This book does contain themes of sex and sex education, but it doesn't really get into any graphic sex scenes, just a very kind of clinical approach to the situation. Or if a sex scene kind of comes up, they show like, we're kissing, and then the scene kind of fades out to a time lapse. Eh? Just a heads up.
Do you remember the days of high school (or are you entering the day so high school) and remember it to be kind of confusing in general (or you should expect it to be confusing in general)? What are these social expectations? How am I going to survive this class? What am I going to do with my life AFTER high school? Does that person actually love me?
High School.
An amazon summary, "A teen who's never even been kissed becomes her school's unofficial sex expert in Olivia Hinebaugh's fun, voice-y contemporary YA romance debut.
But then everything changes.
When Lacey sees first-hand how much damage the abstinence-only sex-ed curriculum of her school can do, she decides to take a stand and starts doling out wisdom and contraception to anyone who seeks her out in the girls' restroom. Meanwhile, things with Theo have become complicated, and soon Lacey is not just keeping everyone else’s secrets, but her own as well." AMAZON LINK OF JUSTICE
Lacey has grown up for most of her life as the single child of a teenage mother. In the last few years, a stepfather and baby half brother has entered her life. Her mom works at the hospital where Lacey worked over the summer, and her two best friends once dated but are no longer dating. Lacey is kind of clueless in the romantic love department, but she is NOT clueless when it comes to sex.
Thanks to her mother, not thanks to her public education... even though Lacey has never been kissed.
Lacey is also very passionate about music, she plays the viola, dabbles on keyboard where her bff Theo plays cello, and her other bff Evita plays console (which, being an old person and not in touch with the music world as much, I assumed was some sort of DJ-mixer-type-of-doo-dad). Together, the three of them rock out and are in a band. They're working towards getting gigs. They're ultimate plan is to attend school in Boston, get an apartment together, and live life out loud. Theo's girlfriend, Lily Ann, is pretty much disliked by Evita, and Lacey is pretty neutral.
Circling back, Lacey's life slowly starts to change after a horrific demonstration in her health class about the dangers of STDs while not talking about condoms at all. Lacey, gives a rather abrupt demonstration on how condoms would be effective within the demonstration, and she gets scolded in so many words. But Lacey isn't backing down, she starts teaching her classmates things about sex on the down low. She also ends up as a doula intern once she meets a classmate of hers who decided to be home schooled when she got pregnant and who would have benefited from a better sex education course.
That's enough summary. There are a lot of intermingled storylines within this book and they definitely mesh well together without making anything except Lacey the focal point while managing to showcase the different aspects of her life.
I REALLY liked this book. There was so much to cheer for, so much to kind of like "wtf public school" kind of moments, and a few kind of chaotic romantic moments as well.
Lacey was a pretty great main character, and most of the time I was cheering as I was reading this book, there was a lot to like.
However, this book was also too... tidy? Everything wound up for the better, or had a good solution, and the one thing that did get messed up, well that side character basically fixed it for Lacey. There was too much of a chummy good ending all around to every situation. There was like too much of an effort to make it all work.
This is slightly spoiler-land, but let's take Theo. Theo winds up breaking up with Lily Ann, he had previously dated Evita, but then he winds up with Lacey. Theo also tries to be at anyone else's house but his own because his Dad is a garbage person.... BUT there isn't any diving into Theo or his life issues, it's just kind of accepted as fact, and Theo is a happy go lucky person nine times out of ten. Like, the dude claims to have struggles, but there isn't really evidence of struggles.
Also, when a struggle cropped, all the main characters really reacted to it like emotionally stable adults, rather than hormonal teenagers. On the one hand, sweet, legitimate conflict resolution. On the other hand, not very realistic...like at all.
I did enjoy reading this book, but it also required a hefty dose of being able to suspend disbelief.
Happy reading!
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