3 out of 5 stars.

Anatomy of a Single Girl by Daria Snadowsky is comparable to Judy Blume’s Forever, and explores areas most authors dare not tread. Admittedly, I wanted to strangle the main character during most of the story (she was aggravatingly dependent on having a relationship at first, and then just made questionable decisions). Overall, Dominique Baylor’s story is interesting, and the story had my attention shortly after it started.

Dominique is 18 years old, fresh out of her first year at Tulane, and is planning to spend eight weeks at home over summer vacation. But it’s clear that family problems don’t really factor in. Dom is concerned about her lack of feelings for her friend Calvin, and is desperately hoping that over the summer she may develop them. She’s still struggling to get over the breakup with her first boyfriend (detailed in Snadowsky’s first book, Anatomy of a Boyfriend).

But shortly after she gets home, Dom meets Guy (who jokes about his parents being too lazy to find him a proper name) and the two immediately are interested in each other. After a late night conversation in a hospital cafeteria, the two plan to go out on a date, and the rest is history.

Or… not.

Snadowsky investigates the relationship after the spark is only a distant memory. On their third date, Dom and Guy have a somewhat crazy fight, and they go a short time before talking again. I, personally, found it absolutely insane that they would be arguing about marriage and kids after the third date – which is when I first wanted to strangle Dom; who does that?

Dom is clear about her feelings from the beginning, which is admirable, but she is far from perfect, as everyone is.

After a series of misadventures, drama, and family anxiety, Dom heads back to Tulane.

This story certainly had an unconventional ending, but it served its purpose, and, frankly, softened my feelings that Dom needed to grow up. She did, in the end. She is, after all, only human, and an eighteen year old at that. The redeeming factor about her was that she learned from her mistakes so she wouldn’t repeat them in the future.