I've grown attached to the Jessica Darling series and the characters within since I read Sloppy Firsts years ago - the first-person voice of a teenager writing in her journal was witty from the beginning. The first two books I regarded with adoration in the way McCafferty wrote a teenager: it's perfect! I get her, I am her! Kind of.

However, the format didn't do anything for me in the third or fourth books. I couldn't connect with Jessica anymore. Her voice grew tiresome. I had no idea what to expect from this fifth book, only knowing that it was the final in the series. I was immensely and pleasantly surprised to find the entire book written in third person: finally the story would be told from an observer's point of view, mingled with that of Jessica and Marcus. And Marcus! I was relieved to finally hear what he thought - how he thought. There were many revelations about his character, and I was so happy to find out where these two were in the world.

The book was a great ending to the series. I feel a sense of closure, and Jessica's words in a moment of realization made me almost cheer her on. I suppose I've been doing that this whole time, over all these years.

That said, there were a few things that made this a bit hard to get through at times: it spans very little time and takes a little bit too long to really get to the story. There is too much exposition, though I can see how one might deem it necessary. Near the end as well, there are sequences that bored me to death nearly while Jessica slept. The best? The chapter of haikus written between Jessica and Marcus, and made me smile as I read along. No matter what I don't like about the books, I do cherish them and the characters.

Post Script: As much as Twilight made me angry and want to write an actual teen book for the garbage that was passed off as gospel - this series also inspires me to write, only instead of out of anger, I aspire to write such three dimensional teenage characters, so much more vivid than the vapid sketches of the vampire series.