Thumped (Bumped #2) 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.

I really enjoyed this book more than the first book.  It read faster and was faster paced for one thing.  I also liked that the girls came farther in their ability to stand up for themselves and what they want.  In a way, Melody has gone from being pushed around by her parents to being pushed around by the expectations of Zen and her fans.  But her learning to make decisions for herself is a huge thing in this book.  She makes a number of realizations about the world around her and how she wants to live.  Harmony goes through a process herself.  She has to choose to be her own person and to decide how she believes she should live her faith.  She has to make a choice for the future of her twins.  She has so many choices to make and when she gets the courage to make those choices, it's pretty amazing.  Ram even decides to be himself and to live his life of faith in his own way.  There are just so many great moments and messages in this book.  I think that the best part of this book is that it encourages teens to think about their choices in life, their faith, their relationships... everything and to put it all in perspective with the bigger picture.  It pulls away from the self centered tendencies that teens have sometimes and encourages them to look outward and analyze.

I would recommend this for older teens merely for the content and language.  The talk of sex is pretty cavalier and younger teens may not really grasp the full message of this book.  I hope you'll give this book a try!  Click here to add this book to your Goodreads.  You can find out more about Megan McCafferty on her website and you can follow her on Twitter.  I liked this book better than it's predecessor so I give it 4 Fairies.