Bumped by Megan McCafferty

Bumped by Megan McCafferty
Release Date – April 26, 2011
Publisher – Balzer + Bray
Pages - 323
My Rating- 6.5/10

Here is the Goodreads synopsis

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.

From New York Times bestselling author Megan McCafferty comes a strikingly original look at friendship, love, and sisterhood—in a future that is eerily believable.

I picked up Bumped and was so wanting to love it. I love the premise. It seems really believable, and scary. I felt like it could happen in the future. However, this was just an ok read for me

I thought it was interesting to have the two sides - having babies for profit vs. having them to raise yourself. It made me think about what it would be like if this actually happened. I could see the world McCafferty built as being a likely possibility. It definitely made me think, and ask questions of myself.

I found myself getting frustrated with the slang, and words the characters used (ex rilly, for serious). It was really prevalent throughout the whole book and I honestly found it distracting.

The two main characters Melody and Harmony. Harmony is the religious twin, while Melody is the “Pro”. She has a contact to give birth for a wealthy family. While they seem very different, I found their voices very similar. I found it sort of confusing to keep straight whose point of view I was reading as it switched back and forth. It got better as I got more into the story but I really felt like there wasn’t an overt difference. I also had a hard time connecting to either of them. They seemed to be there just so we could see what the effects of both ways living were. They succeeded in this but at a cost of having me really become invested in them.

The one character I really did like was Zen. He was sweet, really loves Melody (even though she won’t admit she likes him too). I just wanted him to get the girl. He provided some chuckles and I hope he has a happy ending when the series ends.

I do think that there will be people who love this book for the exact reasons that I just couldn’t get into it. I just wish that there had been less of a distraction from what was a really interesting premise.