New Releases by Megan McCafferty

Megan McCafferty's Bumped series of books are must-read teen dystopian fiction, along with Ally Condie's Matched series and Veronica Roth's Divergent trilogy. Thumped, the sequel to Bumped, manages to be satiric, scary, and romantic at the same time. It continues the story of separated-at-birth twins, Melody and Harmony, girls as engaging as McCafferty's Jessica Darling. These sisters are the most popular teen girls on the planet. To their fans, they seem to be living ideal lives. Harmony is married to Ram and living in Goodside, the religious community that once meant everything to her. Melody has the genetically flawless Jondoe as her coupling partner, which means money and status—and a bright future. But both girls are hiding secrets. And they are each pining for the only guys they can't have.... The biggest risk of all could be to finally tell the truth.

From mega-bestselling author Megan McCafferty—author of the beloved Jessica Darling series that The Wall Street Journal called “Judy Blume meets Dorothy Parker”—comes a hilarious love letter to the magic and heartache of middle school friendship. Sophie Dailey is NOT looking forward to starting middle school. For one thing, she doesn’t look like other kids. Instead of trendy tank tops, she wears high tech shirts that block UV rays. (Sun protection is serious business!) And she definitely doesn’t sound like other kids either. (She can’t say “holla” or “hot take” without making a weird face.) Needless to say, this is probably why her best friend, Ella, ditched her for Queen Bee Morgan. Sophie is comfortable with who she is and doesn’t want to change. But she’s also pretty lonely without Ella. Even worse, Morgan seems intent on making seventh grade miserable for Sophie, and Ella doesn’t bat an eye at the bullying. Then a new girl moves in next door to Sophie. Kaytee Ray is everything Sophie is not: fashionable and super-confident. Sophie can’t believe Kaytee wants to spend the last days of summer with her. Determined to keep Kaytee as a friend, Sophie lies about her social status, claiming to be besties with Morgan and Ella. As long as Kaytee attends Villa Academy—a private school on the other side of town—she’ll never find out her first friend in New Jersey is a loser. But can any friendship built on lies survive seventh grade?

The fifth and final book in Megan McCafferty's beloved, New York Times bestselling series - now with a new foreword by Rebecca Serle Jessica thought her Pineville, New Jersey life was behind her. Now a young professional, she's ready to keep moving forward—until she (literally) runs into her former boyfriend Marcus Flutie at the airport on her way to her best friend's Caribbean wedding. Marcus and Jessica have both changed dramatically, yet their connection feels as familiar as ever. Is their reunion just a fluke? Or is this momentous collision orchestrated by fate? Readers have followed Jessica through every step (and misstep) from her life as a high schooler, to her years in college, and a twenty-something stumbling towards adulthood. In Perfect Fifths, the hilarious and satisfying conclusion to the Jessica Darling series, readers will finally get a peek inside the mind of Marcus Flutie, with a finale perfect in its imperfections.

The fourth book in the beloved, New York Times bestselling series - now with a new foreword by Rebecca Serle Jessica Darling is living the New York City dream. She's subletting an apartment with her best friend, working for a magazine that cares about her psychology degree, and she's still deeply in love with Marcus Flutie. But then Marcus proposes, and wants Jessica's answer in a week. Is she ready to give up her NYC life of literary parties, art openings, and karaoke downtown to move back to New Jersey? Even if it's to be with the boy (now man) who she's been in love with for years? Megan McCafferty's Fourth Comings, the next in the hilarious New York Times bestselling series, brings readers once again into the snarky, witty mind of Jessica Darling as she learns that reality is more complicated than dreamy clichés.

Second Helpings continues Megan McCafferty's New York Times bestselling series - now with a new foreword by 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). Now with a foreword from New York Times bestselling author Rebecca Serle and a new author's note from Megan McCafferty!

New York Times bestselling author Megan McCafferty returns to her roots with this YA coming of age story set in a New Jersey mall. The year is 1991. Scrunchies, mixtapes and 90210 are, like, totally fresh. Cassie Worthy is psyched to spend the summer after graduation working at the Parkway Center Mall. In six weeks, she and her boyfriend head off to college in NYC to fulfill The Plan: higher education and happily ever after. But you know what they say about the best laid plans... Set entirely in a classic "monument to consumerism," the novel follows Cassie as she finds friendship, love, and ultimately herself, in the most unexpected of places. Megan McCafferty, beloved New York Times bestselling author of the Jessica Darling series, takes readers on an epic trip back in time to The Mall.

The most hilarious, charming, realistic story of middle-grade friendships you'll ever read, from Megan McCafferty, the mega bestselling, beloved author of Sloppy Firsts. Twelve-year-old Ella has everything she needs to take seventh grade by storm, from the perfect outfit to the perfect new best friend. She's still not 100% sure why cool, confident Morgan has chosen Ella to be her newest sidekick, but Ella is flattered by the attention, even if it means giving up some of the things she's always loved, like fantasy novels . . . and her former best friend, Sophie. Ella feels a little guilty about ditching Sophie, but middle school is no laughing matter, and Ella knows that it'll be safer in popular Morgan's shadow than by Sophie's side.But life as Morgan's best friend is trickier than Ella imagined. Everything has to be perfect, from their "on brand" selfies to the videos they record of them singing. And the more demanding Morgan becomes, the more Ella starts to wonder if she made the right choice. But Sophie already has a new best friend, leaving Ella feeling more alone and out of place than ever.So when Ella discovers a new activity that she's really good at -- a hopelessly dorky sport that Morgan has forbidden her from pursuing, Ella has to ask herself what matters more: popularity . . . or staying true to herself? But does she even know who she really is without loyal Sophie by her side?

Crazy teachers; best friends turning pretty overnight; "The Unbreakable Laws of Cafeteria Line Cutting".... Junior high is rough, and Jessica Darling needs help! Enter older sister Bethany and her "It List," meant to help Jessica uphold "The Darling Domination of Popularity." In Jessica Darling's It List 3, Jessica faces the potentially mortifying outcome of the Top Secret Pineville Junior High Crushability Test. Plus, she's kind of stuck in the middle, as smarties and skaters unite to collect signatures on a petition to bring back the school's annual dance. Will the dramarama of seventh grade be Jessica's downfall? Not if she can help it.

Is it impossible for old elementary-school friends and new junior-high friends to all get along as just, you know, friends? Good or bad, that's what I'm about to find out. Jessica Darling is finally getting the hang of seventh grade!Hosting an epic slumber party might even help to make Jessica popular...but is that what she really wants? New York Times bestselling author Megan McCafferty's It List series introduces readers to Jessica Darling, an unabashedly brainy seventh grader who tries to stay true to herself, even if it means being (totally not) cool.

Looking for your book club's next discussion-worthy read? Want a fun, thought-provoking book just for yourself? Preview six of summer's teen book club picks with sneak peeks of Fall from Grace by Charles Benoit, The Lost Code by Kevin Emerson, Something Strange and Deadly by Susan Dennard, Thumped by Megan McCafferty, Tiger Lily by Jodi Lynn Anderson, and A Want So Wicked by Suzanne Young. Join the Epic Reads Book Club and get in on the conversation about these books and others with Epic Reads on Facebook.

When a virus makes everyone over the age of eighteen infertile, would-be parents pay teen girls to conceive and give birth to their children, making teens the most prized members of society. Girls sport fake baby bumps and the school cafeteria stocks folic-acid-infused food. Sixteen-year-old identical twins Melody and Harmony were separated at birth and have never met until the day Harmony shows up on Melody’s doorstep. Up to now, the twins have followed completely opposite paths. Melody has scored an enviable conception contract with a couple called the Jaydens. While they are searching for the perfect partner for Melody to bump with, she is fighting her attraction to her best friend, Zen, who is way too short for the job. Harmony has spent her whole life in Goodside, a religious community, preparing to be a wife and mother. She believes her calling is to convince Melody that pregging for profit is a sin. But Harmony has secrets of her own that she is running from. When Melody is finally matched with the world-famous, genetically flawless Jondoe, both girls’ lives are changed forever. A case of mistaken identity takes them on a journey neither could have ever imagined, one that makes Melody and Harmony realize they have so much more than just DNA in common. From New York Times bestselling author Megan McCafferty comes a strikingly original look at friendship, love, and sisterhood—in a future that is eerily believable.

Growing Up Can Be Perfect in Its Imperfection The Jessica Darling series chronicles one young woman’s coming-of-age in the first decade of the 21st century. Over five books and ten years, Jessica Darling fumbles her way into adulthood. She evolves from a sixteen-year-old cynic, snarking in her diary about catty cliques, unrequited crushes, and other high school indignities, into a jet-setting twenty-six-year-old urbanite searching for more meaning in her life. Through all her misadventures in high school, college, and beyond, Jessica gets long-distance support from her best friend, Hope. But it's her on-again/off-again love of her life, Marcus Flutie, who can always be counted on to complicate her life in ways that are infuriating, intoxicating, and ultimately irresistible. SLOPPY FIRSTS: Meet Jessica Darling—and fall for Marcus Flutie—in this high school comedy of many, many errors. A fresh, funny, utterly compelling fiction debut, Sloppy Firsts is an insightful true-to-life look at sixteen-year-old Jessica's predicament as she embarks on another year of teenage torment—from the dark days after her best friend, Hope, moves away 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. SECOND HELPINGS: Can Jessica survive senior year without losing her mind . . . or her heart? This time, Jess is going through the social and emotional ordeal of her last year at Pineville High. Not only does the mysterious Marcus Flutie continue to distract her, but Hope still lives in another state, and she can't seem to escape the clutches of the Clueless Crew, her annoying so-called friends. To top it off, Jessica's parents won't get off her butt about choosing a college. Will Jess crack under the pressure of senioritis? CHARMED THIRDS: Jessica is in college . . . and smart girls have more fun! Jessica has finally left her hometown/hellhole for Columbia University; she's into Marcus more than ever (so what if he's at a Buddhist college in California), and she's making new friends. But Jess soon realizes that her bliss might not last. As she and Marcus hit the rocks, will she fall for her GOPunk, neoconservative RA . . . or for the hot grad student she's assisting on a summer project . . . or for the oh-so-sensitive emo boy down the hall? Will she even make it now that her parents have cut her off financially? And what do the cryptic one-word postcards from Marcus really mean? FOURTH COMINGS: Is the real world ready for Jessica Darling? At first it seems like 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 is still deeply in love with Marcus. But 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. PERFECT FIFTHS: Does Jessica and Marcus's journey end here? Or is it just the beginning? . . . 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. They 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?

Memoirs.

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.

The first book in the New York Times bestselling Jessica Darling series 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 novel, 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, 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. “A hilarious trip down memory lane. You’ll laugh out loud–and cringe–as this first novel by McCafferty takes you back to the soap opera that was high school.”—Glamour