Firsts by Laurie Elizabeth Flynn Book Review

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.

I want to say thank you to Netgalley and St. Martin’s Press for letting me review this ARC. 

Firsts is a debut novel of Laurie Elizabeth Flynn that will be published on January 5, 2016. This book started with the main character, Mercedes “Mercy” Ayres. A seventeen year old girl who offers sex for virgin guys that have girlfriends. She teaches them what or not to do during sex and how to put a condom and to give their girlfriends a perfect first time. In spite of all that, she’s active in a prayer group and a chemistry nerd. The elements discussed in this book is unusual to see in a young adult book. It has mature content which didn’t bother me. The young adult books that I have read have a little bit of sex part and it’s not at all detail unlike new adult novels. In this book, there are a lot of sex scenes. If this bothers you, maybe you should put the book down.

I got interested in reading this because I want to know what Mercy is like and her reasons for having sex with virgin guys. I’m curious on how the story will unfold and how the author will execute it. To my surprise, I got hooked and really did enjoy reading this. It is well written and well-paced for a debut novel. The author really did a great job in creating those characters that can make you hate or love them. It discusses the common problems between teenagers who came from a broken family  and what happens with teenagers with no parental supervision. It has sexuality, drugs, abortion, rape, pregnancy and the vices that commonly affects teenagers. Angela, Mercy’s best friend is her complete opposite. She’s conservative and religious and one who wants to wait until marriage to have her first. Flynn did a great job in creating Mercedes’ character. There were some parts in the book frustrates me. Like whenever she keeps pushing Zach and never realizes that there were still a few people who loves her. All throughout the book, Mercy’s life is a mess but she grew as an independent and fearless character. She learned from her mistakes and accepted life’s challenges with the help of her friends: Angela, Faye, and Zach. There may be a lot of things that had happened to her but in the end she had found her true love.

Firsts will make you cry, laugh and feel different emotions. This will make you realize that those vices, without you knowing, could ruin your life and there are a lot of good things to experience. You should be open minded while reading this. I recommend it if it doesn’t bother you reading matured contents.  I gave this a 4 out of 5 stars on Goodreads. This is a great debut novel.