Review Detail

Charmed Thirds is basically what this “new adult” business is trying so hard to be, but hasn’t quite achieved. This book portrays the four years of Jessica Darling’s college existence, and it does it in an honest, uncomplicated way. Yes, she has sex—a lot of it, to be quite honest, and with more than one man, but this isn’t a romance novel for the ages. Because Charmed Thirds is also about other stuff. Stuff like paying tuition, getting internships, watching high school friends fall away, losing your first love (oh, Marcus Flutie), and making mistakes as you figure out who you’re supposed to be.

Over the course of the series (thus far), Jessica has certainly become her own person. She’s not the annoying teen I clashed so strongly with in Sloppy Firsts. She’s grown up, and the mistakes she makes are no longer trivial or inconsequential.

I must also mention how I love that people appear and reappear throughout the course of this series. McCafferty reintroduces characters Jessica came into contact with in high school, but she does it in a fresh, realistic way that was so true-to-life and perfect.