Daria Snadowsky’s companion to her first novel, “Anatomy of a Boyfriend,” is the appropriately titled “Anatomy of a Single Girl.” It is a melodramatic book that deals with insecurities, heartbreak, and sex.
Eighteen-year-old Dominique (Dom for short), is about to start her summer back home in Florida. Back in high school, she suffered through a horrible breakup with a boy named Wes, her first love, and now all she wants to do is forget about boys and move on with her life. After finishing up her first year at college, Dom is looking forward to fishing with her family, spending time with her best friend, Amy, brat sitting children for some money, and focusing on her volunteer job at the hospital. Of course, her realistic goal of being single for the rest of her summer gets put off when Dom meets an attractive guy named Guy. Creative, huh?
When a spark between these two begin, Dom forgets everything about staying away from boys. She hopes to recover her broken heart from Wes by recreating the affection of love she once had. That includes the typical girl demands of feeling treated right and dated properly; however, Guy isn’t interested in a girlfriend. He doesn’t see the point of starting a relationship if it’s only going to last for the summer. Take out love and take out the relationship, Dom and Guy end up being friends with benefits. This is different than what Dom is used to, but soon enough, she’s on board. Being broken-hearted wouldn’t be a possibility if Guy and Dom are never boyfriend and girlfriend. This novel carries out through Dom’s point of view as it did in the first novel.
The only positive review I could say about this terrible novel was that it was fast paced and short so I was able to finish it in a couple of days, but besides that, I couldn’t wait to get rid of this book. Just looking at the cover in the beginning, I had a feeling that the novel was going to suck. Besides Pretty Little Liars by Sara Shepard, I hate dolls as front covers for any novel. I expected the novel to have some romance in it but I was wrong. I felt as if I was reading a teen version of “50 Shades of Gray” by E.L. James. Page after page, I dreaded reading. There’s no actual conflict or goal that the main character needed to accomplish, except maybe to get over her ex-boyfriend, but that’s about it.
I don’t mind level of a novel has sex in it, but to give this detail is disturbing and unnecessary. My brain has been partially scarred by the effects of how descriptive the author was. I didn’t feel any connection with the characters or feel as if I could relate to them in anyway because they were unrealistic and fake. I also wouldn’t consider this a romance novel because there was no romance in it. To explain this novel in one sentence: it’s about a teenager who got to experience what it would be like to be friends with benefit with a boy she just met over the summer. Do yourself a favor and skip it.