Title: Firsts
Author: Laurie Elizabeth Flynn
Publisher: St Martin's Griffin
Genre: YA, NA, Contemporary, Romance
Release Date: 5th January 2016
BLURB from Goodreads
Seventeen-year-old Mercedes Ayres has an open-door policy when it comes to her bedroom, but only if the guy fulfills a specific criteria: he has to be a virgin. Mercedes lets the boys get their awkward, fumbling first times over with, and all she asks in return is that they give their girlfriends the perfect first time- the kind Mercedes never had herself.
Keeping what goes on in her bedroom a secret has been easy- so far. Her absentee mother isn’t home nearly enough to know about Mercedes’ extracurricular activities, and her uber-religious best friend, Angela, won’t even say the word “sex” until she gets married. But Mercedes doesn’t bank on Angela’s boyfriend finding out about her services and wanting a turn- or on Zach, who likes her for who she is instead of what she can do in bed.
When Mercedes’ perfect system falls apart, she has to find a way to salvage her reputation and figure out where her heart really belongs in the process. Funny, smart, and true-to-life, FIRSTS is a one-of-a-kind young adult novel about growing up.
Keeping what goes on in her bedroom a secret has been easy- so far. Her absentee mother isn’t home nearly enough to know about Mercedes’ extracurricular activities, and her uber-religious best friend, Angela, won’t even say the word “sex” until she gets married. But Mercedes doesn’t bank on Angela’s boyfriend finding out about her services and wanting a turn- or on Zach, who likes her for who she is instead of what she can do in bed.
When Mercedes’ perfect system falls apart, she has to find a way to salvage her reputation and figure out where her heart really belongs in the process. Funny, smart, and true-to-life, FIRSTS is a one-of-a-kind young adult novel about growing up.
PURCHASE LINKS
BOOK TRAILER
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Laurie Elizabeth Flynn went to school for
journalism and later worked as a model, a job that took her overseas to Tokyo,
Athens, and Paris. She lives in London, Ontario, with her husband and her
Chihuahua.
AUTHOR LINKS
EXCERPT
Tonight, I’m doing Evan Brown’s
girlfriend a favor. An awkward, sweaty, fumbling favor. Melanie, or whatever
her name is, owes me big time.
Except she’ll never know it.
***
“You’re not staying over,” I say, fastening
the robe around my waist. “You’ll get there. Girls care less about that than
you think. Especially in the beginning. You can work up to it together.”
He grins. He looks different, more
handsome somehow. In the softer light, his pimples aren’t as evident and his
jawline seems more pronounced. One day, I think Evan Brown could even be a
heartbreaker.
But that day isn’t today.
I glance at the clock on my nightstand.
Eleven p.m. on a Tues- day. “It’s a school night, Evan. Time for you to go.
Your mother will wonder where you are.” Or I assume she would. Most mothers do.
Not mine, of course.
His grin turns
into a frown. “Do I, you know, owe you some- thing? I don’t know how this works
. . .” His voice trails off.
“You don’t owe me anything. Just be good
to her, okay? Re- member everything we talked about.”
I know he will. He even took notes. Open
her car door for her. Bring her flowers, not something generic like roses but
her actual favorite flowers. Have dinner reservations in advance, not
necessarily somewhere fancy but somewhere meaningful, like where you had your
first kiss or where you realized you loved her. Kiss her, not just on her lips
but in unexpected places. On the nape of her neck. On her forehead. On her wrist.
Push her hair behind her ears gently. Take a picture. She’ll want to remember
the night.
I swallow against a lump that has risen
up suddenly in my throat. It’s not that Evan is different—he’s a nice guy, a
kid who loves his girlfriend and wants to please her. Maybe I’m the one who’s
different. Maybe this speech is starting to feel too familiar. I told myself
five favors for five deserving virgins. Five was the line I drew in the sand,
and I trampled over it like it wasn’t even there. Evan is the tenth, and ten is
a line I can’t just trample past.
But I’m certainly not going to get into
this with Evan, so I put on a fake smile. I gesture around the room at the
chaise lounge and walk-in closet and floor-to-ceiling shoe rack. “Besides, I
really don’t need your money. Spend it on Melody.”
He pulls his boxers and pants back on.
His movements are more measured, not the bumbling, terrified movements of the
Evan Brown who entered my bedroom an hour ago. Even his voice seems deeper,
like he came here a boy and is leaving as a man. I suppose that’s not far from
the truth. I allow myself a little smile, a real one this time. It’s easy to
reaffirm what I do. What happened to Evan in my bedroom will change him, make
him into a more consider- ate lover, even a better boyfriend. Moments like
these are what made that line in the sand so easy to obliterate.
Moments like these, I could see an
eleventh, even though I promised myself that’s not going to happen. I’m
starting the second half of senior year with all of my good karma already under
my belt.
“I don’t know where you came from, but
you saved my life, Mercy. I mean, Mercedes. I don’t know what I would’ve done
with- out you.”
“You would’ve ripped five condoms by
accident, and you might’ve drowned the girl in saliva. But now, you’re going to
nail it. Literally.”
He tugs his shirt over his head. “When
Gus told me how you helped him, I didn’t believe it. But he was right—you’re an
angel.” He pauses. “But can I ask you—”
I cut him off midsentence. “No, you
can’t. Don’t spoil it.” “But you didn’t even let me finish,” he protests.
“Oh, I let you finish,” I say. “The one
thing you can do for me is not ask me any questions.”
He nods. “Fair enough.” “Goodnight,
Evan,” I say.
“Goodnight, Mercy. Uh, Mercedes.” He
gets to my bedroom door and pauses with his hand on the doorknob.
“This won’t be awkward at school
tomorrow, will it?” he says, looking back at me.
“Of course not,” I say, folding my arms
over my chest. “It’s not going to be awkward at all, because what happened in
this room becomes just a figment of your imagination the second you walk out
that door.”
He gives me a tight-lipped smile and
pulls the door shut after him. I can see his shoes underneath, can tell he’s
lingering there, wondering if he said too much or not enough, not entirely
convinced that his secret is safe with me.
But he has nothing to worry about. His
secret, like those of nine of his fellow seniors, is safe with me. At Milton
High, I’m my own statistic. People fail to see the great equalizer, the one
thing the band geeks, the drama nerds, the jocks, and the preppies all have in
common.
Me—Mercedes Ayres.
The girl who took their virginity.
MY REVIEW
Title: Firsts
Author: Laurie Elizabeth Flynn
Publisher: St Martin's Griffin
Genre: YA, NA, Contemporary, Romance
Release Date: 5th January 2016
BLURB from Goodreads
Seventeen-year-old Mercedes Ayres has an open-door policy when it comes to her bedroom, but only if the guy fulfills a specific criteria: he has to be a virgin. Mercedes lets the boys get their awkward, fumbling first times over with, and all she asks in return is that they give their girlfriends the perfect first time- the kind Mercedes never had herself.
Keeping what goes on in her bedroom a secret has been easy- so far. Her absentee mother isn’t home nearly enough to know about Mercedes’ extracurricular activities, and her uber-religious best friend, Angela, won’t even say the word “sex” until she gets married. But Mercedes doesn’t bank on Angela’s boyfriend finding out about her services and wanting a turn- or on Zach, who likes her for who she is instead of what she can do in bed.
When Mercedes’ perfect system falls apart, she has to find a way to salvage her reputation and figure out where her heart really belongs in the process. Funny, smart, and true-to-life, FIRSTS is a one-of-a-kind young adult novel about growing up.
Keeping what goes on in her bedroom a secret has been easy- so far. Her absentee mother isn’t home nearly enough to know about Mercedes’ extracurricular activities, and her uber-religious best friend, Angela, won’t even say the word “sex” until she gets married. But Mercedes doesn’t bank on Angela’s boyfriend finding out about her services and wanting a turn- or on Zach, who likes her for who she is instead of what she can do in bed.
When Mercedes’ perfect system falls apart, she has to find a way to salvage her reputation and figure out where her heart really belongs in the process. Funny, smart, and true-to-life, FIRSTS is a one-of-a-kind young adult novel about growing up.
PURCHASE LINKS
INITIAL THOUGHTS
This one sounds a little different as the main character with the "open door policy" is female, it will be interesting to see how a female deals with the subject of being the stronger, sexually experienced one in the major role and the males representing the unexperienced nervous, weaker sex!
MY REVIEW
I was sent a widget link from St Martins Press and I downloaded this one for free from Netgalley in exchange for my honest review.
The cover's prominent features are the title "Firsts" and a pair of feminine legs with what I would (in the UK) call trainers but guess younger people would possibly call converse. These legs and converse are sort of sprawled on a bed. The cover also has a mini review/thoughts about the book by Amanda Maciel the author of Tease, she explains this is a debut for the author and describes it as "smart, edgy and heartbreaking" and goes on to say that the book "stays with you long after the last page" So Would the cover make me pick this one up from a book store shelf? I think I would pick this one up to learn more about it by reading the blurb. I do tend to pick up a lot of debut titles and debut authors, I love to try new authors.
I was sent a widget link from St Martins Press and I downloaded this one for free from Netgalley in exchange for my honest review.
The cover's prominent features are the title "Firsts" and a pair of feminine legs with what I would (in the UK) call trainers but guess younger people would possibly call converse. These legs and converse are sort of sprawled on a bed. The cover also has a mini review/thoughts about the book by Amanda Maciel the author of Tease, she explains this is a debut for the author and describes it as "smart, edgy and heartbreaking" and goes on to say that the book "stays with you long after the last page" So Would the cover make me pick this one up from a book store shelf? I think I would pick this one up to learn more about it by reading the blurb. I do tend to pick up a lot of debut titles and debut authors, I love to try new authors.
The central character in this book is Mercedes, or Mercy to her ONE and only friend Angela. I would say though Mercedes appears an outwardly confident teenage girl, in reality she is far, far from that. Her mother Kim, is not around much, she is usually out with the latest guy in her life. In fact Kim is more of an older sister figure to Mercy than a responsible mother figure that Mercy could go to with a problem. Mercedes father left them when she was much younger, her last memory of him driving off in his red Mercedes sports car, the very thing she was named after! Mercedes "first time" was not as special as she had either dreamt of or wanted it to be at all. In fact I'd say it was more . . . well I can't say what I really think as it would give to much away. . I'll just say she was more invested in the whole "special first time" notion than the guy who took her virginity was. It's this bad experience that was the major reason that Mercedes began providing the service she does for guys. The service is that she tells and shows them what a girls "first time" should really be like. she instructs and practically "does the deed" with the guy to encourage him to do things right for the first time with his special girl. Mercedes also gives them tips on how to treat the girl, ie take them their favourite flowers, to their favourite restaurant, as well as things like lighting candles and what sort of music to play too. Mercy lets the guys have that first awkward experience with her rather than with the girl they profess to love. Mercedes does secretly wish for a relationship of her own, but then she wouldn't be able to do what she perceives as her "job" which is to make sure no girl has to have such a bad first time as she had, as well as what happened to her afterwards.
So on one of her special "lessons" Mercedes will have done her research on the couple, researching what type of girl the boy likes. Mercedes has certain set outfits she chooses from such as pink satin boy shorts and a camisole top, a black lacy negligee, a racy red slip with a daring slip, and so on.
One of the trysts described in the book is with Evan Brown, his girlfriend Melody is what Mercedes would call a "good girl" so she wears the pink satin outfit. Evan is so embarrassed about the situation his face is as red as his hair. Mercedes quickly tries to put him at ease and is quite business like, beginning by asking what he and Melody have actually done together. After initially being hesistant and vague. Mercedes becomes irritated and lists off things they may have done for him to say yes or no to. It ends up being that Evan and Melody have experimented quite a lot and Evan eventually reveal they just haven't gone "the whole way" and that his girlfriend Melody has expressed she would like "it" to be special, perhaps go out for dinner first. Evan tell's Mercedes he has booked a meal so far. Mercedes explains to him that this is the reason she does what she does, she wants girls to have a special romantic first time. Mercedes only takes on guys by recommendation and it is his friend Gus whom she also helped that told him to get in touch. Mercedes begins by instructing Evan to be confident or fact confidence until he actually is! She tells him not to be afraid of making mistakes with her, that is the whole point so that when he and his girlfriend go all the way he won't make mistakes. Mercedes instructs him to gently trail his finger along her body and to follow the trail with his mouth kissing along the same trail. She then teaches Evan how to open and put on a condom, before they actually continue into the actual sexual act. Evan actually asks if they can "do it" again but Mercedes explains it is a one time thing with her. Mercedes actually hates the "after sex" part, where the lights are turned back up and she has to face the guy she just had sex with and speak to them. Evan asks her what he owe's her as he is unsure how this sort of thing works. Mercedes replies she doesn't charge anything all she asks in return for her help is his silence about what they just did and that he makes Melody's first time as perfect as he can.
One part in the book that I found very apt was when Mercedes is looking at Evan after they have had sex, she thinks he looks different and goes so far as to think to herself that he entered her bedroom a boy and that he is now leaving her bedroom a man.
Mercedes has a complicated persona, one side of her is the " sex teacher" the way how she separates her feelings and emotions from the act of sex and the service she is continually providing to the person she really is inside. Inside Mercedes is a broken hurt child, by the facts her mother isn't maternal towards her, her father abandoned her as well as the secret of her own "first time" that she hints at quite a few times in the book before the whole truth and circumstances are revealed.
Mercedes promises herself many times that she is going to stop her sex education service but always seems to get sucked back into helping out that one more couple. In fact she ends up becoming quite blasé about what she is doing. Mercedes doesn't enjoy the sexual act of what she is doing it's more the fact that in her mind she is helping out couples. It's also not a case of that Mercedes couldn't get a regular boyfriend and sex with him, as she has her "Wednesday Sex" with Zach, her chemistry lab partner at school. A new girl has also started at Milton High, called Faye. Faye is super confident and seriously doesn't seem to care what anyone thinks about her at all and for some weird unknown reason seems set on being friends with Mercedes even though Mercedes is quite standoffish and makes it clear she doesn't want or need any friends she is quite happy with her one friend Angela. Personally I think Mercedes wishes she could be more like Angela. Angela is leader of the prayer group that they both attend prior to lessons on a regular basis. Angela does have a boyfriend but is determined to save herself and her virginity for her wedding night. On first impressions it seems like the boyfriend, Charlie appears to agree but suddenly starts bringing up the subject of sex and starts to pressurise Angela into going the "whole way" once they are engaged. Charlie also finds out on the guy grapevine about Mercedes and her little service. Without going into too much detail, hey I have to leave plenty for you to discover for yourselves or you wouldn't want to read the book!
Sadly for Mercedes it turns out guys can't keep their mouths shut, and thought she rather naively thought getting them to promise not to talk about what she did with them some of them have. There's a turn of events that do make Mercedes question what she is doing and if she should continue. . . but it's become a habit now, the feeling of helping and being needed is a rather addictive one, so though the warning signs are there Mercedes continues blindly on oblivious to someone setting her up. I think Mercedes always knew she would be found out, she had just hoped it was nearer to the end of her education when she could take off to MIT and leave it all behind her, but alas that dream of escape from the cold harsh reality of being found out is not to be.
Charlie attempts to blackmail Mercedes and turn Angela against her whilst at the same time coercing Angela into having sex with him too. So when Mercedes is down and has no friends at all who can she rely on? The new girl Faye? and/or "Mr Wednesday" Zach? She has help in a crazy form and quite unlikely source too. Mercedes ends up having to truly hit rock bottom and is hated by the very girls she genuinely in her own mind set out to help, before she can once again hold her head up high and make some rather large changes in both her personal home life and school life too.
I really enjoyed the writing style of Laurie Elizabeth Flynn. As Amanda Maciel informs us on the cover this is her debut novel, and I'd like to add a thoroughly enjoyable read too. Personally I think sex is an awkward subject to write about, for it to be realistic to the age of the character, be detailed enough to be informative and carry a message of having safe sex and not just explicit titillation is a pretty fine line. I think Elizabeth really gets this balance well, it's create enough to be believable without condoning having sex for the sake of it too. I found the book thought provoking, emotionally laden, yet amusing in places too.
My favourite characters were Mercedes, the gorgeous sounding Zach and the character who turned out to not only be a new friend but a true friend to Mercedes. I have to be honest I wasn't so keen on Angela, I found her a little irritating, refusing to speak to Mercedes at a certain point in the book, yet she deemed it perfectly reasonable to steal from her friend Mercedes at another art in the book! Ooo I almost forgot to mention I adored the character's of Jillian and Toby, I'm sure you will understand why when you read the book yourself, I totally recommend that you do!
So Did I enjoy the book? Yes, I really did enjoy it. I found it thought provoking. I also enjoyed putting myself in the position of the different character and looking at the whole situation from their perspectives. Would I recommend the book? Yes, the book has a moral, though it's not pushed in your face. The moral I think the book delivers is to be ready yourself to have sex, not to be pushed, bullied or coerced into having sex, and also to use protection too. This book would be a great ice breaker to talk to your teen about sex, contraception etc etc. The book is also full of characters you can love and love to hate too. Would I want to read another book about these characters/if the book was part of a series? I would be interested in reading more about the characters and where they go after this book. I would also be intrigued to read a novella telling Faye's story of why/how she left her other school as well as the novella perhaps a small part retelling Faye starting at Milton High from her perspective. Would I want to read other books by this author? Yes, I'd really like to read more by Laurie Elizabeth Flynn, I found her writing engaging, interesting and thought provoking too.
So on one of her special "lessons" Mercedes will have done her research on the couple, researching what type of girl the boy likes. Mercedes has certain set outfits she chooses from such as pink satin boy shorts and a camisole top, a black lacy negligee, a racy red slip with a daring slip, and so on.
One of the trysts described in the book is with Evan Brown, his girlfriend Melody is what Mercedes would call a "good girl" so she wears the pink satin outfit. Evan is so embarrassed about the situation his face is as red as his hair. Mercedes quickly tries to put him at ease and is quite business like, beginning by asking what he and Melody have actually done together. After initially being hesistant and vague. Mercedes becomes irritated and lists off things they may have done for him to say yes or no to. It ends up being that Evan and Melody have experimented quite a lot and Evan eventually reveal they just haven't gone "the whole way" and that his girlfriend Melody has expressed she would like "it" to be special, perhaps go out for dinner first. Evan tell's Mercedes he has booked a meal so far. Mercedes explains to him that this is the reason she does what she does, she wants girls to have a special romantic first time. Mercedes only takes on guys by recommendation and it is his friend Gus whom she also helped that told him to get in touch. Mercedes begins by instructing Evan to be confident or fact confidence until he actually is! She tells him not to be afraid of making mistakes with her, that is the whole point so that when he and his girlfriend go all the way he won't make mistakes. Mercedes instructs him to gently trail his finger along her body and to follow the trail with his mouth kissing along the same trail. She then teaches Evan how to open and put on a condom, before they actually continue into the actual sexual act. Evan actually asks if they can "do it" again but Mercedes explains it is a one time thing with her. Mercedes actually hates the "after sex" part, where the lights are turned back up and she has to face the guy she just had sex with and speak to them. Evan asks her what he owe's her as he is unsure how this sort of thing works. Mercedes replies she doesn't charge anything all she asks in return for her help is his silence about what they just did and that he makes Melody's first time as perfect as he can.
One part in the book that I found very apt was when Mercedes is looking at Evan after they have had sex, she thinks he looks different and goes so far as to think to herself that he entered her bedroom a boy and that he is now leaving her bedroom a man.
Mercedes has a complicated persona, one side of her is the " sex teacher" the way how she separates her feelings and emotions from the act of sex and the service she is continually providing to the person she really is inside. Inside Mercedes is a broken hurt child, by the facts her mother isn't maternal towards her, her father abandoned her as well as the secret of her own "first time" that she hints at quite a few times in the book before the whole truth and circumstances are revealed.
Mercedes promises herself many times that she is going to stop her sex education service but always seems to get sucked back into helping out that one more couple. In fact she ends up becoming quite blasé about what she is doing. Mercedes doesn't enjoy the sexual act of what she is doing it's more the fact that in her mind she is helping out couples. It's also not a case of that Mercedes couldn't get a regular boyfriend and sex with him, as she has her "Wednesday Sex" with Zach, her chemistry lab partner at school. A new girl has also started at Milton High, called Faye. Faye is super confident and seriously doesn't seem to care what anyone thinks about her at all and for some weird unknown reason seems set on being friends with Mercedes even though Mercedes is quite standoffish and makes it clear she doesn't want or need any friends she is quite happy with her one friend Angela. Personally I think Mercedes wishes she could be more like Angela. Angela is leader of the prayer group that they both attend prior to lessons on a regular basis. Angela does have a boyfriend but is determined to save herself and her virginity for her wedding night. On first impressions it seems like the boyfriend, Charlie appears to agree but suddenly starts bringing up the subject of sex and starts to pressurise Angela into going the "whole way" once they are engaged. Charlie also finds out on the guy grapevine about Mercedes and her little service. Without going into too much detail, hey I have to leave plenty for you to discover for yourselves or you wouldn't want to read the book!
Sadly for Mercedes it turns out guys can't keep their mouths shut, and thought she rather naively thought getting them to promise not to talk about what she did with them some of them have. There's a turn of events that do make Mercedes question what she is doing and if she should continue. . . but it's become a habit now, the feeling of helping and being needed is a rather addictive one, so though the warning signs are there Mercedes continues blindly on oblivious to someone setting her up. I think Mercedes always knew she would be found out, she had just hoped it was nearer to the end of her education when she could take off to MIT and leave it all behind her, but alas that dream of escape from the cold harsh reality of being found out is not to be.
Charlie attempts to blackmail Mercedes and turn Angela against her whilst at the same time coercing Angela into having sex with him too. So when Mercedes is down and has no friends at all who can she rely on? The new girl Faye? and/or "Mr Wednesday" Zach? She has help in a crazy form and quite unlikely source too. Mercedes ends up having to truly hit rock bottom and is hated by the very girls she genuinely in her own mind set out to help, before she can once again hold her head up high and make some rather large changes in both her personal home life and school life too.
I really enjoyed the writing style of Laurie Elizabeth Flynn. As Amanda Maciel informs us on the cover this is her debut novel, and I'd like to add a thoroughly enjoyable read too. Personally I think sex is an awkward subject to write about, for it to be realistic to the age of the character, be detailed enough to be informative and carry a message of having safe sex and not just explicit titillation is a pretty fine line. I think Elizabeth really gets this balance well, it's create enough to be believable without condoning having sex for the sake of it too. I found the book thought provoking, emotionally laden, yet amusing in places too.
My favourite characters were Mercedes, the gorgeous sounding Zach and the character who turned out to not only be a new friend but a true friend to Mercedes. I have to be honest I wasn't so keen on Angela, I found her a little irritating, refusing to speak to Mercedes at a certain point in the book, yet she deemed it perfectly reasonable to steal from her friend Mercedes at another art in the book! Ooo I almost forgot to mention I adored the character's of Jillian and Toby, I'm sure you will understand why when you read the book yourself, I totally recommend that you do!
So Did I enjoy the book? Yes, I really did enjoy it. I found it thought provoking. I also enjoyed putting myself in the position of the different character and looking at the whole situation from their perspectives. Would I recommend the book? Yes, the book has a moral, though it's not pushed in your face. The moral I think the book delivers is to be ready yourself to have sex, not to be pushed, bullied or coerced into having sex, and also to use protection too. This book would be a great ice breaker to talk to your teen about sex, contraception etc etc. The book is also full of characters you can love and love to hate too. Would I want to read another book about these characters/if the book was part of a series? I would be interested in reading more about the characters and where they go after this book. I would also be intrigued to read a novella telling Faye's story of why/how she left her other school as well as the novella perhaps a small part retelling Faye starting at Milton High from her perspective. Would I want to read other books by this author? Yes, I'd really like to read more by Laurie Elizabeth Flynn, I found her writing engaging, interesting and thought provoking too.
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