Bumped by Megan McCafferty
Bumped by Megan McCafferty
Publisher: HarperTeen (Balzer + Bray)
Release: April 26, 2011
Rating: 4/5Synopsis: When a virus makes everyone over the age of eighteen infertile, would-be parents are forced to pay teen girls to conceive and give birth to their children, making teens the most prized members of society. Sixteen-year-old identical twins Melody and Harmony were separated at birth and had never met until the day Harmony shows up on Melody’s doorstep. Until 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 religious Goodside, preparing to be a wife and mother. She believes her calling is to bring Melody back to Goodside and convince her 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.
My Thoughts: I was actually really surprised at how much I loved this. McCafferty wrote the Jessica Darling series, so I’d be lying if I said I’d be a little curious as to how she would pull off a YA dystopian. But she did it. With flying colors.
The world building was so seamless and so quietly done that I was immersed in this new world without me even realising. The next thing I knew about three or four hours had passed and I was near the end of the book. The world she has created was so fully realised that it was so easy to slip myself into. The slang was a little weird, and I found myself pretty confused by some of the terms (Seriously? What the heck is an ‘everythingbut’?!), but just ignored them/made up my own meaning for them. I do wish there had been a glossary or something included in the back of the book to tell you what some of the slang means. While it wasn’t a major hindrance, I wish a couple things were altered:
- A better explanation of the infertility virus and how it came to be
- A lessening of some of the more cringe worthy words, think high school Health Class
- The major cliffhanger at the end, sure it’ll make me buy the next book but
that’s just too far away to think about!Bumped deals in issues that are pretty heavy – questions about who owns the rights to their own bodies, how teenagers’ bodies are taken advantage of when it becomes the only way of surviving as a race, capitalizing on sex and pregnancy. At the end of the book, the characters are kind of rethinking their world and their places in it and how they treat their bodies, but the decisions they reach about these issues largely take place behind the scenes and are described with genuine feeling and sincerity. The main example being our star, Melody. The slow, steady development, and raising awareness between her and Zen was a major example.
I’m looking forward to seeing what happens next!
Source: eGalley received for review from the publisher.
