It took me far too long to read this book. A whole month! The only reason I finally finished it is because it was due at the library. Don’t get me wrong. I didn’t hate it. It just didn’t interest me the way I wanted. It’s gone down hill since the second book. I’ll read the fifth one just so I can finish the story. I’m still hoping the series will redeem itself.

Jessica and Hope are back together! They’re subletting an apartment together and Jessica has a big girl job at a magazine she loves. Everything seems to be going well… until Marcus proposes to her. Now, she only has a week to decide if she wants to stay in New York and continue the life she’s built or leave it all to be with Marcus in New Jersey.

 

The first problem with this book is based on a bias, but whatever. There was not enough Marcus. There was basically no Marcus, since he was on a trip. You might say, “but Laura, these books are about Jessica, not Marcus.” Yes. They are, and Jessica is funny and all, but this series just isn’t as good without Marcus’s complimentary wit. Because of his absence I found myself pretty bored.

 

The plot is interesting, but extremely slow. I blame this on the fact that it only covers a week of her life. I can’t imagine filling up 300 pages with a week in my life. It sounds horribly boring… and it is. Plus, it’s a little like whiplash going from a book that covers three years of Jessica’s life to one that covers a week.

 

There’s one thing Jessica talks about that I just have to refute. She comes to the conclusion that Marcus is constantly changing and because of that she can’t have him in her life. What I don’t understand about this is that everyone changes. It’s just the way human begins are, especially at young ages. College is the time for change, but that doesn’t mean people can’t stay together. In fact, I think any two people in a mature relationship should be able to change and grow together. Maybe that’s just me.

 

I don’t particularly recommend this book, but if you’re reading the series, you have to read this one to finish it. It’s suitable for readers ages 16+ due to sexual content and language.

Megan McCafferty, Fourth Comings

I honestly did not expect to like Fourth Comings as much as I did. If anything, I opened this book with trepidation, fully planning to give it four stars at best, but it wound up just blowing me away. While Sloppy Firsts and Charmed Thirds remain the most life-changing of all the Jessica Darling books for me so far, I think Fourth Comings is easily the most brilliant. It isn't the one I'll re-read the most or even return to too many times, but the clues scattered throughout this book, the intelligent conversations, the maturity of Jessica...and the manner in which it all comes together and ties up with that second-to-last word? Incredible.Fourth Comings stands out as the most mature of the Jessica Darling books. In this, Jessica fully acknowledges her selfishness, her nuttiness, her insecurities, the TRUTH about her relationship with Marcus... And as someone who thrives on drawn-out drama and realistic, ambiguous endings, this was kind of perfect. It's so easy to get caught up in that magic of Jessica and Marcus but this book puts their relationship in an entirely new light - one that scrutinizes their flaws, destroying the idealistic image of these two we may have harbored before. Fourth Comings starts out with Jessica prepared to break up with Marcus, but before she can quite do so, Marcus abruptly proposes, leaving on a trip for a week and giving her those seven Marcus-free days to decide whether or not she wants to be with Marcus till death do them apart. As an individual who doesn't believe in the institution of marriage - and who was prepared to break up with her boyfriend - a marriage proposal is outrageous to Jessica. And yet, she cannot bring herself to give an outright rejection either. As Jessica embarks on her achingly normal day-to-day activities, though, she slowly comes to realize what she really wants from life - and whether Marcus really factors into that picture at all. For me, what makes Fourth Comings so phenomenal is the mere fact that by the end, everything comes together. Although dispersed with small meetings and intimate stories, all these separate journeys make a full circle, helping Jessica to become the self-assured person she is by the end of the novel. Fourth Comings continues to build upon the familial relationships Jessica sustains, both with her sister - who isn't the complete blonde airhead she once though - and her parents. I particularly loved this latter plot line as it was such a different, yet inevitable, type of relationship bred out of the follies of youth. Its contrast with the other romantic relationships in this novel, from Jessica and Marcus, Bethany and G-Money, or even Bridget and Percy, was stunning in its depth and subtlety. One of my favorite aspects of this novel, however, is the fact that we finally meet the elusive Hope Weaver. Although we don't know Hope intimately, mostly because her interactions with Jessica, though important, have been few-and-far-between, we have come to love and cherish her in our hearts. Quite simply, the ambiguity of Hope's character allows us, as the reader, to project our own ideals of the perfect best friend onto Hope - or even qualities our own best friends possess - which is what makes the interactions between Hope and Jessica in this novel so bittersweet. Not only does Jessica begin to realize that she has other friends besides Hope - that their lives don't revolve around each other anymore, but rather other subjects - but she also comes to recognize that there is still so much she doesn't know about her best friend. And although the scenes between these two could be laced with awkwardness and made me want to cry out for Jessica, I love the realistic path it took and its solid resolution as well. All in all, Fourth Comings is yet another unflinchingly honest installment from Megan McCafferty. Jessica, struggling to find a job, pay her rent, and find her place in the mesh that is NYC, is still the endearing character we first met. Although she has come a long way, she will always have so much more to go and it pains me to be so close to saying goodbye to her forever.But. However. Unfortunately... As they say, all good things must eventually come to an end. While I wish there could be permanent AND postcard when it comes to this series, I am both excited and nervous to find out what finally happens to Marcus and Jessica. It could be FOREVER. Or, you know, just WHATEVER.You can read this review" and more on my blog, Ivy Book Bindings.

I don't know what I expected from this book. Expectations were right because of the excellency of the two previous books. I was very surprised with the turn of the events in this fourth instalment. That much is true. But as I was reading it I didn't feel the thrill I've known in the previous books. I agree with Jessica and with her reflexions throughout the book but I was expecting more... something. And I was actually disappointed with all the Hope deal. Not so much because of the situation but with how she kept something from Jessica. I expected more from her. If you can't trust your best-friend who can you trust?However, I'm very excited with the last book of this series just because I believe in this relationship. They fill me with hope. They make me cry, they make me laugh but all in all, they make me believe in love.

Fourth Comings (Jessica Darling, #4) - M... In Fourth Comings the style of the series changes from Jessica writing in diary form to Jessica writing to Marcus. The premise of the book involves Marcus asking Jessica, on a whim, to marry him. He gives her a week to decide and during this week Jessica writes to Marcus to make why she chooses yes or no more clear.

Unfortunately I found the style choice of the novel to be distracting. It alters the way in which Jessica writes (although it is still quite pretentious, much like the third book) because someone else is seeing it, a very important someone no less. Also, why on earth does Jessica rehash events/conversations that she has had with Marcus in these writings to him? She rehashes events verbatim like he was never there, now tell me how likely and practical this is? Isn't it much more likely she would say something like: "Remember when [blank] and you said/did [blank]? Well here is what came of that or here is what I thought yadda yadda." These entire scenes of which Marcus was supposedly involved make the presence of the author extremely felt.

Also, the whole premise is for Jessica to be giving thought to the proposal and the reasons why she should or should not agree, correct? Well why does it include so very random and non-important events? The lack of focus was atrocious. Plus, the reasons for her response to the proposal in my opinion are buried under such useless crap that I would not be able to make heads or tails of it until the last chapter. In the beginning of the book Jessica plans to break up with Marcus, which results in a proposal. Her main reason given at that time is him being a college freshman at 23. What the hell kind of reason is that? Regardless, she has other various reasons for breaking up with him in the beginning, none of which seem to alter throughout the novel. (Also, why does McCafferty keep ending novels with the couple together and then suddenly broken up or breaking up in the beginning of the next? So frustrating.)

Overall, I found the style change ineffective and the overall choice of focus aggravating (if you want to call what this was FOCUS). I will read book 5 to see how it all ends, although this rather felt like an ending in and of itself.

P.S. Jessica having had the notebooks from book 3 Marcus gave her stolen on her road trip felt like a total cop out by the author!!!