Firsts

Where do I even start with this book?

This book, this amazing book, Firsts by Laurie Elizabeth Flynn, is quite possibly the most raw, realistic Young Adult novel I have ever had the pleasure of reading. It's just good.

Mercedes Ayers sleeps with other girls' boyfriends. A lot of other girls' boyfriends. She's not having sex with these boys because she likes them or because she wants to hurt their girlfriends. No, Mercedes is sleeping around for altruistic reasons. Really. She wants to make sure that no other girl has as bad a first time as she did, so she offers herself up to their nervous, fumbling boyfriends as practice for the real thing. She tells the guys what to say, what to wear, how to set the mood, how to make things perfect.

Of course it all has to blow up in her face.

This book goes where most Young Adult novels fear to tread. It discusses sex unflinchingly and realistically. I know that YA is meant to be for teenagers and therefore most YA novels have a PG-13 rating at the highest, but I also remember high school. As much as we all like to pretend our teenagers are still children that do nothing more than hold hands and maybe kiss on the lips (no tongue!)... the fact is, an awful lot of them are having sex. This book was refreshing in that it didn't pretend that the only people doing it in high school are there as a lesson to be punished accordingly: Don't do this or you'll get pregnant/AIDs/depression or die like this minor character the heroine is totally going to learn from, kiddies!

There were some aspects of the story that made me uncomfortable - there's an unwillingness to label some iffy behavior as rape or attempted rape, but even that I can let go when I remember how it felt to be 17 and confused about rights and what constitutes what when it comes to consent. Or non-consent, as the case may be. That stuff that makes me uncomfortable is supposed to make me uncomfortable.

I loved this book and I highly recommend it to anyone who liked the Jessica Darling books by Megan McCafferty, Forever by Judy Blume, or Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson. This is the book that proves that all YA isn't silly, dystopian, fantasy nonsense. Some of it is real and true and lovely.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Note: the book won't be out until January 5, 2016, but it is available on pre-order from Amazon.