Ed is a virgin. I didn’t know those existed – not at our age anyway. Maybe he was so drunk that he forgot all the times he’s had sex. I wish I could get that drunk.
Mia and Ed have been best friends ever since they began teaching at the same school. Ed bakes cake for the staff, Mia eats the cakes. Ed can’t control his students, Mia sorts them out. Mia can’t work the photocopier, Ed shows her how.
Mia’s love life might be chaotic but she’s totally devoted to her super-tidy, cat-owning, geeky but not bad-looking best friend. So, when Mia discovers Ed is still a virgin at twenty-eight, she decides to take matters into her own hands and teach him the skills he needs to seduce the pretty new maths teacher, Caitlin.
It’s an education that involves panic-buying sex toys and buddy-watching porn, and when Ed graduates with an A+ for effort – and begins dating the perfect-on-paper Caitlin – Mia knows her work is done.
But is Caitlin as sweet as she seems? And could Mia’s feelings for Ed be stronger than she realised?
"I feel my love for falafel may have affected my judgement, but I did think about all the times I've been judged and sex-shamed as a woman, and I didn't want him to feel the same for being a virgin."
Kristen Bailey is back, and you know damn well I cleared my schedule when I got sent a copy of this book.
This book perfectly balances that cosy, familiar feeling of your favourite romcom tropes with a refreshingly wicked streak full of Baileys patented humour and style. I adore the openness and unapologetic sex-positivity in her writing, and the radical acceptance and authenticity that always shines through.
Her characters are stunning as per usual, I loved Ed and how he wasn’t shamed or judged for his virginity, the same as Mia wasn’t for her sexuality. Both of them were full of heart and so loveable; and they were so real with their awkwardness and mishaps it felt like I knew them — their personal, direct narration gave it an easily readable feeling that had me flying through. Bailey is a star when it comes to writing characters you just want to befriend.
Along with the antics we find out characters doing in the present, watching Mia reminisce about the cringe-inducing moments of her past had me howling as she led us through painfully relatable experiences we’ve all been through and reminding us that nobody really has any clue what they’re doing.
There’s some spicy, steamy fun along with such sweet romance and friendships — it’s a joy watching the relationships between our characters evolve and change, trying to navigate the changes in themselves and the changes happening between them. Of course, it’s a romcom and there’s plenty of little things that made me roll my eyes and scream “Come on, you’re making it more complicated than it needs to be!” - but that’s all part of the fun.
Sex Ed is a riotously funny and chaotic read but with so much heart and warmth.
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
I was gifted an advanced reviewers copy of this title in return for an honest review.
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