Laurie Elizabeth Flynn’s debut novel, Firsts, tells the story of Mercedes, a young, sexually active girl with a lot of secrets she thinks she’s got completely under control.

About ‘Firsts’

Mercedes Ayres is doing the world a favor. Every girl deserves the perfect first time, and she is making sure that they get just that. Mercedes doesn’t like the boys she’s sleeping with. She’s not trying to steal them from their girlfriends. She just wants to make sure that everything they do on that magical night makes their girlfriends feel like queens.

It’s the perfect arrangement. The boys don’t want anyone to find out because their girlfriends would be pissed and leave them, and Mercedes doesn’t want anyone to find out because she’s doing this for all the right reasons. At least, she thinks she is.

Mercedes Ayres has everything under control. She has a regular Wednesday friend who fulfills her needs, she has her future planned and ready as soon as she gets her acceptance letter to M.I.T., and she has a best friend who doesn’t suspect that the life she pretends to lead is a total lie. Like we said, everything is under control… until it’s not.

‘Firsts’ book review

At the beginning of Firsts, Mercedes is not an easy character to understand. She doesn’t like her mom, Kim, much, but she seems to desperately wish she did. She doesn’t really have friends to share her life with, but she has Angela to compulsively lie to about pretty much everything. She doesn’t have a boyfriend, but she has Zach, her lab partner, who comes over every Wednesday and completely rocks her world. It’s not the perfect life, but Mercedes seems to think it’s all she wants.

We see Mercedes’ grip on that life slip out of her fingers one inch at a time. First she sets herself a limit on the number of virgin boys she’ll help, but she quickly doubles that number. Then, she never sets another limit, but plans on each one being her last until another shows up at her door. Mercedes loses track of what she wants, and that’s when things start to unravel. The rules she upheld so firmly before, the rules that keep everything in control, become less and less strict. She stops researching the boys that ask her for help, and that quickly comes back to bite her.

It was hard to watch Mercedes’ world spiral out of control, but seeing what happened as a result was well worth reading about all the difficulties. Knowing the reasons why Mercedes kept everyone at arm’s length allows you to cheer for her every time someone chooses her over the easier road. When Faye sticks by her side walking down the hallways, you smile. When Zach shows up to clean evidence off her locker, you squeal with joy. When Angela shows up and asks to talk, you may have even shed a happy tear. Mercedes has always deserved to be loved, she just tried so hard to deny herself of it.

The characters Zach and Faye are the friends everyone wishes they had in high school. Even when Mercedes is refusing to let them play the roles they want to play for her, they keep trying. Once she finally bottoms out and needs someone to be there to pick the pieces, they show up. She doesn’t even have to ask. Faye and Zach go to incredible lengths to make things better for Mercedes, and it’s a testament to their characters. It’s easy to see how incredibly lucky Mercedes truly is to have them. She may have had a tough start to her young adult life, but thanks to the people who stuck around, she now has loyal friends in it for the long haul.

There are so many lessons to learn from Mercedes. Lessons about keeping people who want to know you at arms length. Lessons about being honest with yourself and being proud of the things you’ve overcome. Everyone has something that tries to drag them down, but if you allow the people that love you to help, the load becomes manageable.

Firsts is not just a young adult novel that should be read by teenagers. It’s a story that everyone should read. Mercedes makes a lot of big mistakes, but ultimately, she doesn’t have to face them alone. We all need to be reminded that living life isolated from the world is no way to live. The relationships and people we have in our lives are what make them worth living. No secret, or lie, or mistake is worth giving up all the joy that love brings. Thanks Mercedes, and Laurie, for reminding us.

Firsts is available now. Find yourself a copy at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, or Indiebound.