Daria Snadowsky’s debut novel, “Anatomy of a Boyfriend”, is an in-depth Young Adult (YA) novel showcasing teen romance, relationships, heartbreak and the stress of applying to college. When asked why she chose to write about teen relationships, Ms. Snadowsky replied, “In the process of sharing your heart and body with someone, you learn so much about yourself, and you're opening yourself up to be hurt in the end. So I wanted to write a story that follows every step of the relationship process, from first crush to first kiss to first love to first sex to first heartbreak and back again.” She also said that she “wanted to demystify what occurs during "hooking up" in an unabashedly honest, thorough, non-threatening and sometimes humorous way.”

This candid novel is about the somewhat reserved Dominique Baylor, a high school senior with big hopes for her future. After a life of being focused on her grades, her future college and what would look good on her applications, Dominique is flung head-first into the world of boys after the attractive, blue-eyed, blonde-haired, eighteen-year-old Wesley Gershwin sweeps her off her feet. Through the next couple of months Dominique finds herself exploring new territories and having new experiences.

Looking at this with the controversy surrounding it’s unflinching prospective on teen relationships and sexual experiences, it could definitely be considered a groundbreaking teen novel. But, if you take away this controversy, you have your average teen book. Don’t get me wrong - the controversy does make this book, perhaps, more intriguing than the other teen books, whose authors would run in fear at the thought of going as far as Ms. Snadowsky was willing to go. But being “shocking” does not necessarily make it a great book. However, seeing as this YA novel was written for, well, YAs, I can see how being so frank and open about teen relationships could be helpful for teens in some of the same situations. The author herself said, “I would have been comforted had I read Dominique's story back when I was a teen because it would have made me feel less alone in my feelings.”

Snadowsky’s novel is well written but, when ignoring the shock-factor, it lacks a totally captivating plot line. The characters are fine but I swear I’ve seen them somewhere before. Though the people in this novel are supposed to be your typical teenagers, I think it would be more interesting if they were slightly less typical. If I were to grade this book, I’d give it a B+.

I also asked the author if she had any pointers for aspiring writers and she advised that they should “take creative writing classes in high school and college. In addition to helping you hone your skills and find your voice, creative writing classes often require you to critique your fellow writers' work as well as receive criticism from your fellow writers. This isn't always a pleasant experience, but it's important to learn how to give and take feedback, even when it's negative, and then to apply it in a positive, constructive way to your future works.”