You'll read FIRSTS breathlessly, tensely, because you need to know what happens next. You'll read FIRSTS with a sense of respect for Laurie's storytelling and for the messages here. You may even finish FIRSTS with tears in your eyes, as I did. And you'll definitely fall in love with Mercedes and Zach.

**This book was sent to me by the publisher for review. It's my 100% honest opinion.**


I gave this book a 3.5 out of 5 stars.
This book is really cool because it talks about what its like for the main character who sleeps with these boys and take away their virginity in order for their girlfriends to not have a shitty first time like she had when she was younger. And everything that happened along the way.Its sch a journey and I'm glad that she changed and became truthful to herself that what she was doing was wrong and that she didn't have to sleep with someone to be in love.
The ending was cute and I loved it.

Full review of The Good Sister is in my blog.
http://bookishisland.blogspot.com/2016/01/firsts-by-laurie-elizabeth-flynn-book-review.html

I received this book for free from St. Martin’s Press via NetGalle in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.**

Summary (from the publisher): 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 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 own reputation -and figure out where her heart really belongs in the process. Funny, smart, and true-to-life, Laurie Elizabeth Flynn's Firsts is a one-of-a-kind young adult novel about growing up.

When I began the novel Firsts, I thought that it was completely unrealistic. I have been working with high school girls for many years now and I don’t know that many of them would be willing to run a sex operation for charity case virgins out of their bedrooms. However, as I got to know the protagonist, Mercedes, I understood her need to feel in control and the need to have some sort of power over these teenage boys. As I began to read more, I felt like the book was breaking my heart, specifically when an instance of bullying occurs later in the novel.

This book is described as “funny” by the publisher, which leads the reader to believe it is a lighthearted story. This is not the case. Mercedes struggles in her relationship with both of her parents, her relationships with both teenage boys and girls, and with a dark event that happened in her past. While there are comedic moments, I think the adjective is misleading. I also feel that, considering everything that happens in the book, the ending is wrapped up a little too neatly. As a reader, I enjoyed the happy ending, but it wasn’t true to the story.

Yet, I really enjoyed this book and feel that it is a good read for girls close to the same age as Mercedes. So many times female teenagers put their trust in the wrong boy or girl and lose control over their reputation or identity. As a librarian, I would recommend this for students ages 14 and up, but not younger.

A brave, bold debut.

eh, she was fun

I received this book on Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Firsts by Laurie Elizabeth Flynn is an absolutely incredible debut novel that I truly enjoyed. I couldn't put this book down till I finished because it was honestly that good.


The story revolves around Mercedes Ayres. Mercedes truly wants to help her fellow peers have the "perfect first time" since she herself did not. So hence she helps guys who are virgins with pointers and advice in the bedroom so they'll be great when they have sex with their girlfriends. However, this novel is so much more than just sex. It deals with friendships, family, what the meaning of love really is, and so much more.


Why should you read this?
1) Mercedes. I absolutely love her and I honestly just feel so bad for her. She's been through so much in her life and I truly understand why she made the decisions that she did. It doesn't even matter if they were right or wrong. The point is that I truly understood her as a character.


2) Zach. He's so adorable and I love how much he cares for Mercedes.


3) Faye. She's epic, amazing, and I seriously want a book all about her story because I love her so much.


Overall, this is a 5 star read. I absolutely loved it and I highly recommend it.

I'd like to start off by saying Firsts is not a type of book that I normally read. I am a hard-core fantasy gal. ALL THE WAY. But I'd heard good things from bloggers I trust, so I requested it on Netgalley, and got approved, so of course I read it! And flew through it in two hours.

At first, I thought I wouldn't be able to connect with Mercedes because of what she chose to do, and sometimes she came off a little harsh, but a lot of the time I just felt sorry for her. I didn't agree with Mercedes's reasoning. I mean, to sleep with a guy who's a virgin to give his girlfriend a chance to have a perfect first time. Okay. Why don't you see this is going to end badly, Mercedes? You can't sleep with a bunch of people and expect no one to find out.

I loved Zach. Ugh, he was perfect! He even made Mercedes soup. Aww. *heart eyes*

I loved the theme of friendship in this book.

Angela. Well, she was a bit cliche. The extremely religious best friend that's waiting to have sex after marriage, and so Mercedes had to hide everything she was doing from her. But I did love the friendship that her and Mercedes had, and how despite all that happened, their friendship only grew stronger after the difficult parts.

Zach and Faye were exactly what Mercedes needed when she was at her lowest, and I loved how they supported her.

The plot was kind of predictable. I guessed what was going to happen before it did, but it was still heartbreaking to read about.

The "big reveal" of what happened in Mercedes' past was tragic, but then what happened to conceal it was unrealistic.

I flew through this book, mainly because of the writing.

final thoughts

I really liked how this book was so bold as to feature sex as part of the main plot, and also not as a bad thing. It's something we don't see very often in YA. It also dealt with some very heavy issues (such as slut-shaming, parenting, teen life, abuse, sexuality, double-standard, and friendship). It wasn't something I loved, but I think a lot of people would like it, so if it sounds interesting, I encourage you to pick it up! I liked this book, but there wasn't anything special to make me adore it.

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.

Received an advanced copy via NetGalley to review.

More of a 2.5. I didn't hate it. I just couldn't connect with it.

I wanted to read this because I was curious about how you make a narrator who knowing takes the virginity of other girls' boyfriends likable. And now I know: you can't.

Ok, maybe you can, but not in this instance. Not for me.

Look, I'm sympathetic to what she's been through in her past. She suffered a terrible first time so she wants to ensure that these girls are given what she was not. Ok. But is this really the way to do that? Call me crazy but I value my boyfriend not having sex with another girl way above how good they are in bed. I know that's not all that was contained in the lesson, but the rest could be taught without sex, no? . Is there any girl in the world who place sexual skill above loyalty? So much for feminism if you think girls would really be that petty. Please, guys want to be good in bed to live up to their own egos, how much of that really has to do with what their girlfriends expect from them? How, as a female, do you facilitate that bullshit nonsense? What kind of education is she really giving these guys? Obviously the guys are terrible, for doing this to their girlfriends, for letting their egos trump common decency, and should take the brunt of the blame, since they owe their girlfriends more than Mercy does. But we're not invested in their story, we're supposed to be invested in Mercy's and I just can't forgive her logic.

I don't even think it is necessarily the fact that she was the other woman. People make mistakes. I just think that her rationalizing is so hard to get behind. She tries so hard to justify it. I think I'd have liked her more, or at least respected her, if she owned that she was doing something completely F'ed up.

It seems like if she really wanted, she could have devirginized the guys without girlfriends, so that they are ready for their future girlfriends without being shitty to these girls that she's allegedly trying to help. I just really don't get it.

I understand that this is supposed to highlight the double standard that boys face, that society expects them to be Gods in bed right out of the gate while girls are supposed to be innocent virgins, worthy of a momentous first time. However, nothing here served to upend that notion. If anything, it kind of makes it worse. Girls virginity is so sacred that their first time must be special. But it's cool if guys have a trial run first? Shouldn't their first time be valued, too? Things being equal and all.

Or better yet, why does virginity matter at all? If you want me to be cool with a narrator who has lots of sex (which I am, for the record, just not when that sex is with another girl's boyfriend) then why am I supposed to care about other girl's virginity, like it's so sacred. Pick a side, is sex something to be cherished or isn't it?

And the friendships! Jesus. Her "best friend" doesn't even know her at all. Some best friend if you pretend to be uber religious when you're actually an atheist. What is that? What basis is this friendship actually built on, Angela is nice? Cool, I guess. Some connection, she knows nothing about you because you share nothing real and built yourself around a fake innocence.

I'm still not sure what purpose Faye serves. The narrator spends most of the novel being jealous and kind of catty. For why? I don't know. I don't like the way the narrator treats anyone. I know she's been treated poorly by Luke, by her mom, by her dad. And I do feel bad for those circumstances, and I sympathize, but it was hard not to dislike her anyway. Faye to her credit, though kind of ridiculously over the top in every way, is kind of a trooper about it. Sort of. Her method of problem solving needs work. None of these people seem real at all. I guess that's my problem. Everyone just seems to exaggerated.

Wait, and Luke. Look, he was a shit. But I hated that the whole novel he was dangled in front of us. By the time the big reveal came, I was so tired of hearing about him even, and it was clearly guessable, that the impact was more of a "meh" than a shock. Either reveal it upfront and stop the teasing, or if you want to hold it to the end to pack a punch, don't bombard us not-so-subtle hints along the way.

I was on the edge reading this book because I knew Mercedes' secret was going to come out; it was just a matter of time. When you sleep with ad man boys as she does, no matter how much she tried to justify her actions, someone is gonna tell.

I was and wasn't surprised who.

This book managed to make Mercedes a sympathetic character even though she isn't. It's difficult reading about someone deliberately messing up their life. The reasons why come out later in the story. Does that make everything OK? No, but it adds a layer of depth to an interesting voice in YA lit.