Charmed Thirds Reviews

Since leaving Pineville behind her, Jessica thought she was ready for Columbia’s intense academic scene, and was content in being herself.

Yet self is ever changing, and she finds that she is exceeding Professor Mac’s wise words. She’s learning how ignorant she is of the world, and the world pushes back hard.

It’s realistic though. Jessica reprimends herself for thinking that college would be some magical paradise that would automatically give her new best friends, a career she’s passionate for and stability of mind. Nothing can give you that because nothing in life is permenant. So Jessica has to relearn the lesson she most often forgets. Live in the moment.

But what a ride it is! From moving to her childhood home to meaningless internship to cheating on Marcus with a guy who turns out to be a Republican, Mccafferty continues to deliver the candor and ironic humor one can expect from Jessica Notso Darling.

I have an appreciation for Jessica’s latest life crises as I just graduated in May. Only I had grad school to fall back on compared to Jessica’s dwindling finances and no path for the rest of her life because a psychology degree is worth nothing for someone as antisocial as her. That part about your degree feeling worthless even though all your professors assure you that you’ll get a job is too close to home. So even though it’s a big part of Jessica’s struggles, I’m choosing to ignore it as I do in real life.

McCafferty via Jessica viscerally captures the unique phase in your life where you have the world at your feet and you arrogantly believe you’re ready to take it on, but the surrounding city is too overwhelming so you stay in your dorm bubble, eating microwaved noodles, bonding with your floor mates that you won’t see next year because you’re in a different dorm. As Jessica says, it turns out maintance of friendships also rely on proximity.

But is it though? Jessica slowly comes to see that even if you briefly pass through someone’s life and they through yours, even though you don’t end up best ffriends forever as you promised, you do have an impact, directly and indirectly.

Your childhood friends return, your lovers become strangers, the people you hate become people you tolerate and even become friends again.

This is a spoilers-free blog so I won’t name who’s who but it was interesting to see the changes in Jessica’s various relationships. And nothing so meaningful as when an eclectic group of people from all stages of Jessica’s life come together for her graduation party.

Speaking of relationships, her and Marcus go through a whirlwind as you may have guessed from the aforementioned sleeping with a Republican. It nicely ties into the wider themes of evolving relationships and people where Jessica and Marcus’ breakup allows for them to stop their co-dependency in order to find each other again, adjusting to the people they’ve changed into, not clinging to their high school and the potential they had previously envisioned.

Also even though Jessica and Marcus continue to make no sense together on paper, the opposites attract really work and making me consider my stance on stonah lovahs. I have a feeling they’re much more ideal literary boyfriends than real ones much like Mr. Darcy, but damn Marcus makes it attractive.

Other favorites like Bridget, Len, and even Jessica’s parents show surprising new depth to the readers, reminding Jessica that everyone has rich inner lives that her judginess (and self-absorbedness) can’t percieve but works for them so she should lay off a little and give them, and herself a break.

And we see Hope for the first time! Her presence has been huge with her move being the catalyst for Jessica’s depression, her journals, and her letters throughout. Being the unseen friends on fabulous French adventures, content in a way Jessica can never be. Finally, she becomes real and not a frame device and I hope to see more of her in Jessica’s next stage. Maybe as roommates. Let’s see what flaws Hope has been hiding since Jessica has put her on a pedestal for the past three books.

Plus the laughs keep coming. I can’t not emphasize how funny this one is in its various escapades but some highlights include Jessica walking in on her parents, the aforementioned Republican, Jessica’s first massage, the glam metal-fest, and her review of the Persuasions club.

Turns out it’s another 5 stars, and I have a feeling the next two will get the same. We’ll see.