Perfect Fifths by Megan McCafferty

Reviewed by Meygan

I have learned that some nostalgic longings are better left in the past. What I once found oh so cool and was obsessed with tends to make me question my childhood taste when I re-read or re-watch something as an adult. Now, this doesn’t apply to everything. There are some cartoons that I watched that I still enjoy just as much as I ever did (Scooby Doo, The Flintstones, The Powerpuff Girls), but most of the time trying to re-live my childhood memories just makes me incredibly sad that what I once loved is now garbage. 

With that said, I use to love Megan McCafferty’s Jessica Darling series. I first came across this series when I was in middle school, and I couldn’t get enough of the love story between Jessica Darling and Marcus Flutie. When Jessica meets Marcus, her luck is spiraling downhill. Not only does her best friend Hope move, but Jessica has to deal with her teenage hormones going out of control and the oh-so-handsome, promiscuous Marcus Flutie doesn’t help. By the time Jessica realizes that she loves Marcus, she also realizes that she doesn’t know a whole lot about him. He is mysterious and at time reticent about his personal life. As the series continues, Jessica and Marcus grow apart but do manage to grow as individuals.   

In the last book of the Jessica Darling series, Perfect Fifths, Jessica and Marcus collide into one another at an airport, which to no surprise, Jessica is running late. Jessica misses her flight, causing Marcus to purchase a ticket just so he and Jessica can catch up on the last three years. Since they both have nowhere to go that night, they share a hotel room. Will they rekindle their romance? What will they do about the sexual tension that bridges them together? 

I was disappointed in the final ending to the series. I feel like I waited nine years for an anticlimactic and somewhat silly ending.  The 13 year old me loved the first book, titled Sloppy Firsts, and I couldn’t wait to discover Jessica’s and Marcus’ happy ever after or happy never after. I felt that the series became worse as it went on, so I shouldn’t have been too surprised when I gave Perfect Fifths one star on Goodreads. Perhaps it is because most of the book took place in one scene, and I don’t particularly care for that in books or film. Also, I felt that Marcus had outgrew Jessica and that he should have given up on her narcissistic, smart a… uhm… rear end. 

Here is the complete series order: Sloppy Firsts, Second Helpings, Charmed Thirds, Fourth Comings, and Perfect Fifths.

Note:  The first three books are considered young adult novels, but the last two novels have content  more suitable for adults.