Review: Anatomy Of A Boyfriend by Daria Snadowsky

Title: Anatomy Of A Boyfriend
Author: Daria Snadowsky
Genre: Young Adult, Romance, Sex, First Love
Pages: 259
Rating: A-



Synopsis: Before this all happened, the closest I'd ever come to getting physical with a guy was playing the board game Operation. Okay, so maybe that sounds pathetic, but it's not like there were any guys at my high school who I cared to share more than three words with, let alone my body.

Then I met Wes, a track star senior from across town. Maybe it was his soulful blue eyes, or maybe my hormones just started raging. Either way, I was hooked. And after a while, he was too. I couldn't believe how intense my feelings became, or the fact that I was seeing-and touching-parts of the body I'd only read about in my Gray's Anatomy textbook. You could say Wes and I experienced a lot of firsts together that spring. It was scary. It was fun. It was love.

And then came fall.

First Impression: I've seen this book around for a while now (it was published in 2008) but had never truely looked into it until just this year. Shortly after Christmas I was at Borders with all the money I had received in gift cards, when I noticed it. I'm not going to lie, it's the fact that this story has to do with first love and first sex and all those firsts that I picked it up. One the back, above the summery, it reads "Snadowsky’s debut novel is an unusually honest portrayal of a teen girl’s sexual discovery . . .  Like Forever, this sensitive, candid novel is sure to find a wide audience among curious teens." — booklist This was a good enough reason to buy it for me. 

Full Impression/Review: Dominique Baylor, a high school senior from Fort Meyers, Florida, aspires to be a doctor and cares more about reading Grey's Anatomy (the actual medical book, not the TV show or anything to do with it) then she cares about boys. When not competing on her school's science quiz team, she can be found at home playing the board game Operation with her parents. That all changes when she meets Wes, a shy fellow senior and local track star. Instantly she's hooked. After a couple months of exchanging hundreds of IMs and a dozen or more e-mails, she finally admits her feelings for Wes and makes the first move. And so starts their relationship.

     Both unexperienced in love (and sex), they prove to be eager to learn and so things get pretty hot and heavy just on their first date (they run past first base and explore second to the fullest). After a couple more months, they are ready to go All The Way Home and lose it on Prom Night, as cliché. 

    At a first glance, this novel could sound redundant, cliché, and overdone a million and one times, but I'm not writing a review from the perspective of a first glance. Even going so far as naming her an inspiration for the novel, it's obvious that Snadowsky is a fan of Judy Blume and took a hint from Forever... (1975), a novel that also follows the first love and the exploration of sex from the point of view of a couple in their senior year of high school. 

   Dom is mature and goal-oriented. She has her sites set on getting excepted into Stanford and becoming a doctor. On the other hand, her experience with guys is limited to kissing party games from her earlier teen years and the bodies of the drawn male figures in her medical books. In many ways she is the polar opposite of her best friend Amy, a rather free spirited artist who is saving her virginity until college, but does everything else. When Dom meets Wes at the big football game the day after Christmas, she finds herself really falling for him. As the months pass they start dating, exploring, and loving each other. By Prom they do feel ready and decide to take that next step. Everything seems to be going well for the happy couple who, though are off to different colleges in the fall, strongly believe they will weather the tempest of long distance relationship and come out on top. But then fall does come and things change.

   While this book is filled to the brim with sex, it's not the racy and sensual sex that is the making of a hardcore romance novels. Instead it's very realistic, frank, insightful, graphic, and even somewhat scientific -- as are the thoughts that come to Dom as she sees a certain where-the-sun-don't-shine part of Wes (of any guy) for the first time. Dom's view on sex shine through clearly -- she's the type of girl who believes in love before sex, another thing that makes her the opposite of her casual hookup type best friend. The novel isn't the most original idea put out there, but Snadowsky brings a fresh and new look onto this theme. Unlike many books, Wes is neither a loner/outcast, or jerk/ jock. He is simply the average teen male -- good and bad included. 

    In her debut novel, Snadowsky weaves together a story that feels both old and new bring up many of the essential and basic questions of relationships: Is sex love? Is there a difference between first love and true love? How can you tell? Like Forever... before it, Anatomy Of A Boyfriend an authentic and candid story sensitively but frankly explores sex in our modern day society, experiencing it for the first time, and dealing with it in a mature way. 

Review: Where She Went by Gayle Forman

Title: Where She Went
Author: Gayle Forman
Series: Sequel to If I Stay
Genre: Young Adult, Romance, Social Issues
Pages: 260
Rating: B or B+

Synopsis: It's been three years since the devastating accident . . . three years since Mia walked out of Adam's life forever.

Now living on opposite coasts, Mia is Juilliard's rising star and Adam is LA tabloid fodder, thanks to his new rock star status and celebrity girlfriend. When Adam gets stuck in New York by himself, chance brings the couple together again, for one last night. As they explore the city that has become Mia's home, Adam and Mia revisit the past and open their hearts to the future and each other.

Told from Adam's point of view in the spare, lyrical prose that defined If I Stay, Where She Went explores the devastation of grief, the promise of new hope, and the flame of rekindled romance.

First Impression: I loved the first book (If I Stay) and had very high expectations for this book. When I first heard that there was going to be a sequel to If I Stay, I was jumping off the walls. Then I heard that it was not through the point of view of the original protagonist (Mia) but instead her boyfriend's, Adam Wilde. I tend not to read books from guys point of views, though I have made exceptions. Adam seemed like a good guy in the first book, but he didn't exactly come off as the type of guy that I really wanted to read a book through his eyes. Now looking back, I think it's because while I loved If I Stay, Forman never fully developed her minor characters. Though it may be because Mia saw most of the people in her life in a perfect, glimmering light.

Full Impression: I read If I Stay a couple of years ago and fell in love with the book that chronicles Mia Hall's "decision" whether "to stay or to go" after a devastating accident claims the life of her parents and her nine year old brother, leaving her in critical condition and a coma. The book had been raw and heartbreaking but at the same time funny and heartwarming. Spoilers: After spending a day or so having an outer body experience (sorta like a ghost except her body was still alive and hooked up to monitors) and reflecting on events that were her reasons to stay, wake up, and try to move on with her life, or go and die with the rest of her family, she wakes up -- though not because she really choose to. 

    Where She Went picks up three years later. Mia went off to Juilliard and left Adam behind. After months of being in his own mental and emotional coma, Adam woke up and wrote heartbreaking and angry songs that propelled his band to stardom. But groupies, money and stardom could not fill the void. Not even music could. Adam has become a living dead thing. Medication for anxiety and sleeping keep him moving. He's tired and numb and lost. Both Mia and her life has become a complete mystery to him. The glorious and loving rockstar god that Mia had painted him as in If I Stayis seemingly gone; left behind is a hurt and pain that has taken over his life and made Mr. Perfect into an emo train wreck. 

    After an interview gone wrong, Adam finds himself wandering New York. As luck would have it, who else would be playing a concert that night but Mia herself. And of course he would just happen to pass by the theater shortly before it begins. After the performance, Mia calls him to her dressing room, they exchange awkward  greetings, and he leaves. It could have ended there had not Mia went after him. With less then 24 hours before they are destined to go in opposite directions (Adam kicking off the band's second tour in London and Mia gearing up for her own journeys abroad with her cello), Mia and Adam experience a "Goodbye Tour" of New York. As the travel through the city, they must face what time and different lives have done to them, what the effects of "staying" after losing almost everything has done to Mia, and what losing Mia has done to Adam. 

    The story is told through alternating chapters of the present and flash backs, much like how If I Stay was written. The only difference is that with If I Stay, those flashbacks played a VERY crucial part in Mia's and the stories development. While it's good to know exactly what happened to Adam and Mia between If I Stay andWhere She Went, I found some of the flash backs too slow and some where even unneeded. Chapter thirteen is completely unneeded. It's nine pages that only explore the fact that he did it with some groupies and wasn't the kindest to one in particular that followed him to the next city after a one night stand. I found myself counting down the pages until the flashback chapters would end and the story would once again continue Adam and Mia's adventures through New York. That's never good. 

Cover:  Sigh. I loved the original hardcover version of If I Stay a lot better then the paperback cover. The cover of Where She Went ties in nicely with paperback version of Where She Went, but I wish they had made the hardcover version of the sequel book tie in with the hardcover version of the first. That's not saying that the cover isn't beautiful in it's own right (because it is), I just guess I wanted something a little different.  

Dislikes: To much back story. I wish the author had picked up the pace of the flashbacks and had concentrated on the main story more. Some of the flashbacks were too long and too slow, some where completely unneeded, and some where good, but would have definitely benefited from some editing to cut down the length and pick up the speed. At times it seemed that the author was trying more to reach a certain amount of words or pages per chapter, then she was trying to tell a story. You don't need a lot of words just to say a lot.  

    

Final Thoughts: Like If I Stay, Where She Went is emotional and raw. I highly recommend that you read If I Stay, but Where She Went also makes a great stand alone book. The good parts were excellent and really helped me connect with Adam, but the good kept on being interrupted by the slow. While maybe this book wasn't perfect, it definitely gave a closure not only to If I Stay, but also to Mia and Adam.

Review: Withering Tights by Louise Rennison

Title: Withering Tights
Author: Louise Rennison
Series: Misadventures of Tallulah Casey Book # 1
Genre: Young Adult, Humour and Romance
Pages: 351
Rating: B+










Synopsis: The misadventures of Tallulah Casey…

Hilarious new series from Queen of Teen – laugh your tights off at the (VERY) amateur dramatic antics of Talullah and her bonkers mates. Boys, snogging and bad acting guaranteed! 

     Picture the scene: Dother Hall performing arts college somewhere Up North, surrounded by rolling dales, bearded cheesemaking villagers (male and female) and wildlife of the squirrely-type.

     On the whole, it’s not quite the showbiz experience Tallulah was expecting… but once her mates turn up and they start their ‘FAME! I’m gonna liiiiive foreeeeeever, I’m gonna fill my tiiiiights’ summer course things are bound to perk up.

    Especially when the boys arrive. (When DO the boys arrive?)
Six weeks of parent-free freedom.
BOY freedom.
Freedom of expression…
cos it’s the THEATRE dahling, theatre!!

How I Heard About It: I actully first heard about this book shortly after graduation. I had come back to visit SBS and was in the computer room, when I decided to go on Louise Rennison's website. Her UK one, not the American one. The American one really sucks. Even the Australian website is better than the American one. Quite depressing if you ask me, but back to the point. I had gone on her website, when I noticed she had another book coming out in July! Sadly, it has yet to come out in American. Hence the reason my mother had to import it. 

First Impression: I was very sure it would be a lot like Georgia Nicholson series. Funny and bonkers filled to the brim with characters that you wished were your best friends and some characters that were. And of course boys. Lots and lots of boys and snogging. And an owl. Because it's on the cover. (I'm starting to think Louise Rennison has a owl fetish of some type.) With the end of Georgia Nicholson, I expected this book to be as funny if not more.


Full Impression: Don't get me wrong, I loved this book, but it could have been more. After such and hilarious and utterly mad series that the Georgia Nicholson series was, I had very high expectations. It's not that this book didn't meet them, it just didn't meet them all at the pace I would have preferred. The beginning was a bit slow. The jokes were not the Laugh-So-Hard-That-You-Roll-Off-The-Couch funny that I expected. But, by page thirty-something or forty-something, I was getting really into it and laughing like a mad woman. I know what your thinking, thirty/forty-something? That's pretty far, isn't? Not really, the lettering is big for each page because the book is quite massive in size. Not page size, but height. I wonder if it's just a UK book binding thing.


    The characters are all memorable relatable. The most unique character to me was Honey, one of Tallulah's new friends. I found myself sorta relating to her. Not because she was the most experienced in the boy department or because she was the most physically matured of the group (I wish I could relate to those things *sigh*). Instead, I related to her because she had a lisp. In her dialogue (and whenever the other characters repeated her words) all her "s" came out like a "th". Example: I don't think I can go a whole thummer without boyth." At times her dialogue can be a bit of a challenge to understand, but it was defiantly funny and made the character.


    I also love the characters of Cain, the rock star bad boy in town who writes ridiculous songs and has no problem snogging and dumping any girl within his reach; Ruby, a wise ten year old who becomes Tallulah's "fun-sized friend" from almost the very beginning, and very much like a little sister to her by end; Charlie and Phil, two boys sent to Woolfe Academy for Young Men after an incident involving a science lab and a small explosion; and Alex, Ruby's hot older brother who is all hot in his hottie-hot-hotness.


    And of course we can't forget the our protagonist Tallulah. She's 14.5, knobby kneed, and corkless (I'll let you find out the definition of corkless for yourself). She isn't quite like  Georgia, but as Georgia Nicholson's younger cousin, she wants to be. She considers Georgia to be all mature and wise like. Obviously, just telling you that lets you know that she's bound for trouble. My favorite trait of hers is her crazy Irish dancing gene that she inherited from her Irish side of the family. Whenever she is nervous and in the spotlight, she turns to Riverdance. Very funny, very funny indeed.


Cover: I love the colors of the cover. Very fun and girly, perfect for the story. Though the owl freaks me out a bit...

Dislikes: The fact that the first thirty or so pages are sorta slow and not as funny as they could be. I wanted to the book to open and end with a bang. I got the funny bang at the end, but not necessarily a bang in the beginning. I WANT MORE BANG!!!


Final Thoughts: It's a wonderful, light hearted read that relates to a certain part of us all. Louise Rennison has a knack for getting into the mind of a teen and giving us lovable stories that make us think of our own crushes, weird families, and horrible embarrassing moments. Her writing style can be quite simple and is very telly not showy(which is what writers are supposed to not do), but it works for her perfectly with the story and Tallulah.  I would say the level is a bit younger than Georgia Nicholson, but is a great book none the less. I'm looking forward to book two. Oh, and I'll always remember one thing. "A boy in a hand is worth two in the bus."

Review: If I Stay by Gayle Forman

Title: If I Stay
Author: Gayle Forman
Genre: Young Adult, Romance, Social Issues
Pages: 196
Rating: A

Synopsis: In a single moment, everything changes. Seventeen-year- old Mia has no memory of the accident; she can only recall riding along the snow-wet Oregon road with her family. Then, in a blink, she finds herself watching as her own damaged body is taken from the wreck... A sophisticated, layered, and heart-achingly beautiful story about the power of family and friends, the choices we all make—and the ultimate choice Mia commands.

How I Heard About It: So little over a year ago I was in the car, reading through my Entertainment Weekly magazine, as my Mom drove me to Borders. The second I read their review I knew I had to find that book. I ran to the young adult section of the store and there it was waiting for me.

First Impression: My first impression of the novel was it was going to be one of those books that can make you cry your eyes out and reflect on your life…yada, yada, yada. Let me tell you right now; I was not wrong. I did make me cry and reflect but, at the same it I wasn’t crying so much tears of sadness but tears for life in general. No matter how much you love or hate your life, things can change in a single second. You just better hope you made the best of the time you had.

Cover: I have the original hardcover version, so the cover is different. Personally I prefer the Hardcover version. It embraces more of the theme of life and love than the theme of death which I feel the Paperback cover illustrates.

Dislikes: None.

Final Thoughts: I have wholeheartedly fallen in love with this book. More than a year later I still can’t get it out of my mind. It really makes you stop and reflect on what is truly important in life. I am personally not the type of person to cry – actually I’m the first to roll my eyes when someone cries over a book or a movie, normally my Mom – but as I read the last words of this novel my eyes were tearing up. Moving and haunting, it’s pure perfection.

First Post: HI

Hi,

  I've recently decided to start reviewing the books I enjoy reading. Even though I have little time in my life, I find that this is one things I'm really interested in. That said, because of my busy schedule it takes me some time to read one book. Still, I hope to make this blog a successful. The first four book reviews up are past ones from my other blog. The one for If I Stay is a pretty crappy one, but I would have to re-read the whole book again just to write a good one now. That would take time that I sadly don't have, so the old review will have to stay. The one for Withering Tights if OK, not my best, but definitely not my worst. The other two reviews were done just this month and, f I can say so myself, are pretty rockin. With that said, welcome to The Book Babbling Queen!

        ~ XOXO,

                    Ariana