Hoping For More: Bumped, Megan McCafferty

Title: Bumped
Author: Megan McCafferty
Series: Bumped, Book #1
Genre: YA, Dystopian
Page Count: 336 Pages (Hardcover)
Pub. Date: Published April 2011 by Balzer + Bray (Imprint of HarperCollins)
Rating: 4.5/5

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. 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. 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 Goodside, a religious community, 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.
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..

~My Review~

In a world where teens are the only people able to conceive Melody is praised for her choice to be a surrogate. Her twin sister Harmony, raised by "the churchies", however is not happy about her newfound sister's choice and has set out to change her mind.

With all the dystopian fiction flooding the bookshelves lately, I was pleasantly surprised by Megan McCafferty's fresh take on the genre. The conflict surrounding the society in Bumped isn't post-apocalyptic or struggling under oppression as so many are, it's an amplified struggle that we face today - we make our choices based on fear, fear of poverty, fear of rejection, and in more cases than not a miss-placed fear of God.

I was sucked into the story of Melody and Harmony, and their struggle to know what is the right thing to do. I felt compassion for the Harmony, who is trying to balance what she knows is true in her heart, and the rules she feel obligated to follow. Melody wants to fulfil the role her parents have trained her for. Both sisters start out the book making their decisions based on fear and manipulation, but grow throughout their struggles to a place where they can start to think on their own.

The ending wasn't as wrapped up as I wanted it to be, but after finding out that Megan McCafferty is writing a sequel, I am actually glad she ended it the way she did. Bumped was a light and fun read that also really made me think.

Thanks to NetGalley and HarperCollins for the ARC