Product Description

“My parents suck ass. Banning me from the phone and restricting my computer privileges are the most tyrannical parental gestures I can think of. Don’t they realize that Hope’s the only one who keeps me sane? . . . I don’t see how things could get any worse.”

When her best friend, Hope Weaver, moves away from Pineville, New Jersey, hyperobservant sixteen-year-old Jessica Darling is devastated. A fish out of water at school and a stranger at home, Jessica feels more lost than ever now that the only person with whom she could really communicate has gone. How is she supposed to deal with the boy- and shopping-crazy girls at school, her dad’s obsession with her track meets, her mother salivating over big sister Bethany’s lavish wedding, and her nonexistent love life?

A fresh, funny, utterly compelling fiction debut by first-time novelist Megan McCafferty, Sloppy Firsts is an insightful, true-to-life look at Jessica’s predicament as she embarks on another year of teenage torment--from the dark days of Hope’s departure through her months as a type-A personality turned insomniac to her completely mixed-up feelings about Marcus Flutie, the intelligent and mysterious “Dreg” who works his way into her heart. Like a John Hughes for the twenty-first century, Megan McCafferty taps into the inherent humor and drama of the teen experience. This poignant, hilarious novel is sure to appeal to readers who are still going through it, as well as those who are grateful that they don’t have to go back and grow up all over again.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #12609 in Books
• Published on: 2001-08-28
• Released on: 2001-08-28
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 297 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9780609807903
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

Review
“Such a sharp, funny, poignant heroine, with an inner world we can all relate to. I love it.”—Sophie Kinsella, author of Confessions of a Shopaholic

“Sloppy Firsts captures, in spare, truthful prose, the exquisite pain and ecstasy of being besotted by your best friend. The reader may flinch, but Megan McCafferty never does.”
—Emma Forrest, author of Namedropper

“Sloppy Firsts is a spirited, down-the-rabbit-hole adventure in the madcap subculture of high school. With remarkable insight, tenderness, and wit, Megan McCafferty offers us a compassionate, clear-eyed tale of how a sassy young woman survives teenage-hood.”
—Laurie Fox, author of My Sister from the Black Lagoon

“Sloppy Firsts perfectly captures the turbulent roller-coaster ride that is being a teenager. This is an (at times) intimate, painfully honest peek at a girl’s coming of age. Getting to know Jessica was like meeting a new best friend. I miss her already.”
—Atoosa Rubenstein, editor in chief of CosmoGirl!


From the Trade Paperback edition.

From the Inside Flap
?My parents suck ass. Banning me from the phone and restricting my computer privileges are the most tyrannical parental gestures I can think of. Don?t they realize that Hope?s the only one who keeps me sane? . . . I don?t see how things could get any worse.?

When her best friend, Hope Weaver, moves away from Pineville, New Jersey, hyperobservant sixteen-year-old Jessica Darling is devastated. A fish out of water at school and a stranger at home, Jessica feels more lost than ever now that the only person with whom she could really communicate has gone. How is she supposed to deal with the boy- and shopping-crazy girls at school, her dad?s obsession with her track meets, her mother salivating over big sister Bethany?s lavish wedding, and her nonexistent love life?

A fresh, funny, utterly compelling fiction debut by first-time novelist Megan McCafferty, Sloppy Firsts is an insightful, true-to-life look at Jessica?s predicament as she embarks on another year of teenage torment--from the dark days of Hope?s departure through her months as a type-A personality turned insomniac to her completely mixed-up feelings about Marcus Flutie, the intelligent and mysterious ?Dreg? who works his way into her heart. Like a John Hughes for the twenty-first century, Megan McCafferty taps into the inherent humor and drama of the teen experience. This poignant, hilarious novel is sure to appeal to readers who are still going through it, as well as those who are grateful that they don?t have to go back and grow up all over again.

From the Back Cover
“Such a sharp, funny, poignant heroine, with an inner world we can all relate to. I love it.” —Sophie Kinsella, author of Confessions of a Shopaholic

“Sloppy Firsts captures, in spare, truthful prose, the exquisite pain and ecstasy of being besotted by your best friend. The reader may flinch, but Megan McCafferty never does.”
—Emma Forrest, author of Namedropper

“Sloppy Firsts is a spirited, down-the-rabbit-hole adventure in the madcap subculture of high school. With remarkable insight, tenderness, and wit, Megan McCafferty offers us a compassionate, clear-eyed tale of how a sassy young woman survives teenage-hood.”
—Laurie Fox, author of My Sister from the Black Lagoon

“Sloppy Firsts perfectly captures the turbulent roller-coaster ride that is being a teenager. This is an (at times) intimate, painfully honest peek at a girl’s coming of age. Getting to know Jessica was like meeting a new best friend. I miss her already.”
—Atoosa Rubenstein, editor in chief of CosmoGirl!

Customer Reviews

Sloppy and Sarcastic Equal First Place Novel
I came across this jem at a local thrift store for only two dollars. I didn't even bother to read the summary because I was in love with the bright colors and the way the 'mouth shaped origami note' seemed to pop out from the very typical young-adult girl book cover that I loved to indulge myself in, so I bought it. The book sat on my shelf for months until finally deciding to attempt to read it. In the beginning I couldn't seem to get into the book, reading maybe two pages into it before giving up and re-reading something else I already knew that I loved.

However, when I started to read it, I could not stop. This story about a straight 'A' brainiac teenage girl was like an obsession. Her "diary" consisted of everything possible, including: a best friend who moves away and leaves her with a group of snobby and fake girls that she's grown up with but just can't stand, the boy who has grown up liking her that she sees as just a friend, her beautiful crush who doesn't know she exists, and the mysterious "krispy kreme" aka Marcus Flutie who keeps getting her into trouble.


The sarcastic comments are utterly hilarious and hit so close to home I for one knew I had thought freakishly similar things in my own daily life.

The angst and originality of the main character, Jessica "Not-So"Darling is one that I feel every girl can connect with and learn to love.


Without a doubt my favorite book in it's category.

For once, an honest book
"Sloppy Firsts" is a novel that was a lot of firsts for me. As a seventeen year old, I have found in the past that I have had to read books like "The Fountainhead" and "Catcher in the Rye" in order to relate to a character in a book these days-because modern day writers have a tendancy to magnify what is either rare but interesting about teens that make the lead characters seem fake, OR they have teens worrying about things that real teens really don't have to worry about in the first place. But "Sloppy Firsts" is different. In it, the main character Jessica Darling is a human being; she's not perfect, she makes mistakes, and she's not a fake hug-you-every-time-she-sees-you type of girly-girl. She sees the world as it is, taking the good with the bad. It only took me about four hours to finish this novel. I won't call it a page-turner, because that doesn't do it any justice; it was more of a (I know this is going to sound cheesy)"self-discovery" thing for me. I mean, when I read it, (the day before yesterday) all I was looking for was SOMETHING to give me some comfort; I had no idea I would get so attached to the people in this book, and find myself relating to Jessica in almost every way. READ THIS BOOK. There is no way, no matter how young or old you are, that you will be dissappointed.

Teen angst at its best...
Megan McCafferty's first novel, *Sloppy Firsts*, takes readers back to those angst-ridden days of high school when one wrong move can determine your status of popularity. I had so much fun reading the novel, I've already loaned my copy to my friends at work and told all my on-line buddies to grab a copy.

Jessica Darling, not so aptly named, shows us a year in the life of a teenage nightmare. Her best friend, Hope, has moved away, leaving Jessica to brave high school with the rest of her friends, with whom she's not really that crazy about to begin with. Her ex-boyfriend, Scotty, still follows her around like a puppy dog, even though they dated three years ago and only for eleven days in the first place. And the dreg of society, Marcus "Krispy Kreme" Flutie, has chosen Jessica to bear the brunt of his mental games.

I haven't read another book this year that made me laugh and groan in sympathy as much as *Sloppy Firsts*. This is definitely a keeper!