18. Charmed Thirds

I've only been waiting 3 years for this one... did it live up to my hopes? Not quite. But were my hopes too high? Probably.

Charmed Thirds by Megan Mccafferty is the follow up to Sloppy Firsts and Second Helpings. The B&N description:

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.

So my hesitation to give it a wholehearted, raving review is mostly due to the change in format, and too many recaps of past books (good for someone just picking up the series at book three, but redundant for a fan). From covering one year to covering her whole college career, it was a bit jumpy and at times hard to follow. But, once I caught up with the jumps, and figured out what was going on it was just as funny, current and well-written asthe others. Jessica is all grown up so to speak. This book was a bit racier, but that wasn't a bad thing, it just took some getting used to. I still love all the current references and I love all of Jessica's made up works and nicknames (Mini Dub and GOPunk for a republican classmate, gaycation for a "friend" who has a lesbian experience in college, etc). One thing is for sure, I want to know what happens next in Jessica's world and the fact that Megan's bio says she's working on the next Jessica Darling book makes me really really happy!

If you've read the first two, this one is a must read. If you haven't read the first two, then you have some serious summer reading to catch up on!