Sloppy Firsts/Megan McCafferty

Sloppy Firsts by Megan McCafferty (Jessica Darling book 1); young adult, chick lit; 297 pages.

After her best friend moves away, Jess Darling chronicles her 16th year, and all the ups, downs, and drama that go with being a teenager.

This was one that my book club picked, which is nice, since I never would have picked this up otherwise. This is pretty much the book version of a typical teen movie: protagonist's best friend moves away; she hates the clueless "friends" she's left with, and finds herself falling for the wrong guy. There's a sort of twist at the end, which is also straight out of any teen movie, but refreshingly, it doesn't have the same sappy ending. Of course, this is only the first in the series, so who knows how future books will turn out. I liked Jess's voice, and I wanted to know what would happen to her, but I found her teenaged voice a little unbelievable (I should know; this book is about a 16-year girl in 2000. I was a 16-year-old girl in 2000). Then again, this wasn't written as YA lit (which didn't really exist in 2000 as it does today), but was hanging out in my library's adult section, so maybe it's meant to be read as nostalgia? Not sure if I'll pick up the next in this series, but there's a chance.