Rating: 
Summary: Superb
Review: This book is full of halarious, witty, and at times (ok well, all the time) cynical comments. This is the second instalment of the journal of Jessica Darling. Readers of Sloppy First will love Second Helping as much, if not more than, Sloppy First. Many speak negativly of sequels to wonderful works but this sequel is magnificent. All of our favorite caracters from SF are brought back including the mysterious bad-boy Marcus. It's like someone has stepped inside my own brain and just had the courage to write all of my thoughts down on paper. This is like the teenage bible to live by. I wish I could be like Jessica just a little bit more, to have her brains and wit. Lovers of SF will not be dissapointed! Congrats Megan McCafferty on a job well done!
Rating:
Summary: One of my all time favorites
Review: This book was so good, I own it and read it all the time over and over again. It can always put me in a better mood and crack me up. The book it very fast moving and so funny. You can always relate to Jessica and feel for her. I is one of the most well written books and I recommend it highly.
Rating:
Summary: Brilliantly Fantastic
Review: OMG!!!!! I bought the book on Wednesday and now its Friday, and I finished it ten minutes ago. I LOVED IT! I couldn't put it down, it was so good. If you liked 'Sloppy Firsts,' your gonna adore this sequel. Oh, on another note, I read somewhere that the auhor is going to write another sequel to this book. You know Jessica Darling in Collage. But, she won't write it for a few years. We need to get a petition signed to get her to write it like NOW.
Rating:
Summary: Megan McCafferty has accomplished quite a feat!
Review: Megan McCafferty has accomplished quite a feat with this novel and her first book, Sloppy Firsts. She's written a book about teenagers that landed in the adult fiction section - where it rightfully belongs. As a former bookseller, I can say that this placement has a big role in the popularity of these titles. It ensured that teenage girls seeking out Ms. McCafferty's writing felt like grown-ups, and made those of us who were grown-ups feel we'd discovered a hidden treasure. Ms. McCafferty has created a character who speaks to the teenage girl in all of us. Who doesn't recall having friends and feeling friendless? Quitting things you were good at because they didn't make you feel good anymore? Wondering if it was possible to both make good grades AND get the boy? Lots of teen-girl books (like Sweet Valley or Mary-Kate & Ashley) need twins to present this essential dichotomy of teen-girl life. They seem to say, who could REALLY be this complex? But Jessica Darling is. She's the antisocial girl who finds true friends. She's the witty Ivy League-bound class brainiac who knows she isn't being challenged enough, the smart girl who has sex and isn't punished for it. Here's hoping that Megan McCafferty is sitting on a few more Jessica Darling stories. In the meantime, head to your adult fiction section and take a trip back in time. You'll wish you'd been Jessica then, but be just as happy to make her acquaintance now.
Rating:
Summary: Darling!
Review: Enter Jessica Darling's senior year and watch her as she starts her summer by attending a camp. She takes the creative writing portion in the camp and is forced to keep a journal. Jessica Darling turns in the wrong journal to her teacher by accident and feels embarrassed after he reads the journal. Jessica has had her eye on her creative writing teacher and her entries were full of love notes and admiration towards him. The teacher confesses to Jessica that he is a homosexual and Jessica is mortified. First, she confesses her love to the gay Paul, now to him. Her senior year starts and Jessica still is one of the top in her class. She's permently stopped cross country and spends her free time on the couch watching Real World or writing to her best friend who's hundreds of miles away. Jessica dwells on her "virgin" status and is a tad bit weary that she'll stay a virgin throughout high school. The book explains of the many hookups at Jessica's school. Most disgust Jessica, until she finds one of her own. Her old crush from elementary school, who was known as a dork totally transfered into a hot stud who took many by surprise. Jessica thought Len was a stranger, but in fact he was the dorky brainac that was her competition for valevictorian. They hook up, but the charisma between the two is slim. Len proclaims he wants to save his virginity until marriage. Len soon breaks up with the wild Jessica. Jessica takes ectasy, which Len tells his mother, and Len's mother tells him that Jessica is a bad influence. He breaks up with her on Valentines day which leaves Jessica at her biggest low. She finds herself moping around being extremely lethargic. Jessica's dream is to go to Columbia, but after the 9-11 incidents, she thinks her parents will hate the idea. She sneaks an application and awaits for the acceptance letter. Jessica gets accepted to every college she applied, but what one will she end up going to? She also experiances death, more boy problems, and normal teenage quirks. I suggest anyone to read this humorous coming to age tale of a fictional brilliant girl who skips prom to make out with her true love, sneaks out on runs at night to beat her insomnia, and has to live with her pregnant stingy sister Bethany. A must read, and favorite, but be sure to pick up Sloppy Firsts before this.
Rating:
Summary: TERRIFIC!!!!
Review: Great book! better than the first one (sloppy firsts) it actually made me laugh out loud. that doesn't happen too often. you'll want to read it to know what happens to jessica. you'll wish there really was a macus flootie. ya gotta read it , or you'll miss out. i hope there is a sequel.
Rating:
Summary: words cannot describe how good this boook is
Review: Words cannot describe how good this book is, and it becomes quite enjoyable and addciting read. Every one of my good girl friends who has borrowed my book enjoys reading it, and then get their BOYFRIENDS to read it as well. I highly reccomend this sequel to the book, and as you read it you realize how you are a Jessica Darling and that no matter what, we all have a Marcus Flutie in our life.
Rating:
Summary: A Winner All the Way!
Review: Second Helpings picks up the story at the beginning of the following school year, at which point Jessica and Marcus haven't talked since New Year's Eve. Almost against her will, Marcus is slowly dragged back into her life. At first, Marcus tries to get his best friend to go out with Jessica and he succeeds in doing so. In truth, he's in love with Jessica, and only wants her to be happy. It takes Jessica most of the story to realize what Marcus feels, what she herself feels and the reality of things around her. Second Helpings is a story of realization, friendship and growing up. Aided by a childhood friend (and onetime Clueless Crew member) and another friend, Jessica dusts herself off after a heartbreak and pushes forward. A scene where she's told how Marcus feels about her is one of the best in the book. Marcus might be the best character in the book, being that he's always highly intelligent yet not always in control. Megan McCafferty shows us two characters who are both head and shoulders above their peers intellectually, but also both in need of friendship (namely each other's). No matter how intelligent Marcus is, he's almost unable to make Jessica warm up to him. Regardless of how vulnerable Jessica feels, she won't let Marcus inside, possibly out of fear for his motivations, intentions and past. Subplots in the story include Jessica's search for a college to attend, her struggles with the track team, the ongoing gossip trail of her friends (most of them from Sloppy Firsts), meeting up with her old crush, and her family. All roads lead to growing up, and each subplot is a part of that. It's a tightly woven story and while it's significantly longer than Sloppy Firsts, the two stories merge together well, and there's realistic character development. In short, it's a fine novel and improves upon Sloppy Firsts. Recommended! I also agree with the other reviewer who recommended The Losers' Club by Richard Perez, another book I loved!
Rating:
Summary: Even Better than the First One!
Review: Second Helpings is awesome. Just incredibly awesome. It strts off a little bit slow, but it picks up and skyrockets this book into my personal lists of favorite teen diaries (it's right up there with The Princess Diaries and the Confessions of Georgia Nicolson). Jessica is smart, realistic, and sarcastic in a way that some (I don't want to be considered a jerk, but I just must say it) annoying people find obnoxious to read, but I think is hysterical, and the rest of the characters are well-written and believable as well, even the annoying ones like Manda, Paul, and Scotty. It picks up everything that Sloppy Firsts left hanging, and at the end I really started crying. If you have ever read a book that was so spectacular that it left you sad that it was all over, this is most definitely one of those stories. READ IT! READ IT NOW, I SAY!
Rating:
Summary: Yo yo
Review: Second Helpings is the sequel to Sloppy Firsts. The first book left you unsatisfied, but the sequel answers all your questions. It's easy to relate to and Jessica Darling is likable as with most the characters. It's written well, and you can visualize what's going on with Megan McCafferty's descriptive writing. I would recommend this book to every high school or college aged girl.
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