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Sloppy Firsts
(Jessica Darling #1)
by
“My parents suck ass. Banning me from the phone and restricting my computer privileges are the most tyrannical parental gestures I can think of. Don’t they realize that Hope’s the only one who keeps me sane? I don’t see how things could get any worse.”
When her best friend, Hope Weaver, moves away from Pineville, New Jersey, hyperobservant sixteen-year-old Jessica Darling i ...more
When her best friend, Hope Weaver, moves away from Pineville, New Jersey, hyperobservant sixteen-year-old Jessica Darling i ...more
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Start your review of Sloppy Firsts (Jessica Darling, #1)
Jul 10, 2021
Chelsea (chelseadolling reads)
rated it
it was amazing
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
read-in-2021,
favorites
For those of you that aren't aware, this book originally came out in 2001 and it was my ABSOLUTE favorite book all throughout middle school and high school. The Jessica Darling series was my first ever experience reading Young Adult and it truly is the series that I credit to me falling in love with reading. With that being said, the original version of the story is not without issues you would expect from a book written in 2001 (extremely dated language, slurs, slut/body shaming, etc). When I f
...more
If you haven’t heard of the Jessica Darling Series before then…well, you’ve been living under a rock, that’s what. If, however, you’re like me and have seen the gushing reviews for this all over the place and somehow never picked it up…well, don’t make the same mistake I did of waiting for months before reading this: pick it up now. Seriously, this series is just that good. It’s funny, it’s quirky, and it’s hilarious, but it is also deep, provocative, compelling, and is most certain to stri
...more
This was a really funny, feel-good novel reminiscent of novels like Angus, Thongs and Full-Frontal Snogging and other such hilariosity. I'd heard comparisons made between the two before but, I admit, I was reluctant to check it out, being sure that it would be unlikely to entertain me as much as Georgia Nicholson's journals. However, I'd say it's pretty fair to make positive comparisons between the two, it's just unfortunate that I keep reading how most people didn't enjoy the rest of the series
...more
Re-read 9/20/17: So upon re-reading this for
Throwback Thursday, my rating has gone down from 5 stars to 4 stars due to some pretty problematic elements that exist in this book (slut shaming, slurs, cheating, etc.). These are things that I didn't notice back when I first read this book about a decade ago and tbh I'm a little embarrassed that I have recommended this book to so many people since then. WITH ALL THAT BEING SAID: I still thoroughly enjoyed this book and I love Jessica and Marcus (and ...more
Throwback Thursday, my rating has gone down from 5 stars to 4 stars due to some pretty problematic elements that exist in this book (slut shaming, slurs, cheating, etc.). These are things that I didn't notice back when I first read this book about a decade ago and tbh I'm a little embarrassed that I have recommended this book to so many people since then. WITH ALL THAT BEING SAID: I still thoroughly enjoyed this book and I love Jessica and Marcus (and ...more
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So I recently found my old copies of books #2 and #3 from the original publisher (Broadway Books) that I somehow never got around to reading when I read SLOPPY FIRSTS for the first time. I don't know where my copy of book #1 went. I lent it to my sister and then never saw it again, heh. But anyway, I remember really loving this book when I read it in my late teens/early twenties because of how Jessica Darling's snark resonated with me, a ...more
Sloppy Firsts was a book that had actually been on my TBR probably since I joined Goodreads but much like everything else that is out of sight/out of mind I didn’t ever actually try to obtain a copy. Then it got a new look for it’s 20th(????? – I think 20th) anniversary and a freebie was available to me for review so obviously I was all over it.
You’re probably getting sick of hearing me say that I have no ability to read anything “deep” of late, but it is what it is and that’s what ended up bein ...more
You’re probably getting sick of hearing me say that I have no ability to read anything “deep” of late, but it is what it is and that’s what ended up bein ...more
Video full series review (spoiler free)- https://youtu.be/igSoCG9Z_9c
So the good stuff:
It hooked me, I couldn't put it down, it was very reminiscent of my high school experience, and I want to continue the series!
I enjoyed the nostalgia that is high school in the early 00s, and the diary format. I can see why this book was an early staple in YA.
And the (not so) bad:
It had a difficult start. There is a LOT of teen speak and dated slang. This book is set in the year 2000 and was a gooooooood dose ...more
So the good stuff:
It hooked me, I couldn't put it down, it was very reminiscent of my high school experience, and I want to continue the series!
I enjoyed the nostalgia that is high school in the early 00s, and the diary format. I can see why this book was an early staple in YA.
And the (not so) bad:
It had a difficult start. There is a LOT of teen speak and dated slang. This book is set in the year 2000 and was a gooooooood dose ...more
Oh boy. So its, uh, been a while since I've written a review. Sorry about that everyone. College and whatnot has kept me busy.
So what is it about Sloppy Firsts that inspired me to write? Well, I loved it, for one. Look at that rating! Five stars, baby! And that's not because its a groundbreaking work of literature, but because its funny, true, and smart.
This is one of these books I've always heard about, but not one I actually ever saw myself reading. First of all its old. Lizzie McGuire was s ...more
So what is it about Sloppy Firsts that inspired me to write? Well, I loved it, for one. Look at that rating! Five stars, baby! And that's not because its a groundbreaking work of literature, but because its funny, true, and smart.
This is one of these books I've always heard about, but not one I actually ever saw myself reading. First of all its old. Lizzie McGuire was s ...more
Mar 21, 2010
Janina
rated it
really liked it
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
young-adult,
contemporary
Absolutely loved it. Jessica Darling has earned herself a spot on my list of favourite heroines. She is smart and clever, witty and sarcastic, thinks too much about everything and anything (I can relate to that pretty well) and despite her pessimistic attitude and her quick judgement of others, I couldn’t help but like her. I feel like basically everything has been said about this series already, you either like it or you don’t. Despite having heard not so good things about the later instalments
...more
Update 4/21/2010 After reading the sequel and thinking about Jessica for a while, I don't think I like her that much any more. A little too much negativity and snobbishness. So take this review with a grain of salt.
I have no idea why I haven't read this book before, because I certainly heard about it a lot*. The synopsis just didn't sound that special I suppose, because on the surface, "Sloppy Firsts" is just your regular run-of-the-mill YA story about a smart 16-year old girl (Jessica Darling), ...more
I have no idea why I haven't read this book before, because I certainly heard about it a lot*. The synopsis just didn't sound that special I suppose, because on the surface, "Sloppy Firsts" is just your regular run-of-the-mill YA story about a smart 16-year old girl (Jessica Darling), ...more
Happy book birthday to this lovely YA fiction! 🥳
Wow! After the first release in 2001 it seems like nothing much changed with the dynamics in a impressively witty and sarcastic high school girl’s life.
Jessica definitely not so Darling (she’s definitely not a sweet girl next door! She has sharper claws than wild tiger )reminded me of Easy A’s Olive and Never Have I Ever’s Devi: sassy, smart, entertaining who has hard time to blend in school, ignored by the boy she has big crush on, surrounded by ...more
Wow! After the first release in 2001 it seems like nothing much changed with the dynamics in a impressively witty and sarcastic high school girl’s life.
Jessica definitely not so Darling (she’s definitely not a sweet girl next door! She has sharper claws than wild tiger )reminded me of Easy A’s Olive and Never Have I Ever’s Devi: sassy, smart, entertaining who has hard time to blend in school, ignored by the boy she has big crush on, surrounded by ...more
Yep. This is potentially the hardest review I've ever written.
Why?
Because all I really want to do is vigorously pound on my keyboard with glee and happytears and EEEEEEE.
KLSA:LFAWOPE(*()@ 5jKOSAKOR(WE)_9 F S ASNKF WSETYW# $ w t)(w_#*%90@#% 9@)+_ +)_@#i 5m2 4ko56[2098305 U0264 JML"ESAK}PWAR}WQ#)% NDVSDSDF
Translation:
Holy.
Crap.
I've found the Holy Grail of YA writing. The kicker? It isn't even YA! And yet it is. It's everything. It's Jessica Darling.
I've put off writing my review for Sloppy ...more
Why?
Because all I really want to do is vigorously pound on my keyboard with glee and happytears and EEEEEEE.
KLSA:LFAWOPE(*()@ 5jKOSAKOR(WE)_9 F S ASNKF WSETYW# $ w t)(w_#*%90@#% 9@)+_ +)_@#i 5m2 4ko56[2098305 U0264 JML"ESAK}PWAR}WQ#)% NDVSDSDF
Translation:
Holy.
Crap.
I've found the Holy Grail of YA writing. The kicker? It isn't even YA! And yet it is. It's everything. It's Jessica Darling.
I've put off writing my review for Sloppy ...more
Apr 15, 2014
Robert
rated it
it was amazing
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
robert-s-reads,
kindle-deals
Since I had to explain to my wife that my latest reading excursion was not in fact a between-the-sheets adventure with multiple terms for male and female genitalia, I might have reached my erotica novel quota for the month of May and possibly June as well. In case you haven’t already figured it out, this is not erotica, nor is it even classified as romance. But I was romantically involved with it all the same. SLOPPY FIRSTS punched my two front teeth out and slapped me hard on the cheek. It lift
...more
Megan McCafferty, you can't fool me. Sloppy Firsts isn't a work of fiction. It's McCafferty traveling back in time and stealing pages from my high school diary -- not the proper one I left behind for my mother and, okay, posterity because I had a heightened sense of self, but the real one I kept locked in my head, full of doubts, fears, hopes, wants, desires, and prejudices. And yes, those desires were sexual even if I was not at the time.
This is a book that I absolutely loved reading now and wo ...more
This is a book that I absolutely loved reading now and wo ...more
Well now, this was refreshing!
My namesake Jessica is a very likable protagonist, whom I could easily relate to. She’s witty, sarcastic, smart and I just love her snarky attitude. People tell me that most of the time it seems like I have "piss off" tattooed on my forehead, so when I learned that Jessica’s dad’s nickname for her was "Notso" as in Jessica Not-So-Darling I knew that we would be getting along just fine - because despite her last name, which is Darling, she is anything but sweet and d ...more
My namesake Jessica is a very likable protagonist, whom I could easily relate to. She’s witty, sarcastic, smart and I just love her snarky attitude. People tell me that most of the time it seems like I have "piss off" tattooed on my forehead, so when I learned that Jessica’s dad’s nickname for her was "Notso" as in Jessica Not-So-Darling I knew that we would be getting along just fine - because despite her last name, which is Darling, she is anything but sweet and d ...more
Some men go through their mid-life crisis by buying a nice red sports car, and marrying their 25 year old secretaries. I go through my mid-life crisis by doing Yoga, eating coffee Häagen-Dazs ice cream, watching John Hughes films, and lately...reading YA novels.
SLOPPY FIRSTS is wonderful! It took me back to my youth, and if I could I would jump into this book, yank Marcus Flutie out and call him my own (when he is much older of course so he is age appropriate). Shhhh don't tell my boyfriend.
I ga ...more
SLOPPY FIRSTS is wonderful! It took me back to my youth, and if I could I would jump into this book, yank Marcus Flutie out and call him my own (when he is much older of course so he is age appropriate). Shhhh don't tell my boyfriend.
I ga ...more
The last 30 or so pages of this book were good, but not good enough to make a big comeback for me.
I really wanted to like this book because it was so highly recommended by my nestie friends whose opinions are generally really in line with mine, but I just never fell in love with it. The journal and letter style of storytelling Megan McCafferty used was not my favorite. It made Jessica's story feel realistic, and it had that day in the life feeling, but it also made the pacing really drag. It wa ...more
I really wanted to like this book because it was so highly recommended by my nestie friends whose opinions are generally really in line with mine, but I just never fell in love with it. The journal and letter style of storytelling Megan McCafferty used was not my favorite. It made Jessica's story feel realistic, and it had that day in the life feeling, but it also made the pacing really drag. It wa ...more
This book took entirely too long to get to any type of point. At page 88 I wondered why I was still reading it...then at page 108 I wondered how a writer could write such a pointless book. I believe she may just like the idea that she is a writer and not really grasp the concept of what writing is supposed to be about.
With lines like "...Last night was catastrophic. Cataclysmically catastrophic...." and "Apparently the staff at Middlebury were flummoxed by Marcus's complex philosophical takes o ...more
With lines like "...Last night was catastrophic. Cataclysmically catastrophic...." and "Apparently the staff at Middlebury were flummoxed by Marcus's complex philosophical takes o ...more
Thank you thank you thank you Chelsea for making me read this <3 I related to it so much more than I ever thought I would.
This book is much more than i expected. What I expected was a chick lit, a cheesy story of a teenager and her ramblings about boys.
But this is a coming of age story.
Jess is a stressed teenager whose best friend has just moved away and whose parents try to make her be something she is not. She tries to mold herself into being what everybody expects from her in order to fit in until a junkie guy, Marcus Flutie, makes her realize her priorities in life.
I liked this book for various reasons: first, ...more
But this is a coming of age story.
Jess is a stressed teenager whose best friend has just moved away and whose parents try to make her be something she is not. She tries to mold herself into being what everybody expects from her in order to fit in until a junkie guy, Marcus Flutie, makes her realize her priorities in life.
I liked this book for various reasons: first, ...more
Apr 02, 2021
Audrey
rated it
did not like it
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
netgalley-completed-review-shelf
I had the hardest time getting myself involved with this book. It took me to 55% to start to understand what plot the author was aiming and that was after going back to the synopsis to realize that I needed to look for Marcus. Not only did I struggle with finding the plot but a lot of the commentary that our protagonist gives to every single character of the book is either slut-shaming, sexist, or even racist at times. Which of course irritated me a whole lot. I also did not understand a lot of
...more
I liked it, but I have to say it was completely different from what I had expected - but not in a bad way, not at all. The titles of this series, combined with the heroine's name and the leg-stressed covers said light, funny and fluffy - but bold on the sex-side - teen-chick-lit. I had expected a cross between - let's say ... Sophie Kinsella, Louise Rennison and Meg Cabot. To be completely honest, apart from being open to surprises because of my Goodreads friends' loving reviews, I did not reall
...more
I got caught up in this book. It's well-written and engaging, even when the characters are, well, teens—by which I mean selfish and a little mean and so caught up in their own pain they don't recognize the hurt they're giving others.
I liked Jess, but only barely. Her family dynamics are heartbreaking and touching and I liked how she handles the developments in the course of the story. For such a short book, it sure packed a lot of heavy material without it actually feeling heavy at all. Indeed, ...more
I liked Jess, but only barely. Her family dynamics are heartbreaking and touching and I liked how she handles the developments in the course of the story. For such a short book, it sure packed a lot of heavy material without it actually feeling heavy at all. Indeed, ...more
oh lord, i really wanted to give this book 5 stars. something is holding me back, maybe because it feels weird to give a new YA lit book that much praise? considering i'm 27? 4 1/2 stars, 4 1/2 dammit! okay, i'm done.
i LOVED this book. LOVED IT. Jessica Darling was such an interesting, complex and yet normal teenage girl that i couldn't help completely relating to her. it's just really refreshing to read a book about a typical teenage girl who has regular problems like a best friend that moves ...more
i LOVED this book. LOVED IT. Jessica Darling was such an interesting, complex and yet normal teenage girl that i couldn't help completely relating to her. it's just really refreshing to read a book about a typical teenage girl who has regular problems like a best friend that moves ...more
This was hilarious, and adorable, and endearing. It made me bust out laughing, and occasionally want to cry. I didn't want it to end.
I also can't believe it just ended that way! I want to know more. I NEED to know more!
I'll most definitely be reading the rest of this series, no doubt about that! ...more
update 6/dec/2020: you cannot convince me that this is not the best high school chick lit of all time. you just can't. anyway, upon reread, I find I disagree with many points I made in this review, so take everything with a healthy pinch of salt :D
update 26/feb/2017: there are so many grammatical mistakes and typos in here, darn it.
please bear with me if you spot them. i'm too lazy to correct them. tyvm.
One of the two books directly responsible for the end of my chick lit reading frenzy.
This bo ...more
update 26/feb/2017: there are so many grammatical mistakes and typos in here, darn it.
please bear with me if you spot them. i'm too lazy to correct them. tyvm.
One of the two books directly responsible for the end of my chick lit reading frenzy.
This bo ...more
Finally! I finally met Jessica Darling.
Don’t let the cutesy name fool you though. This girl is no darling. Let’s see…how to describe Jessica Darling? Well to start she made me smile, cringe, angry, laugh, roll my eyes, remember, and sympathize. She’s a teenager. I mean the real deal. So real that I can’t even say for sure if I like her. Haha…THAT kind of real. We see it all—at school, home, and in her head. It’s a scary place! Full of angst, sarcasm, selfishness, confusion, doubt, and humor. Thi ...more
Nov 01, 2011
Rabbit {Paint me like one of your 19th century gothic heroines!}
rated it
it was ok
Recommends it for:
masochists
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.
Jul 30, 2008
Lori
rated it
really liked it
Recommended to Lori by:
teens, people who were teens, those who do not suffer fools glad
Shelves:
young-adult-and-childrens
I hope I don't kill the love for this series by admitting that I am a middle aged woman who loves it. Although Jessica Darling is less than half my age, I would have loved to be friends with her in high school...or even now. How pathetic is that?
Not very, actually. Jessica is an acerbic, rapier witted narratrix. The picture she paints of a New Jersey high school soon after the millennium change is at turnes hilarious, depressing and ridiculous...just like my memories of high school.
I started th ...more
Not very, actually. Jessica is an acerbic, rapier witted narratrix. The picture she paints of a New Jersey high school soon after the millennium change is at turnes hilarious, depressing and ridiculous...just like my memories of high school.
I started th ...more
Thanks to the publisher for providing an eARC of Sloppy Firsts in exchange for an honest review.
Sloppy Firsts was originally released 2 decades ago and it really is a product of its time. While I think McCafferty does an excellent job of developing a strong, unique teenage voice, I had trouble seeing past all the ways this really didn't age well. There's a lot of women hate, body shaming, and not-so-great racial content and while I think it is indicative of the way teenagers approached those top ...more
Sloppy Firsts was originally released 2 decades ago and it really is a product of its time. While I think McCafferty does an excellent job of developing a strong, unique teenage voice, I had trouble seeing past all the ways this really didn't age well. There's a lot of women hate, body shaming, and not-so-great racial content and while I think it is indicative of the way teenagers approached those top ...more
| topics | posts | views | last activity | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| What's the Name o...: SOLVED. YA Coming of Age/ Romance series. Girl (high school/ college) is a runner and her period stopped. Falls for the bad boy at school named Marcus. Later in series: college, Marcus goes to Buddhist college in California. Read early-mid 2000s. [s] | 5 | 22 | Feb 13, 2021 07:59PM | |
| What's the Name o...: SOLVED. YA Series from early 2000s - contemporary coming of age/romance. [s] | 4 | 26 | Aug 15, 2019 08:53AM | |
| Aiossa's 14/15 Se...: Brittany Davis, Book Review 4 | 1 | 5 | Dec 18, 2012 05:38PM |
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Megan McCafferty writes fiction for tweens, teens and teens-at-heart of all ages. The author of twelve novels, she’s best known for SLOPPY FIRSTS and four more sequels in the New York Times bestselling Jessica Darling series--available throughout 2021 in updated 20th anniversary editions. She published two new books in 2020: TRUE TO YOUR SELFIE (MG, Scholastic) and THE MALL (YA, Wednesday Books).
...more
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