Title: The Anatomy of a Single Girl

Author: Daria Snadowsky

My rating: 7/10

The Anatomy of a Single Girl revolves around a teenager referred to as Dom, whose a sophomore in college currently enrolled in pre med. She recently had a bad breakup with her first love after graduating high school. The story takes place during summer vacation where she stays with her parents. Throughout her short months of humid southern heat, Dom meets a summer fling, Guy (original I know), but unexpectedly doesn’t fall in love with him. They go through some ups and downs, but it finally ends with her returning back to college.

My initial reaction after closing the covers of the book was, “eh”. I finished the book over a week, but I probably could have finished it in a day, completing most of the content late at night, knocking out 150 pages. I have to admit some of the scenes are pretty racy and the last half of the book has some juicy content. But the reason for my mediocre rating is for three reasons: predictability, corny-ness, and plot-yness.

In many cases the ending scenes are the best paragraphs of the novel, this is not the case. The ending felt like a fifth grade essay, a boring wrap up summary thesis statement. Honestly, I skimmed the last few pages because it didn’t have me hooked like some other parts of the book. I wish the ending had more of a revelation, or just that extra something. Also the ending scenes were so predictable I rolled my eyes. After the first chapter, anyone could guess what would happen at the end.

Throughout the novel, I had some LOL moments, but not because of humor but because of ridiculousness. My favorite corny line is “…reveling in a steaming hot shower. Standing there, I try relaxing my jitters by pretending I’m under a tropical water fall…with Guy” (37). This had me rolling my eyes and chuckling (a lot of eye rolling through the book). Also, there were some grammatical issues that I couldn’t ignore, including the sacrilegious “that that” clause.

My final and most obvious negative comment about the novel would be how plot driven it is. This is not a challenging read at all, and could be finished during a weekend. But because of the absence of symbol, theme and mood, I felt like the book was missing that extra aspect that could have elevated it to the next level.

My recommendation: If you are a fan of teenage fiction which is packed full of summer flings and useless drama, then this is your book. Preferably age 16 or older, considering the Fifty-Shades-esk detailed scenes throughout the novel.