I liked this book. The middle got just a little boring, and the language was a alittle graphic at times, but when I finished I was upset to see I didn't have the sequel on my shelf, so that says a lot. I'll have to pick it up to see how Jess and Marcus fare in the long run. As a side note, Jess Darling and Marcus Flutie are two of the worst names I've ever come across! ( )

The Jessica Darling series has been much touted as a must read by many fellow readers, so I had to finally get myself a copy.

Jessica Darling is dealing with high school now that her best friend, Hope, has moved away. It's hard when her social group annoys her, the boy she likes doesn't know she exists, and the "Dreg" that was a friend of Hope's deceased brother is all of a sudden taking an interest in her.

For the first book in the series it was a bit of a slow start for me. I had a hard time getting interested in Jessica Darling's pretty normal high school experience, that is until Marcus Flutie makes an entrance. I absolutely loved his character and attitude and how it changed Jessica into a much more interesting person. Pretty quickly I realized that I didn't want it to end. I want to go right out and buy the next book. ( )

At first I was skeptical to read this book, thinking it was going to be another teen angst filled book with no story what so ever. Boy was I ever wrong. I picked it up started reading and didn't put it down till I saw the ending. Jessica Darling is one of those girls that everyone of us can relate to at some point of our lives. With her best friend Hope moved away, the drama of her so called friends, parents that don't understand her and the high school crushes we all go through, i was pulled into Jessica's thoughts and couldn't escape till there was no more left to read. I am now a proud follower of JDism. ( )

I loved this book. Jessica Darling is wonderfully imperfect and snarky. ( )

A hilarious, heart-pounding and seriously entertaining look at the life of sixteen-year-old Jessica Darling, a New Jersey high school student who grapples with figuring out a new place in her family -- and the social order of Pineville High -- after her best friend Hope leaves town. Feeling isolated and totally apart from the "bubblegum bimbos" she's forced to call friends, Jess eventually realizes that not everyone is just like the strange exterior they show the world . . . especially "Dreg" and iconoclast Marcus Flutie.

Jessica is one seriously awesome female narrator. Twilight's Bella be damned -- we have one outspoken, empowered and marvelously entertaining chick to walk us through life as a "social iconoclast." And Marcus -- or "Krispy Kreme," as his classmates tag him -- is one majorly complicated and mesmorizing character. As Jess becomes more and more obsessed with finding out the motives behind his unexpectated actions, I found myself gripping onto her elbow, desperately trying to figure out what could have been written in that origami-mouth note Marcus slips her before school lets out.

And when we finally did read the note? Le sigh.

No one in this book is perfect . . . even Jessica's seemingly "perfect" friends Bridget, Manda and Sara. Jess certainly has her issues -- Marcus being one of them, arguably. I just found the progression of their friendship to be very natural, amusing and . . . exciting. I actually felt excited while reading this book. So excited, in fact, that I finished it in two days. I really loved seeing Jessica interact with her mom and dad, and hoped against hope that she would step up to be a good "friend" to her mother after older sister Bethany marries and moves to California. Though Jess doesn't think she has much in common with the Darlings, readers definitely get a sense that they share more than just their cutesy last name. I like when I realize something about a character even before they seem to . . . and this was true quite a bit.

While some of the cursing got a little out of control and the dialogue felt a bit dated (Sloppy Firsts was published in 2001), I was so thoroughly engrossed in this story that I didn't even realize it was ending until I went to a turn the page and was greeted with the . . . author's acknowledgements. What a let down! As I know four books follow McCafferty's debut novel, I'm not too concerned with how things were left between Marcus and our heroine. I have a feeling life will work in mysterious ways. McCafferty is an outstanding writer who definitely captured all the joy, indecision, anger and heart-pounding fun of high school . . . even if my own experiences weren't quite so, ah, complicated.

And I know it's a great book if by that fated final page, I have a massive new literary crush. Step aside, Edward! ( )