Charmed Thirds portrays the hopes, struggles, and heartbreaks of college life. As a coming of age story with the marvelously saucy language of its heroine and the lively writing style of its author, the book leaves a permanent impression on its readers.
Jessica Darling, who has just graduated from high school, attends Columbia University in New York city with psychology as her major. At the same time, she takes a prestigious internship job at True Blue, a hip teen magazine, and her lover from high school–Marcus Flutie, a bad boy turned serious–goes off to California to attend a Buddhist college. Although several of Jessica’s old friends and schoolmates reappear periodically, Jessica manages to make or lose new friends, also. While in college, Jessica’s heart stays with Marcus, even if she finds herself in wild situations that help her to grow and discover herself at the end.
Jessica and Marcus’s relationship is one of a kind, and even though so much comes in between them, they manage to connect repeatedly. The uncertainty of Jessica’s life and the way she overcomes her difficulties and outgrows anything negative in her life is the main theme in the story.
The characters in the story are fully developed with humor, insight, and originality. From a literary point of view, the novel should be required reading for novice writers who want to learn about voice. Jessica’s witty, smart, hilarious voice with its teensy jargon is a delight and the intelligent weaving of the plot makes the reader stay with the story to the end.
After I closed the last page of this book, I wished I were young enough to grow up reading Megan Mccafferty. Unfortunately, in my time, most writers had descended from Charles Dickens, at best.
Megan Mccafferty, the author, is a former editor for Cosmopolitan, YM, and Fitness magazines. She wrote in Glamour, CosmoGIRL!, Maxim, Details, and other national publications. She also created a fiction serial, “You Think Your Life Is Crazy,” for teens on Twistmag.com.
Mccafferty’s books are: Sixteen, a short story anthology; the Jessica Darling series with Sloppy Firsts; Second Helpings; Charmed Thirds; and Fourth Comings.
Mccafferty lives and writes in New Jersey.
Charmed Thirds is in paperback with 368 pages and ISBN-10: 1400080428 and ISBN-13: 978-1400080427.
Kudos to the skill of the author, I enjoyed this book thoroughly, even though I had not read the two previous books. In addition, the ending of Charmed Thirds did not disappoint at all. I recommend this book to any reader, young and old.