Here is the review of Firsts by Laurie Elizabeth Flynn.
Publication: January 5th, 2016 by St. Martin's Griffin
Format: Hardcover, 320 pages
Source: It was sent to me by St. Martin's Press.
Genres: Young Adult, Contemporary, Romance
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.
Thoughts:
I had talked a bit about how I feel about this book before in my last Book Talk.
This book was sent to me to review by the publishers and here it is.
There are Spoilers Ahead.
Okay, so Mercedes was a bit of a bitch and a horrible person for deliberately having sex with other girls' boyfriends. And having the excuse that she was just doing it so that the girlfriends didn't have a horrible first time is a bit dodgy too. But I believe that she kinda, a little, tiny bit of her was trying to do a good thing. Even if in the end it turned to bite her in the ass.
Maybe not. Because not only does she have sex with other girls boyfriends (who have to be virgins) but she also keeps a diary where she writes down all the dirty details and gives them ratings and nicknames according to their performance.
So she seems like a total bitch but there is always an explanation for this stupidity. She was raped at a very young age by a much older boy who acted like he liked her and her parents were going through shit and her dad eventually left them.
Still, I believe that the whole divorce stuff shouldn't really affect her but not only did her parents have a divorce but her mother completely checked out and her dad never visited her. So her life was shit.
In the synopsis of the book, it compares this book, Firsts, with the 2010 movie Easy A.
But in ways, this book is and is not at all like Easy A. Which part is like Easy A. The part in which both characters are ridiculed for they sexuality one everyone in the school finds out and the part in which in a school assembly something big happens. Except that in Easy A the MC (Olive) sings in a sexy outfit and leaves with the boy, while in Firsts the MC's friends Zach and Faye hijack the educational video on sexual harassment and play a "porno" instead and its one in which Zach and Faye are together.
Also Olive doesn't actually sleep with the people that are accusing her of sleeping with them, whereas in First she actually does sleep with those guys.
So yes in no way is this book like Easy A but at the same time, there are small similarities.
But this story isn't all bad. There is a cute romance too. Because even if Zach is just her "fuckbuddy" he has always wanted to be much more than that. He loves her and in the end, she figures out that she loves him too and tries to be a better person just so she doesn't lose him. Aww, right.
My favorite character has got to be these two: Zach and Faye. Zach for being such a cute and adorable character and Faye for being such a kick-ass female because not only did she rebel against what the people were saying and doing to Mercedes but she made a "fake" porno with Zach just so people would talk about her and not her best friend. Yes, it was too much but still to do something like that and knowing the consequences is badass.
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