Tuesday 21 October 2014

Book Review : Anatomy of a Misfit by Andrea Portes


Goodreads Discription:

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.








https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/21936872-anatomy-of-a-misfit 


  
 
Title: Anatomy of a Misfit
Author: Andrea Portes
Genre:Contemporary, Young Adult, Romance, Coming of Age
Format: Paperback
Pages: 336 pages
Publisher: HarperTeen
Source: Purchased from Big W

 

If Mean Girls and Eleanore and Park were to have a baby... ladies and gentlemen 'Anatomy of a Misfit' is the beautiful off spring to two of my favorite stories. 

Living in the shadows of Becky aka the most popular girl in school, one miss step could send third most popular girl Anika's status to social suicidal. 

I love reading about Anika! Pretty, popular, smart, quirky and super sarcastic, Anika is very unique and different from the typical mean girl. Her honest, straight to the point and sarcastic voice/narration is one of my favorite element of the book and got me laughing a lot trough the book!

 Yes she tend to do terrible stuff like calling her friend a slut and drugging her boss but its usually out of 'good reasons' or that she does eventually realizes and fix her wrong doings and get things right. The book deals with her issues like her insecurities and trying to please people so that she can keep up her popular status and avoid being tormented by Becky. She also deal with first love, blended family issues, getting good grades to please her 'vampire' father and her Job at the Buzza Hut. Anika tend to make some really bad decisions but she learns from them.

 She's not perfect but she's genuine and realistic.

Anika have a love hate relationship with her friends especially Becky. Shelli was an okay character and probably the closest friend to Anika since they both care enough to watch out for each other.

Becky was cruel evil! Manipulative queen bee who bullies others for her own amusement, she made the list for one least favorite characters ever! Trough the book Anika and Shelli tolerate Becky's actions, afraid to call her out as who knows what Becky will do to them. At the end of the book Anika finally stands up to Becky and calls out to her actions in a surprising and wicked good way!

I enjoy the family aspect of the book especially Anika's relationship with her mum. Her mum is one of those mums who you can turn to when you need comfort but will also be your voice of reason and knock you to the right direction. Its refreshing to read about a blended family and that Anika still keep in touch with her dad.

Surprisingly this book is not romance heavy. Even so there was a love triangle going on. First we have Logan, a nerd turn hottie. Sweet, charming, mysterious I love reading about Logan the moment he glided the page. The only thing that got me doubting about him is his anger issues. Then we have popular bad boy Jarad, his character was nice and actually a good guy at times but also a jerk on other times. I usually love or hate love triangles but in this case I love this love triangles! It was well developed and not eye rolling cringe. I like how both characters have their merits and flaws and you feel for Anika on her being torn between the two boys. Even so I was rooting for Logan all the way as he is also a great caring guy. 

I like how the book deals with heavy social issues like bullying, slut-shaming, racism, stealing/thief and many more. 

What I wish could be in the book was that they addressed time the book was set in as there was no mention of cell phones and computers and  the manners and culture references reminds me of something in the 70's or 80's. Even so it was not a big issue and didn't bother me nor did it throw me off the story.

Even so, the main thing that came out of this book is about Anika coming to her senses, standing up for herself, and not caring about what others think. It heavily talk about the price of popularity. Is it worth it?

Now one thing I need to point out is the ending... I usually don't cry in books but I didn't see the ending coming so when it happened I cried for a while. Not gonna say what happen but just prepare... 

This bittersweet reads addresses about the price pretending to be someone we not and and value who we truly are in the inside.

Also the last few pages of the book is freaking beautifully written! It reminds me of something I will find in a John Green book as the last pages of Looking for Alaska, An Abundance of Katherine and The Fault In Our Stars. It rounded up the story in a bittersweet satisfying way. Also after reading the acknowledgement and the dedication, it turns out that this book is based on something that happened in the authors life. Its quiet cool and the dedications is one of my favorite.  

Anatomy of a Misfit is my new favorite book up there with John Green, Rainbow Rowell and Stephine Perkins books. I am looking forward to what Andrea Portes put up next!

This is one heck of a sassy book to read! You'll laugh with it and you'll cry with it.

Check this out for a great coming of age contemporary about popularity, stereotypes, first love and about being a misfit. 


What was the last awesome book you've read?

That will be a toss up between Isla and The Happily Ever After by Stephine Perkins and The Incredible Adventures of Cinnamon Girl by Melissa Keil






 

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