Review: Bumped by Megan McCafferty

Bumped by Megan McCafferty

2 out of 5 stars

Published by  Harper Collins, Inc
Review copy received through Netgalley

I didn't really like this book. It was completely over the top for me. I like books with a message, as long as it's done subtly. Bumped is just one bombastic piece of culture shock with messages flying all over the place, with the subtlety of a grenade-impact.

The blurb sounds interesting, and the simple cover appealed to me. There are the twin-sisters split from birth, a virus that makes having children after the teenage years impossible. And don't forget we're living in 2035, so advanced technology is present.

This book would have been so much better if the main characters, Harmony and Melody, were even remotely close to likeable. I was in constant discussion which one of the twin sisters I disliked more; the annoying my-God-is-better-than-yours sister or the equally annoying what-others-think-of-me-is-the-most-important-thing-evar sister. Even worse is that they don't develop as characters, but that towards the end of the book there is a sudden "halleluja!" moment where they for no reason at all change into a "better" person. Ugh.

I think this book was more written to shock its audience than truly have something to say. It's a continuing rampage full of made up words, orgies, Brave New World kind of drugs and a whole belief system based on supply and demand. Add the Psalm-spewing twin for some contrast, and you have Bumped. Even though categorised as young-adult, I would definitely not recommend this for your fifteen-year-old. This book is more on the adult than the young side.

Blurb

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.

Other reviews you might be interested in

• Review: Marked by P.C. Cast (3.5/5 stars)

More links

• Author page
• Harper Collins, Inc
• Goodreads