Reviewed by Jaglvr for TeensReadToo.com

PERFECT FIFTHS gives the reader the conclusion to the ongoing highs and lows of the relationship between Jessica Darling and Marcus Flutie. For those that have been with them from the beginning, you will recall that they met in high school. Marcus was the druggie best friend of Jessica's best friend, Hope's, brother. The couple, the most unlikely in the school, get together, and they make perfect sense. The rest of the series covers the ins and outs of their relationship. FOURTH COMINGS left the reader stunned when Jessica says "No" to Marcus's marriage proposal.

So, in PERFECT FIFTHS, it only makes sense that the two will have to run into each other at some point. They're from the same town and know the same people. But currently Jessica lives in New York City and Marcus is an undergraduate at Princeton. It's in the most unlikely place that their destined reunion occurs - the airport.

Marcus and his college roommate, Natty, have returned from New Orleans. They're in the airport when Marcus hears a Jessica Darling being paged for final boarding. He can't believe it could be her, but as he's checking the departure board to see where the called flight is headed for, he's literally run into. He's too stunned to discover that the person that has run him down is, in fact, HIS Jessica Darling.

Out of breath, late for her flight, and too confused with everything going on, Jessica is struck dumb when she sees who she's about to apologize to. She mumbles a quick conversation and is off for her gate again. But it's too late, and her flight is gone. When she learns that the chances of a flight that night are next to nil, she and Marcus begin their cerebral dance once again.

Marcus has no need to remain at the airport, but PERFECT FIFTHS seems to tell more of Marcus's side of the story than the past four novels. The reader gets to see his jumbled thoughts and undying loyalty to Jessica. His friend, Natty, tries to dissuade him from staying with Jessica until her later flight, but Marcus is too far gone.

PERFECT FIFTHS takes place in the course of one day in the lives of Marcus and Jessica. It's in their time together that they recount the events of the past three years. And as the evening goes on, Jessica begins to second guess her reasons for telling him "No" so long ago.

Personally, I found PERFECT FIFTHS a satisfying ending to a wonderful series. Both Jessica and Marcus have become like long-lost friends to me. I won't spoil the ending for anyone, but I think it's the right ending for the series. Some will say it's too tidy; others may think it's the wrong one. If nothing else though, Ms. McCafferty has finally tied up the loose ends that FOURTH COMINGS left out there. ( )

What a disappointment this was. The story was hard to get into, and I nearly put it down after the first 50 pages. I only kept going because I felt an obligation to read this one, after having read the other 4 books in the series.

I didn't care for the author's use of just haikus over several pages, the extended passage (pages and pages and pages worth) of just dialog, the dream sequences. It all seemed so pretentious. I just wanted a story that was as good as the first 3 books in the Jessica Darling series. This was not it. ( )

There were a lot of negative reviews about this book on amazon. I have loved the series which are not perfect in the sense that there is info in it that is not as engaging so like every other book of the series, this one I skip on some of the paragraphs. Having said that I say that these series and its characters and most of all the type of love of Jessica and Marcus has been amazingly entertaining and decadently vicarious. ( )

I know I've stumbled across a winning series when I fall just as in love with someone as another character does.

And in the final book of a decade's worth of pushing, pulling, love and lust, I'm absolutely as in love with Marcus Flutie as Jessica Darling, our winning and caustic protagonist. Perfect Fifths didn't disappoint me, the oh-so-desperately in love, and though I'm sad to say goodbye to one of my favorite series ever, everything I wanted to be resolved . . . was. Happily.

Spoilers below!

In the three years since Jess turned down Marcus's proposal, the two have gone on to live very different lives -- apart. Jess travels around the country with a non-profit program she helped develop and implement, and Marcus is set to graduate from Princeton before he goes on to graduate school. As Jess is barreling through Newark Liberty International Airport on her way to a wedding, she has a run-in -- literally -- with Marcus, her first and only love, and what follows are their conversations, recollections and reconnections.

The most obvious twist in Megan McCafferty's final book in the Jessica Darling series is that Jess is no longer our narrator. Now told in third person, we can get inside the heads of everyone -- even Marcus, the eternally confusing, elusive and irresistable "hero" of the novels. Getting a glimpse at what he's been experiencing was really interesting, and I absolutely loved learning about his sweaty-palmed nervousness -- even at 26 -- around Jessica. Learning what he's been up to the past three years, particularly concerning his half-hearted attempts at romance, was great.

Basically, I felt something when reading this -- and that doesn't happen as often as I wish it would. Every emotion that I imagine I would feel running into my first love was right there, laid bare on the pages. References to early parts of the relationship and inside jokes were so fun to see, and I smiled as much as Jess probably would realizing Marcus remembered. I was also stoked to see one of my favorite lines from the series reappear in the final book, followed by the closure I'd been hoping for:

" . . . I might never be able to forgive you for all the girls who came before me, nor myself for all the men who would come after you."

Basically, I loved it -- it captured all the emotional resonance of the series and, though I wish it were longer and we'd gotten to see a little bit past the conclusion and onto the next chapter of their lives, I was incredibly pleased with how everything turned out! For my (surprisingly even longer) review, visit here! ( )

After being very disappointed with Fourth Comings, and not for the reason that you are probably thinking, I wasn’t sure what to expect with Perfect Fifths. I knew I would either hate it of love it. And I must say, I doubt that many Jessica fans will be disappointed with this last installment. Though at times, I found the narration boring and slightly pretentious, maybe I’m not as intellectually advanced as Jessica and Marcus, but does anyone really refer to the Lacanian theory in general conversation? Post graduation at least? Maybe it’s just me, and the simple folk I converse with!I appreciated the insight into the strange and often misunderstood mind of Marcus Flutie, finally! What we come to discover also helps improve what we already know of the couple from the previous four novels. Which I highly enjoyed! And any Marcus fan will as well. Although the entire novel take place in the span of eighteen hours, all of our favorite characters make an appearance: Bridget and Percy, Scotty and Bruiser, Len and Manda, Bethany and Marin, Paul Parlipiano, and Mac. So don’t think that they are left out of the story! Overall, it was a perfectly imperfect ending the story of Marcus and Jessica. And now that the series is over, I’m eagerly awaiting the chance to read other works by McCafferty. Sorry for the vague review, but I really don’t want to give anything away! ( )