e-ARC, 368 pages
Release Date: April 7, 2020Published by: Razorbill
Read from: April1-5, 2020Stand-aloneSource: Edelweiss (I received a copy of this book from Edelweiss and the Publisher in exchange for a just and honest review. This did nothing to influence my review.)TW: AlcoholFor fans of: Contemporary Romance, Realistic Fiction, Upper YA (MC is 18), Friends to Lovers, Love Triangle
High school senior Keely Collins takes on firsts, lasts, and everything in between in this sweet, sex-positive rom-com for fans of Meg Cabot and Jenny Han.
It seemed like a good plan at first.
When the only other virgin in her group of friends loses it at Keely’s own eighteenth birthday party, she’s inspired to take things into her own hands. She wants to have that experience too (well, not exactly like that–but with someone she trusts and actually likes), so she’s going to need to find the guy, and fast. Problem is, she’s known all the boys in her small high school forever, and it’s kinda hard to be into a guy when you watched him eat crayons in kindergarten.
So she can’t believe her luck when she meets a ridiculously hot new guy named Dean. Not only does he look like he’s fallen out of a classic movie poster, but he drives a motorcycle, flirts with ease, and might actually be into her.
But Dean’s already in college, and Keely is convinced he’ll drop her if he finds out how inexperienced she is. That’s when she talks herself into a new plan: her lifelong best friend, Andrew, would never hurt or betray her, and he’s clearly been with enough girls that he can show her the ropes before she goes all the way with Dean. Of course, the plan only works if Andrew and Keely stay friends–just friends–so things are about to get complicated.
Cameron Lund’s delightful debut is a hilarious and heartfelt story of first loves, first friends, and first times–and how making them your own is all that really matters.
*MY THOUGHTS*
There were so many reasons why I HAD to pick up this book and see what everyone was talking about. But the main one was the subject matter. Anything that’s considered a “taboo” topic in YA, I needs it. And sex in YA is definitely considered taboo.
“Sex and love are supposed to go together,” she says. “But anyone who falls in love is screwed.” She reaches up to switch off the light. “Falling in love with a high school boy is the single stupidest thing you can do.“8%
Everyone in her friend group is changing…. Except Keely. They’ve left her behind when the last virgin in her group loses it at a party. It’s hard to feel left behind. But, she can’t stand the guys from her small hometown. She can’t believe her luck when she meets Dean, an older college guy who takes an interest in her. But things get complicated when she realizes she has no idea what to do with Dean, and the only person who can help her is her oldest, best friend, Andrew….
“The concept that you have to get penetrated by a peen in order to become a woman. Like why are we giving guys so much power?“10%
First off, I wanted to give this all the stars because it’s a sex positive YA book! And it came from all POV’s, the parents, the characters, the friends, everyone. There’s little to no books about this because sex is considered taboo to most people (at least in my area because the amount of parents I get that ask me all the time if XYZ book their child wants to check out is clean tells it all) But this book is definitely informative and I think it will be beneficial to teens. Oh, and all the stars for showing the use of a contraceptive every time.
“If you’re contemplating having sex with someone, you should be able to be honest. If you can’t be honest, they you’re not ready.“48%
But unfortunately, that about sums up what I liked about this one. I took some stars away for my own personal bias of drinking and drugs. Normally I would have DNF’ed, but the drinking was the only thing seen on page. The drug use (my actual deal breaker) was shown only for a split second and I was able to skip over the worst of it.
“I get she told you Dean wouldn’t like you anymore if he found out, but that’s not necessarily true. If he likes you, he’ll wait.“40%
And the characters were all bad. All the guys were trash. And the girls weren’t very great either. I don’t remember liking anyone other than Hannah. And that’s saying something because she isn’t even the main character. It’s just normally there’s one toxic or mean character, but in this one, it was everyone.
“When Andrew lost his virginity, the last thing he was worried about was whether or not the girl would respect him in the morning. People don’t write horrible things about the wall about guys who’ve had sex.“44%
Then I took more stars away because the plot went no where. It seemed like there was no arc and because of that it made the love triangle the entire focus. And it was obvious where it was going, so the main story was the mystery that was happening to another character was more of a draw than what was happening to the main character. (Also, I guessed who it was from the first incident that happened too.)
“I’m so weak.” “You’re not weak. You’re in love.” “Sometimes I think it’s the same thing.“88%
[SPOILER] Lastly, I was NOT a fan of the main character. Did she really not see that coming? Like how? I knew from the very moment that one person was introduced what would happen. I kept wondering when she would finally realize it and it was literally the entire book. We never got to see them together. And I mean it was like at 90 something percent that she finally realizes it and I hated that. And to say this entire book was about this one event, it was in a terrible place at a really unrealistic time. Basically, if I could change the ending to this book, that’d be great. [/SPOILER]
“I guess loves makes you do crazy things.“98%
For the most part, I enjoyed this. The topic is a much needed one in YA and the readability of this is nice and easy. But the writing style and characters gave me trouble. However, if there was another book on the crew and what they were doing after they all left for college, I would totes read it!
Overall, I give this
