Acquired: Netgalley
When a virus makes everyone over the age of eighteen infertile, would-be parents pay teen girls to conceive and give birth to their children, making teens the most prized members of society. Girls sport fake baby bumps and the school cafeteria stocks folic-acid-infused food.
Sixteen-year-old identical twins Melody and Harmony were separated at birth and have never met until the day Harmony shows up on Melody’s doorstep. Up to 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 Goodside, a religious community, preparing to be a wife and mother. She believes her calling is to convince Melody 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 requested this book from netgalley sometime near the end of the school year. I thought it looked interesting. About a week or so later my request was accepted, yet I have the same problem as many book bloggers do: it takes so much longer to read an ebook. Mostly because we forget about them, they seem less important, or for some people (like me) we can only read them on our computer. So when I finally got around to reading Bumped I was a little worried and ashamed that I didn't remember it sooner.
But wow was that book amazing. I was able to read the entire book in one sitting because even youtube couldn't distract me long enough. The concept was so original and really thought provoking considering the issues it talks about and how it can relate to how the world is now. Mostly...glorifying teen pregnancies. But with this book it made the world without a choice. There was an ultimatum: teens have babies, or the population will shrink until there is none. McCafferty brought so many ideas, not only with the main concept, but the technology and pro bumping, to the table.
Usually when I read a book with two main characters and alternating chapters, I choose a favorite pretty fast, and that one is Melody. At the beginning it was flip floppy, because they both seemed set in their ways, and both of their ways were wrong to me, but in the end it was Melody who I could most agree with. Melody and Harmony were both strong characters that changed throughout the story and grew in different ways.
Maybe this would be unexpected, but Bumped was also kind of..funny. Could you imagine advertisements promoting teens to get pregnant? About how cool and fertilicious they would become? I cracked up at all of the slogans.
Overall I very much enjoyed the originality of this novel. It shows how far people will go when given the opportunity or excuse. I would recommend this book to teens who are interested in teen pregnancy.
1 comment:
This sounds sooo good! I'll have to check it out!
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