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Virgin #1
Virgin
Okay, I admit it…I didn’t do it.
Yet.
This is normal, right? I mean, just because everyone I know has talked like they’ve already done it doesn’t mean that they’re telling the truth…right?
It’s not like I’m asking for that much. I don’t need the perfect guy. I don’t need candlelight or roses. Honestly, I don’t even need a real bed.
The guys I know complain that girls are always looking for Mr. Right—do I have to wear a sign that says I’m only looking for Mr. Right Now?
Sooooo…anyone out there want sex? Anyone? Hello? Just for fun?
I am not going to die a virgin. One way or another I am going to make this happen.
Hey, what have I got to lose? Besides the obvious.
Yet.
This is normal, right? I mean, just because everyone I know has talked like they’ve already done it doesn’t mean that they’re telling the truth…right?
It’s not like I’m asking for that much. I don’t need the perfect guy. I don’t need candlelight or roses. Honestly, I don’t even need a real bed.
The guys I know complain that girls are always looking for Mr. Right—do I have to wear a sign that says I’m only looking for Mr. Right Now?
Sooooo…anyone out there want sex? Anyone? Hello? Just for fun?
I am not going to die a virgin. One way or another I am going to make this happen.
Hey, what have I got to lose? Besides the obvious.
304 pages, Kindle Edition
First published August 5, 2014
About the author
Radhika Sanghani
6 books197 followersI'm an author, journalist and screenwriter. My latest novel THIRTY THINGS I LOVE ABOUT MYSELF is coming out in January in the UK and US. I've also written two YA novels VIRGIN and NOT THAT EASY.
I'm a freelance journalist for publications like the Telegraph, Daily Mail, Grazia and Glamour. I'm also a body positive campaigner and founded the #sideprofileselfie movement. In my spare time, I also teach yoga and created a volunteer initiative to paint elderly ladies' nails for Age UK.
I'm a freelance journalist for publications like the Telegraph, Daily Mail, Grazia and Glamour. I'm also a body positive campaigner and founded the #sideprofileselfie movement. In my spare time, I also teach yoga and created a volunteer initiative to paint elderly ladies' nails for Age UK.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 575 reviews
July 11, 2014
This book is solid proof that even New Adult chick lit can be well-written, hilarious and meaningful.
In fact, I am amazed at how good this book is. Virgin should probably be the bible for teenage girls and young women everywhere... it is an honest, laugh-out-loud funny portrayal of growing up, relationships, sex and all the icky bits (and there are some real icky bits).
I cannot tell you how surprised I was. Let's be honest, I read this because of that title which was too curiosity-inducing for me to pass up. I foresaw potential DNFs and eye rolls and cliched, stereotypical characters - I got none of that. I picked this book up, got drawn into the unfortunate but completely hysterical life of Ellie, and spent most of the time snorting with laughter (sexy is my middle name) at all the situations she found herself in.
So, I've said before that humour is subjective, and maybe you won't like this because of that... but, you know why this book is so damn funny? Because it's so damn true. From the stupidly ridiculous thoughts teen girls have about sex to the waxing/shaving nightmares (should I? how much? where exactly? hope I don't cut my VJ... oh fuck). It felt so relatable and refreshing in its honest, no holds barred depiction of everything young women worry about and obsess over. It is primarily funny fiction, but I swear some parts of this book would have been really useful to me if it had been around when I was a teen.
While the main story is about a 21-year-old virgin called Ellie, the book has a very sex-positive attitude. Or perhaps it would be better to say a sex-neutral attitude. Ellie is a virgin but her friends are sexually active. There is no slut-shaming or virgin-shaming (except originally by the MC herself and the story enables her to overcome this). The "message" behind the book is that society should be more open to talking about all the nitty gritty details of sex that you don't currently get from a sex-ed lesson in school. Teen girls worry and obsess about so much (I know from experience ^_^) and this could be avoided by talking about it more.
Very funny, very enjoyable book.
Here's a little sample for you after Ellie gets her first Brazilian wax:
Oh my fucking God. The wax hadn't all come off on the strips, and it was stuck on my skin along with knicker fluff. I rubbed at it frantically until I realized it had hardened and wasn't coming off. I needed to use some water, but it was a public bathroom. I couldn't just rub my vagina next to the sink, could I?
Praying to God no one would walk in, I hobbled to the sink with my knickers and jeans halfway down my legs. I quickly started rubbing away at it with water and a runny pink soap I squirted from the plastic dispenser. The wax went gloopy when it was mixed with the hot water, and it spread across my skin. I had made it worse.
Feeling panicky, I rubbed as hard as I could and then tried to peel it off. The sticky wax caught under my fingernails and I tried to scrape it off with loo roll, but the paper stuck to the skin on my hands and vagina.
I looked at myself in the mirror, bent down with my legs spread open and my hand on my vagina, stuck there with wax and loo roll. This was not how I'd imagined the start of my first ever grown-up date.
The door swung open and a middle-aged woman wearing a brown fur coat stood in the doorway, staring at me in disgust. My mouth dropped wide open and our eyes met in the mirror. There was a squeal and I looked down and saw the child next to her.
"Mummy," he asked. "Why is that girl rubbing her front bottom?"
The woman put her manicured hand over the little boy's eyes and spun him around. She looked at me with something close to revulsion and shook her head slowly.
"You're disgusting," she hissed under her breath as she propelled her son out of the bathroom. I stared at myself in the mirror, wondering how this was my life. I could hear her hushing the boy outside: "Orlando, sweetie, are you feeling okay?"
I snorted. Orlando was five years old and didn't have a vagina covered in dried wax. He was bloody fine. I, on the other hand, wanted to crawl into the loo cubicle and never leave.
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In fact, I am amazed at how good this book is. Virgin should probably be the bible for teenage girls and young women everywhere... it is an honest, laugh-out-loud funny portrayal of growing up, relationships, sex and all the icky bits (and there are some real icky bits).
I cannot tell you how surprised I was. Let's be honest, I read this because of that title which was too curiosity-inducing for me to pass up. I foresaw potential DNFs and eye rolls and cliched, stereotypical characters - I got none of that. I picked this book up, got drawn into the unfortunate but completely hysterical life of Ellie, and spent most of the time snorting with laughter (sexy is my middle name) at all the situations she found herself in.
So, I've said before that humour is subjective, and maybe you won't like this because of that... but, you know why this book is so damn funny? Because it's so damn true. From the stupidly ridiculous thoughts teen girls have about sex to the waxing/shaving nightmares (should I? how much? where exactly? hope I don't cut my VJ... oh fuck). It felt so relatable and refreshing in its honest, no holds barred depiction of everything young women worry about and obsess over. It is primarily funny fiction, but I swear some parts of this book would have been really useful to me if it had been around when I was a teen.
While the main story is about a 21-year-old virgin called Ellie, the book has a very sex-positive attitude. Or perhaps it would be better to say a sex-neutral attitude. Ellie is a virgin but her friends are sexually active. There is no slut-shaming or virgin-shaming (except originally by the MC herself and the story enables her to overcome this). The "message" behind the book is that society should be more open to talking about all the nitty gritty details of sex that you don't currently get from a sex-ed lesson in school. Teen girls worry and obsess about so much (I know from experience ^_^) and this could be avoided by talking about it more.
Very funny, very enjoyable book.
Here's a little sample for you after Ellie gets her first Brazilian wax:
Oh my fucking God. The wax hadn't all come off on the strips, and it was stuck on my skin along with knicker fluff. I rubbed at it frantically until I realized it had hardened and wasn't coming off. I needed to use some water, but it was a public bathroom. I couldn't just rub my vagina next to the sink, could I?
Praying to God no one would walk in, I hobbled to the sink with my knickers and jeans halfway down my legs. I quickly started rubbing away at it with water and a runny pink soap I squirted from the plastic dispenser. The wax went gloopy when it was mixed with the hot water, and it spread across my skin. I had made it worse.
Feeling panicky, I rubbed as hard as I could and then tried to peel it off. The sticky wax caught under my fingernails and I tried to scrape it off with loo roll, but the paper stuck to the skin on my hands and vagina.
I looked at myself in the mirror, bent down with my legs spread open and my hand on my vagina, stuck there with wax and loo roll. This was not how I'd imagined the start of my first ever grown-up date.
The door swung open and a middle-aged woman wearing a brown fur coat stood in the doorway, staring at me in disgust. My mouth dropped wide open and our eyes met in the mirror. There was a squeal and I looked down and saw the child next to her.
"Mummy," he asked. "Why is that girl rubbing her front bottom?"
The woman put her manicured hand over the little boy's eyes and spun him around. She looked at me with something close to revulsion and shook her head slowly.
"You're disgusting," she hissed under her breath as she propelled her son out of the bathroom. I stared at myself in the mirror, wondering how this was my life. I could hear her hushing the boy outside: "Orlando, sweetie, are you feeling okay?"
I snorted. Orlando was five years old and didn't have a vagina covered in dried wax. He was bloody fine. I, on the other hand, wanted to crawl into the loo cubicle and never leave.
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October 17, 2016
Find all of my reviews at: http://52bookminimum.blogspot.com/
Let’s file this review under . . . .
In case you aren’t already aware – I suck at reviews. I’m not just talking about the fact that I don’t words reel gud and opt to use funny movin’ pitchers to get my point across, but I mean I S.U.C.K. at keeping up. Something I didn’t realize until a few weeks ago is that I also suck at requesting books from the library. A lot of you know that when it comes to libraries, the gods really smiled upon me. Not only do I have the oft mentioned “Most Beautiful Libraries In America” right down the street from my office, but also the holy grail of porn collections up in the ‘burbs. Now, these two library systems are separate from each other which means their websites don’t necessarily work the same either. I thought I was on the site requesting an E-copy of this book, but it turned out I was actually on the other website requesting a physical copy. Which led to my son reacting sort of like this when I made him go with me to pick up my stack of holds and he saw this title . . . .
I will be paying for years of therapy for that child due to my library antics alone. (Last time I attempted to check out a paper copy porno it didn’t scan and all the bells and whistles whooped alerting the librarians that I was attempting to shoplift and then the poor elderly woman manning the desk had to scream ”NUTS! NUTS DIDN’T CHECK OUT PROPERLY!” and then my poor child nearly died of humiliation.) So, to all the trolls and fellow Goodreads users who think I’m an idiot, there’s your confirmation.
Now, about the book. Basically if this . . . .
And this . . . .
Had a baby (and like a real baby, not a creepy 50-year old woman having a whoopsie pregnancy storyline), you might end up with something a little like Virgin.
This is the story of Ellie, a 21 year old college student who has reached a point of desperation when it comes to losing what she calls her “V Plates.” Sick of feeling like a social pariah due to her lack of experience in the sack, Ellie’s quest is to finally find someone - anyone to be her “devirginizer.” Hilarity ensues. From getting waxed for the first time . . . .
To turning an “outie” sort of uhhhhhhhh bedroom aid into an “innie” leading to A Christmas Story moment of STUCK STUCK STUUUUUUUUUCK . . . .
Virgin was filled with actual laugh out louds and, despite the title and my child's public humiliation, was about the most benign romance I've read so far this year. Like me and my reviews, this little book isn’t going to change the world . . . but there’s a chance it might make you giggle.
ORIGINAL "REVIEW":
A little while ago I talked shit about the porny librarian failing me in my latest quest to conduct . . . . uhhhhhhhhhhhh scientific research. Then this popped up on my radar and I remembered I was denied the ARC back in the day so I went to the library page to see if it was available. And it was - IN PAPER FORM. In the next couple of weeks I'll be riding the elevator with this little beauty on display for all to see . . . .
Well played, porny librarian. Well played.
Let’s file this review under . . . .
In case you aren’t already aware – I suck at reviews. I’m not just talking about the fact that I don’t words reel gud and opt to use funny movin’ pitchers to get my point across, but I mean I S.U.C.K. at keeping up. Something I didn’t realize until a few weeks ago is that I also suck at requesting books from the library. A lot of you know that when it comes to libraries, the gods really smiled upon me. Not only do I have the oft mentioned “Most Beautiful Libraries In America” right down the street from my office, but also the holy grail of porn collections up in the ‘burbs. Now, these two library systems are separate from each other which means their websites don’t necessarily work the same either. I thought I was on the site requesting an E-copy of this book, but it turned out I was actually on the other website requesting a physical copy. Which led to my son reacting sort of like this when I made him go with me to pick up my stack of holds and he saw this title . . . .
I will be paying for years of therapy for that child due to my library antics alone. (Last time I attempted to check out a paper copy porno it didn’t scan and all the bells and whistles whooped alerting the librarians that I was attempting to shoplift and then the poor elderly woman manning the desk had to scream ”NUTS! NUTS DIDN’T CHECK OUT PROPERLY!” and then my poor child nearly died of humiliation.) So, to all the trolls and fellow Goodreads users who think I’m an idiot, there’s your confirmation.
Now, about the book. Basically if this . . . .
And this . . . .
Had a baby (and like a real baby, not a creepy 50-year old woman having a whoopsie pregnancy storyline), you might end up with something a little like Virgin.
This is the story of Ellie, a 21 year old college student who has reached a point of desperation when it comes to losing what she calls her “V Plates.” Sick of feeling like a social pariah due to her lack of experience in the sack, Ellie’s quest is to finally find someone - anyone to be her “devirginizer.” Hilarity ensues. From getting waxed for the first time . . . .
To turning an “outie” sort of uhhhhhhhh bedroom aid into an “innie” leading to A Christmas Story moment of STUCK STUCK STUUUUUUUUUCK . . . .
Virgin was filled with actual laugh out louds and, despite the title and my child's public humiliation, was about the most benign romance I've read so far this year. Like me and my reviews, this little book isn’t going to change the world . . . but there’s a chance it might make you giggle.
ORIGINAL "REVIEW":
A little while ago I talked shit about the porny librarian failing me in my latest quest to conduct . . . . uhhhhhhhhhhhh scientific research. Then this popped up on my radar and I remembered I was denied the ARC back in the day so I went to the library page to see if it was available. And it was - IN PAPER FORM. In the next couple of weeks I'll be riding the elevator with this little beauty on display for all to see . . . .
Well played, porny librarian. Well played.
December 25, 2015
How to describe this novel..... first words that come to mind...Pathetic, Miserable, Temperamental,Plaintive. I was pretty disgusted with the main character the entire time I was reading this. I really hope this is not supposed to be a relatable character, because if so then our planet is going to shit.
I suppose I was given adequate warning by the title, but every bloody sentence has her whining on and on about how it is so deplorable to be a virgin. In her opinion being a virgin is worse than hooking up with some random stranger in a sketchy pub. I guess anything to get rid of her "v- plates". This novel was rage inducing for me, and her epiphany at the end of the novel just felt contrived and juvenile. PASS PASS PASS!
Note: I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review.
June 3, 2015
You can also read it here.
First of all, Virgin is not Erotica. And honestly, I wonder why it wasn't shelved as Erotica. I mean, yeah, it wasn't really focused on sex scenes but the language.... and there's actually a chapter dedicated on teaching someone how to give a proper Blow.. gift (If you'll read the book, you'll get this joke) Anyway, I'm not an expert when it comes to this thing so I'm just going to say that Virgin is not for everybody. That's for sure. Some might get offended or get turned off, but some (like me) will be totally surprised and will like it because despite of its crude and malicious language and content... It's honest. And it's freaking hilarious! Okay, so there;s like a lot of cringe worthy moment like.. mini spoilers ahead
SHE ACCIDENTALLY CUT HER CLITORIS.
SHE SLIPPED ON A... SEMEN (that is not her own)
SHE TRIED TO BREAK HER OWN HYMEN WITH A BOTTLE
and she also.. ACCIDENTALLY BIT A GUY'S thing while doing a blow-gift.
Ellie, a 20 year-old virgin is a riot! I love her but she me frustrated a lot of times. Her last senior in UNI is all about one thing: losing her virginity. She doesn't even care to whom! She just want it gone. Being a virgin is like a disease to her, she can't really be a 'normal' person and she doesn't feel like she 'belong' when she's still a virgin. So I guess you can see why I'm frustrated here. Okay.. maybe not. It's just, Ellie is so consumed with the idea that she's an embarrassment to the female species just because she was a virgin. And because of that, she became miserable and desperate and pathetic.. Even her bestfriend confronted her for it.
See? I personally believe that being a virgin isn't something to be ashamed about. And being NOT A VIRGIN also. It's every girls personal decision. This is why I'm sick of girls bringing down other girls. WE BELONG IN THE SAME SPECIES.Stop with the shaming! Of any kind.
Other than my little frustration there at Ellie, I have nothing but fascination for this book. Ellie is... US, or we all have been her at one point of our lives. Gosh, I think I'm still in that stage. When I say that stage, it’s when you’re figuring out things.. uhm, I think you know what things I’m talking about. Anyway, I AM 18. I’m not saying I’m innocent and doesn’t know anything, but, I’m not an expert either. All I know about sex and dildos and vibrators and blow…gift are from books! Okay, now I want to stop typing. I’m laughing so hard now at my realizations. All I want to say is, I LEARNED A LOT FROM THIS BOOK. Though there are some things that I’d rather not learn, I’m still grateful. I just noticed that in our society now that we have all this magazine for GUYS and it’s informative for them, but how about for Women? Sure, we still have Cosmo.. But seriously, Cosmo have like, a gazillion advice that (in personal experience and from others) didn’t work quite well.
I'm going to focus on the characters in this review because it's just plain phenomenal. I've never been so close at female characters like this before and I feel like I'm always part of their conversation. This girls might be your bestfriend or your neighbor or YOU. They're dynamic. Authentic. And I think I have an eight pack now because of laughing so hard because of them. When Ellie had a little argument with her bestfriend, Lara, she found herself getting close to Emma, who always have stories about her sex life. Which, by the way, Ellie envied
Then this two had a lightbulb moment and decided to make Vlog. No, it's not a Video-Blog, it's a Vagina-Blog.. like, a blog for Vaginas. Vagina problems and all that.
Ellie's journey from a being a Virgin to being not anymore is comical but very real and helpful and this book is like guide for clueless girls out there. No, it's not gonna turn you into some sex genius or expert but it'll help you understand and be prepared for some feminine issues that we are going to face.. You know like, waxing (what am i gonna get? what the hell is a brazillian? wait someones going to wax my vagina for me?) or giving someone a blo- NO I AM SORRY I DON'T THINK I AM READY YET FOR THIS CONVERSATION. Haha! Radhika is a wiity and brilliant writer and her book is a gem! Well written and straightforward. I'm gonna leave you a quote from Ellie, that i really loved:
"The rumor about boys finding virgins sexy was a LIE. It was just some medieval bullshit that old people said to try and make their daughters keep their legs crossed and not get pregnant"
First of all, Virgin is not Erotica. And honestly, I wonder why it wasn't shelved as Erotica. I mean, yeah, it wasn't really focused on sex scenes but the language.... and there's actually a chapter dedicated on teaching someone how to give a proper Blow.. gift (If you'll read the book, you'll get this joke) Anyway, I'm not an expert when it comes to this thing so I'm just going to say that Virgin is not for everybody. That's for sure. Some might get offended or get turned off, but some (like me) will be totally surprised and will like it because despite of its crude and malicious language and content... It's honest. And it's freaking hilarious! Okay, so there;s like a lot of cringe worthy moment like.. mini spoilers ahead
SHE ACCIDENTALLY CUT HER CLITORIS.
SHE SLIPPED ON A... SEMEN (that is not her own)
SHE TRIED TO BREAK HER OWN HYMEN WITH A BOTTLE
and she also.. ACCIDENTALLY BIT A GUY'S thing while doing a blow-gift.
Ellie, a 20 year-old virgin is a riot! I love her but she me frustrated a lot of times. Her last senior in UNI is all about one thing: losing her virginity. She doesn't even care to whom! She just want it gone. Being a virgin is like a disease to her, she can't really be a 'normal' person and she doesn't feel like she 'belong' when she's still a virgin. So I guess you can see why I'm frustrated here. Okay.. maybe not. It's just, Ellie is so consumed with the idea that she's an embarrassment to the female species just because she was a virgin. And because of that, she became miserable and desperate and pathetic.. Even her bestfriend confronted her for it.
“You have your friends, you’re doing well at uni—but you’re just obsessed with finding a guy and losing your virginity. If you forgot about that for one second, you might actually enjoy your final year instead of freaking out the whole time”
See? I personally believe that being a virgin isn't something to be ashamed about. And being NOT A VIRGIN also. It's every girls personal decision. This is why I'm sick of girls bringing down other girls. WE BELONG IN THE SAME SPECIES.Stop with the shaming! Of any kind.
"Life as an adult virgin is more complicated than you might think. Obviously it is normal, there are thousands of us, and there is absolutely nothing wrong with it. Choosing when to have sex is a completely individual decision, and everyone is different. Some people choose to wait till marriage, and some just want to wait for the right person. Others are religious, and others are just too busy being successful in every other area of their lives to worry about something as minor as intercourse."
Other than my little frustration there at Ellie, I have nothing but fascination for this book. Ellie is... US, or we all have been her at one point of our lives. Gosh, I think I'm still in that stage. When I say that stage, it’s when you’re figuring out things.. uhm, I think you know what things I’m talking about. Anyway, I AM 18. I’m not saying I’m innocent and doesn’t know anything, but, I’m not an expert either. All I know about sex and dildos and vibrators and blow…gift are from books! Okay, now I want to stop typing. I’m laughing so hard now at my realizations. All I want to say is, I LEARNED A LOT FROM THIS BOOK. Though there are some things that I’d rather not learn, I’m still grateful. I just noticed that in our society now that we have all this magazine for GUYS and it’s informative for them, but how about for Women? Sure, we still have Cosmo.. But seriously, Cosmo have like, a gazillion advice that (in personal experience and from others) didn’t work quite well.
“Magazines are just hypocritical. They’re meant to tackle female issues but none of them write about how awkward it is to shave your vagina. They don’t even rate hair removal products for how well they work on the bikini zone. They just focus on the safe zones like legs and underarms. It drives me crazy.” Emma’s eyes lit up in excitement. “Oh, my God. We need to publicize this to the world. We need to be the new teenage agony aunts to help all those thirteen-year-olds figure out how to de-hair their vaginas”
I'm going to focus on the characters in this review because it's just plain phenomenal. I've never been so close at female characters like this before and I feel like I'm always part of their conversation. This girls might be your bestfriend or your neighbor or YOU. They're dynamic. Authentic. And I think I have an eight pack now because of laughing so hard because of them. When Ellie had a little argument with her bestfriend, Lara, she found herself getting close to Emma, who always have stories about her sex life. Which, by the way, Ellie envied
"One of us is a virgin and one of us is a slut. The two are not mutually exclusive and regardless of our experiences, we both have very similar views on the world of sex, virginity, and vaginas."
Then this two had a lightbulb moment and decided to make Vlog. No, it's not a Video-Blog, it's a Vagina-Blog.. like, a blog for Vaginas. Vagina problems and all that.
Ellie's journey from a being a Virgin to being not anymore is comical but very real and helpful and this book is like guide for clueless girls out there. No, it's not gonna turn you into some sex genius or expert but it'll help you understand and be prepared for some feminine issues that we are going to face.. You know like, waxing (what am i gonna get? what the hell is a brazillian? wait someones going to wax my vagina for me?) or giving someone a blo- NO I AM SORRY I DON'T THINK I AM READY YET FOR THIS CONVERSATION. Haha! Radhika is a wiity and brilliant writer and her book is a gem! Well written and straightforward. I'm gonna leave you a quote from Ellie, that i really loved:
"I only accepted my virginity after I lost it. I wish I had done it earlier, but either way, I’m glad I finally have. So whoever you are, whether you lost your virginity twenty years ago or you still have it, just accept it. Embrace any STDs you may or may not have, along with the regrets, the disastrous stories, the heartbreak, the pain and the regret. Because if it weren’t... Life would be dull"p style=p style=
January 29, 2016
Knjiga poslata u stampu, vec se prevodi nastavak... :)))) Na zabavan i duhovit nacin knjiga govori o seksualnom odrastanju mlade devojke, njenim prvim seksualnim iskustvima... raznovrsnim 'zenskim' mukama svake mlade devojke a o kojima se najcesce ne govori ni medju prijateljicama... Prica o devici slucajnoscu a ne po sopstvenom izboru... Mladim devojkama ce knjiga mozda biti od pomoci, nas starije ce podsetiti na mladost i te muke koje smo 'pregrmele'... Knjiga u kojoj ce svaka zena prepoznati delic sebe...
A muski bi vise cenili zene kada bi shvatili kroz kolike muke zene prolaze da bi im se dopale... :)))))
A muski bi vise cenili zene kada bi shvatili kroz kolike muke zene prolaze da bi im se dopale... :)))))
August 22, 2014
Actual rating: 4.5 stars
For more reviews, Cover Snark and more, visit A Reader of Fictions.
This review is going to be personal in a way that I rarely get on my blog. I’d feel more comfortable if any family members who happen to be reading my blog would please skip this one or at least have the good grace to not talk to me about it. I am not and probably never will be mature enough for that.
Reading books like Losing It and Virgin is a very personal experience for me, as I am a 26-year-old virgin. I’m not waiting for something specific except for what feels like the right time for me. Though less abundant than slut-shaming, virgin-shaming is also prevalent in popular culture and I’ve always struggled with my own identity. I felt and still sometimes feel weird and behind, like there’s something wrong with me that I’ve ended up where I am. I’ve even idly (VERY idly) considered plans like Ellie’s: finding someone with the sole goal of not being a virgin anymore. However, I know myself well enough to know that’s not something I’m capable of, even though I do see the appeal of it.
Books like Virgin attract me, but they also scare me, because oftentimes the message is that it is indeed better to get it over with and to join everyone else in the land of the penetrated. At the start, I was afraid that this is the sort of book Virgin would be, as Ellie ranted and raved about how fucked up she was because she’d never been fucked. Do not stop reading, PLEASE. Virgin is revolutionary in a way that it shouldn’t be; our culture needs books like this, which frankly discuss all aspects of female sexuality, so that women like me or not can feel more comfortable with who they are and their own personal time table.
Ellie is sort of a stand-in for a woman of the modern world. She’s well-educated (in uni for English), attractive (though not model gorgeous), and has friends (not an outcast). She’s fairly average, which makes her incredibly relatable. She hates herself at the outset, the product of society’s messages. She hates herself for the same reasons I struggle to admit what shouldn’t be a shocking truth on my own blog. Everything in her life experience tells Ellie that there’s something wrong with her for having an intact hymen (though really this is a terrible indicator) and wants to fix that by finally having sex.
As Ellie launches on this journey, there was a bit more of a bumpy start as she got into a fight with a friend, partly over jealousy that Lara pulled at a club when Ellie had the big plan. Again, don’t let this make you throw Virgin aside. Friendships will be mended stronger than ever. There’s so much kinship and female understanding in Virgin, as the girls open up to one another about all their secret fears.
Virgin talks openly and honestly about vaginas. Ellie and her friend Emma end up starting a blog about their experiences as a 21-year-old virgin and a 21-year-old woman who is proud to be, in her attempt to reclaim the term as a positive, a slut. The blog is about vaginas and about sex. They discuss the state of pubic hair, masturbation, discharge, other body hair and things like that. They do so without shame and without letting the negative comments get them down. It’s so glorious. I was laughing and cringing regularly at Ellie’s mishaps, particularly Little Hitler. Then there’s the fact that Ellie’s internal monologues and concerns and fears are almost all things I’ve worried about in my time and I am just so glad that books like this one are starting to be published.
Even better, Virgin isn’t really a romance. It’s an actual new adult novel about growing up in so many ways. She’s trying to finish her degree and figure out what to do after that. She spends a lot of time and energy on her quest to lose her virginity, yes, but she continues living a real life on the side of it. Her friends were always more important than whatever boy she was chasing. And, in the end, it’s a book about loving and accepting yourself. It’s about figuring out what you want and what makes you feel good about yourself and embracing that. Hallelujah.
Virgin by Radhika Sanghani is brilliant new adult fiction in the inquisitive, comedic vein of The To Do List. It’s painful at times, incredibly awkward, exceedingly honest, and quite humorous. Highly recommended to those who want new adult fiction that is about more than romance.
For more reviews, Cover Snark and more, visit A Reader of Fictions.
This review is going to be personal in a way that I rarely get on my blog. I’d feel more comfortable if any family members who happen to be reading my blog would please skip this one or at least have the good grace to not talk to me about it. I am not and probably never will be mature enough for that.
Reading books like Losing It and Virgin is a very personal experience for me, as I am a 26-year-old virgin. I’m not waiting for something specific except for what feels like the right time for me. Though less abundant than slut-shaming, virgin-shaming is also prevalent in popular culture and I’ve always struggled with my own identity. I felt and still sometimes feel weird and behind, like there’s something wrong with me that I’ve ended up where I am. I’ve even idly (VERY idly) considered plans like Ellie’s: finding someone with the sole goal of not being a virgin anymore. However, I know myself well enough to know that’s not something I’m capable of, even though I do see the appeal of it.
Books like Virgin attract me, but they also scare me, because oftentimes the message is that it is indeed better to get it over with and to join everyone else in the land of the penetrated. At the start, I was afraid that this is the sort of book Virgin would be, as Ellie ranted and raved about how fucked up she was because she’d never been fucked. Do not stop reading, PLEASE. Virgin is revolutionary in a way that it shouldn’t be; our culture needs books like this, which frankly discuss all aspects of female sexuality, so that women like me or not can feel more comfortable with who they are and their own personal time table.
Ellie is sort of a stand-in for a woman of the modern world. She’s well-educated (in uni for English), attractive (though not model gorgeous), and has friends (not an outcast). She’s fairly average, which makes her incredibly relatable. She hates herself at the outset, the product of society’s messages. She hates herself for the same reasons I struggle to admit what shouldn’t be a shocking truth on my own blog. Everything in her life experience tells Ellie that there’s something wrong with her for having an intact hymen (though really this is a terrible indicator) and wants to fix that by finally having sex.
As Ellie launches on this journey, there was a bit more of a bumpy start as she got into a fight with a friend, partly over jealousy that Lara pulled at a club when Ellie had the big plan. Again, don’t let this make you throw Virgin aside. Friendships will be mended stronger than ever. There’s so much kinship and female understanding in Virgin, as the girls open up to one another about all their secret fears.
Virgin talks openly and honestly about vaginas. Ellie and her friend Emma end up starting a blog about their experiences as a 21-year-old virgin and a 21-year-old woman who is proud to be, in her attempt to reclaim the term as a positive, a slut. The blog is about vaginas and about sex. They discuss the state of pubic hair, masturbation, discharge, other body hair and things like that. They do so without shame and without letting the negative comments get them down. It’s so glorious. I was laughing and cringing regularly at Ellie’s mishaps, particularly Little Hitler. Then there’s the fact that Ellie’s internal monologues and concerns and fears are almost all things I’ve worried about in my time and I am just so glad that books like this one are starting to be published.
Even better, Virgin isn’t really a romance. It’s an actual new adult novel about growing up in so many ways. She’s trying to finish her degree and figure out what to do after that. She spends a lot of time and energy on her quest to lose her virginity, yes, but she continues living a real life on the side of it. Her friends were always more important than whatever boy she was chasing. And, in the end, it’s a book about loving and accepting yourself. It’s about figuring out what you want and what makes you feel good about yourself and embracing that. Hallelujah.
Virgin by Radhika Sanghani is brilliant new adult fiction in the inquisitive, comedic vein of The To Do List. It’s painful at times, incredibly awkward, exceedingly honest, and quite humorous. Highly recommended to those who want new adult fiction that is about more than romance.
January 27, 2019
NOTE: I received a free digital galley of Virgin from Penguin’s First to Read giveaway. I received no other incentives for reading or reviewing. The review below is entirely of my own opinion. Also inserting a warning here about strong language - I remain as appropriate as I can, but this is a book about sex so maybe grow up a bit?
I would like to applaud Radhika Sanghani for writing a novel that is frank in its discussion of sex, accessible to young readers in similar plights, and TMI in all the right ways.
I would like to. But I can't. Because Radhika Sanghani ends up making virgins and women my age look like superficial, air-headed, sex-crazed robots with no redeemable qualities and no interest in anything other than "THE D." She may have had good intentions, but anyone with half a brain is only going to feel insulted and disgusted by her lack of descriptive narration, forced dialogue, general disregard for fluidity, assemblage of poor continuity, and despicable characterization. I can only assume that she paints Ellie so clueless about sex because she thinks that virgins must be completely innocent about even common sense sexuality, which is super offensive and becomes a disservice as Sanghani has an opportunity to show the world what being an adult virgin means and instead she completely disrespects her own subject.
This isn't a book so much as a literary game of Jenga. You pick at one thing and the entire story falls apart. The only reason I finished this novel was because I feel some sort of duty because I received the book for free and some people enjoy reading my reviews, as well as the fact that I promised a previous reviewer of this novel (who stopped a few chapters in) that I would finish it and tell him if it got better. It didn’t (if this is all you needed to hear, @Ian Wood, feel free to stop reading).
Honestly, I have no idea where to begin because Sanghani has weaved one tangled web of NOPE. I guess I will begin with some general self-disclosure: I am not a virgin, I lost my virginity to a long-term, live-in boyfriend, and I pride myself on being very liberal about women’s issues. AKA Long Live The Sluts; but I also think that women should embrace their virginities and be well-educated BEFORE jumping onto the first phallus that comes their way. I’m going to try my damndest not to turn this into a sex ed lesson *puts bananas away*, but with the shocking amount of misinformation contained in these 294 pages, it’s going to be hard (pun intended).
I don't really know what I expected from this novel. Maybe a literary version of teen "virginity" movies like Sex Drive or American Pie, but with an older and more mature narrator? The characters seem more like they should be teenagers rather than adults and the descriptions are even reminiscent of preteen novels "he was wearing a gray hoodie and he had a flippy, emo fringe and a lip piercing." They act completely childish and judgmental rather than grown ADULTS with a higher education. Shouldn't this be around the time that they begin to reflect on their goals and values in life? Virginity should be the least of this girl's worries.
Ellie is a vapid, immature 21-year-old who doesn't know anything about sex and still wants to have it. She is a fairly flat character who never seems to do anything but try to find some uncaring horndog who won't feel iffy about taking a girl's virginity in a one night stand (trust me, ladies, that's not the kind of guy you want to have sex with, EVER). She seems to have no inner character, passion, or ambition aside from that. From time to time, she tries extremely hard to be funny, but that mostly falls flat.
Maybe it's because I'm a 20-year-old NOT-VIRGIN, but I can not imagine any normal-functioning adult to behave this way. I'm not the poster child for maturity or anything, but are we really supposed to believe this is the only thing in her life that matters? Isn't she in college? Surely she has to be studying something. Why does she even go to the doctor in the first place? There seemed to be some type of "sign-up" indicating she had an interest in a program of some sort. However, none of that is mentioned in the first part of the novel.
Eventually, I did pick up that she wants to be a journalist and she begins writing a blog for virgins (because “no such thing exists” - hello, Scarleteen, TeenSource, I Wanna Know!, Sex Etc., and countless other websites and books written by actual (s)experts). But it begins by showing a very lukewarm, lazy, impassionate entry she enters into a contest for an editing position with her school journal and continues with the fact that she KNOWS nothing about sex. If she is so obsessed with it, you’d think she would have Googled plenty of information and discovered things on her own instead of just whining about how “no one tells you to shave your pubes” or “no one says to use a condom when giving a bj (more on that later).”
I mean, I get it, she receives lots of untrustworthy information from equally-stupid peers and scumbag men. But I’m pretty sure anyone and everyone who has ever been to “the lady doctor” knows that your hymen doesn’t actually break during sex. And the amount of references to this is astounding, which makes me really concerned for the author, considering not once does Ellie Google this and she still believes her hymen is some penetrable forcefield at the end of the novel. And then you find out that she’s been touching herself since a seriously young age, and that most of the shame and guilt for her sexuality was put onto her by her mother (who is one page strict enough about sex to send her to an all-girls boarding school and the next page demanding Ellie find a boyfriend). These things just don’t add up. Someone with raging hormones, in spite of being caught masturbating, is going to be naturally curious and find ways to sate that curiosity. And COME ON, she acts like she is the first girl to ever watch porn. Not self-disclosing here, but Google some statistics - almost everyone watches porn unless they have some sort of feminist diatribe against it (and sometimes even then they still do). It just didn’t add up that she hadn’t done “research” like this much earlier, given aforementioned curiosity.
She has absolutely no respect for herself or any of the guys she involves herself with. She constantly hates on herself and judges others, and suddenly does a 180 several times in expecting people to respect her without ever giving them a reason to and having “soul-baring” epiphanies. Maybe this is un-feminist of me, but I don’t think anyone should be having sex or building formative relationships when he/she has no clue how to treat herself or other people. She whines about how no one wanted to take her virginity because she was not pretty enough or because she had some misadventures in hookups, but honestly every single person is going to have those funny stories they share with their best friend, and she basically does it to herself by not being honest or comfortable enough with the guy she hooks up with to gain experience and by not respecting herself or the guys she encounters. I mean she isn't even willing to have a conversation with guys before acting so desperately horny that it would scare anyone off.
She even says at one point she doesn’t want to lose her virginity to someone who will abandon her. Then maybe don’t have sex with the first person who wants to have sex with you? Look, girl, you are in the 21st century. You are your own woman. Take some responsibility and educate yourself so that you know how to avoid things you don’t want to happen. You are not some helpless sex-robot or fuckdoll that has no autonomy or decision in the matter. And then she turns around and clearly states that she has the goal of doing a walk of shame, as if there is a source of pride in that achievement.
Now, on to something that isn’t horrid characterization. The setting consists of a bunch of buzzwords like "London," "Oxford," "posh bar." Is this supposed to be a sentence in a novel or a tagline to a blog post? Several times, she mentions “the new restaurant” or “that hot new music video” with not even a single descriptor. Rather than building a relatable bridge so that Ellie becomes everywoman and the audience can fit into Ellie’s role easily, which is what I assume she was trying to do, generic statements and no descriptions make this fall super-flat and fail to identify with Ellie as HER OWN WOMAN.
The writing is terrible and the descriptions don’t really give me any feeling at all except extreme uncomfortable nausea. Even the parts that were supposed to be sexy were just...bland and uncommitted. It reminds me of the very first sex scene I wrote back in high school - a lot of “he kissed me passionately. his hands touched everywhere. he kissed me passionately again” and not much else.
The dialogue feels very fake rather than a flowing, natural conversation between the characters. This is also because the characters seemed to be "13 going on 30" caricatures who care more about appearing enlightened and interesting than actually being either of those. Some jokes were okay and I appreciate that how the topic was addressed was frank rather than conservative, and the book was seriously fast-paced so I was able to read it through pretty quickly, but I wouldn't recommend it to anyone. The fast pace made it feel like everything was so forced rather than naturally flowing, like the characters couldn't just sit or things couldn't just happen at a normal rate - it seemed every time someone spoke, there had to be a change of topic or an action conveyed, like things were brushed off before they were even fully spoken. I just couldn't identify or empathize with Ellie at all.
On top of all of this, it doesn’t look like Virgin was proofread very well and there are plenty of times when a word is used seemingly arbitrarily - I probably threw up everytime she used the word “feminist,” not sure how the term “almost-chod[e] can be described as “onomatopeoic,” and finally, using the term “monosyllabic” several times when the person she is talking to is using SEVERAL SYLLABLES IN FULL SENTENCES that are in no way curt or disinterested.
Next is how Virgin alienates homosexuals with Ellie’s offensive stereotypically attitude. Let me just lay this out in a list so we can cross the bridge quickly and burn it so I never have to think of this again: 1) no one wants to be a Gay Best Friend, 2) not all gay guys have impressive fashion sense, and 3) HIV is not the only STD a gay guy can get, nor is it reserved for “the gays.”
And my final bone to pick with Virgin is a spoiler - although I tread lightly here as it is anticlimactic and expected after seeing how clueless Ellie is, and the fact that a very serious issue is flitted over in a few paragraphs is highly offensive and dangerous to the audience. After Ellie (spoiler) loses her virginity, she finally gets to go into the doctor’s office and have that embarrassing “virgin” status exchanged for a “sexually active” label. This, first off, is juvenile of her, did she think she was going to be lifted on the shoulders of the staff and have a Non-Virgin Parade in her honor?
So she takes this chlamydia test that she keeps harping on about (I bet her mother would be proud), and big shocker - it comes back positive. This because she performed oral on a guy without using a condom. So what does she do? Naturally, she lets him know and takes her treatment seriously, right? Wrong. She spends all of one solitary page being surprised before concluding that “After twenty-one years of surviving virginity, chlamydia didn’t really seem like a big deal.” NOT A BIG DEAL? Let me explain something to you - chlamydia can cause painful inflammation and fertility problems if untreated and it is the #1 most transmitted sexual disease, meaning that it is a very real and prominent threat. She could have gotten a very difficult-to-treat disease or one that wasn’t curable at all. Using a serious disease as an afterthought just made the novel come full circle back into the trash that it already was. Regardless of whether or not you are in a committed monogamous relationship or casually sleeping your way through your college years, there is no excuse not to take STDS/STIS seriously and to protect yourself to the best of your ability. And there’s no justification to taking it THIS lightly - because setting an example of being blase about your own health isn’t cute or funny - it’s unethical.
Virgin is pure unadulterated filth that I believe may break the cardinal rule of writing (doing harm to your reader), and rather than setting up a 21st century novelization of feminism and the issue of young women’s budding sexuality, Virgin itself becomes an example of just how uninformed people can be and how dangerous lack of knowledge can be to readers. There were opportunities here - to point out the issue of double standards, to discuss the multitude of healthy sexual possibilities, to address the implications and responsibilities of sexuality, to depict a common modern problem, to unveil the scientific evidence against hookup culture and possibly even make an argument against that evidence (or not). But instead we got Virgin.
I would like to applaud Radhika Sanghani for writing a novel that is frank in its discussion of sex, accessible to young readers in similar plights, and TMI in all the right ways.
I would like to. But I can't. Because Radhika Sanghani ends up making virgins and women my age look like superficial, air-headed, sex-crazed robots with no redeemable qualities and no interest in anything other than "THE D." She may have had good intentions, but anyone with half a brain is only going to feel insulted and disgusted by her lack of descriptive narration, forced dialogue, general disregard for fluidity, assemblage of poor continuity, and despicable characterization. I can only assume that she paints Ellie so clueless about sex because she thinks that virgins must be completely innocent about even common sense sexuality, which is super offensive and becomes a disservice as Sanghani has an opportunity to show the world what being an adult virgin means and instead she completely disrespects her own subject.
This isn't a book so much as a literary game of Jenga. You pick at one thing and the entire story falls apart. The only reason I finished this novel was because I feel some sort of duty because I received the book for free and some people enjoy reading my reviews, as well as the fact that I promised a previous reviewer of this novel (who stopped a few chapters in) that I would finish it and tell him if it got better. It didn’t (if this is all you needed to hear, @Ian Wood, feel free to stop reading).
Honestly, I have no idea where to begin because Sanghani has weaved one tangled web of NOPE. I guess I will begin with some general self-disclosure: I am not a virgin, I lost my virginity to a long-term, live-in boyfriend, and I pride myself on being very liberal about women’s issues. AKA Long Live The Sluts; but I also think that women should embrace their virginities and be well-educated BEFORE jumping onto the first phallus that comes their way. I’m going to try my damndest not to turn this into a sex ed lesson *puts bananas away*, but with the shocking amount of misinformation contained in these 294 pages, it’s going to be hard (pun intended).
I don't really know what I expected from this novel. Maybe a literary version of teen "virginity" movies like Sex Drive or American Pie, but with an older and more mature narrator? The characters seem more like they should be teenagers rather than adults and the descriptions are even reminiscent of preteen novels "he was wearing a gray hoodie and he had a flippy, emo fringe and a lip piercing." They act completely childish and judgmental rather than grown ADULTS with a higher education. Shouldn't this be around the time that they begin to reflect on their goals and values in life? Virginity should be the least of this girl's worries.
Ellie is a vapid, immature 21-year-old who doesn't know anything about sex and still wants to have it. She is a fairly flat character who never seems to do anything but try to find some uncaring horndog who won't feel iffy about taking a girl's virginity in a one night stand (trust me, ladies, that's not the kind of guy you want to have sex with, EVER). She seems to have no inner character, passion, or ambition aside from that. From time to time, she tries extremely hard to be funny, but that mostly falls flat.
Maybe it's because I'm a 20-year-old NOT-VIRGIN, but I can not imagine any normal-functioning adult to behave this way. I'm not the poster child for maturity or anything, but are we really supposed to believe this is the only thing in her life that matters? Isn't she in college? Surely she has to be studying something. Why does she even go to the doctor in the first place? There seemed to be some type of "sign-up" indicating she had an interest in a program of some sort. However, none of that is mentioned in the first part of the novel.
Eventually, I did pick up that she wants to be a journalist and she begins writing a blog for virgins (because “no such thing exists” - hello, Scarleteen, TeenSource, I Wanna Know!, Sex Etc., and countless other websites and books written by actual (s)experts). But it begins by showing a very lukewarm, lazy, impassionate entry she enters into a contest for an editing position with her school journal and continues with the fact that she KNOWS nothing about sex. If she is so obsessed with it, you’d think she would have Googled plenty of information and discovered things on her own instead of just whining about how “no one tells you to shave your pubes” or “no one says to use a condom when giving a bj (more on that later).”
I mean, I get it, she receives lots of untrustworthy information from equally-stupid peers and scumbag men. But I’m pretty sure anyone and everyone who has ever been to “the lady doctor” knows that your hymen doesn’t actually break during sex. And the amount of references to this is astounding, which makes me really concerned for the author, considering not once does Ellie Google this and she still believes her hymen is some penetrable forcefield at the end of the novel. And then you find out that she’s been touching herself since a seriously young age, and that most of the shame and guilt for her sexuality was put onto her by her mother (who is one page strict enough about sex to send her to an all-girls boarding school and the next page demanding Ellie find a boyfriend). These things just don’t add up. Someone with raging hormones, in spite of being caught masturbating, is going to be naturally curious and find ways to sate that curiosity. And COME ON, she acts like she is the first girl to ever watch porn. Not self-disclosing here, but Google some statistics - almost everyone watches porn unless they have some sort of feminist diatribe against it (and sometimes even then they still do). It just didn’t add up that she hadn’t done “research” like this much earlier, given aforementioned curiosity.
She has absolutely no respect for herself or any of the guys she involves herself with. She constantly hates on herself and judges others, and suddenly does a 180 several times in expecting people to respect her without ever giving them a reason to and having “soul-baring” epiphanies. Maybe this is un-feminist of me, but I don’t think anyone should be having sex or building formative relationships when he/she has no clue how to treat herself or other people. She whines about how no one wanted to take her virginity because she was not pretty enough or because she had some misadventures in hookups, but honestly every single person is going to have those funny stories they share with their best friend, and she basically does it to herself by not being honest or comfortable enough with the guy she hooks up with to gain experience and by not respecting herself or the guys she encounters. I mean she isn't even willing to have a conversation with guys before acting so desperately horny that it would scare anyone off.
She even says at one point she doesn’t want to lose her virginity to someone who will abandon her. Then maybe don’t have sex with the first person who wants to have sex with you? Look, girl, you are in the 21st century. You are your own woman. Take some responsibility and educate yourself so that you know how to avoid things you don’t want to happen. You are not some helpless sex-robot or fuckdoll that has no autonomy or decision in the matter. And then she turns around and clearly states that she has the goal of doing a walk of shame, as if there is a source of pride in that achievement.
Now, on to something that isn’t horrid characterization. The setting consists of a bunch of buzzwords like "London," "Oxford," "posh bar." Is this supposed to be a sentence in a novel or a tagline to a blog post? Several times, she mentions “the new restaurant” or “that hot new music video” with not even a single descriptor. Rather than building a relatable bridge so that Ellie becomes everywoman and the audience can fit into Ellie’s role easily, which is what I assume she was trying to do, generic statements and no descriptions make this fall super-flat and fail to identify with Ellie as HER OWN WOMAN.
The writing is terrible and the descriptions don’t really give me any feeling at all except extreme uncomfortable nausea. Even the parts that were supposed to be sexy were just...bland and uncommitted. It reminds me of the very first sex scene I wrote back in high school - a lot of “he kissed me passionately. his hands touched everywhere. he kissed me passionately again” and not much else.
The dialogue feels very fake rather than a flowing, natural conversation between the characters. This is also because the characters seemed to be "13 going on 30" caricatures who care more about appearing enlightened and interesting than actually being either of those. Some jokes were okay and I appreciate that how the topic was addressed was frank rather than conservative, and the book was seriously fast-paced so I was able to read it through pretty quickly, but I wouldn't recommend it to anyone. The fast pace made it feel like everything was so forced rather than naturally flowing, like the characters couldn't just sit or things couldn't just happen at a normal rate - it seemed every time someone spoke, there had to be a change of topic or an action conveyed, like things were brushed off before they were even fully spoken. I just couldn't identify or empathize with Ellie at all.
On top of all of this, it doesn’t look like Virgin was proofread very well and there are plenty of times when a word is used seemingly arbitrarily - I probably threw up everytime she used the word “feminist,” not sure how the term “almost-chod[e] can be described as “onomatopeoic,” and finally, using the term “monosyllabic” several times when the person she is talking to is using SEVERAL SYLLABLES IN FULL SENTENCES that are in no way curt or disinterested.
Next is how Virgin alienates homosexuals with Ellie’s offensive stereotypically attitude. Let me just lay this out in a list so we can cross the bridge quickly and burn it so I never have to think of this again: 1) no one wants to be a Gay Best Friend, 2) not all gay guys have impressive fashion sense, and 3) HIV is not the only STD a gay guy can get, nor is it reserved for “the gays.”
And my final bone to pick with Virgin is a spoiler - although I tread lightly here as it is anticlimactic and expected after seeing how clueless Ellie is, and the fact that a very serious issue is flitted over in a few paragraphs is highly offensive and dangerous to the audience. After Ellie (spoiler) loses her virginity, she finally gets to go into the doctor’s office and have that embarrassing “virgin” status exchanged for a “sexually active” label. This, first off, is juvenile of her, did she think she was going to be lifted on the shoulders of the staff and have a Non-Virgin Parade in her honor?
So she takes this chlamydia test that she keeps harping on about (I bet her mother would be proud), and big shocker - it comes back positive. This because she performed oral on a guy without using a condom. So what does she do? Naturally, she lets him know and takes her treatment seriously, right? Wrong. She spends all of one solitary page being surprised before concluding that “After twenty-one years of surviving virginity, chlamydia didn’t really seem like a big deal.” NOT A BIG DEAL? Let me explain something to you - chlamydia can cause painful inflammation and fertility problems if untreated and it is the #1 most transmitted sexual disease, meaning that it is a very real and prominent threat. She could have gotten a very difficult-to-treat disease or one that wasn’t curable at all. Using a serious disease as an afterthought just made the novel come full circle back into the trash that it already was. Regardless of whether or not you are in a committed monogamous relationship or casually sleeping your way through your college years, there is no excuse not to take STDS/STIS seriously and to protect yourself to the best of your ability. And there’s no justification to taking it THIS lightly - because setting an example of being blase about your own health isn’t cute or funny - it’s unethical.
Virgin is pure unadulterated filth that I believe may break the cardinal rule of writing (doing harm to your reader), and rather than setting up a 21st century novelization of feminism and the issue of young women’s budding sexuality, Virgin itself becomes an example of just how uninformed people can be and how dangerous lack of knowledge can be to readers. There were opportunities here - to point out the issue of double standards, to discuss the multitude of healthy sexual possibilities, to address the implications and responsibilities of sexuality, to depict a common modern problem, to unveil the scientific evidence against hookup culture and possibly even make an argument against that evidence (or not). But instead we got Virgin.
August 16, 2017
In Radhika Sanghani’s New Adult novel, Virgin, Ellie yearned to lose her virginity at all costs. Her friends did it. They normalized her life. So, why’s she abnormal?
(See my full review at https://craftyscribblescom.wordpress....)
(See my full review at https://craftyscribblescom.wordpress....)
August 21, 2014
I have to start by saying I'm on the fence about Virgin by Radhika Sanghani. More on that later. Ellie Kolstakis is a 21-year old virgin. Not from lack of trying, but just 'cause. Ellie, with the help of some friends, embarks on a journey to lose her V-card before she graduates from college. Afterall, everyone else is doing it.
From the beginning, Sanghani grabs readers with Ellie's wit and personality. She's honest and open about all her sexual mishaps, inexperience, and really hairy parts. Yeah, Virgin does not sugarcoat the truth and just takes the most honest approach with lady parts, sexuality and the modern woman, as well as uncensored conversation. My best friend and I often think that men have no idea how... um...honest... women talk about sex.
Yes! I liked Ellie very much... at times. Although Virgin is instantly entertaining, I kinda grew tired of Ellie and her self-pitying. She goes on and on about how she doesn't measure up to friends such as Lara or Emma. It's almost like she couldn't help but remind readers how unfortunate looking she may, or may not be. That is why I'm on the fence with this novel. I loved the American Pie feel a lot more than the She's Come Undone moments.
Overall, Virgin is a fast and fun chick-litish read. It chronicles how far along women have come from the days of saving themselves for marriage to being women open to discovering their own sexual identities. Radhika Sanghani has definitely carved out her own space in the world of good chick-lit.
Copy provided by Penguin Group via Netgalley
From the beginning, Sanghani grabs readers with Ellie's wit and personality. She's honest and open about all her sexual mishaps, inexperience, and really hairy parts. Yeah, Virgin does not sugarcoat the truth and just takes the most honest approach with lady parts, sexuality and the modern woman, as well as uncensored conversation. My best friend and I often think that men have no idea how... um...honest... women talk about sex.
Yes! I liked Ellie very much... at times. Although Virgin is instantly entertaining, I kinda grew tired of Ellie and her self-pitying. She goes on and on about how she doesn't measure up to friends such as Lara or Emma. It's almost like she couldn't help but remind readers how unfortunate looking she may, or may not be. That is why I'm on the fence with this novel. I loved the American Pie feel a lot more than the She's Come Undone moments.
Overall, Virgin is a fast and fun chick-litish read. It chronicles how far along women have come from the days of saving themselves for marriage to being women open to discovering their own sexual identities. Radhika Sanghani has definitely carved out her own space in the world of good chick-lit.
Copy provided by Penguin Group via Netgalley
May 27, 2014
As I was reading this I kept thinking, "OMG is Radhika listening in on all my conversations with friends?!" and, "WTF this is actually my life," except written way better of course.
Seriously, I haven't laughed so hard at a book in years and it wasn't just because it was funny. It's incredibly poignant, especially to this generation of females. What we go through growing up, trying to understand boys, being afraid to ask real questions (aka: can you put a lady-bullet up there?) and this whole myriad of things that you might discuss with your closest friends is now written, and fantastically so, in this book.
I challenge any woman who reads this NOT to find at least one part of Ellie's story that you don't completely relate to, because I believe it is truly impossible.
This is an actual must read. As in, get-it-the-day-it-comes-out-and-read-it-right-the-fuck-now.
Seriously, I haven't laughed so hard at a book in years and it wasn't just because it was funny. It's incredibly poignant, especially to this generation of females. What we go through growing up, trying to understand boys, being afraid to ask real questions (aka: can you put a lady-bullet up there?) and this whole myriad of things that you might discuss with your closest friends is now written, and fantastically so, in this book.
I challenge any woman who reads this NOT to find at least one part of Ellie's story that you don't completely relate to, because I believe it is truly impossible.
This is an actual must read. As in, get-it-the-day-it-comes-out-and-read-it-right-the-fuck-now.
August 22, 2020
такая хуета
January 2, 2016
Ce n'est pas aussi horrible que je pensais mais quand même... C'est un roman à l'opposé de la romance. Si je voulais lire quelque chose de ce genre, j'aurai acheté le dernier Cosmo, c'est moins cher et plus drôle...
July 26, 2015
Oh boy, this book was hilarious. I had a major amount of fun reading this. Just from the first paragraph and I knew right there that I'm going to love this book.
"Ellie Kolstakis
21 years old
Nonsmoker
VIRGIN
I stared in horror at the words on Dr. E. Bower's computer. The status of my hymen was plastered across her screen in capital letters. V-I-R-G-I-N."
Well I think this book is not for everyone, some may relate to Ellie's obsession of being a virgin and others may find it dirty and unworthy but it really depends on what culture you're in and how open-minded you are. There are lots of relate-able stuff about women and their problems down under. From pubes shaving and waxing dilemmas to googleing HOW TO's, and buying condoms for her deflowering agenda, I was laughing and snorting so much I really had to pause from reading to get a hold my self .
This book is like a guide to all those clueless girls out there but let me remind you that the language used is not all subtle, yet very informative and honest about the discreet things we are most curious about.
~oh well I'll just give you a snippet of the book where I laughed so hard. This is where Ellie just had a Brazilian wax.
Oh my fucking God. The wax hadn't all come off on the strips, and it was stuck on my skin along with knicker fluff. I rubbed at it frantically until I realized it had hardened and wasn't coming off. I needed to use some water, but it was a public bathroom. I couldn't just rub my vagina next to the sink, could I?
Praying to God no one would walk in, I hobbled to the sink with my knickers and jeans halfway down my legs. I quickly started rubbing away at it with water and a runny pink soap I squirted from the plastic dispenser. The wax went gloopy when it was mixed with the hot water, and it spread across my skin. I had made it worse.
Feeling panicky, I rubbed as hard as I could and then tried to peel it off. The sticky wax caught under my fingernails and I tried to scrape it off with loo roll, but the paper stuck to the skin on my hands and vagina.
I looked at myself in the mirror, bent down with my legs spread open and my hand on my vagina, stuck there with wax and loo roll. This was not how I'd imagined the start of my first ever grown-up date.
The door swung open and a middle-aged woman wearing a brown fur coat stood in the doorway, staring at me in disgust. My mouth dropped wide open and our eyes met in the mirror. There was a squeal and I looked down and saw the child next to her.
"Mummy," he asked. "Why is that girl rubbing her front bottom?"
The woman put her manicured hand over the little boy's eyes and spun him around. She looked at me with something close to revulsion and shook her head slowly.
"You're disgusting," she hissed under her breath as she propelled her son out of the bathroom. I stared at myself in the mirror, wondering how this was my life. I could hear her hushing the boy outside: "Orlando, sweetie, are you feeling okay?"
I snorted. Orlando was five years old and didn't have a vagina covered in dried wax. He was bloody fine. I, on the other hand, wanted to crawl into the loo cubicle and never leave.
I don't know about you but the girl just cracks me up!
"Ellie Kolstakis
21 years old
Nonsmoker
VIRGIN
I stared in horror at the words on Dr. E. Bower's computer. The status of my hymen was plastered across her screen in capital letters. V-I-R-G-I-N."
Well I think this book is not for everyone, some may relate to Ellie's obsession of being a virgin and others may find it dirty and unworthy but it really depends on what culture you're in and how open-minded you are. There are lots of relate-able stuff about women and their problems down under. From pubes shaving and waxing dilemmas to googleing HOW TO's, and buying condoms for her deflowering agenda, I was laughing and snorting so much I really had to pause from reading to get a hold my self .
This book is like a guide to all those clueless girls out there but let me remind you that the language used is not all subtle, yet very informative and honest about the discreet things we are most curious about.
~oh well I'll just give you a snippet of the book where I laughed so hard. This is where Ellie just had a Brazilian wax.
Oh my fucking God. The wax hadn't all come off on the strips, and it was stuck on my skin along with knicker fluff. I rubbed at it frantically until I realized it had hardened and wasn't coming off. I needed to use some water, but it was a public bathroom. I couldn't just rub my vagina next to the sink, could I?
Praying to God no one would walk in, I hobbled to the sink with my knickers and jeans halfway down my legs. I quickly started rubbing away at it with water and a runny pink soap I squirted from the plastic dispenser. The wax went gloopy when it was mixed with the hot water, and it spread across my skin. I had made it worse.
Feeling panicky, I rubbed as hard as I could and then tried to peel it off. The sticky wax caught under my fingernails and I tried to scrape it off with loo roll, but the paper stuck to the skin on my hands and vagina.
I looked at myself in the mirror, bent down with my legs spread open and my hand on my vagina, stuck there with wax and loo roll. This was not how I'd imagined the start of my first ever grown-up date.
The door swung open and a middle-aged woman wearing a brown fur coat stood in the doorway, staring at me in disgust. My mouth dropped wide open and our eyes met in the mirror. There was a squeal and I looked down and saw the child next to her.
"Mummy," he asked. "Why is that girl rubbing her front bottom?"
The woman put her manicured hand over the little boy's eyes and spun him around. She looked at me with something close to revulsion and shook her head slowly.
"You're disgusting," she hissed under her breath as she propelled her son out of the bathroom. I stared at myself in the mirror, wondering how this was my life. I could hear her hushing the boy outside: "Orlando, sweetie, are you feeling okay?"
I snorted. Orlando was five years old and didn't have a vagina covered in dried wax. He was bloody fine. I, on the other hand, wanted to crawl into the loo cubicle and never leave.
I don't know about you but the girl just cracks me up!
November 22, 2019
At first I wasn’t sure what to make of this book. Virgin was really was something special. I’m just blown away. Sanghani is definitely on my radar now.
Virgin is great. Well written, funny, and very relevant to our time. Even thought the protagonist is a virgin she is frank about her body, and sex. Ellie is a twenty-one year old virgin who shares her story of attempts to have her deflowered with the aid of her partner-in-crime friend Lara.Ellie embarks on several adventures with the opposite sex to speed up the process of becoming a non-virgin to no avail. Ellie learns the proper rules of kissing, foreplay, and describes in length different ways she masturbates to recognize an orgasm when the big day happens.
Overall, I really enjoyed this novel, and hope to read more from this author. I highly recommend this novel!
Full review is on my Blog
Virgin is great. Well written, funny, and very relevant to our time. Even thought the protagonist is a virgin she is frank about her body, and sex. Ellie is a twenty-one year old virgin who shares her story of attempts to have her deflowered with the aid of her partner-in-crime friend Lara.Ellie embarks on several adventures with the opposite sex to speed up the process of becoming a non-virgin to no avail. Ellie learns the proper rules of kissing, foreplay, and describes in length different ways she masturbates to recognize an orgasm when the big day happens.
Overall, I really enjoyed this novel, and hope to read more from this author. I highly recommend this novel!
Full review is on my Blog
July 16, 2016
Hilarious!
I was just in the time of need of something to laugh at, to take the stress off my shoulders, and this book came out perfect .
I was just in the time of need of something to laugh at, to take the stress off my shoulders, and this book came out perfect .
March 18, 2021
I'm not sure I've ever quite laughed through a book as much as I did this one. It's just so realistic, I could imagine reading something like this in a magazine!
Ellie is a 21 year old virgin who is desperate to lose her 'V plates'. She isn't saving it, just nobody wants to 'deflower' her. The words used in this book just had me in stitches.
I've actually got a favourite quote from the book and it makes me laugh so much -
'To my shock and horror, when I bent down, a gush of water FELL OUT OF MY VAGINA ONTO THE FLOOR.'
If you need a laugh READ THIS BOOK!
Ellie is a 21 year old virgin who is desperate to lose her 'V plates'. She isn't saving it, just nobody wants to 'deflower' her. The words used in this book just had me in stitches.
I've actually got a favourite quote from the book and it makes me laugh so much -
'To my shock and horror, when I bent down, a gush of water FELL OUT OF MY VAGINA ONTO THE FLOOR.'
If you need a laugh READ THIS BOOK!
May 29, 2014
FINALLY A BOOK ABOUT SEX THAT DOESN'T TRY TO SHAME WOMEN WHO ENJOY HAVING SEX. Yes, that does require those caps because there are so few of these books in existence. So many times I've read a book that is about a person discovering or learning to embrace their sexuality that then turns around and sends the message that too much of a good thing makes you worthy of being called so many terms society adores. Slut, whore, dirty bitch . . . all negative, and all used way too often to make women feel bad about feeling good. This book avoids all of that. We have a protagonist who is desperate to lose her sexuality, who through fate hasn't ever really had the chance to explore her physical needs, and because of it has horrible self-esteem. Seriously, why are there so few books about this when it is so freakin' common? I can think of at least ten people between the ages of eighteen and forty who feel exactly this way. Many of them will be getting this book for Christmas. Why? Because by the end of the book we have not one but three women who finally realize that the world can go screw itself with its labels and social pressures. The healthiest thing you can do is accept yourself and your own desires, and stop worrying about what anyone else will think. The right partner's going to accept you anyway.
June 18, 2014
I applaud the author for writing this book. It's a very real account of what I'm sure many women have experienced at one time or another when stressing about their vaginas. Or about penises touching their vaginas.
My only complaint was that, at twenty one, Ellie seemed much too immature for my tastes. I mean, I get her stress. Her worry. Who didn't experience that 'will it ever happen for me?' moment when one of their friends had sex first? I know I did. But I don't ever remember being so worried about anything sexual related, nor about whether or not my vag had hair on it or not. Perhaps I'm just too old now to identify with her feelings. I haven't been a virgin in a long time so maybe I just can't identify with her worries anymore.
I do recommend this to any girl who was a late bloomer that lost their virginity later in life. Especially those who cashed in their V card to a first class dick. Like I said, the stories and situations are probably easily identifiable for many of us. I just couldn't get past my eye rolling long enough to compare any of it to what I remember of my own first time. Maybe if she'd been a few years younger it would have been easier for me to take, but at twenty one it was hard to imagine a girl being this naive...
My only complaint was that, at twenty one, Ellie seemed much too immature for my tastes. I mean, I get her stress. Her worry. Who didn't experience that 'will it ever happen for me?' moment when one of their friends had sex first? I know I did. But I don't ever remember being so worried about anything sexual related, nor about whether or not my vag had hair on it or not. Perhaps I'm just too old now to identify with her feelings. I haven't been a virgin in a long time so maybe I just can't identify with her worries anymore.
I do recommend this to any girl who was a late bloomer that lost their virginity later in life. Especially those who cashed in their V card to a first class dick. Like I said, the stories and situations are probably easily identifiable for many of us. I just couldn't get past my eye rolling long enough to compare any of it to what I remember of my own first time. Maybe if she'd been a few years younger it would have been easier for me to take, but at twenty one it was hard to imagine a girl being this naive...
July 22, 2015
This is the 100th book I read this year and I am HELLA glad for that because this book was AMAZING!!
Buckle up everyone this is gonna be a long one.
SPOILERS WILL OCCUR
21 year old virgin who wants nothing more than to lose her virginity and who has shitty luck and gets herself into these disastrous situations but handles them so well? BEST plot and hilarious.
Ellie was a rocket of a character. SO much personality. I loved her dearly. She was super immature at moments, and super obsessive, but so so so great. Like I absolutely adored her. She's so loveable. Her friends Paul, Lara and Emma were also amazing. I just loved the characters. Secondary and main.
Jack though. I knew Jack was sketchy. I could sense that he wasn't into her. I thought he was just wanting sex, but I guess I was wrong. I feel weird though looking bad he seemed really into making out and stuff and to be honest I don't feel like you want that a lot if you aren't into the person. But I knew there was something off about him. I kind of wanted more closure between them, I wanted her to tell him how much of a dick he was but we didn't get that.
Also, I loved the change she goes through. I wish there wasn't a change for her to GO through but her self confidence boost and everything at the end was amazing because she was finally starting to be like a girl I could SUPPORT. I'm so similar to her and I went through my turn around when I was 17 so I wish hers was sooner but she went through it and I love that.
Plot wise I loved this. LITERALLY loved this. I want a movie. I love to see a book where the struggles of being a girl are hilighted. Like when it comes to pubic hair and whether to have it or not, and the taboo with being a virgin, the expectations, the need to lie so other people don't treat you like a 9 year old. It was seriously perfect.
Were there things I didn't like? yes. naturally. She called her virgintiy her v-plates and that was weird. She complained a lot about useless things. She drank way too much. She said um a lot. She in general said stupid things. She was super desperate and made herself look bad at times. But did they impact what I felt about the books or her? NO. This book was such a learning experience and can be. Ugh I loved it.
I love everything about this book. Literally everything. It's like a coming of age book that's hilarious! I RARELY ever actually laugh out loud while reading books (a lot of in my head laughing) but I genuinely laughed out loud a lot. I recommend this to every one ever.
Edit: I can't stop thinking about this book and how amazing it was. I got it from the library instead of buying it because I'd read a lot of bad reviews but I think I'm going to buy a copy. It was so good.
Buckle up everyone this is gonna be a long one.
SPOILERS WILL OCCUR
21 year old virgin who wants nothing more than to lose her virginity and who has shitty luck and gets herself into these disastrous situations but handles them so well? BEST plot and hilarious.
Ellie was a rocket of a character. SO much personality. I loved her dearly. She was super immature at moments, and super obsessive, but so so so great. Like I absolutely adored her. She's so loveable. Her friends Paul, Lara and Emma were also amazing. I just loved the characters. Secondary and main.
Jack though. I knew Jack was sketchy. I could sense that he wasn't into her. I thought he was just wanting sex, but I guess I was wrong. I feel weird though looking bad he seemed really into making out and stuff and to be honest I don't feel like you want that a lot if you aren't into the person. But I knew there was something off about him. I kind of wanted more closure between them, I wanted her to tell him how much of a dick he was but we didn't get that.
Also, I loved the change she goes through. I wish there wasn't a change for her to GO through but her self confidence boost and everything at the end was amazing because she was finally starting to be like a girl I could SUPPORT. I'm so similar to her and I went through my turn around when I was 17 so I wish hers was sooner but she went through it and I love that.
Plot wise I loved this. LITERALLY loved this. I want a movie. I love to see a book where the struggles of being a girl are hilighted. Like when it comes to pubic hair and whether to have it or not, and the taboo with being a virgin, the expectations, the need to lie so other people don't treat you like a 9 year old. It was seriously perfect.
Were there things I didn't like? yes. naturally. She called her virgintiy her v-plates and that was weird. She complained a lot about useless things. She drank way too much. She said um a lot. She in general said stupid things. She was super desperate and made herself look bad at times. But did they impact what I felt about the books or her? NO. This book was such a learning experience and can be. Ugh I loved it.
I love everything about this book. Literally everything. It's like a coming of age book that's hilarious! I RARELY ever actually laugh out loud while reading books (a lot of in my head laughing) but I genuinely laughed out loud a lot. I recommend this to every one ever.
Edit: I can't stop thinking about this book and how amazing it was. I got it from the library instead of buying it because I'd read a lot of bad reviews but I think I'm going to buy a copy. It was so good.
July 18, 2014
I really struggled with this book. I was surprised at how immature the characters were for a book about a 21 year old losing her virginity. I am so thankful that I don't have friends like this. I thought this was supposed to be a humorous book but I didn't really find it funny and I really didn't like the main character Ellie.
*ARC received by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review*
*ARC received by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review*
May 9, 2015
If you don’t take this book seriously it is a fun fast paced read. A book that openly talks about dating, drinking, sex, masturbation, reproductive organs, body fluids, etc. in the college environment. Clearly a book for the college audience. But I am past my college years and even though I can’t deny that it had its funny parts, the final message or the concept of the novel ended up bothering more than I thought making it only an OK read (2 stars). But I’ll get to that later.
The synopsis sounded fun but what made me decide to read this book was JOAN RIVERS (may she rest in peace). I mean if a comedian like Ms. Rivers recommends this book, it must be something funny that can be missed. Kudos to the marketing people for getting Ms. Rivers’ quote.
Virgin is the story of Ellie Kolstakis, a 21-year-old senior in college who holds an embarrassing-to-her secret: she is a virgin and it absolutely shames her to be one.
Ellie blames her virginity on her “controlling” parents, her plain looks, and a boy named James Martell who had the sense of telling her that her first time should be special and that he was not going to be the one to ruin it for her. Somehow that traumatized her and she never did anything to change the status of her hymen after that.
But now that she’s a senior she decides it’s her last chance to change that once and for all. So she makes it her goal to lose her virginity before graduation. I usually write spoiler free reviews but with this one I can’t. Long-story short, she finally has sex with the wrong guy and ends up getting chlamydia, which she thinks is fine and dandy because she finally can have the words “sexually active” on her medical records, she can “happily” ask for an STD test on her doctor’s appointment and “everybody has it”.
Like I said in the beginning of this review, if you don’t take this book seriously you can find yourself reading ridiculous things about drinking, dating, sex, penises, shaving/waxing pubic hair, watching porn, etc. Things the target audience of this book would utterly enjoy and laugh about. The language is simple and straight to the point; the first person narration makes it easy to read. The characters are the classic characters of a sex comedy like American Pie with the slight difference that they are all British.
As for me, most of the time, I didn’t know if I was supposed to feel sorry for Ellie or laugh at the things she went through. There were some fun things to read, her reference to Chaka Khan after she finally lost her virginity was of course fun but there was some ridiculous things that sound too impossible for a 21-year-old of our times to go through, and there was stuff like a bathroom incident that was rather disgusting to read.
Even though Ellie’s adventures to losing her virginity were written as a comedy, the author ended up making Ellie look dumb, desperate and utterly irresponsible.
First of all, Ellie thinks that being a virgin is a tragic deplorable thing for a 21 year-old “woman”. What kind of sex ed did this girl get? For a senior in college, hasn’t she had plenty of time to go on the internet and do research on virginity to get her ideas straight?
Second, her reason for losing her virginity is stupid: she wants her medical records to say that she is sexually active and she needs to be able to get tested for STD’s, like she’s abnormal because she can’t request an STD test. She’d rather get and embrace STD’s than be a virgin:
What is the matter with this author and publishing company? Who in their right mind would let young readers think that it is a normal rite of passage to get STD’s because without them your life is dull? Any disease is an abnormal condition with serious life altering consequences. STD’s are not to be taken ever so lightly.
Third, Ellie’s concept of virginity and the loss of it. The whole point of her mission was to have her hymen penetrated by a male sexual organ for the first time, but before that happens shefingers herself ends up losing her virginity to herself because she thought it would be “so embarrassing” to bleed on your first time. Oh and let’s not forget that she had previously blogged about inserting a bullet and how bad it felt. Yes, I had to be that graphic but there was no other way of saying it (and it is described in detail in the book, in an almost step by step way). Anyway, how dumb is this character?
Fourth, the Vagina-Vulva Conundrum: I think we need to get something straight and stop using the word vagina to refer to the vulva. I know it’s the colloquial use of the word but this has gone far enough in society. Besides, if the author is writing a book in which sexuality is a main subject, the correct use of words is a must, especially when probably the majority of readers of this book are not only reading this because it’s fun but because they probably expect to get more knowledge on sex by reading this book. The author constantly refers to shaving or waxing vaginas. As far as I know, you don’t have any pubic hair on your vagina. How can you shave or wax your vagina? If waxing your vulva is painful, I can’t imagine the torture it would be to try to shave or wax your insides. Oh and don’t get me started on the reasons she had for waxing, it was not about her but about what she thought men want or think. *eyeroll*
I could keep going but I’ve already exceeded my 1000 word limit for my reviews so I’ll start to wrap it up.
The good part of this book is that it talks about “taboo-ish” topics that should be talked more often and more openly so we don’t end up with a world full of idiotic misinformed 21-year-olds like Ellie. The bad is that it is full of wrong ideas that the younger population will take the wrong way if they don’t have the proper guidance. So as far as recommending this book, I’d say it is for the college audience, who are old enough to see beyond the ridiculousness and will just read this book for the laughs. Of course, because of the sexual subject, there would be a lot of teenagers attracted to this book, young minds who should not read this book without proper parental guidance.
With this review I’m not saying do not read this book. On the contrary, I hope that those who actually finish reading this book don’t find Ellie’s character relatable. I hope readers learn important lessons out of Ellie’s ridiculously stupid mistakes. I hope that if there are virgins reading this book, they
1. get motivated to research more about sexuality,
2. understand that losing your virginity is a personal choice not an obligation or something that must be done for the sake of it, and
3. learn to make sexual decisions that will keep you above all HEALTHFUL, SAFE and happy forever.
The synopsis sounded fun but what made me decide to read this book was JOAN RIVERS (may she rest in peace). I mean if a comedian like Ms. Rivers recommends this book, it must be something funny that can be missed. Kudos to the marketing people for getting Ms. Rivers’ quote.
Virgin is the story of Ellie Kolstakis, a 21-year-old senior in college who holds an embarrassing-to-her secret: she is a virgin and it absolutely shames her to be one.
Ellie blames her virginity on her “controlling” parents, her plain looks, and a boy named James Martell who had the sense of telling her that her first time should be special and that he was not going to be the one to ruin it for her. Somehow that traumatized her and she never did anything to change the status of her hymen after that.
But now that she’s a senior she decides it’s her last chance to change that once and for all. So she makes it her goal to lose her virginity before graduation. I usually write spoiler free reviews but with this one I can’t. Long-story short, she finally has sex with the wrong guy and ends up getting chlamydia, which she thinks is fine and dandy because she finally can have the words “sexually active” on her medical records, she can “happily” ask for an STD test on her doctor’s appointment and “everybody has it”.
Like I said in the beginning of this review, if you don’t take this book seriously you can find yourself reading ridiculous things about drinking, dating, sex, penises, shaving/waxing pubic hair, watching porn, etc. Things the target audience of this book would utterly enjoy and laugh about. The language is simple and straight to the point; the first person narration makes it easy to read. The characters are the classic characters of a sex comedy like American Pie with the slight difference that they are all British.
As for me, most of the time, I didn’t know if I was supposed to feel sorry for Ellie or laugh at the things she went through. There were some fun things to read, her reference to Chaka Khan after she finally lost her virginity was of course fun but there was some ridiculous things that sound too impossible for a 21-year-old of our times to go through, and there was stuff like a bathroom incident that was rather disgusting to read.
Even though Ellie’s adventures to losing her virginity were written as a comedy, the author ended up making Ellie look dumb, desperate and utterly irresponsible.
First of all, Ellie thinks that being a virgin is a tragic deplorable thing for a 21 year-old “woman”. What kind of sex ed did this girl get? For a senior in college, hasn’t she had plenty of time to go on the internet and do research on virginity to get her ideas straight?
Second, her reason for losing her virginity is stupid: she wants her medical records to say that she is sexually active and she needs to be able to get tested for STD’s, like she’s abnormal because she can’t request an STD test. She’d rather get and embrace STD’s than be a virgin:
Embrace any STDs you may or may not have, along with the regrets, the disastrous stories, the heartbreak, the pain and the regret. Because if it weren’t for all this stuff, life would be pretty dull. – From Virgin by Radhika Sanghani
What is the matter with this author and publishing company? Who in their right mind would let young readers think that it is a normal rite of passage to get STD’s because without them your life is dull? Any disease is an abnormal condition with serious life altering consequences. STD’s are not to be taken ever so lightly.
Third, Ellie’s concept of virginity and the loss of it. The whole point of her mission was to have her hymen penetrated by a male sexual organ for the first time, but before that happens she
Fourth, the Vagina-Vulva Conundrum: I think we need to get something straight and stop using the word vagina to refer to the vulva. I know it’s the colloquial use of the word but this has gone far enough in society. Besides, if the author is writing a book in which sexuality is a main subject, the correct use of words is a must, especially when probably the majority of readers of this book are not only reading this because it’s fun but because they probably expect to get more knowledge on sex by reading this book. The author constantly refers to shaving or waxing vaginas. As far as I know, you don’t have any pubic hair on your vagina. How can you shave or wax your vagina? If waxing your vulva is painful, I can’t imagine the torture it would be to try to shave or wax your insides. Oh and don’t get me started on the reasons she had for waxing, it was not about her but about what she thought men want or think. *eyeroll*
I could keep going but I’ve already exceeded my 1000 word limit for my reviews so I’ll start to wrap it up.
The good part of this book is that it talks about “taboo-ish” topics that should be talked more often and more openly so we don’t end up with a world full of idiotic misinformed 21-year-olds like Ellie. The bad is that it is full of wrong ideas that the younger population will take the wrong way if they don’t have the proper guidance. So as far as recommending this book, I’d say it is for the college audience, who are old enough to see beyond the ridiculousness and will just read this book for the laughs. Of course, because of the sexual subject, there would be a lot of teenagers attracted to this book, young minds who should not read this book without proper parental guidance.
With this review I’m not saying do not read this book. On the contrary, I hope that those who actually finish reading this book don’t find Ellie’s character relatable. I hope readers learn important lessons out of Ellie’s ridiculously stupid mistakes. I hope that if there are virgins reading this book, they
1. get motivated to research more about sexuality,
2. understand that losing your virginity is a personal choice not an obligation or something that must be done for the sake of it, and
3. learn to make sexual decisions that will keep you above all HEALTHFUL, SAFE and happy forever.
August 22, 2014
8/22/14 - edit to downgrade a star. I said previously that this was somewhere between 3 and 4, and I stand by that. However, on further reflection, I feel this should be on the lower end of that because I still don't particularly like the MC much.
WARNING: This book is not for the faint of heart, as it discusses in a frank manner many issues dealing with the nether lady parts and a woman's first adventures with sex, down to the dirty, ugly anxieties that come with it.
Thank you to Netgalley and Berkley for providing me with an ARC of this title
I struggled with whether to give this 3 or 4 stars. I think it falls somewhere in between. There was a lot in this book I loved, but Ellie really annoyed me at times, especially in the beginning of the book.
See, Ellie is a 21-year-old virgin. There's nothing wrong with that, but Ellie is eternally preoccupied with it. In fact, she won't shut up about it. She's afraid of what people might think of her if they know. She's traumatized by awkward romantic encounters that occurred years ago. She thinks everyone's looking at her and judging her all the time. For the first few chapters, it makes her seem entirely immature - she reads more like a young teenager than an adult on the verge of graduating college. Just one example - she fretted over the fact that her gyno's office listed "Virgin" on her file, and she was desperate to prove to her doctor that she wasn't a virgin loser and deserved to take an STD test. She's incredibly annoying.
Her characterization is also a bit bipolar. She's horribly shy and self-conscious at times, yet has no problems flashing her entire vag to her best friend? That doesn't make sense, at least not to me. She insists she is ready to give up her V-card, she's dying to do it, but she's horribly embarrassed and self-conscious when buying condoms? That's the mindset of a very young person, which is strange since her friends have all been sexually active, and vocal about their escapades, for years. Going along with that, she claimed not to be able to answer a single question about sex, but again, she's been hearing sexcapade stories for years, so how does that make sense?
I found it hard to relate to her in these moments, probably because I'm long past that, but mostly because it was so unrealistic that she would have this much anxiety and naivete despite the people she hangs out with. She was so anxiety ridden that she made the simple act of kissing seem like the most complicated task in the world. Given that she had regular, and frank, conversations with her girlfriends about everything sex, it didn't seem right that she would be so uninformed.
It's not until the story spends more time with some of her friends, Ellie tells stories of her own from the past, and she actually starts dating that it gets way more interesting. Lara and Emma are both kick-ass rockin' chicks, and Ellie's journey into sexual maturity actually becomes interesting once she stops acting like a child, and starts acting more like an awkward late bloomer navigating through the dating world.
Some of the stories are genuinely funny, too, and many women, of any age, can relate. Like how to groom your lady bits (brazilian, hollywood, au naturel, trimmed?). The tribulations of first learning how to groom lady bits once you've decided you want to do so. Cringing while Ellie tries to groom and knowing, just knowing, she's going to feel the burn and have a bad time. Figuring out how to provide oral pleasure for the first time (some of us had a gracious friend who taught us the tricks of the trade, but I imagine others had to navigate those waters alone). Fears about your, erm, freshness when a man first wishes to explore your body. Arm hair (I, of the northern european/germanic ancestry didn't even know this was a concern until I lived with a full-blooded Italian girl in college who regularly waxed her arms). Whether you should swallow.
It even deals a bit with girl-on-girl jealousy - the type one might have for the best friend when the best friend is much more outgoing, and perhaps prettier, than they are.
You know what else is great? There is no slut shaming at all in this book (I don't count the moment when one character playfully pokes fun at herself about being slutty). There are a bunch of people, all with different sexual tastes and appetites, and all of them are completely accepted. One girl is pretty promiscuous. She's not judged. Another mostly has a friends-with-benefits thing going on. She's not judged, either. Even Ellie isn't judged (by anyone other than herself). It's such a refreshing take on sexuality, I love it. Some great messages here.
I also loved that Ellie eventually turned her anxieties into something positive.
In all, this was a worthwhile read and expressed many concerns that I admit I once had, and that I suspect many young women still do have. It would have been a solid 4 stars from me if Ellie hadn't seemed so immature at the start of the book.
Great debut novel!
WARNING: This book is not for the faint of heart, as it discusses in a frank manner many issues dealing with the nether lady parts and a woman's first adventures with sex, down to the dirty, ugly anxieties that come with it.
Thank you to Netgalley and Berkley for providing me with an ARC of this title
I struggled with whether to give this 3 or 4 stars. I think it falls somewhere in between. There was a lot in this book I loved, but Ellie really annoyed me at times, especially in the beginning of the book.
See, Ellie is a 21-year-old virgin. There's nothing wrong with that, but Ellie is eternally preoccupied with it. In fact, she won't shut up about it. She's afraid of what people might think of her if they know. She's traumatized by awkward romantic encounters that occurred years ago. She thinks everyone's looking at her and judging her all the time. For the first few chapters, it makes her seem entirely immature - she reads more like a young teenager than an adult on the verge of graduating college. Just one example - she fretted over the fact that her gyno's office listed "Virgin" on her file, and she was desperate to prove to her doctor that she wasn't a virgin loser and deserved to take an STD test. She's incredibly annoying.
Her characterization is also a bit bipolar. She's horribly shy and self-conscious at times, yet has no problems flashing her entire vag to her best friend? That doesn't make sense, at least not to me. She insists she is ready to give up her V-card, she's dying to do it, but she's horribly embarrassed and self-conscious when buying condoms? That's the mindset of a very young person, which is strange since her friends have all been sexually active, and vocal about their escapades, for years. Going along with that, she claimed not to be able to answer a single question about sex, but again, she's been hearing sexcapade stories for years, so how does that make sense?
I found it hard to relate to her in these moments, probably because I'm long past that, but mostly because it was so unrealistic that she would have this much anxiety and naivete despite the people she hangs out with. She was so anxiety ridden that she made the simple act of kissing seem like the most complicated task in the world. Given that she had regular, and frank, conversations with her girlfriends about everything sex, it didn't seem right that she would be so uninformed.
It's not until the story spends more time with some of her friends, Ellie tells stories of her own from the past, and she actually starts dating that it gets way more interesting. Lara and Emma are both kick-ass rockin' chicks, and Ellie's journey into sexual maturity actually becomes interesting once she stops acting like a child, and starts acting more like an awkward late bloomer navigating through the dating world.
Some of the stories are genuinely funny, too, and many women, of any age, can relate. Like how to groom your lady bits (brazilian, hollywood, au naturel, trimmed?). The tribulations of first learning how to groom lady bits once you've decided you want to do so. Cringing while Ellie tries to groom and knowing, just knowing, she's going to feel the burn and have a bad time. Figuring out how to provide oral pleasure for the first time (some of us had a gracious friend who taught us the tricks of the trade, but I imagine others had to navigate those waters alone). Fears about your, erm, freshness when a man first wishes to explore your body. Arm hair (I, of the northern european/germanic ancestry didn't even know this was a concern until I lived with a full-blooded Italian girl in college who regularly waxed her arms). Whether you should swallow.
It even deals a bit with girl-on-girl jealousy - the type one might have for the best friend when the best friend is much more outgoing, and perhaps prettier, than they are.
You know what else is great? There is no slut shaming at all in this book (I don't count the moment when one character playfully pokes fun at herself about being slutty). There are a bunch of people, all with different sexual tastes and appetites, and all of them are completely accepted. One girl is pretty promiscuous. She's not judged. Another mostly has a friends-with-benefits thing going on. She's not judged, either. Even Ellie isn't judged (by anyone other than herself). It's such a refreshing take on sexuality, I love it. Some great messages here.
I also loved that Ellie eventually turned her anxieties into something positive.
In all, this was a worthwhile read and expressed many concerns that I admit I once had, and that I suspect many young women still do have. It would have been a solid 4 stars from me if Ellie hadn't seemed so immature at the start of the book.
Great debut novel!
September 13, 2014
Ellie thinks she must be the only virgin in her university, 21 years old and all she has to her name is some kisses and a bite job. It’s not even like she is looking for Mr Right with his candlelit dinners and bouquets of roses. She would settle for a few drinks, so long as she can throw away her V card at the end of the night. But this year Ellie is determined to finally do it and get rid of her shameful secret once and for all.
This book is two things that I generally don’t read…and have no interest in reading; New Adult and Chick Lit. But wow, am I glad I didn’t listen to my usual MO, VIRGIN was one of the funniest books I have read this year. So much so that I don’t recommend eating or drinking anything while reading it, or even reading it in a public place. But as well as funny, it was also well written and utterly relatable, full of the sort of thoughts and feelings that most of us girls have battled with at one point in our lives.
If you are are a traditional romance than this isn’t for you, there is no romantic HEA at the end of this book. What you do have is a bundle of hilarious situations, friendships and a bit of character growth, all showing the trials, tribulations and confusion of a girl growing up, from masturbation, waxing and other inconvenient hair growth to who exactly who does pay on a date?
This was a great read, it lagged a little in the second half of the book, but by than I was hooked. If you are after something that will give you a good belly laugh than I highly recommend that you pick VIRGIN up.
March 29, 2018
Começou muito bem e até é um livro divertido e que nos faz rir imenso mas achei que podia ser muito mais desenvolvido. Há livros que tem palha a mais, este devia ter pelo menos mais umas 100 páginas.
Outra coisa que me incomodou como acho que nunca tinha me incomodado até agora foi o novo acordo ortográfico. Especialmente porque aqui no livro há várias capítulos em que a protagonista experimenta vários tipos de depilação e foi muito estranho ver a palavra ''pelos''várias vezes sem o acento circunflexo...
Outra coisa que me incomodou como acho que nunca tinha me incomodado até agora foi o novo acordo ortográfico. Especialmente porque aqui no livro há várias capítulos em que a protagonista experimenta vários tipos de depilação e foi muito estranho ver a palavra ''pelos''várias vezes sem o acento circunflexo...
July 13, 2014
Well, VIRGIN, here we are. I am finished with you, and I have a much more extensive knowledge of the workings of a vagina than I did at the beginning. For that, I can both thank and curse you.
I mean, really. This wasn't exactly what I was expecting, but it certainly wasn't bad. It was quite good, albeit a little much.
I mean, really. This wasn't exactly what I was expecting, but it certainly wasn't bad. It was quite good, albeit a little much.
January 4, 2016
Nul, inintéressant, vulgaire, pas d'humour (ou plutôt de l'humour tellement grossier que c'est même pas marrant) et une fin pourrie. Je n'arrive pas à croire que Mills & Boon ait osé publier ça. Bref, passez votre chemin!
November 23, 2014
The experience of reading this book is like being trapped in an elevator with your extremely annoying, nitwit younger cousin and being forced to listen to her "discover" and "embrace" her womanhood.
July 12, 2014
See more of my reviews at We Live and Breathe Books
**I'm giving away an ARC of Virgin! The giveaway is open US only, unless you're willing to pay shipping, through July 24th. Enter here!**
Virgin is about a 21-year-old girl named Ellie who happens to be, well, a virgin. While the story follows Ellie on her mission to lose her virginity, she goes on a whole other journey at the same time.
I got an ARC of Virgin at BEA this year. I wasn't completely sure I was going to read but when I got an email that it was read-now on Netgalley, I decided to give it a try. When I started reading Virgin, I wasn't sure I'd be able to finish it. The very beginning felt way too personal for me when I'm first meeting this new character - I wanted to shout, "TOO MUCH INFORMATION" and run away. Of course, I did continue reading and I'm glad I did.
After the very beginning of the story, it gets more into Ellie's every day life in her last year of university. To say Ellie's life is hilarious is an understatement - she gets into the funniest jams and everything that could possibly go wrong for her always does. The greatest thing about Ellie is that, despite her moaning and groaning, she's a trooper - she takes most of the awkward moments in her life with a sense of humor and, with some help from her friends, doesn't let it defeat her. Ellie's thoughts are so honest that you can't help but find them funny because she really tells it like it is - no sugar coating whatsoever.
Besides Ellie, there is an AWESOME cast of friends in her life. I would tell you about them but telling you about them is probably spoilery and you should meet them for yourself.
Even though the basic concept of the story is about a 21-year-old girl trying to lose her virginity, it's so much more than that. Ellie matures so much throughout the course of the book. Not only does she learn about friendship and what really matters but she kind of finds her identity and who she is. Most coming of age stories are written about teenagers but I think Virgin is an important coming of age story for college students. As a college student myself, I completely understand Ellie's confusion about what her future holds and I loved how she discovered her voice in a way she never would have expected.
All in all, Virgin is a coming of age story packed full of humor and honest portrayals of life. Not everything turns out how Ellie expects it to; she figures out that it's ok and it makes her who she is. As much as this is a fun coming of age story, it is still pretty graphic and descriptive about mature topics, so I'd say it is definitely more of a New Adult than a Young Adult story. That being said, it really is up to the reader what she/he is comfortable with. While Virgin is unlike anything I've ever read, it does have a similar feel to the TV show Awkward, and, with Ellie's empowering journey to self discovery, it's definitely a great book for all women!
**I'm giving away an ARC of Virgin! The giveaway is open US only, unless you're willing to pay shipping, through July 24th. Enter here!**
Virgin is about a 21-year-old girl named Ellie who happens to be, well, a virgin. While the story follows Ellie on her mission to lose her virginity, she goes on a whole other journey at the same time.
I got an ARC of Virgin at BEA this year. I wasn't completely sure I was going to read but when I got an email that it was read-now on Netgalley, I decided to give it a try. When I started reading Virgin, I wasn't sure I'd be able to finish it. The very beginning felt way too personal for me when I'm first meeting this new character - I wanted to shout, "TOO MUCH INFORMATION" and run away. Of course, I did continue reading and I'm glad I did.
After the very beginning of the story, it gets more into Ellie's every day life in her last year of university. To say Ellie's life is hilarious is an understatement - she gets into the funniest jams and everything that could possibly go wrong for her always does. The greatest thing about Ellie is that, despite her moaning and groaning, she's a trooper - she takes most of the awkward moments in her life with a sense of humor and, with some help from her friends, doesn't let it defeat her. Ellie's thoughts are so honest that you can't help but find them funny because she really tells it like it is - no sugar coating whatsoever.
Besides Ellie, there is an AWESOME cast of friends in her life. I would tell you about them but telling you about them is probably spoilery and you should meet them for yourself.
Even though the basic concept of the story is about a 21-year-old girl trying to lose her virginity, it's so much more than that. Ellie matures so much throughout the course of the book. Not only does she learn about friendship and what really matters but she kind of finds her identity and who she is. Most coming of age stories are written about teenagers but I think Virgin is an important coming of age story for college students. As a college student myself, I completely understand Ellie's confusion about what her future holds and I loved how she discovered her voice in a way she never would have expected.
All in all, Virgin is a coming of age story packed full of humor and honest portrayals of life. Not everything turns out how Ellie expects it to; she figures out that it's ok and it makes her who she is. As much as this is a fun coming of age story, it is still pretty graphic and descriptive about mature topics, so I'd say it is definitely more of a New Adult than a Young Adult story. That being said, it really is up to the reader what she/he is comfortable with. While Virgin is unlike anything I've ever read, it does have a similar feel to the TV show Awkward, and, with Ellie's empowering journey to self discovery, it's definitely a great book for all women!
January 1, 2015
"This was my last opportunity to lose my virginity and I had to grab it now. I had to ditch my V-plates by the time I graduated in the summer--which meant I had four months to finally understand what an orgasm was and to learn how to give blow jobs."
Ellie is a 21 year old virgin and not for a lack of trying. Having been through a horrible and hilarious experience at 17, which includes a guy laughing at au-natural pubic situation, Ellie is willing to do whatever it takes to not repeat the same mistakes. Between a horrific waxing experience that leaves her with a Hitler-esq Brazilian pubic hair, trying to learn how to give a blow job via Redtube, and navigating a less than romantic dating scene, Ellie is left to salvage her pubic hair and her pride, in the quest to lose her hymen.
"The rumor about boys finding virgins sexy was a LIE. It was just some medieval bullshit that old people said to try and make their daughters keep their legs crossed and not get pregnant"
Virgin is a new adult chick-lit at its' finest. With less focus on romance, and more emphasis on what it means to be a woman, this is story about what it means to be beautiful, desirable and accepted in a society that puts a heavy price on looks and labels. It took me until about 10% to really get into the story but once I did I found myself laughing, cringing and sympathetic to Ellie's plight. Sure, she had moments where her age really showed and her sometimes "whoa is me" outlook was a little grating, but I found her to be a very relatable and charming character.
"And I don't really want to be the kind of girl who gazes at a guy in pure joy while she has a dick in her mouth and he grabs her head. I mean, I'd be way too preoccupied with concentrating on the mouth part to be able to smile at him too."
What Virgin lacks in romance, it makes up for in girl power!
Ellie is a 21 year old virgin and not for a lack of trying. Having been through a horrible and hilarious experience at 17, which includes a guy laughing at au-natural pubic situation, Ellie is willing to do whatever it takes to not repeat the same mistakes. Between a horrific waxing experience that leaves her with a Hitler-esq Brazilian pubic hair, trying to learn how to give a blow job via Redtube, and navigating a less than romantic dating scene, Ellie is left to salvage her pubic hair and her pride, in the quest to lose her hymen.
"The rumor about boys finding virgins sexy was a LIE. It was just some medieval bullshit that old people said to try and make their daughters keep their legs crossed and not get pregnant"
Virgin is a new adult chick-lit at its' finest. With less focus on romance, and more emphasis on what it means to be a woman, this is story about what it means to be beautiful, desirable and accepted in a society that puts a heavy price on looks and labels. It took me until about 10% to really get into the story but once I did I found myself laughing, cringing and sympathetic to Ellie's plight. Sure, she had moments where her age really showed and her sometimes "whoa is me" outlook was a little grating, but I found her to be a very relatable and charming character.
"And I don't really want to be the kind of girl who gazes at a guy in pure joy while she has a dick in her mouth and he grabs her head. I mean, I'd be way too preoccupied with concentrating on the mouth part to be able to smile at him too."
What Virgin lacks in romance, it makes up for in girl power!
November 10, 2014
Review also found at http://kristineandterri.blogspot.ca/2...
**I won a copy of this book in a giveaway on Goodreads in exchange for an honest review.**
I did not know what to expect when I picked up this book. I mean it throws no punches in advertising that it was about a girl who was trying to find a way to lose her virginity.
Given the subject matter I would not recommend this book for everyone. There is blatant talk about sex and sexuality including descriptions of various sexual acts. There is also some language that could offend some. While it very easily could have been sending the wrong message to women out there it was written in a manner that shows all woman should be happy the way they are and men and sex does not complete you.
What I did not expect was the story to be so funny! Almost any adult female I know would be able to identify with one or all aspects of this book, particularly when referring to body image. The whole part about shaving/waxing had me in stitches. It hit so close to home. Most of us have had to make some painful sacrifices in the name of ridding ourselves of body hair. I literally had tears in my eyes for this.
This is a story for woman. If you are male and contemplating reading this I say stop as I do not truly think you would be able to appreciate the humour. This was a good change from the norm for me and offered quit a few laughs. I am glad I won it.
**I won a copy of this book in a giveaway on Goodreads in exchange for an honest review.**
I did not know what to expect when I picked up this book. I mean it throws no punches in advertising that it was about a girl who was trying to find a way to lose her virginity.
Given the subject matter I would not recommend this book for everyone. There is blatant talk about sex and sexuality including descriptions of various sexual acts. There is also some language that could offend some. While it very easily could have been sending the wrong message to women out there it was written in a manner that shows all woman should be happy the way they are and men and sex does not complete you.
What I did not expect was the story to be so funny! Almost any adult female I know would be able to identify with one or all aspects of this book, particularly when referring to body image. The whole part about shaving/waxing had me in stitches. It hit so close to home. Most of us have had to make some painful sacrifices in the name of ridding ourselves of body hair. I literally had tears in my eyes for this.
This is a story for woman. If you are male and contemplating reading this I say stop as I do not truly think you would be able to appreciate the humour. This was a good change from the norm for me and offered quit a few laughs. I am glad I won it.
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