Not-So-Fantastic…
Now, let me just start off by saying this: I didn’t love this book as much as Second Helpings, obviously. I fangirled all over that review. So I did have some issues with Charmed Thirds. But the issues I did have weren’t deal breakers for me. I can see why the characters did what they did, even if I didn’t like it. So I can see why the plot would move in a certain direction, why characters would make a certain decision, etc. For instance, Jessica was pretty annoying in this book, and she really didn’t annoy me in the other two books at all. But I recognized what she was doing that was annoying and I actually got pretty deep and analytical in my notes. I won’t go into detail, because it’s pretty spoilery, but I’ll just say that even though Jessica annoyed me, I totally understood why she did the things she did. Okay, enough with the vagueness…
Great Quotes…
Here are a few of my favorite quotes from Charmed Thirds:
My review of Sloppy Firsts (Jessica Darling #1) by Megan McCafferty
My review of Second Helpings (Jessica Darling #2) by Megan McCafferty
Related Posts
fakesteph
September 11, 2012 at 1:27 pmSecond Helpings is easily my favorite of the five.
Furious flutter
Awakened hummingbird heart
hello, hello love.
Adriana
September 11, 2012 at 10:56 pmOh no look away! I just wanted to comment on such a pretty cover and then the book but it's the third book and I haven't read the others so… You gave it a four so I will go look up the first book later (:
Jessie Marie
September 12, 2012 at 1:31 amI cannot get over how cute these covers are! : )
I haven't read any in this series yet but I definitely think I'm going to have to do so in the near future – way behind on the times! Plus, an MC with my name? How unusual given the absolute rarity of the name Jessica (note extreme sarcasm). Beyond that, this one sounds awesome. I have a feeling a great sense of college nostalgia will hit me, too – I miss those years so often!
Lovely review. *runs off to add the entirety of the series to my TBR*
Kimberly @ On the Wings of Books
September 13, 2012 at 8:29 pmI just picked up the first book in this series the other day for like $3 or something. I'm not sure when I'll read it, but I will someday.
I am also happy to report that I finally started Cinder, and I'll hopefully be finishing it soon as it's a library book that is now overdue. So far it's ok. I don't love it, but I don't hate it either.
Bittner
September 17, 2012 at 4:15 amI'm so glad that you are continuing with this series and that you are continuing to like the books as much as you are! I loved your review and all your quotes, that was a lot of quotes for you! You really must have liked it!