Bruised continued my love of Boteju's books from Kings, Queens, and In-Betweens. It's a book about discovering roller derby, new communities, and pieces of ourselves. Daya is still reeling from the grief of losing her parents. As readers we get to know them through memories and snippets. The ways her dad pushed her to box and to be tough. All the times she didn't understand her mother and her silences. Overall, I think the characters are my favorite element in Bruised.

Daya is used to being strong, to knowing that when we're strong we won't break. That we can bruise, but it will never break us. She believes that shouldering through the pain is the only way to persevere. Believing that weakness is a source only of vulnerability and pain, Daya must learn that we don't have to take every bruise. There's a well of pain, guilt, and sadness within her. And it can't always be solved with fists and anger.

After surviving an accident that takes away her parents, Daya's life is turned upside down. Every day seems to be a nightmare and living with her aunt and uncle doesn't make things better. To help herself cope with loss, she gives herself bruises to fight against the internal pain.

Daya keeps to herself and the only time she socializes is at the skatepark. After seeing a roller derby bout in action, she decides to try it because it looks like a good way to numb her pain. The only problem is that she's never played in a team before, so this will be a whole new experience for her.

I loved all the characters and how real they felt. Her aunt and uncle were so fun to read about and very unique in personality. They were always trying their best to make Daya feel welcomed at home which I found very touching.

I also liked how the story was focused on roller derby, something that I don't see often in books. I found it really interesting to read about and it was pretty easy to understand.

Overall, Bruised is a great book that focuses on family, forgiveness, hurt, and love. Following Daya's journey, I loved seeing how she developed as a character. Fans of the graphic novel, Roller Girl, would also enjoy it very much.

I found this book a tough read. Shanti, mourning the death of her parents in a car crash she survived, relishes the bruises she gets from skateboarding as a way to ease her emotional pain. When that doesn't bring her satisfaction, she turns to the "action" of being on a roller derby team. The self-abuse is traumatizing to read about.

Ever since a car accident killed her parents while she was in the car, she finds comfort in bruises and physical pain that she can control. I liked Data’s best friend and their girlfriend, but I disliked that Daya seemed to just ignore them for part of the book while she learned derby. I think it was just the character Daya deciding not to reach out, but it definitely felt possible that the author just forgot to talk about them for a bit.

Overall, enjoyable characters, with some character inconsistencies that pop up throughout. Detailed information about roller derby is shared without detailing the story. This story left me rooting for Daya.

I really enjoyed this book. As a South Asian reviewer, I love seeing books that do not fall into stereotypes about what South Asian women should do. This book challenged stereotypes. I also liked how the book openly discussed the main character going to therapy. The main character, Daya, felt like she needed to be tough all the time. I don't think this theme is explored enough in young adult literature, and I really liked seeing it in this book.

Daya survives an accident that took her parents, and doesn't allow anyone to help her deal. She withdraws and chases pain to distract her from her feelings. A pal introduces her to derby and at first she sees it as an opportunity to deal and receive pain, but as it turns out, it's just the sort of thing that she needed to slowly come back. The author takes it slow, letting the reader really experience those subtle changes as different people and circumstances start to break into her armor, and Daya starts to discover her own self in all new ways.

Tanya Boteju's debut Kings, Queens, and In-Betweens is a standout novel of a teen discovering her identity and a new community. I loved it so much and relentlessly recommended it to students as well as other educators. Of course, I couldn't wait to read Bruised. However, something doesn't quite work here. The immersion into roller derby is fantastic; that world is rich and wonderful. Daya's storyline dealing with her grief, which means processing strong/soft as her father taught her, and her self-harm lack depth and nuance. The self-harm aspect of this novel is what will prevent me from using it in class or recommending it to students. Not because they don't need stories about this topic--they very much do--but the lack of naming Daya's self-bruising as self-harm until the end and how she pursues roller derby because she wants to bruise herself seems more likely to trigger than to help someone see how they are hurting themselves.

Loved this immersive dive into the world of roller derby! An excellent first purchase for public YA and high school fiction collections.