I Should Have Worn Panties

A narrative told by the recently divorced Joelys Jeffries: a wildly impulsive woman who turns to sex work in order to support herself and her children. Facing her new reality after the dissolution of her marriage, her whole adult life spent as an at-home-mom and caregiver to her ailing mother, career options are limited. The story follows Joelys, Joe, as she tries tirelessly to recover from and process the major losses in her life while holding her family together. Joe is a little reckless, but funny and brave. In the first half of the book, the reader learns about her family history of alcoholism and her own struggles with mental illness coupled with identity issues stemming from being biracial. The conclusion allows the reader to watch Joe grow and heal in unexpected ways. The lightning-paced story is written in a way in which the reader feels as if she's Joelys' new best friend, getting all the raunchy, fun details as well as the raw, emotional hardships of her recovery from unimaginable loss. The novel oscillates between erotic adventures in her new career and single life and the real struggle of an uneducated woman trying to make ends meet. The story, set in the Pacific Northwest, contains sub-plots of ethical promiscuity, co-parenting, complex female friendships, Puerto Rican-American nationality, domestic violence, and typography. It might sound chaotic, but this novel is funny, touching, and thought-provoking.