Guest Reviewer - Lindsey P : My Soon-To-Be Sex Life by Judith Tewes
Review: My Soon-to-be Sex Life - Judith Tewes - June 2014
Charlie Webb, a
teenage wannabe 17-year-old screen writer, is desperate to lose her virginity. Aided by Roach, her religious mad friend,
Charlie contrives a devirginization campaign.
Like her scriptwriting, Charlie believes that if her campaign is plotted
and storyboarded, it will happen. Yet 3 weeks in, she is still having no luck
and the would-be candidates are getting thin on the ground and decidedly
unappealing.
Charlie’s plans to
pop her cherry become thwarted though when her Mum declares herself to be a
Valium addict: a result of her Father’s untimely death and checks into
rehab. Charlie is sent to live with her
estranged grandfather, Monty, who she never really bonded with and who is not
really that keen to have her. Neither is
his dog, Mona …
As Charlie struggles
to cope with the events in her life, she meets Eric – a gorgeous man who
definitely ignites her desire to continue with her campaign, even if he is
fresh out of rehab and with baggage of his own. Yet Charlie gradually finds
herself being increasingly drawn to him.
But, all is not smooth on the path to true love and obstacles are thrown
at the would-be lovers, namely in the form of Tyler Gribbons, one of the former
contenders on her list, who is on a vengeful mission to bring Charlie down…
I really enjoyed
this book. Although it is geared towards
YA, it not a tale of typical teenage angst. The death of her father and her mother’s
addiction hits Charlie hard and when she moves in with Monty, in a role
reversal, she finds herself looking out for him rather than the other way around.
Charlie is thrust into the world of adulthood and responsibilities. As the reader learns more about her, it
becomes clear that the quest to lose her virginity is her ultimately trying to
take control of her life whilst everything around her is failing. She feels
that in doing so will finally give her the “inciting incident” to change her
life. But, as Charlie points out “life is stranger than fiction” and does not
always plan out as we would like…
Charlie is a very
strong, likeable character who takes it on the chin with her sarcastic retorts
and as Eric says, part of her appeal is that you “never know what (she’s) going
to say next.”. The book is both funny
and at times heart-breaking as Charlie begins to see that life is not all
peaches and cream and the journey to adulthood is often fraught and you can
never really guarantee anything…
This was a fun,
fresh and entertaining read played out with a host of highly likeable, well
written characters. It dealt with some
really heavy themes: love, loss, addiction, pressures on teenagers, religious
beliefs and peer pressure but told in a very relatable way. I would recommend definitely …
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