All posts by megan

Thanks, Kirkus and PW!

News

“McCafferty proves that dystopias don’t have to be dreary to be provocative. A virus has left everyone over the age of 18 unable to procreate, making teenagers the only viable “breeders” and spawning a pregnancy-obsessed future society. Chapters alternate between the perspectives of two 16-year-old twins, separated at birth: deeply religious Harmony, raised in god-fearing, vaguely Amish “Goodside,” and Melody, whose adoptive parents have been crafting her into the perfect Reproduction Professional or RePro, sought by wealthy, barren couples. McCafferty (the Jessica Darling series) has enormous fun in her first YA novel: tweens, aka “nubie-pubies,” try on Preggerz FunBumps, designed to mimic pregnancy; expectant teens munch on Folato Chips for folic acid boosts; and slang like “fertilicious,” “terminal,” and “barren” is used with abandon. Yet she also raises challenging questions about individuality and morality. There’s a predictable though entertaining identity switch, and readers must wait until the next book to learn if these girls end up with the lives (and guys) they want. The book’s carefree sexuality and exploitation makes it uncomfortable, scandalous, and not easily forgotten—there’s little doubt that’s exactly what McCafferty is going for.” Ages 14–up. — Publishers Weekly

“In this well-realized dystopia, a virus has rendered nearly everyone in the world unable to have children after age 18. As a result, teen pregnancies become the only way to continue civilization. Alternating chapters follow two identical twins, Melody and Harmony, who meet for the first time just as Melody is about to begin fulfilling her lucrative contract to “bump” and produce a baby for a wealthy couple. Harmony has left her conservative religious enclave in an attempt to convince Melody to embrace God instead. Everything goes awry when Harmony intercepts the pregnancy agent’s wonderful news: Melody will be “bumping” with the most famous and desirable surrogate father alive. As the story progresses, however, the each twin faces serious doubts about her original plans. McCafferty invents teen slang that rings true, such as “a pregg” (baby), “facespace” and “until our parents’ generation finally takes a dirtnap.” The author keeps her characters lively, giving them distinct personalities, and she clearly takes sides in judging her imagined future society. Despite the futuristic setting, the main focus of the book is a cautionary tale about teen pregnancy and casual, loveless sex. McCafferty includes abundant sexual references, mostly from the enthusiastic high-school girls who compete over their “preggs” and “bumps.” She leaves readers with an ambiguous ending, sure to keep them thinking. (Science fiction. 14 & up) —Kirkus

P.S. Seeing my work classified as Sci-Fi gave me a laugh. I never imagined I’d write anything categorized as such!

Watch the video. Share your story. Win a book.

Other

In the months leading up to the release of BUMPED, I’ve been oscillating wildly (Smiths fans, holla!) between confidence and fear. Yes, I still worry about how my work will be received, even when I’m fully aware that I have NO CONTROL OVER HOW MY WORK WILL BE RECEIVED. (Note to aspiring authors: You can either take comfort or umbrage in knowing that it never gets any less nerve-wracking.)

There is no end to the ways in which I can use the Internet to torture myself about my career. So to help me get through this last push to publication, I’ve decided to use technology in a positive way:

I’m gonna give away some books! Yay!

How? Watch this video (which also might be interest because I talk all about BUMPED):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VxapLgQAdVk

Here are the details: Post a video on YouTube describing YOUR life-changing moment. Make sure you tag it BUMPED EXPECTATIONS so I can find it. Every Friday I’ll choose TWO video-makers to receive copies of BUMPED before it goes on sale April 26th. One copy will go to the video with the most views. The other copy will go to the story that speaks to me that week…for whatever reason that may be. No story is too small. And if you want to get creative with your videos (original songs, dramatic re-enactments, finger-puppet theater), GO FOR IT.

And in the interest of fairness, here’s my story about how I bumped expectations:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KM_lrBKx77o

I’ll choose the first winner next Friday, March 4th.

I look forward to hearing your stories!

Thumped

Books, Bumped and Thumped

“A sparkling, imaginative romp that is nevertheless plenty provocative.”—Kirkus

THE CONCLUSION TO ONE OF THE MOST TALKED ABOUT NOVELS OF 2011!

It’s been thirty-five weeks since twin sisters Harmony and Melody went their separate ways. And now their story has become irresistible: twins separated at birth, each due to deliver twins…on the same day!

Married to Ram and living in Goodside, Harmony spends her time trying to fit back into the community she once believed in. But she can’t forget about Jondoe, the guy she fell for under the strangest of circumstances.

To her adoring fans, Melody has achieved everything: a major contract and a coupling with the hottest bump prospect around. But this image is costing her the one guy she really wants.

The girls’ every move is analyzed by millions of fans eagerly counting down to “Double Double Due Date.” They’re two of the most powerful teen girls on the planet, and they could do only one thing to make them even more famous:

Tell the truth.

Dear Reader

News

What if every girl wanted to be sixteen and pregnant?

Is it so hard to imagine? The celebrity “bump watch,” has made obstetrics a spectator sport. Now any young starlet who has indulged at In-N-Out Burger can find her bloated midsection driving major pageviews on the gossip blogs. If controversial announcements by Jamie Lyn Spears and Bristol Palin pushed teen motherhood to the top of the news feed, Juno’s four Academy Award nominations kept it there. And young mothers don’t even need to be famous to attract attention anymore. In recent months the real girls-turned-reality stars from MTV’s “16 and Pregnant” and “Teen Mom” have graced the covers of all the glossies.

The media loves wringing its hands over the sex lives of teenagers. Whether young mothers are glorified (for keeping the baby!) or vilified (for having sex in the first place!) all depends on where the talking heads fall on the socio-political spectrum. What troubles me most about these defiantly opposing attitudes and approaches—Life versus Choice, purity pledges versus condoms in vending machines—is that these extremes leave little room for compromise. I can’t help but think that the girls at the very center of these culture wars are the ones who will lose out in the end.

Bumped takes all-or-nothing thinking to its most literal conclusion: either teen girls have babies or humans become extinct. In my work, I always aspire to make readers laugh and to provoke thoughtful conversations about tricky subjects including teen sexuality, social class, sibling rivalry, gender roles, and religious tolerance, to name a few. Bumped is futuristic fiction, but its truths are rooted right here, right now.

I hope you’re as excited about my debut as an “official” Young Adult author as I am.

Sloppy Firsts

Jessica Darling Series

“Judy Blume meets Dorothy Parker.”–Wall St. Journal

The first book in the beloved, New York Times bestselling series – now with a new foreword from New York Times bestselling author Rebecca Serle

Jessica Darling is devastated when her best friend moves away from Pineville, New Jersey. With Hope gone, Jessica has no one she can really talk to. She doesn’t relate to the boy-and-shopping obsessed girls at school, or her dad’s obsession with track meets, and her mom is too busy planning big sister Bethany’s lavish wedding. Jessica is lost more than ever, and her nonexistent love life is only making things worse.  ??Fresh, funny, and utterly compelling, readers fell in love with Jessica Darling’s poignant, hilarious voice and have stayed with her through her ups and downs (and her mixed-up feelings about her first love, Marcus Flutie).  A modern classic, readers will be excited to return to Pineville, New Jersey and Jessica Darling’s world with Sloppy Firsts.

Second Helpings

Jessica Darling Series
On sale July 7, 2021

“There’s no reason this witty sequel, with an even more exhilarating and genuine take on teendom, shouldn’t reach the head of the class.”—Boston Herald

The second book in the beloved, New York Times bestselling series – now with a new foreword from New York Times bestselling author Rebecca Serle

Jessica Darling is in her senior year of high school and things can’t seem to get worse: her best friend, Hope, still lives in another state, and the mysterious and oh-so-compelling Marcus Flutie continues to be a distraction she doesn’t need. Not to mention her parents won’t get off her back about choosing a college, and her older sister’s pregnancy is causing quite a bit of drama in the Darling household. 

The second book in Megan McCafferty’s critically acclaimed Jessica Darling series is fun, irreverent, and shows that being a teenager is never easy (or boring).

Charmed Thirds

Jessica Darling Series
On sale Fall 2021

“Smart and accomplished enough to delight all readers. Jessica’s an original, but her problems are universal…If you don’t see yourself in Jessica Darling, you’re not looking hard enough.”—Chicago Tribune

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.

Fourth Comings

Jessica Darling Series
On sale Fall 2021

“Acidly funny, imaginatively profane, and, above all, a sharp reflection of the what-to-do-now, post-college dilemma.­”—Miami Herald

Is the real world ready for Jessica Darling?

At first it seems she’s living the New York City dream. She’s subletting an apartment with her best friend, working for a magazine that actually cares about her psychology degree, and still deeply in love with the charismatic Marcus Flutie.

But reality is more complicated than dreamy clichés.

When Marcus proposes—giving her only one week to answer—Jessica must decide if she’s ready to give up a world of late-night literary soirees, art openings, and downtown drunken karaoke to move back to New Jersey and be with the one man who’s gripped her heart for years. Jessica ponders this and other life choices with her signature snark and hyper-intense insight, making it the most tumultuous and memorable week of her twenty-something life.

Perfect Fifths

Jessica Darling Series
On sale Fall 2021

“Required reading for anyone who has loved Jessica’s development from brainy, awkward teenager to successful, if still somewhat scattered, young woman.”—Miami Herald

Old flames are reignited in the fifth and final book in the New York Times bestselling Jessica Darling series.

Captivated readers have followed Jessica through every step and misstep: from her life as a tormented, tart-tongued teenager to her years as a college grad stumbling toward adulthood. Now a young professional in her mid-twenties, Jess is off to a Caribbean wedding. As she rushes to her gate at the airport, she literally runs into her former boyfriend, Marcus Flutie. It’s the first time she’s seen him since she reluctantly turned down his marriage proposal three years earlier–and emotions run high.

Marcus and Jessica have both changed dramatically, yet their connection feels as familiar as ever. Is their reunion just a fluke or has fate orchestrated this collision of their lives once again?

Told partly from Marcus’s point of view, Perfect Fifths finally lets readers inside the mind of the one person who’s both troubled and titillated Jessica Darling for years. Expect nothing less than the satisfying conclusion fans have been waiting for, one perfect in its imperfection. . . .