REVIEW: ANATOMY OF A MISFIT BY ANDREA PORTES.

Title: Anatomy of a Misfit
Author: Andrea Portes
Series: Standalone
Edition: Hardcover
Publication: September 2nd 2014 by Harper Children’s
Source: Bought from National Bookstore
Pages: 336
Genre: Young adult, Realistic Fiction, Romance

Synopsis:
This emotional, hilarious, devastating, and ultimately triumphant YA debut, based on actual events, recounts one girl’s rejection of her high school’s hierarchy—and her discovery of her true self in the face of tragedy.

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.

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It took me a while to get a hold of this copy because as usual, I kept stalling. I wasn't able to read it before the book signing which was a bummer because I liked this one so much. But I am happy I got my copy signed.

The story at first you'd feel 'normal' but this novel touched base with various important topics like bullying, racism, suicide, religion and rape culture. These were tackled subtely and I appreciated how Anika handled them. It was as if she's brushing them off but in reality, she's grossed out as anyone else. I am so glad Anika was written in such a way her character displayed logic and rationality I haven't encountered much from most YA protags. She's young but she thinks differently, like, she looks at the effects of things to people. She's going to be a kick-ass psychologist if she wanted to. Her perception of Logan and Jared is so on point that seriously, she's brilliant.

Anika's journey wasn't easy for a teen but the way she handled it shows courage and compassion. Yes, the world she moves in is shitty but then it felt like she had it all figured out because she is that brilliant of a person. Getting out of shitty situations comes easy to her and I totally enjoyed her quirky personality. She's a little rebellious and most people go through this phase and I just find it so easy to connect to her. And her decision-making ability is remarkable.

What happened to Logan wasn't something I predicted and that just tore my throat down to my small intestines! I mean, OMG how can it happen to him and goddammit it was so brutal! I just cannot absorb it. I cannot.

Anatomy of a Misfit is a bold and hilarious novel I would surely reread. Highly recommended for those readers who are into another level of contemporary. This book is so good you won't be able to do anything else but read it.

"You get one chance.

You get to do this and that and you don't even know when it goes from swirling forward and around and around in circles to just a plain cold stop and nothing more. Can you believe it? All this time I've spent weighing this and weighing that, worrying about this and worrying about that, living back then and living forward, caring about so-and-so, too, but never living here, here, this moment here. Never even acknowledging that this moment even exists, and it hits me like a live volt through the chest.
This moment here.
This is all you get.
Before you are part of the sky."

"You look cute in your little uniform." [Jared]
Did he read my mind or something?
"Yeah? You don't think I look like an Easter egg?"
"No. I think you look like I should be asking you to marry me."
CRASH!"

"Ceaseless.
Almost too much for this small frame.
You make me part of the sky."