Looking for a new YA to fall headlong into?
Well, how much do you love the following: Mean Girls. Eleanor and Park. The Perks of Being a Wallflower. And my favorite, Heathers??
No, I’m a Veronica. But this young adult debut might just be my giant red hair bow.
What is it? Anatomy of a Misfit by Andrea Portes
When can I get it? TODAY, September 2
What’s it about? Read the official summary …
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.
My Review:
I wasn’t sure after reading this whom the misfit the title refers to actually is.
Surely it’s not the narrator, Anika, who has two very hot boys that she’s totally into fall for her and tell her she’s beautiful.
Who makes several sacrificial and tough moral choices to benefit girls she isn’t friends with because she empathizes with their pain.
Who makes perfect grades seemingly without effort or care.
Who has a hard time standing up to the Regina George of her grade, but struggles with that part of herself and never really engages in her mean girl antics.
Because … all that makes Anika pretty great. She’s a better specimen of 15 year old than I was for sure.
This book is based on actual events, and that makes the familiar premise seem, at the very least, a little more palatable. And it’s good, realistic YA fiction. The best part about it for me is Anika’s voice: refreshing, dry, smart and caustic. Other great stuff not to miss: the setting (which will remind you of Rainbow Rowell’s books), her family and her work life.
The ending felt melodramatic and overwrought to me, and while I won’t spoil it for you, the very last scene did kind of spoil my enjoyment of the book a bit. Still, it’s worth the read.
Pick up or download a copy and let me know what you think!
