Charmed Thirds

Okay, let’s be real: *Charmed Thirds* is the audiobook equivalent of that friend who texts you at 2 a.m. to dissect their latest disaster—except here, the disaster is Jessica Darling’s entire junior year of college, and you *can’t* look away. I went in expecting the usual YA college fare—keg stands, existential dread, maybe a cute boy—but McCafferty doesn’t do ‘usual.’ Jess is infuriating, brilliant, and painfully relatable, the kind of protagonist who makes terrible choices (sleeping with her professor’s TA? *Really*?) and yet somehow earns your loyalty because her self-loathing is so specific. The book’s strength is its refusal to sand down her edges; Jess isn’t ‘likable,’ but she’s *alive* in a way most YA heroines aren’t. Now, the audiobook: Katie Schorr’s performance is a masterclass in tonal whiplash. One minute she’s nailing Jess’s biting sarcasm (her ‘*whatever*’ could peel paint), the next she’s delivering a line like ‘I missed him so much it felt like my ribs were caving in’ with such raw quiet that I actually paused to catch my breath. My only critique? The pacing occasionally stumbles in the middle—Jess’s navel-gazing can drag, and a few subplots (looking at you, Hope’s drama) feel like filler. And while Schorr’s voice work is stellar, her male characters sometimes blur together, lacking distinct cadences. But these are quibbles. The real triumph is how the audiobook *sounds* like youth itself: messy, self-important, and achingly sincere. If you’ve ever romanticized your own chaos, this one’s for you—just brace for the cringe-and-recognize moments.