Anatomy of a Boyfriend by Daria Snadowsky

Dominique’s heading to her senior year of high school and she’s never really had a boyfriend before. The complete opposite is true for her best friend Amy, who thinks boys are the best thing around and have gone after her fair share of guys. But it all changes one day when Dominique, quite literally, runs into a cute guy at a game. With the help of Amy and some yearbook pictures, Dominique tracks down her cutie, who happens to be Amy’s fellow track team mate, Wes.

Emailing Wes to apologize for running into him and thanking him for the band-aids he offered, Dominique soon finds herself hanging out with Wes and getting to know him better. Before long, the two get over their shyness and start going out. Things move quickly from there as they find themselves going beyond French kissing. They spend time together doing various things and getting to know each other better. But even as they are getting closer and closer and going farther and farther, they both have to think of college next year. Wes has been accepted into NYU while Dominique decides to go to Tulane because of a large scholarship offer. The two believe that they can still be together, even with the distance between them.

Soon Wes and Dominique go to prom—and go all the way. They spend most of the summer together before they have to head off to college. At first things work out well, but as Wes grows more and more distant and doesn’t contact Dominique as much, Dominique starts to worry. Why is he ignoring her? Doesn’t he still love her? They had sex together (among other things) and were each others’ first, for crying out loud! So why isn’t he emailing her? And why isn’t he willing to see her more often?

Anatomy of a Boyfriend is a very blunt and honest story of a girl and a boy exploring relationships and sexuality for the first time. It gets very graphic and explicit at certain points, so I would only recommend this novel to older readers. But it’s an honest book that shows both the most agonizing and happiest parts of first love.

The paperback edition of this novel will be released on September 23, 2008, so don't forget to pick up a copy at your local bookstore!

(I think this has to be the first YA book I’ve read with a character that shares my first name, which is pretty cool!)

p.s. sorry about the font issues...I can't seem to fix it!