#Megan McCafferty

[bigtiddies-smalldreams]

Pro of being apart of an obscure fandom from the early 2000s: no obnoxious 2014 One Direction adopts you fan fiction

Cons: no good fan fiction either.

[coolfamousquotescom]

It's so much easier to convince yourself you're madly in love with someone when you know nothing about him.

Megan McCafferty

[carolmunson]

Hi! What is your favourite book and who is your fav author?

I don't know if I have a favorite book but my favorite series that had a significant impact on my life was the Jessica Darling series by Megan McCafferty. And to be honest -- the Marcs Flutie to Eddie Munson pipeline is insane. The books grew with my older sister agewise, but I read them in high school and had a very similar path to Jessica with having such an on again off again romance and also where she ends up at the end of the series.

I haven't read it in years, but I should see if my sister has them so I can read the series again. It's a time capsule of the early 2000s in a lot of ways and has some of my favorite quotes of all time that still ring in my head like: 'It's so easy to romanticize what never was.' and 'I love him too easily.'

They are obviously YA novels but I recommend them for millenial girlies because they really hard sort of a reminder of the time.

[lemonsharks]

Sometimes consume some children's middle grade or YA media and I squint at it real hard and wish it had been made as a piece of adult media, because i can see the pieces that were removed for marketability or genre convention and I sigh.

Because when that happens it's usually because the people making the thing weren't skilled enough to get the horrors of what they've implied to work within their age frame and they would have been skilled enough to do some really interesting things with an adult work.

(for example, look at megan mccafferty's scifi dystopian books (bumped/thumped) and put them next to neil gaimans juvenile adventure/horror (coraline)--its blindingly obvious that Neil had the skill to pull off the horror/terror aspects of coraline while mccafferty just did not have the chops to meaningfully engage with the horror/terror of her own worldbuilding.)

i dont agree with a lot of the posturing against people who only watch kid's cartoons because it feels mean-spirited. like if you want to do that it's cool and i don't think you're committing some moral or intellectual sin--but it is very silly when people who do this forget that they're watching cartoons for children, not in a 'you can't expect children's media to be good' way or even a 'the politics of children's media aren't worth analyzing way' but in a 'you have to be realistic about genre expectations' way. because that's how you end up with arguments over whether steven universe should have killed people or not

[starsbooksandtea2023]

Netgalley Review: Sloppy Firsts

https://amzn.to/3NdEdnw Title: Sloppy FirstsAuthor: Megan McCafferty    Release Date: May 4th, 2021Page Count: 388Format: Netgalley/AudiobookStart Date: January 29th, 2023Finish Date: January 30th, 2023 Rating: 3 Stars Review: I was really excited to read this. I didn’t know much about it, but the cover is just so appealing. The idea behind the book is amazing. That’s the only reason I was…

[nevinslibrary]

Totally Youthful Tuesday

Oops, a little thriller today too, though, for the Middle grade readers (or those who like middle grade books).

Roisin has just moved to Massachusetts from Ireland. She’s being bullied by Zara, and, just feels totally alone. Then she finds a friend online, Haley. Maybe. But, online friendships may not always be what they seem. And, when Zara has an accident, and the police get involved, and some of the stuff Roisin has said to Haley could be misinterpreted. But, when she tries to meet Haley in person, well, she can’t. And slowly she starts wondering, who exactly is Haley?

I’ll add to the oops above with an, oops, this one was quite intense too. With so much of it about bullying, about revenge, and, also interweaving tech into and around the story as well. And, what can I say, I do just barely remember when one assumed that friends online were most likely not who they were saying they were. So, I’m probably coming from a slightly different point of view than those (middle grade readers) it is for. But, as I said, reader beware, intense for sure.

You may like this book If you Liked: Best Frenemies Forever by Megan McCafferty, Posted by John David Anderson, or The Best Worst Thing by Kathleen Lane

Friend Me by Sheila M. Averbuch

[youthbookreview]

Mini Torty the Tortoise Reads - Sloppy Firsts by Megan McCafferty

[Image description: a small plush beanbag tortoise sits in front of the book Sloppy Firsts by Megan McCafferty, as if it is reading]

[aftgscenes]

First off OOPS SORRY MY ASKS WERE CLOSED I DIDNT REALIZE!!

Second I’m responding with my main aftg blog as I want to keep norasakavictweets as just tweets as much as I can

And now HERE WE GO! YOU ASKED FOR THIS *shaking with excitement*

Here is my thoughts on what the foxes would listen to

(to preface this I’m going to use current songs BUT if interested I do have thoughts on song from before 2007 only)

Andrew: gives me strong alt vibes for sure but to be more specific I think Midwest emo bands like The front bottoms and McCaferty fit the vibe pretty well. He canonically listens to lyrics more than sound and Midwest emo is known for not always sounding the best but having hard hitting lyrics.

Top 3 songs:

Father by The front bottoms

No below by Speedy Ortiz

No children by the mountain goats

Neil: this boy listens to nothing, like he was on the run yall, but I honestly think if he was going to put on music for himself it would probably just be classical. That being said I think the foxes would rub off on him and he would start listening to songs they played a lot just because it reminds him of them.

Top 3 song (not necessarily that he would listen to but that go with his character well):

Escape route by Paramore (literally the most Neil josten song of all time)

Why am I the one by Fun.

Be nice to me by The front bottoms

Kevin: it’s boring but Kevin is also just a classical girlie (as confirmed by Ms. Nora) but again here are 3 songs that lyrically radiate Kevin day energy

Top 3 songs:

love club by lorde

I don’t like my mind by mitski

Are you satisfied by marina and the diamonds

Aaron: rap fan. I can definitely see him listening to Kendrick Lamar and Mac miller (*cough* he would be an Eminem fan sorryyyyyi hate it too but it’s true)

Top 3 songs:

The spins by Mac Miller & Empire of the sun

Money trees by Kendrick Lamar

The real slime shady by Eminem

Matt: very similar music taste to Aaron tbh but I think he would really like Tyler the creator and Childish Gambino (Kendrick and Mac Miller)

Top 3 songs:

See you again by Tyler the creator

super rich kids by frank ocean

Sober by Childish Gambino

Nicky: he’s a top hits girlie, loves Gaga and anything extremely upbeat you can dance to

Top 3 songs:

Judas by Lady Gaga

Born this way by Lady Gaga

LBGT by cupccake

Dan: 90/00s soul and R&B mostly, lots of Aaliyah and I think she would also love Megan the stallion but I see her listening to a couple bands like No doubt too, badass women lead alt bands, there is definitely an edge to her music taste

Top 3 songs:

Just a girl by No doubt

Try again by Aaliyah

Big girls don’t cry by Fergie

Allison: also a top hits girlie but I feel like she had an “emo” phase at some point to scare her parents but she actually genuinely liked a lot of the music

 don’t have a top 3 for her yet tbh :( sorryyyy but unforgivable curse #3 by McCafferty is definitely a good song for her and Seth’s relationship

Renee: I love her VERY VERY much but tbh I haven’t been able to think of specifics… she definitely listened to different music growing up but I have a hard time deciding if she would still listen to any of it now… and if not… then what does she like????

Top 3 Renee vibe songs tho:

Angle of small death and the codeine scene by hozier

I bet on losing dogs by mitski

Simulation swarm by Big thief

Jean: nest boy probably didn’t have time to listen to much music but I’m tempted to say classical as well

Annnyways 3 Jean coded songs:

The deal by mitski (makes me cry thinking about him and this song)

Crack baby by mitski

Please please please let me get what I want by deaftones (yes the cover)

There ya go!!! This took me a little longer than I would like to admit but I needed to make it perfect… please excuse all the typos I’m sure are everywhere

[codenamebooks]

7 Worst Books of 2020

Hey everyone! Now, I know the typical number is usually 5 or 10 or even 15 (if you read so many books) but personally, I looked at my books of the year and simply didn’t like these books. So I put these in order from most bad to least bad, to accurately reflect my reading year––the best one in a while.

1. Second Helpings by Megan McCafferty

It was the only book I DNF’d this year. You will see the first book in this series further down on this list because it didn’t fair well either. I only continued with the series because it was on my bookshelf and it finished on just good enough of a cliff hanger that I decided to hold on. But the first sentence immediately irritated me as it completely jumped over the juicy drama that it could’ve milked! It continued to be ridiculously “Y2K” adding xenophobia to the mix (it’s set in 2001) and I could not keep going past page 100.

2. Landline by Rainbow Rowell

I really couldn’t manage to like this one even though I read the whole thing. I was confused and put off from the first fifty pages and I became more and more annoyed and ???. I don’t believe Rainbow Rowell had a clear idea of what she was going for when writing this. That's harsh, but I can’t actually tell what the point of the mystery telephone was or its explanation. This could have been done in a clear way because it was only seemed chaotic and repetitive.

3. The Coquette by Hannah Webster Foster

Technically this one shouldn’t be included at all because I read it for class but I only care that I had to read it at all. I can’t deny that I don’t hate the structure of it––I’d love to see a modern day epistolary novel but this one wasn’t interesting. It didn’t help that the in-class discussions weren’t good either. Nearly everyone in my section agreed (and ranted) about something that I felt the complete opposite of but didn’t want to say anything and be the odd one out. For a classic it wasn’t completely terrible but it doesn’t stand out in the slightest.

4. Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë

I only disliked parts of this story from the middle onward + the fact that it’s a classic and has boring old language. Plus the old culture and tropes that I’ve seen over and over again. The plot dragged for an incredibly unnecessary length of time, thus making the entire book really long. Not my least favorite classic that I’ve read by any means but definitely not my favorite. I wouldn’t mind reading more of Emily Brontë’s work though to test her out some more.

5. Sloppy Firsts by Megan McCafferty

My main problem with this book is how incredibly rooted it is in the “Y2K” era. You couldn’t pull it out of there if wanted to. This goes for what many people claim as being “okay back then” like homophobia and body shaming. The book was entertaining due to how dramatic it is but it often crosses far over the insensitivity line. Since it is entirely written as journal entries it is completely stream of conscious which I hate in any writing. The stream of conscious of a sophomore in high school in 2000? No.

6. Five Feet Apart by Rachel Lippincott

This one was also simply not good but entertaining during enough of it. I’d say it only ranks higher than the previous five because it’s not a classic and isn’t 2000s trash. The characters were incredibly flat (lots of telling, no showing) and the plot was super cliché and predictable. I mean, the characters barely held on to their strict morals for more than a page. Even if it didn’t play out exactly as I suspected, I knew at least the direction that it would go because it’s the same as every 2013 YA Contemporary Romance plot with a teen hardship.

7. Every Day by David Levithan

This is the main one I feel bad about. I didn’t actually dislike this book it just took me an extremely long time to read. I was in a huge reading slump over the entirety of my freshman year of college and before that I only touched about fifty pages over 11 months. It was entertaining and a really unique concept (better than the movie), it just didn’t hold my interest enough.

[signal-failure]

The Mall

The Mall,  by Megan McCafferty, is a retro, over-the-top YA story about mall culture and the summer after high school. Cassie plans to spend her final summer in New Jersey working along side her boyfriend at America’s Best Cookie, but turns out that while she was home recovering from mono*, her perfect boyfriend started dating the girl from Bath & Body Works. So Cassie goes to work at Bellarosa…

[brightbeautifulthings]

THE MALL BY MEGAN MCCAFFERTY BLOG TOUR & BOOK REVIEW

"Totally rad! This former 1990s mall teen loved The Mall, an ode to tall bangs, boys with good taste in music, and female friendship, set in the only place that mattered. What a joy to have a new book from Megan McCafferty, who knows exactly how to make us laugh, cry, and fall in love with her characters." -- Amy Spalding, author of The Summer of Jordi Perez and The New Guy

New York Times bestselling author Megan McCafferty returns to her roots with this YA coming of age story set in a New Jersey mall. The year is 1991. Scrunchies, mixtapes and 90210 are, like, totally fresh. Cassie Worthy is psyched to spend the summer after graduation working at the Parkway Center Mall. In six weeks, she and her boyfriend head off to college in NYC to fulfill The Plan: higher education and happily ever after. But you know what they say about the best laid plans... Set entirely in a classic “monument to consumerism,” the novel follows Cassie as she finds friendship, love, and ultimately herself, in the most unexpected of places. Megan McCafferty, beloved New York Times bestselling author of the Jessica Darling series, takes readers on an epic trip back in time to The Mall.

About the Author:

Megan McCafferty writes fiction for tweens, teens and teens-at-heart of all ages. The author of several novels, she’s best known for Sloppy Firsts and several more books in the New York Times bestselling Jessica Darling series. Described in her first review as “Judy Blume meets Dorothy Parker” (Wall Street Journal), she’s been trying to live up to that high standard ever since.

Review:

"Troy's dislikes were about so much more than ridding controversial items from my wardrobe. They were about removing controversial ideas from my brain."

Year Read: 2020

Rating: 4/5

Thoughts: I'm honored to be asked to read this book, since I'm not sure it's one I would have requested on my own. Its title doesn't do it justice. The Mall makes it sound like it's a story about vapid, Clueless-era mallrats--no hate, I adore Clueless and I'm fond of malls, but this story is far more charming than the title lets on. First of all, it's a love letter to the 90s. If the mall of the 90s was your natural habitat as a teenager, then you're sure to enjoy all the nostalgic references to stores that are no longer around, like Kay-Bee Toys, Orange Julius, and Sam Goody. It really took me back to days of hanging at the mall with my friends, stocking up on 10 for $10 jewelry at Claire's, and searching for clearance band/horror movie t-shirts at Sam Goody, Suncoast, and Media Play before there ever was such a thing as a Hot Topic at my mall. I love that McCafferty set her story in this time period, and it's sure to resonate with readers slightly older than the average YA audience.

It's also fun for anyone who's ever worked in a mall, since they develop their own weird inner cultures. Cassie has Kool-Aid and Everclear and a Cabbage Patch Kids treasure hunt; I had urban legends about cursed objects and The Buckle challenge, wherein employees of other stores try to make it to the back wall of The Buckle without being pounced on by another retailer. The treasure hunting plot is fun, not unlike the teenagers trying to crack Russian codes in Stranger Things (without the guns and monsters). It gets enough attention to keep the plot moving, but as in life, it's not always the obvious things that end up having the most impact. The treasure hunt turns out to be secondary to the real plot development of the novel, which is Cassie's self-discovery and her friendship with Drea. It's a funny, moving coming-of-age story that handles its issues with humor and just the right amount of heart.

I like Cassie; she's my people. She's a straight-A student and an over-achiever, and her brand of know-it-all humor is just my style. McCafferty manages to capture that purely teenage arrogance that comes from being one of the smart kids without making Cassie wholly unlikable. She obviously thinks she's too good to work in a clothing store, and the mall is just a holdover until her real life starts in New York. Yet the book pushes her (not always gently) toward a more adult perspective that there are all kinds of worthwhile jobs in the world and that being a snob to people who earn their living in a mall isn't acceptable. I enjoyed her conquering her fears of her ex-boyfriend and discovering new sides of her personality, her cute new summer romance with "Sam Goody", and most of all her friendship with Drea. They're opposite poles, with Drea being the popular, sophisticated friend with panache, and I like how the book allows them both to be vulnerable in different ways. Cassie is far from a perfect person, and she doesn't give Drea's dreams the respect they deserve but, as with the best characters, she tries hard to learn from her mistakes. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

I received a free e-ARC through NetGalley from the publishers at St. Martin's Press and an invitation to join the blog tour. Trigger warnings: sexual harassment, slut-shaming (mostly countered on-page, or at least hilariously avenged), divorce, cheating.

Twitter | Get Your Copy

[angrycowboy]

-Charmed Thirds, Megan McCafferty

[undecidedpersonality]

Sloppy Firsts Book Review

By Megan McCafferty

2/5 stars

**spoiler-free but read at your own risk**

In this first book to a long early-2000s teen drama series, Jessica Darling is dealing with her best friend, Hope, moving away and having to deal with the annoying every-days of high school life. That includes friends to be fake towards so you aren’t lonely, new girl to pretend not to like, weird drug dealer run-ins, annoying family members, and boy trouble. In diary format, with some email entries to Hope, Jessica details her drama-filled days as a angsty sophomore in high school.

There were... Many things that I didn’t like in this book. Normally, I don’t start out with what I disliked because I have more good things to say than. bad but I can’t do that for this one. My biggest pet peeve, which I’ve noticed I dislike a lot in writing recently, was that Jessica was so oblivious to her own downfall and problems. She claimed to be self-aware, and in some situations she was, but then continued to whine and complain about why she hated everything so much. Every problem was amplified so much when there could have been simple solutions. Simple solutions to simple problems, am I right? I’m sure it was to feel the angsty teen lifestyle, but instead it came out as so naïve and white-suburban-teen problems that I was angry at Jessica rather than siding with her. I want to side with the main character. Feel as the main character does. And I couldn’t connect with her.

What I enjoyed the most, and what kept me going, was the amazing pacing of the plot. Despite disliking many things, I still gave it two stars because I couldn’t stop wondering what was going to happen next. About half-way through I told myself that I probably wouldn’t continue the series––even though I was rereading to read the second book that has been on my shelf for nearly two years––but by the time we got to the cliffhanger at the end, I told myself I had figure out how everything was going to end up. The drama in this book is always large and Megan McCafferty does a great job of amping up the stakes. Hopefully, in the second book and on, we’ll see positive character growth rather than fluctuating character growth that leads to overall maturity of the book.

Lastly, what I feel is very important to touch on, is the heavy use of y2k slang. It’s like the author found a thesaurus for any normal word and replaced every word she could. With this, comes offensive language like the f-slur (among other slights that I forgot to write down) that was just trashy and unnecessary but, sadly, I think was probably excused due to the publishing date of the book and setting of the plot. There really is no excuse or explanation for this, and although only used once, is still there and harmful.

With all that being said, I do believe lovers of teen dramas would enjoy this novel. And by drama I mean exaggeration and dramatics. That can also be in film because I think this would come off a lot better as a movie since it isn’t one character telling rather than showing the drama.

[carolmunson]

i need megan mccafferty to write a sixth jessica darling series for when she’s in her 30s so i can feel whole

[nat-reviews-books]

The Mall by Megan Mccafferty

Cassie Worthy has the plan with her boyfriend, Troy. Unfortunately, the plan is derailed by the worst case of mono her doctor has ever seen, and Cassie begins her summer job at the mall six weeks after Troy.

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher (Wednesday Books) in exchange for an honest review.

The Mall was a fun, quick book to read. It involved a treasure hunt involving Cabbage Patch Kids, references to early 90s music, and a fun atmosphere that as a kid born after when this book takes place, never got to enjoy (malls in my area were beginning to decline as cultural hubs around the time I was in middle school). I enjoyed this book and the characters and it was fun to relive the nostalgia of a time I wasn't alive to see. It was like getting a glimpse into what the world was like when my cousins were young, seeing as many of them are 10-20years older than me.

I reccomend this book to YA readers, people who lived in 1991 and want to relive the nostalgia, and people like me who didn't live in 1991, but get many references to that era from relatives who were coming of age at this time.

[bitesizebookreviews]

The Mall

The Mall

Megan McCafferty

307 pages

Wednesday Books, June 2020

It’s the year 1991, and Cassie Worthy has a plan. Not just A plan, THE plan. The plan involves working in the mall one last summer in suburban NJ with her boyfriend Troy before they both move to NYC for college (her at Barnard, him at Columbia), after which they’ll get married and start careers. A wrench is thrown in their plans when Cassie has to recuperate from mono at the end of the school year and begins her summer job late. By that time, Troy has moved on to a different girl, and Cassie can no longer work alongside him at America’s Best Cookie. Instead, she winds up at a clothing boutique working with Drea Bellarosa a former friend-turned enemy. Drea turns out to be a good influence on Cassie, as they search the mall for a mysterious treasure, flirt with the guy at Sam Goody, renew their friendship, and generally have a summer that is much more memorable than she would have had with Troy.

This book is absolute bubble-gum romp. The suburban Mall setting in the early 1990′s is spot-on, with so many old favorites getting a shout out. Cassie is thrown for a loop at the start, but when she starts to show some growth and a little backbone, The Mall really takes a turn for the better. The characters are all so much fun, especially the mom & daughter team of Gia and Drea Bellarosa. 

The Mall is scheduled for release in June 2020, so don’t forget to add it to your beach bag!