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    Charmed Thirds: A Jessica Darling Novel
    Unavailable
    Charmed Thirds: A Jessica Darling Novel
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    Charmed Thirds: A Jessica Darling Novel
    Audiobook (abridged)5 hours

    Charmed Thirds: A Jessica Darling Novel

    Written by Megan McCafferty

    Narrated by Ariadne Meyers

    3.5/5

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    Currently unavailable

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    About this audiobook

    Jessica Darling's in college!

    Things are looking up for Jessica Darling. She has finally left her New Jersey hometown/hellhole for Columbia University in New York City; she's more into her boyfriend, Marcus Flutie, than ever (so what if he's at a Buddhist college in California?); and she's making new friends who just might qualify as stand-ins for her beloved best friend, Hope.

    But Jessica soon realizes that her bliss might not last. She lands an internship at a snarky Brooklyn-based magazine, but will she fit in with the überhip staff (and will she even want to)? As she and Marcus hit the rocks, will she end up falling for her GOPunk, neoconservative RA . . . or the hot (and married!) Spanish grad student she's assisting on a summer project . . . or the oh-so-sensitive emo boy down the hall? Will she even make it through college now that her parents have cut her off financially? And what do the cryptic one-word postcards from Marcus really mean?

    With hilarious insight, the hyperobservant Jessica Darling struggles through her college years-and the summers in between-while maintaining her usual mix of wit, cynicism, and candor.


    From the Hardcover edition.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherPenguin Random House Audio
    Release dateApr 11, 2006
    ISBN9780739324752
    Author

    Megan McCafferty

    MEGAN MCCAFFERTY writes fiction for tweens, teens and teens-at-heart of all ages. The author of over a dozen novels, she’s best known for Sloppy Firsts and four 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.

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    Reviews for Charmed Thirds

    3.5/5

    354 ratings16 reviews

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    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 2/5
      Still good, but felt too condensed. Four years of college in one book? I think you change more between your freshman and senior year of college vs your freshman and senior year of highschool. If she wanted to condense years, I think maybe 2 at most would have worked. And I might be the only one, but the final ending to the postcards didn't mean much to me- I was kind of disappointed.
    • 2/5
      They keep getting worse but I suppose I'm in it for the long haul. I can never stop reading a series once I start. One thing is for sure: I will not be recommending these books to the teens I just started working with at my friend's church. I don't think the leadership would be impressed.
    • 3/5
      This one took way longer to read than the first two in the series, but I enjoyed it. Weirdly enough, reminds me a lot of Girls.
    • 3/5
      I absolutely ADORED the first two novels in this series. In the previous two novels I could really relate to Jessica but I lost all of that in “Charmed Thirds.” I really thought the voice changed tremendously between the second and third book and I know some would explain that as part of growing up. However, there was more to it than Jessica simply growing up. It just seemed to me that she really could not have grown so much when nothing happened plot-wise. She just went around in circles while everyone else moved on with their lives.
      I seriously do not understand how one minute Jessica can be so sassy and stand up for herself and then the next minute she is doing everything everyone else wants to do. Are we sure she isn’t the bipolar character here?
      I’m glad that by the end of this novel Bethany and Jessica have developed a much better relationship. It’s about time.
      The Marcus-Jessica relationship is no longer charming to me. It has become something that is really unhealthy and self-destructive. Why are they even together? They don’t seem to know and I certainly don’t know either. I’m just not really rooting for them anymore. Although of course I will read the rest of the series because I want to see how it ends. It’s like a train-wreck I just can’t ignore.
      Here’s to hoping there is a little more of the Jessica I know and love in “Fourth Comings!”
    • 4/5
      Against all expectations, I am smitten with the Jessica Darling series. The series is probably considered “chick-lit” by most (a term I detest due to the gendered notions of literature it evokes but that I’m using due to its popularity). But while it’s ostensibly chick-lit, there are no treatises on shopping or one-night stands. It is not brainless and vapid. Instead, it flips the chick-lit tropes. It’s actually about a girl trying to find herself in a world that wants nothing more than for her to be a vapid chick.

      In Charmed Thirds Jessica goes to college. But her college experience is not the “wooo hoooo let’s get drunk and have the best four years of our lives” experience. In fact, most of her time at college is uncovered. McCafferty has chosen to record these four years only during Jessica’s winter and summer breaks, thankfully leaving the drudge work of college to our imaginations. What I love about Charmed Thirds is that it does not sugarcoat college. Instead it captures the uncertainty of the American college experience. It is full of malaise and the endless worries of millenials such as “What will I do?” And “Will I be good enough?”

      It sounds depressing, and it very occasionally is, but Jessica’s charming voice carried me through the story. Jessica is straight-up hilarious. I laughed at loud at some of her predicaments and groaned at some of the others. Her hyperaware, overdescriptive style will be appreciated by any young neurotic. I also sympathized with her relationship with Marcus. Their relationship is a cornerstone of the series, and my oh my, in this book, it becomes even more deliciously complex. Marcus is a delectable creature in the sphere of YA boys, though his entire appeal is the fact that he resembles his fellow YA love interests in no way. Sometimes I wanted to reach into the pages and shake Marcus because he’s so frustrating. But while Marcus is difficult to understand sometimes, he really loves Jessica and his witticisms keep the relationship interesting.

      Often authors who torture their characters before finally uniting them in love struggle to keep the relationship interesting after all the angst dies. Luckily, Megan McCafferty is not all authors. She shows how college breaks relationships. She shows how even two well-matched individuals can treat each other poorly. With Marcus and Jessica she’s created a messy, imperfect relationship that is brutally honest. I also like the irony of Jessica’s situation in this book. Jessica, who spends so much time judging people for their seemingly incomprehensible relationships, finds herself in a relationship that is occasionally incomprehensible to her and largely incomprehensible to everyone else. But she loves Marcus and the relationship works for her. And that’s all that matters.

      Honestly the audience for these books might be small. There’s not much escapism here. Jessica’s life kinda sucks. Others might dislike Jessica for being overanalytical and cynical and thus incapable of happiness. But there is a small sliver of young women, including me of course, who will see themselves in Jessica. And in a time when it seems like you don’t know anything—about your career, friends, love life, who you are—her plights will be a source of comfort.
    • 4/5
      I dropped this one a star...maybe the series' losing steam, maybe I didn't find the poor New York struggling student story as engaging, maybe the ending was a bit rushed...maybe I'm getting crotchety in my old age. But still good and I do appreciate an author that will let her characters grow and make mistakes. It's one constant complaint I have with sub-par YA, the tie-it-with-a-ribbon happy ending. I like McCafferty is making Jessica work for it.
    • 5/5
      The third installment of the Jessice Darling series left me with mixed feelings. The first two were almost a religious experience for me; I connected with Jessica in ways I haven't with most human beings. But then, after a 7 year break, I picked up this book and saw...SEX. SEX EVERYWHERE. I'm not a prude, but, wow. I don't mind the absence of Marcus as it serves to allow Jessica to sort out her feelings for him, try other new relationships and find them lacking, and grow as her own person outside of "jessicaandmarcus." I think she encounters a lot of real college experiences, and I like that she is gradually growing up. I guess my real issue is that she's still stuck on Marcus. I get that they are star-crossed lovers, but I don't see after all she goes through how she can constantly, immediately forgive him. Oh, wait, I can. Sex. She is crazy about sex. For all she does to distance herself from the porn star "Jessica Darling", she doesn't come off (haha) much different.
    • 4/5
      Goes into Jessica's college life and her relationship with Marcus! Definitely written more "maturely" as Jess ages and it's fun to see her in her college years!
    • 4/5
      I would always love Jessica Darling (not just because of her porn star name!). A lot of mature themes are tackled in the book, e.g. love, money and SEX. It taught me a lot about GROWING UP. I've felt that I've known Jessica Darling and I've grown up with her. I'm emotionally attached to this series. There are only two downside to this one: 1) Jessica becoming sex-crazed nymphomaniac. WHy does everyone with a penis she has to fool around with? She already has Marcus, the sex god in her hands, what's wrong with her? 2) The obvious lack of Marcus. Feels like I was reading "New Moon"! Marcus is my man and he's absent for more than half of the story. As usual McCafferty decided to cramp all Marcus-Jessica stuff towards the end wherein you'll get BITIN and you'll feel the need to buy the next one. Nice marketing strategy! haha I can't wait to get my hands on the fourth book!
    • 4/5
      Teen chick lit, but not as predictable as most of this genre. Jessica, in this third book in the series, is off at her dream college. She continues to struggle with her relationship with her family and her relationship with her boyfriend who is across the country at a Buddhist college. A thinking teen's Bridget Jones.
    • 2/5
      I knew I shouldn't have read this, but it pains me not to finish a series once started and it was finally available in paperback. I remember Jessica as a likable, sarcastic cynic (although it has been many years since I read the first two books). However, in this book she came off as both crude and extremely whiny. I also don't think McCafferty should have tackled her whole college experience in one book, focusing on winter/summer breaks and ignoring the rest of it except for brief updates. There is a fourth one, but I'm not sure if I'll read it or not. It is only available in hardcover so I don't have to make that decision right now.
    • 5/5
      CHARMED THIRDS, the third book in Megan McCafferty’s bestselling series, introduces a more insightful and pensive, though not necessarily more likable, Jessica Darling. Diehard fans of the first two books will have trouble coming to terms with Jessica’s growth, though personally I think it’s fantastic.College is supposed to be better for Jessica Darling. After all, she has escaped Pineville to attend prestigious Columbia University in the greatest city in the world, and she is still with Marcus.However, things are not as great as it seems. Jessica and Marcus’ relationship seems to hit the rocks. She still can’t escape her high school joke of friends, even with new college friends. She has unsatisfying flings with several different guys. But worst of all, her parents won’t help her pay for college.How will Jessica even survive her college years, let alone come out a better person?
    • 4/5
      Jessica Darling is back for her third round. "Charmed Thirds" consists of Jessica's diary while she's home on breaks from Columbia University. She's struggling to maintain a long-distance relationship with Marcus, working two jobs to pay the bills, and trying to find friends and figure out exactly what she wants from life. She makes her share of mistakes, but each one helps her grow. And, of course, it's all told with the snark that makes Jessica so fun to read about. I enjoyed this latest book in the Jessica Darling series. I think it gives a good portrayal of college life- trying to find yourself, experimenting with friends and boyfriends, holding on to home while letting go at the same time. Like the other books, this is not all fluff, but it's not all serious either. My one bone with this book (and maybe the series in general, though I really noticed it in this book) is the pop culture references. They're not as abundant as some of the more fluffy teen chick lit, but enough to be noticeable, and I just worry that in a few years the books will seem dated. *shrugs* Hopefully people will still give the series a try because I think it is pretty great.
    • 3/5
      I have read this whole series by Megan Mcafferty so I had to keep up with this third one. I didn't enjoy it as much as the other two, but was still very much amused by it. The Jess Darling voice is still one of the realest and most accurate portrayals of a young adult I have ever read.
    • 3/5
      overall, my least favorite of the three in the series, but i would run out and buy the fourth tomorrow if it existed.
    • 3/5
      This is the third book featuring Jessica Darling. It contains a lot of mature material, which makes it only appropriate for older teens. The story itself is pretty ho hum, with lots of characters that return from the previous volumes.