Bumped - Megan McCafferty

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. 

The best way I can describe this book is as a dark, terrifying dystopian world hidden by a bright pink candy coating.

When I started reading Bumped, I really wasn't sure if I'd like it.  To be honest, both sisters really weirded me out.  One was uber-religious and extremely preachy, and the other was completely absorbed in the culture of teen pregging-for-profit.  

The story opens with them in a mall, with one sister hiding out in the changeroom, dancing around as she tries on a fake pregnancy belly that's marketed as a "fun bump" and singing along to a ridiculous-sounding, but really quite terrifying song about how great being a pregnant teenager is. All the while. her sister stands on the other side of the curtain, essentially praying for her soul.

But I kept reading.  And once you get past the crazy futuristic language and the fact that the entire society is on board with teens getting pregnant and selling their babies to the highest bidder--or even  better, getting the money first, and then "pregging", because pretty much everyone over the age of 20 is sterile--this quickly turns into a really amazing dystopian tale.

What I loved more than anything was the characters and how much growth they experienced over the course of the book.  I think this is part of a trilogy, so we're nowhere near done with them, but all of the characters had a huge amount of growth, and they're all starting to realize that the worlds they've come to accept as normal, really, really aren't.  

This was such an amazing read.  McCafferty has created a whole new world, and I can't wait to get lost in it again.

This one came out just a couple days ago.  Go pick it up!

Happy Reading!

-geekgirl