Fourth Comings (Jessica Darling #4)

Summary:

"At first it seems that she’s living the elusive New York City dream. She’s subletting an apartment with her best friend, Hope, working for a magazine that actually utilizes her psychology degree, and still deeply in love with Marcus Flutie, the charismatic addict-turned-Buddhist who first captivated her at sixteen. 
Of course, reality is more complicated than dreamy clichés. She and Hope share bunk beds in the “Cupcake”—the girlie pastel bedroom normally occupied by twelve-year-old twins. Their Brooklyn neighborhood is better suited to “breeders,” and she and Hope split the rent with their promiscuous high school pal, Manda, and her “genderqueer boifriend.” Freelancing for an obscure journal can’t put a dent in Jessica’s student loans, so she’s eking out a living by babysitting her young niece and lamenting that she, unlike most of her friends, can’t postpone adulthood by going back to school. 
Yet it’s the ever-changing relationship with Marcus that leaves her most unsettled. At the ripe age of twenty-three, he’s just starting his freshman year at Princeton University. Is she ready to give up her imperfect yet invigorating post-college life just because her on-again/off-again soul mate asks her to... marry him? 
Jessica has one week to respond to Marcus’s perplexing marriage proposal. During this time, she gains surprising wisdom from unexpected sources, including a popular talk show shrink, a drag queen named Royalle G. Biv, and yes, even her parents. But the most shocking confession concerns two people she thought had nothing to hide: Hope and Marcus.
Will this knowledge inspire Jessica to give up a world of late-night literary soirees, art openings, and downtown drunken karaoke to move back to New Jersey and be with the one man who’s gripped her heart for years? Jessica ponders this and other life choices with her signature snark and hyper-intense insight, making it the most tumultuous and memorable week of her twenty-something life."

After reading Fourth Comings.. I have come to the conclusion that I am done with Jessica Darling and do not imagine myself reading another book in the series for awhile. I wanted to love this series, I REALLY did. I enjoyed Sloppy Firsts and LOVED Second Helpings , but Charmed Thirds lost me. Jessica was SO vulgar and crass, it was such a turn off for me and Fourth Comings although in some way better than Charmed Thirds was just boring to me. I also, think this has to do with the fact that Jessica Darling and I are just TOO different of people and I could no longer relate to her the way I used to and I couldn't justify her actions to be like-able for me anymore. So in the end I think it is best to part my ways with the series.

Charmed Thirds (The Jessica Darling Series #3)

Summary:

"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."

Plot: I thought it was very interesting that McCafferty choose to write Jessica's all four years of college in one book. Personally, it didn't work well for me, since I felt it just confused me more. Although, McCafferty did a decent job at giving Jessica college experiences it just didn't feel authentic enough for me.

Characters: I only liked two characters in this book and that was Bridget and shockingly Bethany (Jessica's Sister) . Jessica was beyond annoying and I felt made no personal growth and then there is Marcus who is basically non-existant.

Final Thoughts:  WHAT THE FUCK HAPPENED TO YOU JESSICA DARLING?! The girl who was witty and sarcastic became way too crude for my liking. Overall, it was hard for me to sympathize for Jessica and her actions and frankly at time immature. Than the author did something I personally don't like in books. Sh brought in politics / political party bashing. If it isn't really important to the the characters, character; than it just rubs me the wrong way. I was really beginning to enjoy the Jessica Darling series, but I just could not get behind Charmed Thirds.




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Library

The Golden Lily By Richelle Mead

Charmed Thirds By Megan McCafferty

Speechless By Hannah Harrington

Bord Wicked By Jessica Spotswood

Catching Fire By Suzanne Collins

The Agency: The Traitor in the Tunnel By Y.S. Lee

For Review (Netgalley)

The Nightmare Affair By Mindee Arnett

Sloppy Firsts

Summary:

"“My parents suck ass. Banning me from the phone and restricting my computer privileges are the most tyrannical parental gestures I can think of. Don’t they realize that Hope’s the only one who keeps me sane? . . . I don’t see how things could get any worse.”
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?
A fresh, funny, utterly compelling fiction debut by first-time novelist Megan McCafferty, Sloppy Firsts is an insightful, true-to-life look at Jessica’s predicament as she embarks on another year of teenage torment--from the dark days of Hope’s departure through her months as a type-A personality turned insomniac to her completely mixed-up feelings about Marcus Flutie, the intelligent and mysterious “Dreg” who works his way into her heart. Like a John Hughes for the twenty-first century, Megan McCafferty taps into the inherent humor and drama of the teen experience. This poignant, hilarious novel is sure to appeal to readers who are still going through it, as well as those who are grateful that they don’t have to go back and grow up all over again."

Plot: The story started off slow in the beginning for me and maybe that was also because it begins in January. Which isn't nesicarily odd, but that means the story actual begins in the middle of the school year for Jessica. Though, by doing this McCafferty adds depth to Jessica's story. Which is a very contemporary and character based one. My only complaint with the plot is, I wish we had personally known Hope better, that way we could connect with Jessica missing her and we could connect with the e-mails Jessica was writing to her.

Characters: Oh, Jessica Darling, I was skeptical of you. Everyone said you were awesome and at first I couldn't see why. Then I saw some familiar qualities in you and you brash sarcasm was killer. Everyone else was really secondary to you. And Marcus Flutie, I am not sold on you yet. But man, did you break my heart.

Final Thoughts: Sloppy Firsts is the more realistic and teenager version of The Princess Diaries. As Jessica writes her thoughts and feelings in a journal, she doesn't hold back on the sexual jokes and adult topics that can sometimes be smoothed over in Young Adult books. As the story progressed, I somehow found myself more invested in the story and was really impressed with how much emotion I stored up in, once the book came to end. I can see why people are hooked. Cause once I stopped reading Sloppy Firsts, I knew I needed to read the rest of the series and I needed to read it A-SAP.

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Princess of the Silver Woods By Jessica Day George

Edgewood By Karen McQuestion

Library

Frostbite By Richelle Mead

Shadow Kiss By Richelle Mead

Project Princess By Meg Cabot

Princess In Training By Meg Cabot

The Princess Present By Meg Cabot

Party Princess By Meg Cabot

Second Helpings By Megan McCafferty

Spell Bound By Rachel Hawkins

City of Fallen Angels By Cassandra Clare

Scarlet By A.C. Gaughen 

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Torment By Lauren Kate

In My Mailbox (41)

Hosted By The Story Siren
*I Apologize for the Annoying Audio*
For Review Easily Amused By Karen McQuestion
For Review (e-galley) How Lucky You Are By Kristyn Kusek-Lewis The Enchanted Truth By Kym Petrie One Pink Line By Dina Silver A Lack of Temperance By Anna Loan -Wisley
Library Princess in Pink By Meg Cabot Princess in Waiting By Meg Cabot Vampire Academy By Richelle Mead Lost In Time By Melissa De La Cruz What Boys Really Want By Pete Hautman Scarlett Fever By Maureen Johnson Sloppy First By Megan McCafferty

Mention in this Review Jen from Makeshift Bookmark