Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for providing me with a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

A heartwarming queer coming-of-age story, Skater Boy is a tribute to queer kids who don’t fit in. Not feeling at ease with the queer stereotype or pretending to be straight, Wes has a hard time being comfortable being himself. Meeting Tristan helps him to come to terms with other sides of himself. I felt like the friendships and family relationships were nuanced and realistic. I think it’s important to show different sides of queer culture, and I hope someone who feels like they don't fit in reads this book and sees themself in the characters.

While I very much enjoy a good personal growth story (which this book absolutely has), I love even more when the characters are not so smooth and perfect, but have their flaws and our angsty little angerball Wes certainly has them.

Wes is an amazing character. He's so angry and lost and confused and at the same time so pure and willing to improve and to find himself that my own teenage self almost paled in comparison.

People are flawed. Teenagers are flawed. Angsty little punks are definitely flawed. And that is the main reason why Skater Boy was such a relatable read for me.

I really enjoyed this one. The growth Wes showed was great. Breaking out of an identity he set for himself. The romance was cute, but im glad the story was so much beyond that.

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for the free review copy! I adored this voice driven, fun and well crafted queer debut YA!

DNF. i really wanted to love this one. it was one of my most anticipated releases of 2024. unfortunately, the characters did not do it for me. they felt bland, making the rest of the story tasteless. still, i could see why other readers would be able to enjoy this book.

I, unfortunately, never realised that I'd actually gotten approved for this ARC and therefore didn't download the e-pub and it was archived some time ago. I have high hopes for this book though and am excited to get a physical copy so am rating it high.

2.5 stars. Some great concepts here, but the execution is lackluster. Definitely reads like a debut; I was occasionally confused by dialogue or character choices that didn't seem to make sense. The author's voice came through a little too strongly to delivery his intended messages, rather than letting the story and characters do the work. Wes's characterization didn't always feel convincing to me—at times he seemed unrealistically self-aware, but at others he was incredibly dense. It was hard to buy that he was really as bad as his reputation, or if so why. His fellow bad-boy friends turned around too quickly in the end, and the ease with which the kids he used to bully forgave him felt like a cop-out. I also didn't really like Tristan much, so the romance fell flat. Overall, this was just OK for me, but I ended up really enjoying the Prediction Bingo I made to fulfill my Magical Readathon prompt.

TW: past domestic abuse, description of past road rage vehicle crash, bullying, homophobia, mention of racism, fistfight, description of injuries, alcoholism, mention of child disownment, sexual assault (nonconsensual kiss), panic attack, anger management issues

I like how this book takes its time introducing the main character. I didn't feel rushed getting to know Wes, his friends, his life, and everything else going on about them. It made me care a lot. I enjoyed the realism and the representation too. There are times, though, when I find the story dragging, when conversations between the characters go on and on and not much is happening.

This follows a teen we wouldn't normally follow in a queer YA book, and I loved seeing the golden heart behind this Bad Boy and hearing from his perspective. The best part was the allusions to the song lyrics/titles for the chapter titles, which I am obsessed with.

I forgot to leave a review for this, but I really enjoyed it! It's been out for ages, so I won't say much more than I need to for my star rating. <3

A YA book focusing on skating would have been something I would have loved as a teen. And least face it coming of age stories are still popular with teens today.

i absolutely adored this.

wesley is a mess in the best way possible. he's the the complete antithesis of the perfect cinnamon roll and i loved that the most about him. he's rough, mean, and really lost as a person and it makes this book and his journey all the more authentic.

the book is filled with big emotions and character revelations. wes is constantly making things worse for himself and you just want to shake some sense into him, but isn't that what being seventeen is all about?

there's rich and layered friendship dynamics, a romance that challenges each person to find different aspects of themselves, and a sense of a loving family (even in all the drama) that leaves you feeling hopeful.

you'll grow up with wes as you read this. love.

this one is for all the queer punks especially 🫶🏼 so heartfelt and beautiful and will absolutely make you cry

I had the best time reading Skater Boy. It's a story about being more than the labels and check boxes of what who people think we are. There is so much going on behind these eyes. We can become compartmentalized, we can think of ourselves as just one thing, one identity, one label. But there's so much more to us than that. I loved every character in Skater Boy. Wes immediately endears him to us. His relationship with his mother. The ways he has these vulnerabilities and insecurities hidden beneath the surface.

*An audio ARC was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review*

If you're not already singing the Avril Lavigne song, this is not the book for you (just kidding, just kidding).

However, if you are already singing the song, you will love the blatant references and homage to 2000s pop punk and grunge culture. This is a wonderfully routine YA contemporary about all the usual bits- identity, family, friends, and hating your small town. I listened to the audiobook- narrated by the YA legend Michael Crouch- in under 2 days between work assignments and loved every minute of it.

The perfect contemporary for YA devotees who never got over pop punk.

What a fantastic debut novel ‘Skater Boy’ was! Anthony Nerada took a beloved song we all know and love (Sk8er Boi) and turned it into a heartfelt, queer love story that deals with many important issues. The character growth Wes goes through was phenomenally crafted and felt so real, which unfortunately for some is the reality. But, we are also presented a yearning between Wes and Tristan that continued to build to a grand finale.

With a debut like this, it makes me so excited to read more from Nerada!

Important things you need to know about the book:

Pace: Medium and stays medium throughout the book.

POV: 1st person (told from Wes’s POV)

Trigger Warnings: There are scenes of alcoholism (off and on page), alcohol (consumption/off and on page), bullying (graphic and on page), drug use (marijuana only/on page), panic attacks/disorders (on page), violence (on and off page), car accident (on page), domestic abuse (off page for actual assaults but on page with the aftermath—bruises, etc), homophobia (on page), injury/injury detail (on page), child abuse (off page/remembered through memories), and racism (on page). If any of these triggers you, I suggest not reading the book.

Language: Graphic swearing is used in Skater Boy. There is also language used that could be offensive to some people.

Setting: Skater Boy is mainly set in Valentine, Ohio. Towards the end of the book, a chapter is set in New York City. Wes also remembers living in Louisiana.

Plot Synopsis (as spoiler-free as I can get):

Wes “Big Mac” Mackenzie is known for his anger, petty crimes, bullying, and rowdy friends. What people don’t understand about him is that he loves photography and musicals-and he is gay. On top of that, Wes is in danger of failing out of school. The day he receives that information, his mother makes him go to a local production of The Nutcracker with her obnoxious boyfriend and his daughter. He was expecting to be bored out of his mind, and he was until he got a look at who was playing the Nutcracker: Tristan Monroe. Tristian is everything Wes isn’t, including being comfortable in his skin.

As Wes meets and spends more time with Tristian, he starts falling head over heels for him. Wes begins to see a future that isn’t as grim as the school’s counselors and teachers have made it out to be. But when Wes’s friends find out that he is seeing Tristan, it sets off a chain of events that could ruin not only Wes and Tristian’s relationship but also Wes’s future. It is up to Wes to set everyone and everything straight. And if that means coming out, then he’ll do it. Can Wes make things right? Will he get his happily ever after? Or will everything crash and burn?

Characters:

The main character in Skater Boy is Wes. I will be brutally honest about him—Wes was not likable for more than half the book. But he was a sympathetic character. He had gone through a lot as a child, and that shaped him into the angry, violent teenager portrayed in the book. But, as the author peeled back Wes’s layers (surprisingly, there were many), a different person was revealed. This person was artistic, sweet, a little (who am I kidding, a lot) insecure, unsure, and an anxiety-ridden mess. I loved Wes and liked that the more he hung out with Tristian, the more that side of him came out.

I do want to talk about Tristian. While he technically wasn’t a main character (the book was more focused on Wes), he was a considerable part of Wes’s life and the driving force behind Wes doing certain things. I wasn’t a fan of his to begin with (the whole talking about Wes behind his back was crappy), but that didn’t last long. I could see his feelings for Wes growing and understood his impatience with Wes (who was in the closet) to go public with their relationship.

Other secondary characters in this book are fascinating and have backstories that pique my interest. The author was able to incorporate those backstories into Wes’s story without taking Wes’s story over (if that makes sense). The author also used them to show how much Wes grew during this book.

My review:

The main storyline of Skater Boy centers around Wes, his relationship with Tristian, his growth throughout the book, and how his past trauma shaped him into the person he was. It was an emotional read for me. There were times when I wanted to hug Wes and tell him it was OK. But mostly, I was a captivated bystander to Wes’s ups and downs and his character growth.

As I mentioned above, I enjoyed seeing Wes’s character growth. At the beginning of the book, Wes is miserable. He had this facade of a bad boy to maintain. That included doing petty crimes, ditching school, bullying people, and just being a jerk. Add in his massive panic attacks (as someone who suffers from those, I sympathized with him) and the fact that he was gay and hiding it, and I could understand why he was stressed all the time. By the middle of the book, a different Wes emerges after he starts seeing Tristian. I wished this Wes showed up more initially, but I understood why the author let this Wes gradually out.

Wes and Tristian’s relationship is interesting and cute. I say interesting because I didn’t think Tristian liked Wes (only tolerated him). It wasn’t until Wes started shooting Tristian’s headshot and other pictures (for his portfolio) that I think Tristian started to like Wes. However, their relationship is very rocky throughout the book. Wes was very closeted, and it did affect their relationship. The whole bridge scene made me mad. No one deserves to be treated like that, and Tristian had every right to be upset with Wes.

Interwoven with the main storyline are numerous secondary storylines. Each storyline added extra depth and understanding to Wes’s character. Some of them explained why he wanted to keep Tristian a secret. Others explained why he bullied people (and it wasn’t as black and white as the author made it to be). And still, other storylines explained his past.

The end of Skater Boy was interesting and sweet. Once Wes did something, he committed wholeheartedly to it. I was surprised at the music Tristian chose to dance to. Also, his reaction to Wes outside the audition was one of the sweetest ones I have ever read. And the last chapter warmed my heart!!

Many thanks to Soho Press, Soho Teens, NetGalley, and Anthony Nerada for allowing me to read and review this ARC of Skater Boy. All opinions stated in this review are mine.

Overall I really loved Wes as a main character! I like how he admits to adapting to the role of a punk just because others saw him that way, and trying to break those barriers now. Overall, it was a really good story!

I saw one of the author's reels on Instagram and I was curious to know what this story was about. When I read the synopsis, I knew I had to read it. It was an emotional, mental, spiritual need, and everything in between. And boy did it live up to expectations. It is a light but solid, strong, and emotionally intense narrative. It left me speechless!

Full review to be published on February 12: https://tintanocturna.blogspot.com/2024/02/resena-review-skater-boy.html

Trigger warnings for Skater Boy include: explicit language, bullying, alcoholism, underage drinking, racism, past domestic abuse and childhood trauma.
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I'm not sure what to tell you about this book to be honest. And that seems to be a recurring theme at the moment. I did enjoy it so that's not the problem, I just don't know how to adequately put my thoughts about it into words to explain that.
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This book follows Wesley MacKenzie, otherwise known as Big Mac. He's a punk, and always in trouble for one thing or another. And he's gay.
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This tells the story of Big Mac and his friends. It goes into the idea of first impressions, and how image and assumptions can cause big problems for people. People see Wes and his punk image, and assume that he's going to cause trouble. And that isn't always the case. Sometimes he just needs someone to believe in the good inside him.
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There's more to this book than that, but I don't want to give any spoilers.
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Thank you to NetGalley for sending me an ARC copy of this book.