Review: Anatomy of A Misfit by Andrea Portes

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?

Review: I'd heard a lot of hype about this book, always something that makes me wary, but this book wasn't actually over-hyped, I really enjoyed this novel and it was a fabulously quick read... This book for me was a cross between Mean Girls and Cruel Intentions, both films is loved so it was the perfect chill out at the end of the day. I also love when a book feels a bit like a movie as I'm reading it...

I was pretty surprised with the meanness of the girls in this book...they can be really harsh as crass and so this book definitely isn't for younger readers. The overall message of the novel though is good winning over evil, and people making the right choice and choosing the right thing to do so that's definitely a positive. There's also a strong theme of peer pressure here and also of girls trying to conform to what society deems them to be, this would make for brilliant discussion if you were reading it with someone else or sharing it as a group. 

The setting is rather generic but then I love books set in schools so it sat very well with me! The characters are completely those you would recognise from your own school experience, the popular girls, the independent girl, the tough guy, the geeky guy. They make for the perfect formula for this novel. I didn't always like the protagonist in this case because she made some pretty bad choices but i liked her character development as the novel went on and I enjoyed reading about her!

Overall this was a good read. It was a classic high-school novel and you really know where you are with this one. The hardback edition of this book is just ggorgeousand i love the symbolism of the odd chair out on either cover. If you're looking for a high-school read about the cliques and the social order then this is definitely right for you. If you';re looking for something truly profound and mind-blowing, maybe pick something else up. I enjoyed this book but it didn't stick with me over time and i probably wouldn't be reading this again.