Tanya Lee Stone's newest book A Bad Boy Can Be Good for a Girl is aimed at the young adult audience and has gotten a lot of praise (and no small amount of shite) for its honest appraisal of teen love and sex.:
“This is not a book that will sit quietly on any shelf; it will be passed from girl to girl to girl.” - School Library Journal, Starred Review
“This amazing first novel is one of the most honest treatments of teenage sexuality to be found in YA fiction...every reader who has been swept away in a love affair will recognize its truth.” - Kliatt
“candid...electrically charged.” - Horn Book
“Stone’s novel packs a steamy, emotional wallop,...The lessons learned here are important.” - Booklist
Here's the premise:
"Why are so many women attracted to the “bad” boy? You know him—you went to high school with one, and maybe were involved with that boy yourself. He’s the golden boy, maybe a star athlete, and always in the “in” crowd. And he is BAD with a capital B. But can being involved with the wrong guy end up being good for you? In this provocative debut novel, Tanya Lee Stone explores this idea and takes an honest look at love and sex. A Bad Boy Can Be Good for a Girl is the story of three very different girls and their relationships with one bad boy."
Okay, maybe it's me, but I am dying to find out how and why bad boys can teach us something. I never even got to learn my lesson, thank God and the patron saint of Virginity who saw fit to bless me with the sort of shyness that renders its victims speechless in the presence of anyone crush-worthy. My shame isn't about sex in my teen years, it's about breaking up with any boy who was sweet enough to tell me how much he liked me. Those adorable young men, whose only mistake was in being emotionally available: I assumed if they were interested in me, there must be something deeply wrong with them, and so on I moved, eager to find someone smart enough to know I wasn't worth having. I shudder now to think about the life I might have had if I'd been confident (and cute) enough to attract those bad boys I craved. I wish I could go back and do it over, except no one in their right minds (except maybe the bad boys) would be willing to relive a single hour of those angst-filled years. Instead, I think I'll pick up a copy of A BAD BOY CAN BE GOOD FOR A GIRL and find out exactly what I missed.