ANATOMY OF A BOYFRIEND

Author: Daria Snadowsky ISBN: 9780440239444 9/2008 YOUNG ADULT Publisher: RANDOM HOUSE

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 the fall.

RRAH's THOUGHTS AND PONDERINGS:

ANATOMY OF A BOYFRIEND by Daria Snadowsky is like no young adult novel I've read before. It's fresh, candid and takes a no-holds-barred look at teenage romance, angst and sexual discovery. There are points where it reads like the Gray's Anatomy that is so often referred to, but it still manages to keep a tone that is ideal for the target age group. And although I'd like to think teenagers aren't as sexually active as this book indicates, I know better. This book is one that the young adult audience will, I believe, understand well. I have a feeling ANATOMY OF A BOYFRIEND is being passed from reader to reader among the teenage set.

Ms. Snadowsky gives her readers a peek into an average high school senior romance. She shows that although boys may talk big, they are often informed about love and sex, something Dom, the young woman whose sexual awakening this focuses on, hadn't been aware of. When Dom meets a boy who seems to be "the one," she and Wes embark on a romance that includes sex. Their experiences are portrayed in graphic terms.

Well written and with a touch of humor I suspect teens will appreciate, ANATOMY OF A BOYFRIEND is an engaging story that shows that young love can be both wonderful... and heartbreaking. Well done!

Kay James