Book review
Title: Firsts
Author: Laurie Elizabeth Flynn
Genre: YA/Contemporary/Romance
Rating: *****
Review: The opening to firsts was great and not what I was expecting from a YA novel despite knowing it revolves around sex and teenage sex culture. We meet Mercedes who has an open-door policy on her bedroom but they guys must be virgins she doesn’t do this for her pleasure but to teach the boys to give their girlfriends the best first time that she never had.
After the tenth boy Mercedes intends to stop but she can’t seem to and accepts a new project. However, during and after these encounters we can see how this affects the young Mercedes. It seems her first time wasn’t great and is trying to do a good deed for other girls but everything she feels guilty and often wonders what it would be like to be one of the girls she has helped, what it would be like to be normal, immediately hinting there might be something bigger behind her motivations. Mercedes’ mother Kim also isn’t around a lot and seems to be as promiscuous as her daughter although she selfishly doesn’t give any thoughts for how this affects Mercedes and how she feels about the life she is living.
As we approach the ¼ mark in the novel, we can see that Mercy doesn’t have a good relationship with her mother and her father isn’t in the picture, so she is basically left to her own devices. However, while she says to herself the next boy will be the last she keeps on following the same pattern. After number 11 Mercy is worried when some of the boys she had helped begin interacting and she immediately suspects them of discussing things she banned them from, however, this is overshadowed when Faye enters the scene. Faye is very similar to Mercy although she is more outspoken and makes several sexual innuendos towards both Mercy and Zach, and while this unnerves Mercy she is willing to roll with it. However, if I have learnt anything it is that these situations never end well. As I suspected Mercy soon finds herself in a bad situation and ends up sleeping with a boy because he threatened her and despite not being injured or hurt this was rape and given the nature of the threats and the state of her life she can’t tell anyone.
As we cross the ¼ mark in the novel, Mercy is at number 13 and some of the guys she is seeing aren’t virgins violating her own policy, we also learn that she lost her virginity at 13 to Luke the gardener and he may have also been her mother’s boyfriend. One aspect that is being introduced is sexuality. With Faye Mercy begins to have sexual feelings towards her and even pictures kissing her, but she is confused as she seems to be flirting with her and Zach and that Zach has been to Faye’s house more than once. I see a great poly relationship here which would be amazing as this is super rare in YA and I’d love to see more of it. These characters for very in personality but also their backgrounds as they are quite similar.
As we cross the halfway mark in the novel, it becomes clear that Mercy fears entering a relationship and things are getting more serious when Charlie, her best friend’s boyfriend asks for her “help”. But it wasn’t the kind of help she was expecting to give and she can see Charlie and Angela’s relationship ending over what is to come. The relationship between Zach, Faye and Mercy are changing as well. We can see Zach is into both girls, but Faye is coming across as more attracted to Mercy but when she wakes up in Zach’s bed she realises there is something more at work, but she doesn’t know what it is. When she takes on a new project claiming it will be the last she also gets another revelation when her mother confesses she cheated on Mercy’s dad and that she was a mistake, but her dad wants another chance leaving Mercy hurt and confused.
A lot happens in the second half of Firsts with everything coming to its climax very quickly. Charlie asks Mercy for “help” and when Mercy refuses because Angela is her best friends and she can’t hurt her in that way things escalate with Charlie becoming violent and attacking Mercy. He also reveals that he had been secretly filming with the other boys and threatens to expose her if she doesn’t comply with his demands. Mercy being the person she continues to refuse and even tried to tell Angela the truth, but she isn’t sure who to believe as Charlie also has Mercy’s notebook with all the details of her encounters.
Now alone as Zach isn’t talking to her either Mercy begins to fall apart losing the control and composure she has fought to keep throughout the novel. Charlie eventually makes good on his threat and leaks the video and within a day the whole school knows, and Mercy’s life is turned upside down. However, Faye really sticks by Mercy through it all even putting herself in situations where she gets a fair share of the abuse.
Just when Mercy feels she can’t take the abuse and name calling any longer Faye comes up with a plan to move the attention away from her friend using a very ingenious method that I wasn’t expecting at all. Zach also comes around because, in the end, his feelings for Mercy are stronger than what she had done. Mercy also tells everything to Angela including her relationship with Luke and the fact he got her pregnant at thirteen, which she miscarried and hid from everyone.
In the end, she gently rejects Faye’s advances and forms a real healthy relationship with Zach even planning to go to college close to each other as she has been accepted to MIT. The novel itself is looking at teen sexuality and casual sex but it is more than that it is about sexual abuse and overcoming it and learning that you are more than your sexual past and that it is possible to have a normal relationship even if you have had a million abnormal ones. Overall, I really enjoyed Firsts and I can’t wait to read more from this author soon.
Buy it here:
Paperback/Hardcover: amazon.co.uk amazon.com
Kindle Edition: amazon.co.uk amazon.com
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