The Anatomy of a Misfit By Andrea Portes

SUMMARY :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:... (more)


My favorite quote: “I mean if there was any justice in the world you wouldn't even have to go to school during your period. You'd just stay home for five days and eat chocolate and cry.”
― Andrea Portes, Anatomy of a Misfit



My Review: This book and I have a love-hate relationship. This book was nice and all, but the characters and the plot were just a little hard to relate to. The characters were more than a bit vile sometimes. I do think some teens will really relate to and like Anika (the main character). I think she was very negative and sort of a snob in her own way. She may have had a rough life ( lots of us do ), but that made a shell on her that made me just not really care for her character enough to want things to be better for her. She did grow on me, but some of her decisions made me want to smack the living daylight out of her.

 The descriptions of people were hard to relate to. I don't think there was a positive description, except maybe Anika's mother. And some of  the things that was said/written in this book was really offensive. The whole town seems to have something against all black people, foreigners, and anyone with a religion. Until the very end, it was all first world problems and angst.

I am a little mad at myself, because despite everything wrong with the book I still sort of enjoyed the book. I only find myself wishing that the beginning was as good as the last 30-40 pages of the book.

The Naturals By Jennifer Lynn Barnes

Summary: Seventeen-year-old Cassie is a natural at reading people. Piecing together the tiniest details, she can tell you who you are and what you want. But it’s not a skill that she’s ever taken seriously. That is, until the FBI come knocking: they’ve begun a classified program that uses exceptional teenagers to crack infamous cold cases, and they need Cassie.

What Cassie doesn’t r...(more)


My favorite quote: “You feel stupid. Doesn't mean you are.”
― Jennifer Lynn Barnes, The Naturals


My review: This book was neither here nor there for me.  It was an emotional roller coaster. All you have to do to get the book in a nutshell is imagine Criminal Minds for young adults. The Naturals are a crack team of teenagers with special abilities who are being trained by the FBI to solve cold cases. Each of these teens has some kind of talent in reading crime scenes: the ability to profile, analyse, or use the powers of deception. The reader gets a glimpse inside the killer's demented mind and it is rather creepy. I would have been creeped out just writing this book. I heard that this book might be turned into a TV series. I can really see that. It has all the elements that a good TV series needs: suspense, action, and lots of young people.
Some parts of the book were totally boring and cliche. The love triangle was a little (okay maybe a lot) unnecessary. I think I would have liked the book more if the author (the lovely Ms. Jennifer Barnes) did not try to carry out that somewhat stupid love triangle.
 Cassie (the main character) was a little annoying and frustrating (and a bit flat in character around the middle part), but I still liked her...well sort of.  I didn't really feel connected to Cassie, she seems strong and brave but you aren't really invested in her till the end.
The story idea is really cool I think. Teens working for the FBI! I know it's not very likely, but I really enjoyed this set up and the overall story. Cassie gets training, gets secretly involved in a real case and gets herself in danger. Pure entertainment from start to finish. Overall, it was a nice and entertaining read. I give it a 3.7 out of 5