ANATOMY OF A MISFIT: ANDREA PORTES

I've been going back and forth debating on if I should put this on my blog. In the end I can't deny that I really enjoyed this and honestly once I got into it I was wishing it was much longer. At first, I was NOT digging it. The style was a little run-on-sentency (yeah, I know that is not a "real" thing), and our main girl was NOT likable. But something that I couldn't put my finger on kept me reading. Pretty soon I was just into the book. I thought it was different and interesting. And suddenly our unlikeable heroine was pretty darn likable to me.

Now, at a point close to the end I was wondering how this was all going to go down. I'm of course not going to spoil anything but I will say this: The very ending is one of the most satisfying endings I have ever read.

My one issue with this book is that Portes says at the end that she wrote a book for herself at that age. And, I'm not sure it is really appropriate for a 15 or 16 year old. The content aside (which is pretty harsh), it just had a feel of book about teens written for adults. It might be the nostalgia factor since it took place when Trapper Keepers were in, or it was just that it had a more mature writing feel; one that I am not sure a teenager would get. The things our MC says are kind of above her years in sass and cultural references, and I am sorry but I just couldn't believe she was only 15. However, she is a character that is trying to act older, and sometimes the vulnerability of her age shines through, and that is when I liked her the most. 

There is a ton of swearing with a ton of casual Lord's name in vain swearing. Lots of talk teens drinking, and sleeping around, but nothing in detail.

BOOK BLURB:

Outside, Anika Dragomir is all lip gloss and blond hair—the third most popular girl in school. Inside, she’s a freak: a mix of dark thoughts, diabolical plots, and, if local chatter is to be believed, vampire DNA (after all, her father is Romanian). But she keeps it under wraps to maintain her social position. One step out of line and Becky Vilhauer, first most popular girl in school, will make her life hell. So when former loner Logan McDonough shows up one September hotter, smarter, and more mysterious than ever, Anika knows she can’t get involved. It would be insane to throw away her social safety for a nerd. So what if that nerd is now a black-leather-jacket-wearing dreamboat, and his loner status is clearly the result of his troubled home life? Who cares if the right girl could help him with all that, maybe even save him from it? Who needs him when Jared Kline, the bad boy every girl dreams of, is asking her on dates? Who?

Anatomy of a Misfit is Mean Girls meets The Perks of Being a Wallflower, and Anika’s hilariously deadpan delivery will appeal to readers for its honesty and depth. The so-sad-it’s-funny high school setting will pull readers in, but when the story’s dark foreboding gradually takes over, the devastating penultimate tragedy hits like a punch to the gut. Readers will ride the highs and lows alongside funny, flawed Anika — from laughter to tears, and everything in between.

You can read more about it HERE.