I wanna name a kid Zen. REVIEW of "Bumped" by Megan McCafferty

Why this book?: Megan McCafferty wrote one of my favorite YA-to-Adult series (Jessica Darling). When I heard she hopped on the Dystopian bandwagon, I was ready and willing to follow her anywhere.

Disclaimer: I received this book from netgalley in exchange for a review.

Type: Young Adult, Dystopian-esque, Teen Pregnancy, Surrogettes, Lingo-riffic, Twins, I sort of want there to be a sequel?, Megan McCafferty knows how to write cool guys.

About the book: The Virus has made everyone over the age of eighteen infertile. So instead of wedded couples having their own children, teenage girls with the prefered features are chosen to be paid Surrogettes. Being pregnant (or "bumping") is the new It Thing for girls, and it can lead to a very promising future, for the surrogette that gets the best deal. Melody has been groomed her entire life to be the perfect surrogette, and it's a real hink her her plans when she finds out she has an identical twin - Harmony. Separated at birth, they never knew about one another until their records were unsealed at sixteen.

While Melody was being set up to bump, Harmony has spent her entire life in Goodside, a Church community. Harmony leaves the only home she's ever known to convince Melody that she must keep her child and get right with God. Or that's what she's told herself anyways. But things start to get difficult when Melody is finally partnered with Jondoe, the worlds best Sperm donor. Now Melody must choose between the life of a Surrogette, and life with her best guy friend Zen, and a whopping case of mistaken identity leaves even the best plans to ruin.
My Review: This book was incredibly tough to summarize, almost as difficult as it was to get through the beginning. Filled to the brim with jargon and slang from this new era, it took me until I was over halfway done with the book to finally get the hang of things. I appreciate the reason for all the slang - teenagers of any generation will and do use plenty of it, but it made for a difficult read. Maybe a dictionary in the back of the book would have been helpful, or to slowly work the audience into the story, then overload them with slang.

It took a while for me to feel any interest in this book, in part because of the overuse of slang and abbreviations, but also because I felt no investment in the characters. By the end I was enjoying the story and the four main teenagers, but getting to that point was difficult. I was almost positive that Melody wouldn't really grow as a character. She surprised me, a little, in the end, but even then, it felt like a surprise that she matured into her own person, not a gradual change.

Despite what I've said, I didn't hate the book. I thought it was a solid "good," as opposed to "great" and "excellent." I really liked the idea of this book. People obsess over watching shows like 16 And Pregnant, and Teen Mom, so a dystopian novel where that is considered okay and even patriotic is something fascinating, interesting, and frankly, something I want to read. I know Megan McCafferty is an excellent author, and has some great stories in her, but this book just fell short for me. The ending was good and kept me reading until way past my bedtime, but I know the slow start and put-downable beginning half is going to be too much for some people.
Recommendation: Fans of dystopian YA will want to check out "Bumped." If you're looking for something different, this is definitely a book you should try.

Cover Loving: Frankly, I love it. I think it's simple and matches the book perfectly.

Final Rating: THREE out of FIVE (3/5). Beginning was a little tough to get through, but I think the ending was worth it. Good, but I think I'm going to wait for a paperback edition.

"Bumped" by Megan McCafferty will be released April 26 - preorder your copy now from Amazon.com! Is this something you would consider reading? Share your thoughts in the comments!

Happy Reading!
~!~ Amanda ~!~