I read the entire series for the first time my junior year of college (my current status as of fall 2018). Let's state the obvious; the movie is SO different, so do not go off of the movie. I, of course, was too young to read these when they first came out, so I saw the movie first... big sin in the book world. But I took a class in YA Lit. and this was one of our books. I was so hooked. I ended up reading the rest of the series over the Christmas break (that's like a month, they are that good). This series was really refreshing and really made me value friendship.