Jessica Darling is back. Having left Pineville, New Jersey for New York City and the Ivy League, she makes it through her freshman year at Columbia. Although she didn’t take much time to write her freshman year, not to her best friend Hope or in her journal, she starts up again during the summer after freshman year, eager to share her experiences on her internship at a cool feminist magazine.

But when things don’t work out quite as she’d planned, she finds herself once again back in Pineville. She gets to spend some time with friends from high school and finally gets to see her boyfriend Marcus, who is going to a Buddhist college in California. And while she and Marcus were able to stay together through their freshman years on opposite sides of the country (and win Jessica’s dorm lottery for high school couples who stayed together), the fact that she turns down a cross-country road trip with him before sophomore year seems to shadow more difficult times ahead.

Jessica moves through two and a half more years of college, studying hard but also learning a lot about the relationships that make us and break us. She studies psychology, trying to make the most of her opportunities at Columbia, but she has to balance her classes with some difficult financial lessons. When her parents decide to sell their house to move to a new place, she loses their monetary support for her class and has to budget hard and work 2 jobs. When Marcus decides to go to a 2-year school where he will be cut off from family and friends, Jessica takes that time to experiment with relationships and sex, and to try to figure out what she believes about love and marriage.

She has some friends who come and go, and others who stay true through it all. She loses a friend to an unexpected death and reconnects with her high school crush Paul Parlipiano, who first encouraged her to consider Columbia. She bumps into high school nemesis Hy, who had been undercover at Pineville High working on a novel. When the book was published, it was clear it was about Jessica and her friends, and despite Jess’s anger at feeling used, she (like so many others) read Bubblegum Bimbos and thought it was good. Now she can meet Hy without resentment and move forward as equals, if not buddies.

Whether she’s scooping ice cream back on the boardwalk or attending a $200 a ticket political bash, Jessica is smart and cynical, observant and striking. While she’s not sure what she wants to do with her psychology degree (she doesn’t like people enough to work with them every day), she is certain that she will figure it out. And as she comes to a deeper understanding of relationships and what’s really important in life, she finds herself becoming a better friend, sister, friend, and partner.

But the one thing that keeps Jessica Darling moving forward, it’s that things are never boring. When she’s dancing with her niece or drinking with fellow Democrats, walking in on her parents having sex or shopping for a Barry Manilow toilet seat cover, there is never a dull moment when Jess is in the housel

Charmed Thirds is the third book in the Jessica Darling series. Author Megan McCafferty brings the ‘90s back to life in these novels about growing up and finding yourself. I love how all the characters get to change and develop through these chapters, and finding out what Jessica sees in them at each step of their lives just shows how much these characters (especially Jess) grow into maturity. And if, like me, you’re into the audio books for these novels, narrator Katie Schorr is back with all those voices that she brought to life in the former volumes. The audio book is almost 12 hours long, but Schorr’s brilliant voice work makes all the characters distinctive, and it’s easy to follow along.

I am a big fan of McCafferty and the Jessica Darling books. The ways that Jessica grows through Charmed Thirds makes this one my favorite so far. But if I have one complaint, it’s that I wanted more. This book takes us through all her years at Columbia, and I’d rather have spent more time with Jessica and her friends through these years. But I am grateful for the time that I got with Pineville’s favorite daughters and sons, and for the wisdom, the pop culture references, the friendship, the laughs, the philosophy, and the quotes. Can’t wait for number four!

An early copy of the audio book for Charmed Thirds was provided by Macmillan Audio through NetGalley, with many thanks.