The back blurb sets this book up as very comical. Although the book does have funny moments, that’s a little misleading, as it’s not nonstop laughs. It’s clear from the setup at the very beginning that it’s really about a girl losing her virginity and everything leading up to (and following) that, and it’s serious to her. The title therefore sums it up pretty well, although the title does tie into some other losses in the book, as well. There were a couple other storylines, but the romance between Tess and Ben predominates.

Because Tess has already told us in the beginning that she’s lost her virginity, she has every reason to tell her how surprising that was, given where she was just a few months before. Tess is pretty self-aware of everything except how easily what she wants can change. She’s anxious about a lot of things, but especially wild animals. She’s awkward. She’s naïve. She’s been brought up fairly repressed by her religious parents and knows very little about sex, except that she figures she will never have it until after she’s married. But then she sees Ben.

After she admires his butt, he impresses her in general with his response to something she says:

’I didn’t mean to suggest that you did,’ he answered.

I thought his reply was very adult. He seemed much more mature than the rest of the high school baboons.

After this encounter, she starts imagining a relationship with him. When she actually more properly meets him, it’s a funny moment and really shows us her voice. Right after Ben introduces himself:

I nodded. He waited. I nodded again. Then he nodded back. I kept nodding. He slammed his locker and walked off.

Yes, it was going to be very difficult for us to start dating each other exclusively considering I hadn’t even told Ben Easter my name.

After they start dating, Ben isn’t pushy or anything, but she starts to want more herself. Then something dramatic happens that makes things more intense for both of them, and they decide to take the leap. The only potential problem in their relationship is a lie Tess told very early on, for no good reason except her own awkwardness, which Ben doesn’t know about. This lie did its job of making me nervous throughout the book.

One of the book’s subplots centers around her best friend, Zena, who has gone a little wacko and is threatening to make a bomb to blow up a poodle. It’s a little hard to know whether this is funny or serious, which makes it interesting. Tess is stressed about it but is unsure what to do. When that storyline finally culminates (not the way I expected), I found it a little funny but also sad. The whole thing has strained their relationship and the book works through that.

I enjoyed the book because Tess is honest and awkward and has to learn to take risks every now and again. This theme comes out in the very end, and resonates with other parts of the book. It makes the fact that she doesn’t come clean about her lie make sense. Readers should enjoy this book, which is also a fairly short, quick read.