Review: Second Helpings by Megan McCafferty

What: Second Helpings (Jessica Darling #2) by Megan McCafferty

Who: Three Rivers Press

When: 2003

How: Purchased.

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.

Second Helpings is the sequel to one of my favourite books: Sloppy Firsts.

Second Helpings starts six months after the ending of Sloppy Firsts. Jess Darling is furious at Marcus Flutie, and the two of them are estranged. Jess, in an endeavour to forget the boy that stole her heart the year before, decides to spend her summer at a camp for artistically gifted young people. It is because of this camp, and a chance meeting with her former long-time crush Paul Parlipiano, that Jess finally decides which college she wants to attend after graduation. Back at Pineville High, someone has had an extreme makeover that draws Jess’s attention. But is she really over Marcus, the boy she can never stop thinking about? Well, I guess you’ll have to read this book to find out.

When I read Second Helpings a few years ago, I was really disappointed. I felt like it did not live up to my expectations, and did not do Sloppy Firsts any justice.

This time around, however, I thoroughly enjoyed it. Perhaps because I am almost the same age as Jess is in this book. The main reason I did not like this book the first time I read it was the lack of Marcus-Jess interaction. It depressed me, as Marcus is my favourite character. I expected it this time, and I found I didn’t mind as much.

I really liked this book. I still love Jess as a narrator. I don’t mind that she’s self-obsessed, it is her diary, after all.

Having only finished high school a few years ago myself, all of Jess’s stress about college, and friends, and what the future holds are still fresh with me, and I completely understand what she was going through.

Overall, I enjoyed this book less than I enjoyed Sloppy Firsts, but it is still an awesome book, and I can’t wait to see what the future holds for one Jess Darling.

P.s. THE ENDING MADE ME SO HAPPY.

© 2013, Chiara @ Books for a Delicate Eternity. All rights reserved.