That's when Dom meets Westley "Wes" Gershwin, a fellow senior and introverted track star with a love of literature. While their first meeting is a bit awkward, they manage to develop a close bond, first through instant messenger and then face to face. Some weeks later, Dom realizes that she truly loves Wes and fantasizes about being in a relationship with him, both emotional and physical. It takes a bit of time, but Dom gets what she wants when Wes admits one night that he wants to kiss her.
Unfortunately, Dom and Wes' relationship deepens just as their final year of high school comes to a close. The question of where each of them will go to college rears its head, as does how their romantic relationship will pan out if they go to different schools. Only time will tell if Dom will be able to stay with Wes or if college will break them apart.
Anatomy of a Boyfriend is 2007 young adult romance novel by Daria Snadowsky. It's notable for being a fairly realistic portrayal of what falling in love as a teenager for the first time can be like, as well as its down-to-earth depictions of sex.
A sequel titled Anatomy of a Single Girl was published in 2013. Single Girl follows Dom as she navigates being a college student and all the new experiences that that entails.
This duology includes examples of:
- Hormone-Addled Teenager: Amy isn't shy about how much she loves fooling around with guys (up to a certain point), preferring a physical relationship over a sexual one, at least until she enters college.
- Idealized Sex: Averted. The sex scenes between Dom and Wes are fairly realistic, not shying away from the painful, gross, or boring parts of sexual exploration; Dom describes her arms and shoulders being sore during her first time administering a hand job on Wes, their sweaty bodies end up making fart-like sounds when they rub together during one of their intense make out sessions, etc.
- Shout-Out: Dom's favorite movie is The Princess Bride. After she first meets Westley and discusses him with Amy, it's remarked that his name is one letter away from the film's heartthrob hero, Wesley. However, because of this similarity, she ends up throwing out her copy of the film after she and Wes break up.
- Smitten Teenage Girl: Some weeks after meeting Wes, Dom realizes that she's head over heels for him, unable to do much aside from think about him and their next meeting. This goes for Wes too: early in the relationship, after having spent some time apart, Wes admits when they meet up again that he missed her so much that he puked earlier that day.
- Their First Time: Dom and Wes had never been in any kind of romantic relationship with anyone else before they met each other, as a result of which they both experience sex for the first time together during prom night. It goes about as well as you'd expect it to: Wes' eagerness ends up causing Dom a lot of pain when he enters her too fast. Wes quickly withdraws, and Dom is both annoyed and mildly amused that their shared loss of virginity wasn't that great.
