Amber J. Keyser |  Non-Fiction

I heard the author of The V-Word interviewed on NPR but didn't realize until I was well into this book that it is a teen book.  I found the 17 vignettes of how young women lost their virginity decidedly interesting.  Straight, gay, questioning, uncertain ... there is quite a range of stories.  The author defines assault, rape, unwanted or coerced sex as violence, not sex, and such stories are not included.  All the vignettes are about women choosing sex for the very first time.

Some stories made me smile; some made me cringe.  And I found my own story amidst the telling.  (Joe and I were both virgins so "trying to figure out how to insert tab A into slot B" took me back a few years and made me laugh!)

The last 60 pages of the 200-page book were useless to me ... the vignettes were complete, and this section was advice and perspective for young women.  Not something I needed!

Since my few blog readers are all friends, I will say, reading about sex was difficult at times.  Those of you who are widowed, or single, or simply have not had sex in a long time (and would like to!) be forewarned ... The V-Word will certainly make you think about such intimacies again!