Though to most people she isn’t popular at school, Mercedes has a few supporting characters. My mom started teaching me about birth control when other moms were still on tampons. Just enough for protection, no extra thrills. No matter what they think, most guys are Ultra Thins. Ultra Thin, Ribbed for Her Pleasure, Second Skin, Magnums. I lean over and open my nightstand drawer, where the boxes are piled neatly like little soldiers. She strategically plans her lingerie to type of guy, narrates what they do and overall just isn’t shocked about sex, partly because of a previous abusive experience and partly because the way she was raised. Overall, she’s very strong, confident and comfortable with her body. Mercedes talks about sex in such a frank way – something I haven’t really read in any YA book yet. Who is the girl? Why is she motivated to do this? Who or what is hurting her? How does she feel? I honestly didn’t even think about the fact that it’s cheating until much later in the book. (However there are two kinds of guys Mercedes deals with, and one is obviously more preferable in their naiveté.) But Firsts wants you to see the other sides to these stories. If my boyfriend did this with another girl, I’d have a lot to think about. Yes, that is cheating (unless the couple agrees otherwise). Yes, it is a bad thing that guys secretly sleep with another girl when they have a girlfriend. Which is why it is such a good thing that this book exists.įirsts is unconventional.

It makes me feel sick thinking about all of that pain and vulnerability. But nobody deserves to be treated the way Mercedes was.įirsts reminded me a lot about all of the news stories we read about high school girls who have gone through sexual abuse only to have their whole peer group turn their backs on them and everything blown out of proportion, like Reteah Parsons and Amanda Todd. Though Mercedes is a very smart and sweet girl, this perception was unfortunately naive. She figured the guys would never talk because then people would know they weren’t faithful to their girlfriends. Mercedes didn’t expect such a thing would backfire. She simply wants to help these anxious boys, and her good intentions are her healing from an abusive past, but things get carried away. These are the kinds of things said to Mercedes Ayres, a 17-year-old girl who has given herself the job of de-virginizing guys so that they can give their girlfriends a romantic first time, something she never had. “You brought this on yourself.” “I hope you get herpes.” “We are going to make your life such hell.” Here you’ll find an honest review of Firsts by Laurie Elizabeth Flynn, as well as a short Q&A with her.įirsts by Laurie Elizabeth Flynn, via St. Appropriate! Thank you to Raincoast Books for letting me tag along.

Woohoo, this is my first time blogging as part of a blog tour.

Firsts a novel laurie elizabeth flynn