Book Review: Bumped by Megan McCafferty

I saw this on Amazon.com for 99 cents for the e-book, so I bought it.  I was a little interested in it and it was cheap.

I'm not sure what to think.  I was interested.  I didn't want to put the book "down" so to speak.  But, the story was odd.

Set in the future, a virus has spread across, I'm not sure if it's the world or just America, causing every woman (maybe man, too, I don't remember) to become sterile after a certain age.  For a teenager, being a surrogate, aka being bumped, is the biggest thing in the world.  Couples pay high prices for babies.

This story is set around a set of identical twins.  The first twin was the first to go pro in her school.  That means a couple will pay a very high price for the girl to bump with a select guy to produce a baby.  Amateur is when the girl has a baby and then puts the baby up for sale.  Beautiful, smart, talented girls are the ones in high demand as professionals.  The girl, Melody, was the first to go pro in her school, but it's been something like two years and she still hasn't gotten pregnant.  Many girls at her school have.  They look down on her even though she set the trend.

The second twin is Harmony.  She's from the Goodside.  The Goodside is the strict Christian side.  They have extremely strict rules and most have an arranged marriage around the age of 13.  Harmony's first engagement didn't work out, so she was set up with another guy and didn't marry until she was 16..  She left the day after her wedding to find her twin sister.

In this world, the big thing marketed to girls is getting pregnant.  Girls as young as 13 are in maternity stores checking out clothes and fun bumps, these pretend bumps girls wear that replicate pregnancy.  Turn it on and one can "feel" the baby inside.

Melody comes across complications with these pregnancies.  One of her best friends has gone crazy due to hers.  Everything they do during the pregnancy is not get attached to the babies.  They give them goofy nicknames.  They take medicine to detach them.  It's about the money they make afterwards than the life they're creating.  Melody questions the whole idea of teenage surrogates.

I did like the book.  The whole premise was odd and the ending was surprising.  The sequel Thumped is due out in April.  This book ends in a cliffhanger so I definitely want to check that book out.

There was a lot of slang and that era's version of "valley speak" I guess you could call it.  It was a little off putting for me, but I trudged through to get the story.

I rate the story 3 out 5 stars and I read it for pure pleasure.