Sex Ed by Z.B. Heller

This was an amazingly over-the-top story that was absolutely hilarious. I laughed out loud so many times. And since I listened to the audio book version, and like to listen when out taking walks, I received many strange looks.

But I have to be honest. I don’t know if I would appreciated all the craziness if I’d read it myself. However, when narrated by Michael Lesley it’s un-effing-believably fabulous. Michael Lesley is more than just a narrator. He’s a voice actor and he’s bloody brilliant.

Synopsis: Sex Ed is the story about Jaxson Dane, comic-book geek with the most dysfunctional – but also quite wonderful – family that loves nothing better than to meddle. As the awkward, horny, 23 year old virgin that he is, he manages to get a certain appendage caught in a self-pleasuring device and ends up in the ER. There, Jaxson meets Tyler. A smoking hot nurse who gets to see Jaxson in all his klutzy, embarrassed glory. Jaxson is mortified, but figures he’ll never see Tyler again. Only then Tyler shows up at one of Jaxson’s family dinners. Tyler hasn’t been able to stop thinking about Jaxson. But his personal life is complicated. Does he really have the time for a socially challenged virgin in his life?

I loooved this book. And I laughed so hard! It’s the kind of humour that will have you second-hand embarrassed but make you snort-laugh at the same time. Jaxson’s family is the weirdest, most intrusive bunch of characters and they’ve no respect at all for personal boundaries. They’re priceless.

The humour might not be for everyone. But if the title of the book didn’t scare you away, you probably have a juvenile enough humour to appreciate all the sex jokes, dick jokes and general silliness that is this story. Just like me.

The first half of the book was the most fun if you ask me. There were immature jokes galore, and it was hands down awesome. The second part of the story wasn’t quite as funny, but still very charming. It was the part where Jaxson and Tyler became more involved. It was still a rom-com, no question, but the storyline turned more serious with the guys’ relationship evolving and Tyler’s family situation being addressed. Still, it was far from heavy, but it was farther between the lols.

All in all, this is a great story. Funny as heck. However, I wasn’t entirely sure how to rate it. Because there was this thing that kept bugging me. I get that there has to be some kind of drama. Some kind of plot or circumstance that has the potential to ruin the happily-ever-after for the protagonists. One of those things in Sex Ed was Tyler’s insistence he didn’t have time for a relationship. And it made me so annoyed. Apart from it being the most BS reason of all BS reasons ever, it has been over-used so many times. It’s like the go-to excuse authors choose when they can’t think of a credible reason for one of the characters to resist an attraction. Also, no real person has ever decided they’re too busy to fall in love because of too high work-load or some other personal commitment. Pure BS.

But in the end, despite that small annoyance, Sex Ed gets 5 stars from me. It’s just that delightful. And also, I can’t ever get enough of inappropriate jokes apparently.