Mary
Jane (aka Plain Jane... aka MJ) is a senior in high school. And she
has a massive crush on Jackson House. But Jackson has a girlfriend,
even though he HAS been flirting with Mary Jane. And his girlfriend
just happens to be in Mary Jane's group of friends. So when rumors
start flying about Mary Jane and Jackson... Well, things turn ugly.
Her friends can't believe Mary Jane would betray a friend like that.
But the truth is: nothing has happened! No matter, rumors fly fast.
And soon Mary Jane's reputation is on the line.
As if high
school life wasn't complicated enough. Mary Jane is already dealing
with her best friend being away at college, her boss at the Twisted
Pretzel being a big pain, and her "rents." And let's not even get
started on how confused she is about love and everything else in the
romance-world. While Mary Jane battles all the outside fiascoes of
teenage life, there is a battle going on inside as well: the battle
between Plain Jane and MJ, her two alter-egos with totally opposing
viewpoints on sex and Jackson House. Because even IF Jackson did like
Mary Jane, what would that mean? She'd promised to wait until she was
married to have sex. She'd made a pact with her two best friends (both
of whom are now away at college). She decides it's all a moot point
anyway... Until things DO start changing with Jackson. And now Mary
Jane must decide what she wants for her future and who she really is.
***I
liked this book for a few reasons. I'd probably give it a little over 3
stars. The story, set in high school, was a little immature seeming
most of the time. But that could be that my 34-year old self can't
really relate to the high school angst anymore. But there were quite a
few messages I appreciated in this book. Like how Mary Jane's best
friend Alicia reasoned remaining abstinent until marriage: "Sometimes I
feel like there's not so much of me to give, so I better save it for
the man I want to marry. Like, I don't want to leave pieces of me all
over the place... Plus, who wants to be married to this perfectly great
guy but still be thinking about the super sex you had with some loser in
high school?" I felt like there was a lot of depth in that. I also
like that there wasn't a bunch of bad language in the book. That
actually surprised me, and I liked it a lot!
