Anatomy of a Boyfriend by Daria Snadowsky

Title: Anatomy of a Boyfriend
Author: Daria Snadowsky
Publisher: Delacorte Books for Young Readers (January 9, 2007)
Page Number: 272 
Rating: 4.5 Stars
Video Review: Anatomy of a Boyfreiend

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 the fall.

Review
When I was asked to review this book on my vlog, it brought me back to my freshman year memories (5 years ago) in Geometry where I first read this book. At the time, I was too immature to handle the novel, and laughed incessantly at the sexual references with a vague understanding. Needless, to say, I did not love it as much then, because I did not really understand it. At the time, I thought it was just about a weird girl who wanted to study her boyfriend's...ahem...anatomy and lose her virginity. Once I read it the second time, I realized that it held much more meaning than a mediocre book with a horny teenage girl. In fact, I realized how honest and raw it was in depicting the intense emotions that a first love brings--from friendship, lust, love and heartache.

It began with a clumsy, anatomy obsessed teenage girl, Dom, whose school life never permitted her to consider the possibility of even having a boyfriend. However, this all changes when she encounters Wes, the male protagonist, who ends up being her first love. 

I found the novel very humorous, snarky, witty, and awkward at the same time. Snadowsky has no problem in blatantly writing about sex in the innocent view of a virginal teenage girl. Dom, whose dream is to become a surgeon, probably knows so much about sex in a medical way, but her innocence and lack of experience shows when she is put in relationship-like circumstances with Wes. 

I really enjoyed Dom's character, because I like her intelligence, neediness, and lustfulness. I loved how she portrayed a lovestruck teenage girl whose world revolved around her boyfriend, because it is so relatable for young adults her age to feel the same way. I find that people can easily connect with this book, because they either feel one of two things: reminiscing about their first love, or anxiously awaiting for the first love to come. 

I also find the progression of the story to be charming, because Snadowsky did not sugarcoat the awkward sides of the relationship. She did not make the first time to be amazing and magical, because 8 times out of 10, not every girl enjoys her first time. Snadowsky wrote the awkward scenes with the purpose of having a realistic portrayal of the trials and errors of first love, because frankly, it really starts off as experimentation. 

My only qualms in this book is Dom's character flaw in making Wes to be the center of her world. I disliked that she aimed the most important decisions of her life with Wes always in mind; forgetting what she truly wanted. Also, Dominque's obsession with anatomy is a little too weird. I am more of a physiology kind of girl, but I would never think about the anatomical parts of a man, and label them in my head in the times of intimacy, I guess she did that to comfort herself in the awkwardness of the situation, but it was still too weird for me.

Anatomy of a Boyfriend is a wonderful read, that will have many readers reminiscing the days of their first loves, and have many awaiting theirs! 

Fifty Shades of Grey by E.L. James

Title: Fifty Shades of Grey
Author: E.L. James

Publisher: Vintage (April 3, 2012)
Page Number: 528 pages
Rating: Seal Those Bindings (for the sluts in literature)

Synopsis
When literature student Anastasia Steele is drafted to interview the successful young entrepreneur Christian Grey for her campus magazine, she finds him attractive, enigmatic and intimidating. Convinced their meeting went badly, she tries to put Grey out of her mind - until he happens to turn up at the out-of-town hardware store where she works part-time.

The unworldly, innocent Ana is shocked to realize she wants this man, and when he warns her to keep her distance it only makes her more desperate to get close to him. Unable to resist Ana’s quiet beauty, wit, and independent spirit, Grey admits he wants her - but on his own terms.

Shocked yet thrilled by Grey's singular erotic tastes, Ana hesitates. For all the trappings of success – his multinational businesses, his vast wealth, his loving adoptive family – Grey is a man tormented by demons and consumed by the need to control. When the couple embarks on a passionate, physical and daring affair, Ana learns more about her own dark desires, as well as the Christian Grey hidden away from public scrutiny.

Can their relationship transcend physical passion? Will Ana find it in herself to submit to the self-indulgent Master? And if she does, will she still love what she finds?

Erotic, amusing, and deeply moving, the Fifty Shades Trilogy is a tale that will obsess you, possess you, and stay with you forever


Review

Alright, so I filmed a reaction to this novel, but I didn't fully review it. I find that through reviewing it, I would have to talk about the effectiveness of this novel, which I did not really want to talk about on YouTube. 


There's a difference in being able to hide behind words as opposed to being watched in a video. It's easy to be shameless on a blog post rather than a video, because no one actually sees me.


That being said, I will be more direct in this review, so be warned. 


I did not like this book at the very least. I found it bland, boring, and hilarious (which is not something to be said about erotica). I did not think James succeeded into really opening people's mind into this type of sexual lifestyle, and frankly, it just made BDSM seem funny! 


It was not arousing at the very least. 


The fact that this book is based off Twilight did not really put me off from reading it, it just made me see the similarities clearer. Christian and Anastasia are very much the epitome of Edward and Bella in a non-supernatural world and it made the work seem more unoriginal.   I find that there is no character development whatsoever and that Anastasia's rash and stupid decisions made the book easy to hate. I also think that James wrote down a bunch of seemingly sexy characteristics to match Christian, but because they do not hold much ground, his character had no substance.


I find that there doesn't seem to be much of a plot line and it is  a story that is to be read plainly for the sex. And even then, the sex was not really all that great. I feel like I've read it all before and yes, it is kinky, but that's it. There's nothing else behind it.


Frankly E.L. James is better off sticking to writing fanfiction. And although this book is a bestseller, it's not a brilliant piece of work and it never will be.