Anatomy of a Boyfriend - Daria Snadowsky

Title: Anatomy of a Boyfriend Author: Daria Snadowsky Genre: YA Rating: 7/10 # pages: 259 Date read: February, 2008

Review:

Dominique had never been in love before. The closest she'd come to being physical with a guy was when playing Operation. She'd never even gone beyond chaste pecks on the mouth. Then she met Wes... as inexperienced as herself, but utterly adorable. And - wonders of wonders - he likes her too. Suddenly Dom experiences a whirlwind of romance, but it's the last semester of high school – will their relationship survive being hundreds of miles apart at two different colleges?

Anatomy of a Boyfriend addresses a teenager's experience of the first serious boyfriend and the first sexual experience. Unfortunately I was somewhat disappointed at the way it was approached as it ended up reading most of all like a book version of American Pie seen from a girl's point of view. I felt too much time was spent focusing on the sexual aspect of a first boyfriend, and too little on the emotional aspect of it. And that is a shame, because Daria Snadowsky's strength undoubtedly lies in describing emotions. Her portrayals of the insecurities and the exhilaration of a budding relationship are perfect, and will place any reader right back in the rollercoaster of first love. However, the sex scenes are unnecessarily explicit and not in keeping with the age and experience levels of the people involved.

Anatomy of a Boyfriend is aimed at readers in mid-late teens and I'd therefore be hesitant to recommend it to readers in the target age group because it takes sex so lightly. I'd rather have seen a book that put more emphasis on the emotional highs and lows of a relationship, and less on the physical. When push comes to shove, it's the emotional dedication that will make or break a relationship.

That one caveat aside I did enjoy the book and took great pleasure in seeing how Dom blossomed once she found someone to love and who loved her back. Also the change in Dom's relationships with her best friend and her parents once a boy entered her life were very true to life and something any reader will recognize from their own experiences.

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