A 60 Second Review by Anne Brees
★★★★★ (4.50)
Genre – Young Adult Contemporary
Summary – 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.
(Summary from GoodReads)
Initial Thoughts – I didn’t think I would like this book. After all, the main character is purposefully sleeping with boys who have girlfriends. It takes a certain skill to gain sympathy for this kind of MC, and that’s exactly what Flynn does.
Plot – ★★★★★ The plot of this book deals with so many important issues: slut-shaming, rape, double standards, divorce, and family problems. I loved every second of this book.
Characters – ★★★★★ I thought I would hate Mercedes. I mean, it shouldn’t it have been hard. But Flynn somehow managed to provoke my sympathy for this unconventional character.
Story world – ★★★★☆ The story world doesn’t have a huge part in this book. It’s rarely mentioned and could have used a little more setting.
Style – ★★★★☆ Flynn’s simple style caries the book along smoothly.
Closing Thoughts – I would highly recommend this book if you want your feelings twisted and ripped out of your heart.
(summary and cover from GoodReads)
Carpe Read 'Em 
Definitely agree that it takes skill to make an unlikeable character sympathetic and that Flynn succeeds in doing so! I gave this one three stars though; I feel like so much more could be done with the issues, and I was disappointed that the boys (i.e. Mercedes’s clients) didn’t get flack for what they did – even if they ‘mean well’, what they did still counts as cheating and I think that should’ve been emphasised a bit further.
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I think that maybe not emphasizing the boys’ faults was part of Flynn’s point. Today, it’s more scandalous for a woman to have a sex than for a man to have sex. “Boys will be boys” is a common excuse for their behavior, yet women are considered “impure” if they have sex. Maybe that’s what Flynn was trying to portray?
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