I finished reading the next book in Megan McCafferty’s Jessica Darling series and already am on the third installment! I’m so excited to find out how the story of Jessica and Marcus Flutie will unfold. So let’s taIk about what I thought of the second installment of the series with this book review of Second Helpings.

What’s the Story?

So in the sequel, Jessica and Marcus are now in their senior year of high school at Pineville High. Marcus Flutie is still very much on her radar, she still has to deal with her best friend, Hope, living in another state and she still can’t escape the Clueless Crew. On the family side of things, Jessica has her parents on her back about choosing a College to go to and her older sister, Bethany, is pregnant and causing a big stir in the Darling household.

Thoughts on Second Helpings

How did I find Second Helpings? I loved it! I enjoyed reading this more than the first book.

It feels to me that in Sloppy Firsts, Megan McCafferty teased me as a reader with regards to Marcus and Jessica like will they or won’t they get together? And it ends on a cliffhanger. Then comes Second Helpings where my excitement for these two is taken to a whole new level. The bathroom scene during the funeral was INTENSE! And of course, their confrontation at school afterwards.

“When are you going to stop doing this?”

“Doing what?”

“Pushing me away.”

I felt that confrontation in my heart as though I was actually experiencing it myself. In that moment in the book, I wanted to scream at Jessica, “What the eff is wrong with you?” because she was being stubborn when you could clearly see Marcus was in love with her and she was in love with him. Why she just wouldn’t give in and let herself feel it all. Okay, she was scared. I got that. But you know, as a reader, I just really wanted them to just get together already. The tension between them was killing me! LOL!

My favorite moment of course was Marcus Flutie’s declaration of love. You. Yes. You. Super kilig!

Aside from these two characters, I definitely liked Hope. Get you a best friend who’ll listen to all your reasonings about why you can’t be together with the guy and then be cupid for the two of you to finally be together. And of course, I loved Gladdie, what an adorable Grandma she was.

Parting Words

Second Helpings made me invested in Jessica and Marcus’ love story even more. I can’t wait to finish Charmed Thirds so I can find out what happens next in their romance. Obviously, I rated this book five stars as well on GoodReads as I wrote a rave book review of Second Helpings.