Review: Anatomy of a Misfit by Andrea Portes

Title: Anatomy of a Misfit
Author: Andrea Portes
Publisher: Harper Collins
Publishing Date: September 2nd 2014
Pages: 336
Genre: YA Realistic Fiction
Series: Stand Alone
Source: Audio

  

Fall’s buzzed-about, in-house favorite.
Outside, Anika Dragomir is all lip gloss and blond hair—the third most popular girl in school. Inside, she’s a freak: a mix of dark thoughts, diabolical plots, and, if local chatter is to be believed, vampire DNA (after all, her father is Romanian). But she keeps it under wraps to maintain her social position. One step out of line and Becky Vilhauer, first most popular girl in school, will make her life hell. So when former loner Logan McDonough shows up one September hotter, smarter, and more mysterious than ever, Anika knows she can’t get involved. It would be insane to throw away her social safety for a nerd. So what if that nerd is now a black-leather-jacket-wearing dreamboat, and his loner status is clearly the result of his troubled home life? Who cares if the right girl could help him with all that, maybe even save him from it? Who needs him when Jared Kline, the bad boy every girl dreams of, is asking her on dates? Who?
Anatomy of a Misfit is Mean Girls meets The Perks of Being a Wallflower, and Anika’s hilariously deadpan delivery will appeal to readers for its honesty and depth. The so-sad-it’s-funny high school setting will pull readers in, but when the story’s dark foreboding gradually takes over, the devastating penultimate tragedy hits like a punch to the gut. Readers will ride the highs and lows alongside funny, flawed Anika — from laughter to tears, and everything in between.

I was really looking forward to this one. The summary really intrigued me. The cover an the title are so very cute and inviting. For me that is where the lovely ended. I really really wanted to like this one but I had to many issues with the story. The writing was pretty good and the characters weren't bad but I just couldn't get past some pretty heavy stuff in my book to enjoy the read. I struggled had with my rating and I decided to give it what I did because there were a few things I liked and a few giggles here and there but I couldn't give it higher because of the things I didn't like I really really didn't like. I will explain.. 

Anika (cool name I love it) has had a bit of interesting life. She is struggling a bit with who she is and who she wants to be. She is a follower of a mean girl because she is 3rd most popular and doesn't want to lose her ranking. Sophomore year and everything changes for her. The nerd from freshman year is back and he isn't so much a nerd anymore, he's changed, cooler clothes, better style, cuter, refined, but his status doesn't change, he is still known as a loser. Anika likes him but has to see him in secret. Then things get really difficult when the popular everyone wants to be with guy asks her out. Things get all mucked up and just go downhill from there. 

So I will start with what I liked. I liked the characters for the most part, they had their issues. I felt they were pretty dumb but also funny and lively. Anika was very witty and snarky and I liked her. I also liked her best friend. She seemed pretty nice but was really confused on many things. She sure wasn't that bright. Logan and Jared were okay. Both had issues to make them a bad guy more than once. Hated Becky, but I think that was the point. When all is said and done lots of cliche characters but with unique voices. 

The other thing I really liked was the way the author let the reader know from the very beginning there was going to be a very substantial climax. Every few chapters we went back to Anika pedaling fast to something she thought she would be late for. Pedaling fast, it was intense and it was just known something serious was coming. Just didn't know what until the very end. That was pretty cool.

The story I think was off to a good start. I liked the writing style and I liked the pacing. I liked what the story was about, what was being said... What I didn't like was the bashing, the strong opinions towards political views and that everyone was over the top messed up. There wasn't any good in the book. I need good to outweigh the bad. Let me explain all these points. 

There are some things that fit well in stories and may exercise the opinion of the author. I am fine with that but when I feel that it is hatred towards those who have different opinions or opinions of beliefs whether it be religious, lifestyle, or political, are so overbearing that its all I notice, I can't handle that. Everyone has their opinions and beliefs and I don't have to agree with them to enjoy the story, this book however was a bit too overbearing and made it hard for me to understand the story. I am not going to go into what the bashing and strong opinions were about because that is not where I am going. I just felt it was too much.

My other main issue is the bad. Everyone is messed up.... Not just a little messed up but way messed up. Nothing good about them. Anika is the best out of the entire group and she thinks she is spider soup on the inside she doesn't think there is any good in her. Well that is because everyone you know is screwed up. Again not going into too much detail but it was enough to say really can't we have one family or one teen that has it together. Not everyone in this world is screwed up. 

On a minor note. Not sure why this is classified and talked about as a humorous book.There were some funny parts and I didn't mind that it wasn't a comedy. By the description I thought I was going into a light quirky humorous read and it was very dark read. Very deep and tough to get through. 

It was just too much in my face about things I didn't need in my face. It outweighed my enjoyment of the story. I think some will like it but it wasn't quite what I was looking for. 

Website- http://andreaportes.wordpress.com/about/