Second Helpings (Jessica Darling Series #2)

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Second Helpings (Jessica Darling Series #2) Pub. Date: 4/22/2003 Publisher: Crown Publishing Group
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Second Helpings (Jessica Darling Series #2) (Turtleback School & Library Binding Edition) (Library Binding - THIS EDITION IS INTENDED FOR USE IN SCHO) Pub. Date: 4/28/2003 Publisher: Turtleback Books: A Division of Sanval

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Overview

“Knowing that I’ve just done something that will take decades off my parents’ lives with worry, you’ll excuse me for not getting into the fa-la-la-la-la Yuletide spirit this year. . . . The only difference between Christmas 2001 and Christmas 2000 is that I don’t have a visit from Hope to look forward to. And Bethany has already packed on some major fetal flab. Oh, and now Gladdie doesn’t need to ask a bizillion questions about my boyfriend, because she’s already gotten the dirt from you know who.”

Jessica Darling is up in arms again in this much-anticipated, hilarious sequel to Sloppy Firsts. This time, the hyperobservant, angst-ridden teenager is going through the social and emotional ordeal of her senior year at Pineville High. Not only does the mysterious and oh-so-compelling Marcus Flutie continue to distract Jessica, but her best friend, Hope, still lives in another state, and she can’t seem to escape the clutches of the Clueless Crew, her annoying so-called friends. To top it off, Jessica’s parents won’t get off her butt about choosing a college, and her sister Bethany’s pregnancy is causing a big stir in the Darling household.

With keen intelligence, sardonic wit, and ingenious comedic timing, Megan McCafferty again re-creates the tumultuous world of today’s fast-moving and sophisticated teens. Fans of Sloppy Firsts will be reunited with their favorite characters and also introduced to the fresh new faces that have entered Jess’s life, including the hot creative writing teacher at her summer college prep program and her feisty, tell-it-like-it-is grandmother Gladdie. But most of all, readers will finally have the answers to all of their burgeoning questions, and then some: Will Jessica crack under the pressure of senioritis? Will her unresolved feelings for Marcus wreak havoc on her love life? Will Hope ever come back to Pineville? Fall in love with saucy, irreverent Jessica all over again in this wonderful sequel to a book that critics and readers alike hailed as the best high school novel in years.

Editorial Reviews

Publishers Weekly

"Every day, I wait for that doomsday shoe to drop on my head and crush my spirit," laments New Jersey high schooler Jessica Darling. This hilarious, candid sequel to Sloppy Firsts opens the summer before Jessica's senior year of high school, when the precocious misfit is at a New Jersey academic enrichment camp whose competitive enrollment is belied by its acronym-SPECIAL. There, she meets Prof. Samuel MacDougall, a handsome writing teacher with "three novels, two works of nonfiction and one hot piece of ass to his name," who challenges Jessica to imagine the world outside of her native suburbia. She also runs into her former "crush-to-end-all-crushes" Paul Parlipiano (he's gay, of course), who introduces her to Columbia University-which she decides she must attend. Come September, Jessica works on her college applications, dearly misses her best friend, Hope, who has moved to Tennessee, and spends much of her time trying not to think about bad boy Marcus Flutie, who broke her heart last winter when he confessed that he only asked her out as an experiment. As her senior year progresses, Jessica starts dating Len Levy, her rival for class valedictorian, and becomes the subject of the school's new anonymous gossip rag. The material is typical teen fare, but Jessica is a captivating, intelligent, acidly funny-but always believably adolescent-narrator who is unsparing in her sketches of Pineville High "society" yet touchingly alive to her own vulnerabilities. Though the happy ending seems targeted to a YA crowd, adults will also enjoy Jessica's winning observations. (Apr.) Forecast: Promotion in Seventeen and ELLEgirl, plus word-of-mouth, should make this a hit with the younger set. Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

VOYA

Jessica Darling, Class Brainiac and Most Likely to Succeed, journals away her senior year, from her attendance in a pre-college arts camp in July to her uncharacteristically optimistic graduation address in June. Her caustic commentary includes her superficial classmates, her horribleness as a first-time girlfriend, her agonizing over her virginity, her college decision, and her obsession with He Who Shall Remain Nameless. When she is suspected of authoring a slanderous e-zine that pops up in a select group of inboxes, she wishes she had come up with something so clever since quitting the school newspaper. As in Sloppy Firsts (Crown, 2001/VOYA April 2002), monthly letters to Hope, the best friend who moved away, are interspersed as reflective summaries. Set in 2001, September 11 inevitably flavors some of the book, but it is not a "September 11 book." Carefully selected pop culture references are meaningful, especially since 1980s kitsch is again in vogue. This novel delivers just as many snort-out-loud moments as the prequel. Jessica is a more fully realized character who believably matures, and the reader is presented with another side of Marcus, the poet nonconformist every girl would love to sin with. McCafferty takes many pages to provide her readers with what they wanted from the first book, but the wait is well worth it. Jessica's one-time experimentation with ecstasy and self-admitted crude language might concern more conservative librarians or clueless parents; hide it in the adult section if you must, but the right readers will find-and appreciate-this gem. VOYA Codes: 5Q 3P S A/YA (Hard to imagine it being any better written; Will appeal with pushing; Senior High, defined asgrades 10 to 12; Adult and Young Adult). 2003, Three Rivers Press/Crown, 368p,
— Beth Gallaway

More Reviews (1) Fewer Reviews

Kirkus Reviews

The further adventures of Jessica Darling, she of the overly detailed journal. The brainy and independent Jessica (Sloppy Firsts, not reviewed), author of this sequel's journal entries, is one of the more endearing offspring of these post-Bridget Jones years. Jessica is in her senior year at Pineville High, just another horrible high school somewhere in New Jersey filled with all the usual cliques and adolescent idiocy. Jessica knows she should be getting her act together and not thinking about too-cute Marcus-who she almost lost her virginity to in the first Jessica novel-and how now he's sleeping with every girl who looks his way. Her clueless "friends" embody a range of types. There's Sara, a bubbly screamer who interjects "Omigod!" every three words; Bridget, a gorgeous but insecure blond who says "like" every three words (see the difference); Manda, who spouts pop-feminist babble when she's not snaking other girl's boyfriends; and so on. Jessica misses her best friend, Hope, who moved away, and she has to find out who's behind the "Pineville Low" gossip e-mail that's been making snooty comments about her virginal status. Then comes Len, a terminal geek who's now devastatingly cute and seems to like her. Although one has to get past all the CAPITALIZING and EXCITING DEVELOPMENTS!!! (this is an adolescent's journal, after all), Jessica's less-than-earth-shattering life (What college will accept her? Will Len kiss her? What's Marcus up to?) are tossed across the page with breezy bravado. Cosmo and Glamour writer McCafferty has the post-'90s teenage mindset down to a tee and can reference trash culture with the best of them, but problems arise when she ventures beyond the stereotype.Sassy and packed with more plot twists than a Real World marathon: likely to be snapped up eagerly by teen and preteen McCafferty fans.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780609807910
Publisher: Crown Publishing Group
Publication date: 4/22/2003
Pages: 368
Sales rank: 175,997
Series: Jessica Darling Series , #2
Product dimensions: 6.00 (w) x 9.10 (h) x 1.00 (d)

Meet the Author

Megan McCafferty

MEGAN MCCAFFERTY has written for Cosmopolitan, CosmoGirl!, Glamour, Seventeen, ELLEgirl, Twist, Fitness, and Shape. She lives in New Jersey.

Read an Excerpt

the first

I can’t believe I used to do this nearly every day. Or night, rather. In the wee hours, when the sky was purple and the house sighed with sleep, I’d hover, wide awake, over my beat-up black-and-white-speckled composition notebook. I’d scribble, scratch, and scrawl until my hand, and sometimes my heart, ached.

I wrote and wrote and wrote. Then, one day, I stopped.

With the exception of letters to Hope and editorials for the school newspaper, I haven’t written anything real in months. (Which is why it’s such a crock that I’m attending SPECIAL.) I have no choice but to start up again because I’m required to keep a journal for SPECIAL’s writing program. But this journal will be different. It has to be different. Or I will be institutionalized.

My last journal was the only eyewitness to every mortifying and just plan moronic thought I had throughout my sophomore and junior years. And like the mob, I had the sole observer whacked. Specifically, I slipped page by page into my dad’s paper shredder, leaving nothing but guilty confetti behind. I wanted to have a ritualistic burning in the fireplace, but my mom wouldn’t let me because she was afraid the ink from my pen would emit a toxic cloud and kill us all. Even in my dementia I knew that would have been an unnecessarily melodramatic touch.

I destroyed that journal because it contained all the things I should’ve been telling my best friend. I trashed it on New Year’s Day, the last time I saw Hope, which was the first time I had seen her since she moved to Tennessee. My resolution: to stop pouring my soul out to an anonymous person on paper and start telling her everything again. And everything included everything that had happened between me and He Who Shall Remain Nameless.

Instead of hating me for the weird whatever relationship He and I used to have, Hope proved once and for all that she is a better best friend than I am. She swore to me on that January day, and a bizillion times since, that I have the right to be friends and/or more with whomever I want to be friends and/or more with. She assured me of this, even though His debaucherous activities indirectly contributed to her own brother’s overdose, and very directly led to her parents’ moving her a thousand miles away from Pineville’s supposedly evil influence. Because when it comes down to it, as she told me that shivery afternoon, and again and again, her brother, Heath’s, death was no one’s fault but his own. No one stuck that lethal needle in his arm; Heath did it himself. And if I feel a real connection with Him, she told me then, and keeps telling me, and telling me, and telling me, I shouldn’t be so quick to cut it off.

I’ve told Hope a bizillion times right back that I’m not removing Him from my life out of respect for Heath’s memory. I’m doing it because it simply doesn’t do me any good to keep Him there. Especially when He hasn’t said a word to me since I told Him to fuck himself last New Year’s Eve.

That’s not totally true. He has spoken to me. And that’s how I know that when it comes to He Who Shall Remain Nameless and me, there’s something far worse than silence: small talk. We used to talk about everything from stem cells to Trading Spaces. Now the deepest He gets is: “Would you mind moving your head, please? I can’t see the blackboard.” (2/9/01—First period. World History II.)

STOP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I don’t want to have to burn this journal before I even begin.

the second

Now, here’s a fun and totally not psychotic topic to write about!

Today I got the all-time ass-kickingest going-away present: 780 Verbal, 760 Math.

GOD BLESS THE SCHOLASTIC APTITUDE TEST!

That’s a combined score of 1540, for those of you who are perhaps not as mathematically inclined as I am. YAHOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

I’ve done it. I’ve written my ticket out of Pineville, and I won’t have to run in circles for it. I am the first person to admit that if an athletic scholarship were my only option, I’d be out running laps and pumping performance-enhancing drugs right now. But my brain, for once, has helped, not hindered. I AM SO HAPPY I DID NOT SIGN UP FOR CROSS-COUNTRY CAMP.

As annoying as all those stupid vocabulary drills and Princeton Review process-of-elimination practice sessions were, I’m totally against the movement to get rid of the SAT. It is the only way to prove to admissions officers that I’m smart. A 4.4 GPA, glowing recommendations, and a number-one class rank mean absolutely nothing when you’re up against applicants from schools that don’t suck.

Of course, with scores like these, my problem isn’t whether I’ll get accepted to college, but deciding which of the 1600 schools in the Princeton Review guide to colleges I should attend in the first place. I’ve been banking on the idea that college will be the place where I finally find people who understand me. My niche. I have no idea if Utopia University exists. But there is one consolation. Even if I pick the wrong school, and the odds are 1600 to 1 that I will, it can’t be worse than my four years at Pineville High.

Incidentally, I didn’t rock the SATs because I’m a genius. One campus tour of Harvard taught me the difference between freaky brilliance and the rest of us. No, my scores didn’t reflect my superior intellect as much as they did my ability to memorize all the little tricks for acing the test. For me the SATs were a necessary annoyance, but not the big trauma that they are for most high-school students. Way more things were harder for me to deal with in my sophomore and junior years than the Scholastic Aptitude Test. Since I destroyed all the evidence of my hardships, let’s review:

Jessica Darling’s Top Traumas:

2000–2001 Edition

Trauma #1: My best friend moved a thousand miles away. After her brother’s overdose, Hope’s parents stole her away to their tiny Southern hometown, where good old-fashioned morals prevail, apparently. I can’t blame the Weavers for trying to protect her innocence, as Hope is probably the last guileless person on the planet. Her absence hit me right in the middle of the school year, nineteen days before my Bitter Sixteenth birthday, shortly before the turn of this century. Humankind survived Y2K, but my world came to an end.

Here’s the kind of best friend Hope was (is) to me: She was the only person who understood why I couldn’t stand the Clueless Crew (as Manda, Sara, and Bridget were collectively known before Manda slept with Bridget’s boyfriend, Burke). And when I started changing the lyrics to pop songs as a creative way of making fun of them, she showcased her numerous artistic talents by recording herself singing them (with her own piano accompaniment), compiling the cuts on a CD (Now, That’s What I Call Amusing!, Volume 1), and designing a professional-quality cover complete with liner notes. (“Very special muchas gracias go out to Julio and Enrique Iglesias for all the love and inspiration you’ve given me over the years. Te amo y te amo. . . .”) I’m listening to her soaring rendition of “Cellulite” (aka Sara’s song) right now. (Sung to the tune of the Dave Matthews Band’s “Satellite.”)

Cellulite, on my thighs Looks like stucco, makes me cry Butt of blubber

Cellulite, no swimsuit will do I must find a muumuu But I can’t face those dressing-room mirrors

[Chorus]

Creams don’t work, and squats, forget it!
My parents won’t pay for lipo just yet My puckered ass needs replacing Look up, look down, it’s all around My cellulite.

If that isn’t proof that Hope was the only one who laughed at my jokes and sympathized with my tears, I don’t know what is. We still talk on the phone and write letters, but it’s never been enough. And unlike most people my age, I think the round-the-clock availability of e-mail and interactive messaging is an inadequate substitute for face-to-face, heart-to-heart contact. This is one of the reasons I am a freak. Speaking of . . .

Trauma #2: I had suck-ass excuses for friends. My parents thought that I had plenty of people to fill the void left by Hope, especially Bridget. She is Gwyneth blond with a bodacious booty and Hollywood ambitions. I am none of these things. We share nothing in common other than the street we’ve lived on since birth.

My parents also had a difficult time buying my loneliness because it was well known that Scotty, His Royal Guyness and Grand Poo-bah of the Upper Crust, had a crush on me. This was—and still is—inexplicable since he never seems to understand a single thing that comes out of my mouth. I found the prospect of having to translate every utterance exhausting and exasperating. I didn’t want to date Scotty just to kill time. He has since proven me right by banging bimbo after bimbo, all of whose first names invariably end in y.

My “friendship” with the Clueless Two, Manda and Sara, certainly didn’t make my life any sunnier, especially after Manda couldn’t resist her natural urge to bang Bridget’s boyfriend, and Sara couldn’t resist her inborn instinct to blab to the world about it.

And finally, to make matters worse, Miss Hyacinth Anastasia Wallace, the one girl I thought had friend potential, turned out to be a Manhattan celebutante hoping to gain credibility by slumming at Pineville High for a marking period or two, then writing a book about it, which was optioned by Miramax before she completed the spell check on the last draft, and will be available in stores nationwide just in time for Christmas.

Trauma #3: My parents didn’t—and still don’t—get it. As I’ve already mentioned, my parents told me that I was overreacting to the loss of my best friend. My mother thought I should channel all my angsty energy into becoming a boy magnet. My father wanted me to harness it toward becoming a long-distance-running legend. My parents had little experience in dealing with my unique brand of suburban-high-school misanthropy because my older sibling, Bethany, was everything I was not: uncomplicated, popular, and teen-magazine pretty.

Trauma #4: I was unable to sleep. I developed chronic insomnia after Hope moved. (I currently get about four hours of REM every night—a huge improvement.) Bored by tossing and turning, I started to sneak out of the house and go running around my neighborhood. These jaunts had a soothing, cathartic effect. It was the only time my head would clear out the clutter.

On one of those early-morning runs, I tripped over an exposed root and broke my leg. I was never as swift again. My dad was devastated, but secretly I was relieved. I never liked having to win, and was grateful for an excuse to suck.

Trauma #5: My menstrual cycle went MIA. My ovaries shut down in response to the stress, lack of sleep, and overtraining. I was as sexually mature as your average kindergartener.

Trauma #6: I developed a sick obsession with He Who Shall Remain Nameless. He wasn’t my boyfriend, but He was more than just a friend. I was able to tell Him things that I couldn’t share with Hope. When I couldn’t run anymore, His voice soothed me, and I was actually able to fall asleep again. My period even returned, welcoming me back to the world of pubescence.

His motives weren’t as pure as I thought they were. Whatever relationship we had was conceived under false pretenses. I was an experiment. To see what would happen when the male slut/junkie of Pineville High—who just happened to be my best friend’s dead brother’s drug buddy—came on to the virgin Brainiac. He thought that confessing His sinful intentions on that fateful New Year’s Eve would lead to forgiveness, but it just made things worse. I was profoundly disappointed in Him—and myself—for ever thinking that He could’ve replaced Hope.

No one can. Or should. Or will.

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Anonymous

Posted May 11, 2008

You. Yes. You should read this book.

Jessica Lynn Darling is tall, skinny, athletic and smart. Who wouldn¿t want to be all of those things? Jessica Lynn Darling. In Second Helpings, McCafferty precisely captures the life of a frustrated high school teenager. Jessica is sick and tired of everything. From her parents, her sister and school, to her relentless love for the quote bad boy unquote, Marcus Flutie. She hates how her parents will never understand her. She is mad at her dad because he pushes her to be the athletic son he almost had, forcing her to do the unthinkable thing as captain and four-year varsity vet of the track team. She hates how her sister, Bethany, is the good-looking and popular child her mom always dreamed of. She hates even more how her mom wishes she was just like her. She cannot stand how her school and middle-of-nowhere-town, Pineville, is so focused on social status. She wants to get away from everyone and everything related to Pineville. She dreams of going to Columbia University in New York to study writing. But after the recent events of 9/11, her parents will barely let her out of the house, so she abandons all hope. But most of all, Jessica hates how she cannot seem to get Marcus Flutie out of her head. Even with his mysterious and quiet personality, Marcus is still managing to get into her hectic life. This time, Jessica is determined to steer clear of him and his mind games. After some wise words from her grandmother, Gladdie, Jessica discovers that she¿s been blind to what has been blatantly in front of her all this time, and finally makes the decision of her life. McCafferty¿s captivating novel, Second Helpings, leaves the reader content, yet eager for the next installation of this fantastic series.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
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epicrat

Posted April 16, 2011

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Definitely grew on me!

Jessica Darling wants nothing to do with Marcus Flutie after his betrayal, but he seems determined to make her life as awkward as possible by helping his best friend Len Levy win her over. Not to mention, Marcus seems to be in cahoots with her colorful grandmother at the nursing home when it comes to Jessica's love life and college plans. As she tries to survive her senior year at Pineville High, Jessica combats a mediocre relationship with a boy not of her dreams, a dream college that far exceeds her family's budget, and the temptation of going over to the dark side known as Marcus Flutie.

second helpings grew on me. I didn't love it at first, but the more I think about this book and the more I find myself quoting the infamous "you, yes, you" all the time to Mr. Z, the more I realize that Megan McCafferty has affected - or is it infected? - my mind. The tug-of-war between Jessica and Marcus is absolutely perfect in their imperfections, and I could not wait to see which one of them would finally yank the other over to their side. second helpings may not have impressed me at first, but it has definitely left a lasting impression on my own romantic whimsies.
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curlyloulou

Posted February 16, 2010

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I Also Recommend:

Yay!

These books are sometimes YA and sometimes not....I don't care because I love Marcus Flutie! This book was recommended to me by Kia and Mo. I am absolutely terrified to continue with the story because they are all happy right now....
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TeensReadToo

Posted November 15, 2008

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Reviewed by Amanda Dissinger for TeensReadToo.com

In SLOPPY FIRSTS, Jessica Darling dealt with adjusting to life without her best friend, Hope, having feelings for the school rebel, Marcus, and finding who she really is as a person. You know, typical teenager stuff.

In the sequel to SLOPPY FIRSTS, SECOND HELPINGS, Jess finds herself dealing with even more problems as she starts her senior year of high school. After spending the summer at SPECIAL, a summer writing camp for (you guessed it) special high school students, Jess decides that she wants to 1). become a writer and 2). attend the prestigious Columbia University in New York City.

The only problem is that she now has the tough job of convincing her parents.

With Len Levy, her brilliant competition for Valedictorian, crushing on her, and her determination to get over Marcus with only the help of her blonde Barbie doll neighbor, Bridget, Jess gets more than she bargains for as she struggles to plan her future and rediscover her past.

In my opinion, SECOND HELPINGS is even better than the terrific prequel SLOPPY FIRSTS. Through her shocking and entertaining observations about everything from her high school peers to "hot" writing instructors, readers identify with Jess's plights as she tries to reach her dream of getting out of New Jersey suburbia. Another touching book, another realistic story, another fantastic read from Megan McCafferty.
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Anonymous

Posted August 14, 2008

A reviewer

i loved this series!! This book is soo real. like its totally believable. i would rrecommend it to anybody.
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Anonymous

Posted April 15, 2008

This book is da bomb!!!

Ok, so its kinda a love story but it's also completely realistic, I'm only 14 but it totally explains life as a teenage girl. The main character 'Jessica' is someone you can completly relate to, a lot of books these days either describe life as a scoop of ice cream or some really heavy depressing drug-adict-alcaholic-foster-kid-orphan mix. This book shows that yes, 'Life sucks, and then you die.' but you also have good times in between those super sucky moments.
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Anonymous

Posted November 26, 2007

Second Readings Please!

Second Helpings was a phenomenal book. It always kept me reading. I loved how it was written like a diary. I like how Megan McCafferty made it seem like Jess was telling you the story, instead of just having Jess write in her journal. Jess seems like she¿s a down-to-earth girl, and she gets along with almost everyone. She has the same problems as what I have had in the past. My best friend lives in a different town than I do. Hope lives in a different state than Jess. I was a surprised to find that Jess is a lot like me. That helped a lot while I was reading it. If you loved Sloppy Firsts and Second Helpings, you¿ll love Charmed Thirds!
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Anonymous

Posted June 10, 2007

Dang this was good!

This book was even better than the first one. I usually don't like reading, but because of books like these, i love to read. I actually enjoy reading now, and i cant wait to read the third one Charmed Thirds. I am so excited for it. Read this book.
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Anonymous

Posted September 11, 2006

Awesome!

this boook is even more hilarious than Sloppy Firsts. its so funny hearing what Jessica Ddarling thinks about the school and her 'so-called' friends. i recomend this to EVERYONE!!!
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Anonymous

Posted July 20, 2006

Three words: I LOVE IT!

Never has a fictional character reminded me so much of myself. I too know how annoying gum-smacking bimbos are, how jerky oversexed jocks can be and how hard life is when your best friend just isn't around. I, like Jessica, have also felt like no one understands what's up in my life and, strangely enough, I love the eighties too!!! The only difference between that character and I, is that I'm just starting high school. It's hard to believe that Megan McCafferty is an adult when she relates to teens so well. All I can say is that Second Helpings had huge shoes to fill after Sloppy Firsts, but did it with flying colors. Now I can't wait to read Charmed Thirds!
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Anonymous

Posted July 11, 2006

second helpings serves as good as the first

It's hard to follow up to such a refreshing, witty, outstanding first book but it's easily done here. All the characters you know and love are back! If that isn't enough this book also filled to the rim with laugh-out-loud funny events.
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Anonymous

Posted June 30, 2006

Stick to it

I was so close to not finishing this book because it had such a slow start,but i kept reading it and it was good. I liked Sloppy Firsts better though.
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Anonymous

Posted June 12, 2006

Outstanding

This book was most definitely outstanding. Jessica is so easy to relate to the whole plot is easy to relate to. This book gave me a whole new look on life, like how you shouldn't care so much about what people think and you should just be happy being you.
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Anonymous

Posted June 15, 2006

OUTSTANDING

no surprise here - the sequel to 'sloppy firsts' was equally if not more funny than the first book was. jessica had some tough decisions to make and a lot of stuff to deal with, but she got through it okay. i would definitely reccomend this book to everyone .. its awesome and hard to put down!
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Anonymous

Posted April 29, 2006

I LOVE MARCUS

I am about to go out and buy charming thirds, and I'm counting the seconds. Jessica is such a relatable character. She is funny and lovable, but even more than that I LOVE MARCUS!!!!!!!!!!
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Anonymous

Posted March 26, 2006

Christina, 17

Ok, Megan McCafferty has a way of creating stories and witty one liners that just keep you wanting more. As if thats not enough, she makes you feel like what you're reading is really happening, and everyone can relate. Her characters are so well defined and I must say, Megan McCafferty is the best author I've ever come across.
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Anonymous

Posted March 20, 2006

By Kiara

Second Helpings by Megan MacCafferty is a great book. This book is a continuation of Sloppy Firsts. Between those pages there are many curiosities of a young teenager. It is very interesting and humorous. Second Helpings is about a female teen student named Jessica Darling, the main character. She is an American girl who goes through many events in her teenage life. She is also very smart and has a hilariously unique sense of humor. A part where I thought she was very funny was when she is concerned about loosing her virginity. She narrates the story very openly like in the form of a journal, diary and letters. I think she¿s kind of naïve but she is intelligent. She continues to talk about her life very openly. This time she goes through many social and emotional suffering of her senior year at Pineville High. She is trying to deal with her overly helpful family. Her best friend Hope moves out of the city, and she goes through many emotional and devastating circumstances which most of us teenagers go through when theirs no one who we can express our feelings to. This book is extremely funny. It gave me a lot of curiosity to keep on reading. I love the way she expressed herself. At some parts it made me get in her position of the events she was going through for example there were times which she is undecided of the decisions she should take. I was really into the book which helped me finish the book faster than what I even thought because I thought I was never going to finish with all those pages specially because the book is kind on thick. There were a few circumstances in the book where I was extremely curious of reading more. For example: ¿I WANT TO HAVE SEX¿. That was a phrase which she kept on bragging about in many parts of the book which were really funny because of her unique way of expressing herself. I think this book was very well written. It is a type of book which I would recommend to many teens who like reading about other teenagers¿ lives and many things they face. I got to connect with Jessica because I understand many of her situations including the ones with her family, school, friends, associates, boys, etc. Another way I can connect with her is that I can see that many of the things us teenagers go through are very delicate. We go through many vague situations which many of us teenagers don¿t know how to confront the right way whether it is because of family matters or maybe uncomfortably and confidence with in your self. Even thought I didn¿t read the first book Sloppy First I loved this one and I got to connect to it with out reading the first part.
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Anonymous

Posted February 9, 2006

Second Helpings

In 'Second Helpings' Jessica Darling is trying to decide what college to go to. She is also faced with the same drama as 'Sloppy Firsts.' For example, the 'clueless crew' is still on her case and troubling boys. I think that this book was outstanding. I would recommend that everyone read this book series.
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Anonymous

Posted February 1, 2006

really wanting the charmed thirds

In this novel and it's prequel, Sloppy Firsts, Megan McCafferty accurately captures the feelings of a frustrated high school teenager. From boys to school, McCafferty knows it all. The main character and narrator, Jessica Lynn Darling, is sick of everything: her parents, school, track, Pineville, and her undying love for Marcus Flutie. She hates her parents for not understanding why she is different. She even more so hates her father for his vain attempts to make her a trackstar, while rubbing her nose in her mistakes. School is awful for Jessica, like it is for every teenager, because teachers, obviously, aim to make our lives as miserable as possible. She hates Pineville because it's a podunk town in the middle of New Jersey and she seems to think she's the only sane one there. She's frustrated at the other people in her high school and their idiocy. She's bitter at the fact that she and her friends got played by a New York City 'Trustafarian' who is making money off their pathetic lives. And last, but definitely not least, Marcus Flutie. The hook for most female readers of the Jessica Darling series, Marcus Flutie is the guy of every girl's dreams. The reformed bad boy who is still so mysterious a simple glance in your direction will make your knees melt. Jessica is in love, an almost obsessive love, and try as she may, she cannot stop thinking about him! Although they are less than friends by the opening of Second Helpings, he's still doing everything in his power to get inside her mind. McCafferty uses blunt sarcasm and witty humor to give her fans a fantastic read. And be the reader young or old, male or female I'm sure every girl can identify with Jessica and her frustrations. McCafferty¿s writing style utilizes sarcasm, satire, and short sentences to keep the reader enthralled. There is a secret thrill in reading someone¿s thoughts. Moreover, there is a sense of comfort in reading all those things you think but refuse to say aloud. With every page I found myself getting sucked farther and farther into the black hole that surrounds social life at Pineville High School. Jessica¿s hate-the-world attitude left me in fits of giggles. I did not leave the couch for several hours, and read the book without putting it down. By the end of the book, I was near to tears because I could not know what would happen next. ( I anxiously await April 11, 2006 when I can wait outside Barnes & Noble until it opens and buy my copy.)I was (am?) also convinced that I am going to meet my own Marcus Flutie who will turn my world upside down. I, personally, happen to love this book and its prequel. In fact I have read them each at least three times. Whether you liked the first book or not, whether you consider yourself above ¿fun¿ reads or not this book is worth the read. If only to find out what happens between Jessica and Marcus, or if only to pretend you are her, this book is worth it. Megan McCafferty hit the nail on the head in this attempt to describe teenage life and attitude. I hope you enjoy this book as much as I did.
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Anonymous

Posted December 5, 2005

best book i have ever read

Even though Sloppy Firsts was amazing, Second Helpings is the best of the two. I can relate so much to Jessica Darling. She is just an ordinary girl and her quirks and personality just make the book. I wish there was a third becuase i fell in love with these two books. READ THIS BOOK.
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This book is da bomb!!!

Second Readings Please!

Dang this was good!

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Three words: I LOVE IT!

second helpings serves as good as the first

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I LOVE MARCUS

Christina, 17

By Kiara

Second Helpings

really wanting the charmed thirds

best book i have ever read