I am honestly astonished, as someone who was in high school when it was published, that I managed to miss Megan McCafferty's Sloppy Firsts until now! The first in a five-book series, it focuses on New Jersey teenager Jessica Darling, deeply miserable now that her best friend Hope has moved away. Jessica's left with the rest of her honors-classes friend group, none of whom she actually likes very much and who she refers to as the Clueless Crew in her head. Her dad drives her crazy trying to home coach her through track, and her mother and older sister Bethany are too wrapped up in planning Bethany's wedding to pay Jessica too much mind (not that she wants them to anyways). She's nursing a desperate crush on a senior who probably doesn't even know she exists. How is a girl to deal with her sophomore year in high school like this?

With snark, of course. She writes to Hope every month, filling her in on all the new drama...the girl from Manhattan who moves to town but isn't quite who she seems to be, the pressure she feels to date a guy friend that she doesn't like that way just to have a boyfriend, how torn she feels when she finds out someone's boyfriend is cheating on her but she's supposed to keep it secret. What Jessica doesn't tell Hope about is the growing connection she has with Marcus Flutie, who'd been best friends and drug buddies with Hope's brother before his death by overdose prompted Hope's family to leave town. The closer Jessica and Marcus get, the worse she feels about hiding it from Hope, and the more confused she is by what she wants out of it at all. Add in the family conflicts and it's no wonder Jessica's overwhelmed.

Jessica is the kind of character I would have loved as a teenager, and looking back someone who reminds me of myself at that age. She's smart enough to know that she should buy into "the game" if she wants to fit in more (not to mention please her mother), but too stubborn to actually do it. She wants desperately to feel understood even though she doesn't even really understand herself. She feels trapped in high school, but the taste of the more adult world she gets working at the Shore during the summer doesn't exactly thrill her. The life McCafferty gives her, and the issues she presents her with, feel pitch-perfect for a sixteen year-old in the year 2000, which, given that I was myself just a year or two younger, also took me back on a wave of nostalgia. I was worried I would be a little too old for this book at literally twice the age of the main character, but I was completely charmed.

I wonder if the cultural references, which hit home for me, will read as hopelessly dated to today's teens. They probably do, but we all have easy access to Google these days so I won't let that stop me from giving a wholehearted recommendation, for adults both young and well, not-young, and particularly of the lady variety (though don't think there's any reason a guy couldn't enjoy this, let's be real, it's written for a female audience). It's easy to read, written with wit and verve, but doesn't shy away from the heavier issues that high schoolers deal with, like sex and drugs. It neither treats these with kid gloves like Very Special Episodes nor glosses over them entirely, but presents them as just very much a part of life about which decisions need to be made. If the interior lives of teenage girls aren't compelling to you for whatever reason, this likely won't be for you. Otherwise, though, it's an enjoyable read! ( )

So I started following this blog called Forever YA (for those who are a little less Y and a little more A). They have some great scientific analyses of Peeta vs. Gale.

Anywho, the Jessica Darling series kept coming up on this blog, which inspired me to go back and read it, even though it came out when I myself was still a teenager (though just barely).

What can I say? If I could dig out my own diaries from high school, I feel like they would read as if in the voice of Jessica. It was almost scary. I, too, agonized over things that didn't matter and was even more agonized that I was agonizing over things that didn't matter. I, too, was seen by my friends as a cynical brainiac, while I was completely baffled by their happiness. (I was not, however, skinny, a runner, or in love with a hot bad boy who actually talked to me.)

In terms of realism, I have to give this an A . In terms of enjoyability, it wavers between an A- and an F because it's painful for me to think too hard about my wonder years.

When I finished I immediately downloaded the second one and quickly devoured it. ( )

For me personally, I was “too old” to be familiar with this series. In the 90’s I was a teenager and reading books that adults my age now would never imagine reading. Given that, I felt I was reading a book from before my pre-teen years and I have since expect more lol.

However, I would recommend this book and series to a pre-teen girl and would love to discuss what their viewpoint is about the world in c. 2000 compared to c 2020’s. How is it different/same. It would be a fascinating discussion ( )

Talk about the last person to hear about something awesome!! I read YA books like it's my job (mostly bc I wish it was my job), and I've been missing out on this one for over 10 years!?!? I don't know where I've been that I only ever even knew it existed about a year ago... but anyhow I LOVE!!!
Jessica Darling is a high school junior whose best friend has moved away. Now she has to make nice with the Clueless Crew?! This is not going to go well. Jessica is too smart and cynical to enjoy being with people who say "Omigod" and "quote unquote". But suffer she must because WHAT ELSE IS SHE GONNA DO? She continues on her junior year running track, avoiding Krispy Kreme (the school druggy who takes an interest in her), avoiding Scotty (the jock who has/had a crush on her), and avoiding the Clueless Crew (including the new girl Hy), preparing for her sister's wedding, and dealing with her parents and the pressure she feels from them to be someone she's not.... all while giving hilariously honest commentary on her situations.

Like I said before I don't know how it's been so long with me not reading this book, but I'm so happy I finally did! Although i wasnt like Jessica all that much in HS, I feel like I totally relate to her in so many ways. I feel like I think similarly to her.... kinda negative, kinda mean, but not near as funny or witty. I love how the beginning of each chapter was a letter to Hope, this broke everything up nicely. And I love how the author didn't censor stuff like sex, drugs, swearing. Sorry but it drives me nuts in books when teens go to parties and they drink pop and eat chips... what planet are these people living on?? I get it's about the message, but it's not reality!
If you want to read a book that pretty accurately portrays teenage life, this is so it!
(I may also be slightly biased because I went to hs around the same time this was written, so with all the pop-culture references it feels like high school to me :)


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I wasn't sure about this at first-seemed like the standard too-clever-by-half teen making snarky judgements on everyone around her. I was glad I stayed with it to see that this character has more to her than that, and that this wasn't just the fluffy read I expected it to be. The realizations Jessica reaches don't come easily and there's no triteness to her growth and the promise of more growth in future volumes. The transformations come across very naturally and realistically, from her relationship with her mother to her relationships with people she had written off with an easy sarcastic label. Jessica is still "notso" Darling, but by the end of this book, she'd worked her way into my affections. ( )