Rating: 
Summary: GREAT FUN!
Review: SLOPPY FIRSTS is a great novel which I truly enjoyed reading. The narrator is Jessica Darling, a high schooler, who goes through many experiences and learns a lot along the way. What is Jessica to do when her best friend has just moved away, her dad obsesses over her high school track career, and her mom is too involved with her older sister's wedding to help her other daughter? Jessica must learn how to deal with all these things while tackling other problems which come her way, including her shallow friends, her relationship with one of her guy friends, and bad boy Marcus. This book is just great FUN -- you should definitely read it! Also recommended: THE LOSERS CLUB by Richard Perez
Rating:
Summary: Effing hilarious
Review: This book had me rolling on the floor laughing so hard. Omigod! It was like "quote" so like true to life "unquote". (No I don't really talk like that, I was making fun of a few characters in the book). I can see how some of the things in this book would go right over the head of someone born after 1985. There are a few 80s references that some young teens may not get. This is a great book to read if you are in your late 20s or 30s, although the language and slang sounds like teens today. Jessica is my new hero. I'm still laughing at "vagitarian". Can't wait to read the sequel.
Rating:
Summary: You'll Really Love This Book!
Review: Jessica Darling is this book's charming main character. She is faced with the pettiness of high school life, her best friend moving away, a father who pressures her on one thing, well only talks to her about one thing - her running career, a mother who wishes she were more like her girly sister, Bethany, the typical high school girls as friends, and of course - BOYS! The format of the novel is a diary. Her best friend has moved far away, leaving in her eyes, no one else to confide in. The humor, superb writing style, and the situations the character finds herself in are just incredible. This book could not have been written any better! Also recommended: THE LOSERS' CLUB by Richard Perez. (My brother also loved this book.)
Rating:
Summary: I loved it!
Review: this was one of the better books I've read in a long time. I actually laughed out loud and have passed this book on to several friends who have also loved it. "Second Helpings" the conclusion (how I hope not, I adore Jessica "Not-so" Darling) is also just as enjoyable. Still giggling about "Bubblegum Bimbos and Assembly-line Meatballers"
Rating: 
Summary: Far from "Sloppy"
Review: Life is tough when you're a teenager. Things shift unexpectedly, adults cease to make any sense at all, and the love/social life suddenly becomes a lot more complex. For Jessica Darling, lead of "Sloppy Firsts," these things are all in a day's suffering (the sort that readers can identify with). Jessica Darling's junior year is not going well. Her best friend Hope has moved away, her dad only cares about her athletic success, and her mom is obsessed with her obnoxious sister's wedding (to a rich, dull guy called G-Money). She hasn't had a period in months, hangs out with a bunch of painfully dumb girls called the Clueless Crew, and longs after the beautiful yet unattainable Paul Parlipiano. When a new girl named Hy moves into the neighborhood, Jess thinks she might have found a new pal -- except Hy has some secrets of her own. And "dreg" Marcus Flutie starts showing some attentiveness to Jess after she helps him fake a urine sample, while she continues to nurse her crush on Paul. All that, and she has to ask fun, normal, pleasant Scotty to her sister's wedding. "Sloppy Firsts" is almost sure to make you do two things: Laugh, and cringe at memories of teenhood. More often than not, teen angst novels are excruciatingly self-conscious, cooler-than-thou and never, ever written accurately. Magazine editor and writer Megan McCafferty knocks the trend on its ear with this book, with a likable heroine who actually seems real. As in many teen-oriented books, there are a lot of pop-culture references -- MTV, Christina Aguilera, half a dozen magazines, and so on. What "Sloppy Firsts" also has is also real humor (both acid comments and humiliation), developed characters, and genuine pathos. McCafferty tackles real subjects like the loss of Jessica's brother, teen sex, muddled emotions, cliques, parental relationships and expectations. All this with no preachiness. And the humor is pretty fun in general -- Jess throwing up on Paul's shoes, jokes that people don't get, dirty nicknames ("The Headmaster") and school editorials that start a catfight. Jessica is a very real teenage girl. She's undeniably smart, clear-headed, and frustrated and confused by a thousand things at once. Her parents are clueless at first, but when you expect them to be the basic idiot parents, McCafferty unexpectedly blossoms them out into more sympathetic adults. The boys (Paul, Marcus, Scotty) are all mysterious to Jessica, as they should be. And the Clueless Crew's gushing exclaimations had me torn whether to gag or mock them -- everyone has met some girls like these. Whether you're a teen looking for a like soul in a funny book, or an adult looking to understand a teen, "Sloppy Firsts" is a humorous, wry, endearing read.
Rating:
Summary: One of My All Time Favorites
Review: I read a lot of books in my spare time, but I must say that Sloppy Firsts is one of my favorites, if not my ALL TIME favorite. This novel is written from a point of view that most girls going through adolescence will be able to relate to. It's almost like reading your best friend's diary--and that's what Jessica, the main character, becomes almost: your best friend. You'll cry with her, you'll laugh with her, and you'll go through every possible emotion with her as you read this book. The characters in this book are so realistic that you almost feel like you, yourself, are in the book. Even though I rarely ever read books twice, I've already done so with this book...I'm actuallly reading it a third time right now. I also recommend reading the sequel, Second Helpings, but by the time you finish this book you'll be so into Jessica Darling's life that you won't need my recommendation to go pick it up.
Rating:
Summary: awesome!
Review: I just finished reading this book today, and I was totally blown away! McCafferty totally tells it like it really is. It was laugh-out-loud funny and very realistic. The feelings portrayed by Jessica were very similar to a genius student just trying to get by in high school (just like me!). All in all, the book was definitly worth the money, and I recommend it to teenagers and above---even older people will enjoy this read.
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Summary: Bubble Gum Bimbos
Review: What "Miss Hyacinth" called the book that she wrote, was quite an appropriate name for this book. Although the book was written well, it was all focused upon sex. Me, being a highschool student, am proud to say that that is not all i focus on every day of my life. Plus, me myself being a "band geek" have discovered that at least at my highschool, that isn't such a bad thing... i think this book is good writing wise, but it fails to come across with good values. Basically the only message is "Sex is good sex is great, come on guys now MATE MATE MATE!" (not said in the book). The basic message is that you can't be cool unless you have sex. which isn't true.
Rating:
Summary: SOOOO great!!
Review: Wow...ok I read Sloppy Firsts without any expectations at all...but I was blown away by how histerically sarcastic and realistic that book was...It was too fun to read thanks to Jessica's wonderfully witty humor!! But anyways...since Sloppy Firsts, I've been anticipating the sequel...and now it's here...Second Helpings...two times the size and two times the laughter...I LOVE this book...it's soooo fun to read...I couldn't put it down...but now Jessica is a senior ready to go to college...but her sarcasm is better than ever...I fully recommend it to anyone with a great sense of sarcasm and witty humor...and also to any teenagers considering the books amazing comparison to a typical teenaged life...PLEASE read it for your own benefit! Don't pass up this book!!!
Rating:
Summary: ummm yay!
Review: The book is good ..but.. I know it is missing something because I can't remember everything that happened. Jessica's trials with her parents and peers, as well as without her best friend are if anything enetertaining and completely believable. McCafferty hits a good point, that the move really is harder on Jessica than it would be on her friend because Jessica doesn't have a fresh start to establish herself. Good book. Heavy on the Drama and a little whiny.
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