The Birds, The Bees, and You and Me by Olivia Hinebaugh Pages: 304
Published by Swoon Reads on January 22, 2019
Genres: Young Adult, Romance, contemporary
Source: eARC from Publisher
Seventeen-year-old Lacey Burke is the last person on the planet who should be doling out sex advice. For starters, she’s never even kissed anyone, and she hates breaking the rules. Up until now, she's been a straight-A music geek that no one even notices. All she cares about is jamming out with her best friends, Theo and Evita.
But then everything changes.
When Lacey sees first-hand how much damage the abstinence-only sex-ed curriculum of her school can do, she decides to take a stand and starts doling out wisdom and contraception to anyone who seeks her out in the girls' restroom. But things with Theo become complicated quickly, and Lacey is soon not just keeping everyone else’s secrets, but hers as well.
The Birds, The Bees, and You and Me is a young adult contemporary novel by Olivia Hinebaugh. There were a few things I didn’t love about this novel, but overall I thought it was still a good read. The good certainly outweighed my few gripes. So let’s start with the good. The Birds, The Bees, and You and Me is a novel that is both very educational and was a cute coming of age story. I really enjoyed our main character, Lacey( most of the time). And I loved her friendship with Theo and Evita. Her friend group was my favorite part of the story. Lacey was happy enjoying her senior year in high school, playing and listening to as much music as possible with her best friends, but when her school decides to take an abstinence only approach to sex education, Lacey decides to counter this sex health education. She falls into the position as a virgin sex health expert, and the book takes o
And now for the few things I didn’t love. Lacey sometimes came off as a little whiny, which could be aggravating, but then again, one could also say it was pretty age appropriate. She did irk me sometimes, but I appreciated her overall message and journey. Speaking of the message of the novel, I loved that The Birds, The Bees, and You and Me was so informative and had such an educational message worked into the story. However; at times the book came off as a bit too clinical, and not so fictional. But I do love that there were good adult role models in the story, and that The Birds, The Bees, and You and Me encouraged such an open dialogue. That was simply fantastic.
The story itself was funky and fun. I loved how much Olviia Hinebaugh worked music into the story, since it was such a big part of Lacey and her friend’s lives. It helped lighten the tone of the story significantly, which really helped to balance out some of the heavier topics explored. Overall, this novel was a good balance of serious and fun. I enjoyed how different it was than so many high school contemporary novels out there.
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Giselle
Great review, Michelle !I love it when a book has good relationships that’s not all romance. The friendships in this one sound very fun to read!
Michelle @ Book Briefs
Thanks Giselle. I loved the friendship dynamics in this book. It was one of my favorite parts of the story 😉