Brace for Impact focuses one of the most exciting and scary times in a budding academic's life.

After finishing her undergrad degree, she moved to a new city with her partner to complete a graduate program. This journey is difficult for just about anyone in a similar situation, but Montesanti shares details of her life that are absolutely heartbreaking. These details are hers to share, but I will give a trigger warning that this will be a difficult read for anyone sensitive to conversations around eating disorders, body image, or a fraught family dynamic.

In this chapter of her life, Montesanti is struggling to figure out how to navigate her relationship with her mother. The two are polar opposites in many ways, and despite her mother's rejection, Montesanti yearns to rebuild their relationship and find a new equilibrium between them.

The main focus of the novel -- and where Montesanti's voice really shines -- is her budding romance with the brash, accepting, courageous sport of roller derby. She cautiously tiptoes into this world looking for a replacement for her childhood focus on swimming and a place to channel her energy and emotions during her rigorous graduate program in a brand new city. Almost immediately, Montesanti finds this and more: she finds community.

The way Montesanti weaves her experiences as a new roller derby hopeful with her residual childhood trauma as a means of shaping her new life is absolutely wonderful. I found myself absolutely enthralled in her story. I found myself rooting for her. I found myself feeling like I knew her. Despite this rather heavy content, Brace for Impact remains a very fun read.

Now, the question remains as to whether I'll lace up a pair of roller skates...


Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for an ARC of this text.

I was drawn right into this memoir,.The world of roller derby is one I really knew nothing about but found interesting.A society that was a world onto itself.The author shares her participation in this unique sport.The people who play their interactions and the people around them are a very interesting fringe community.#netgalley #randomhouse

Gabe's story is about her induction and assimilation into the world of roller derby. But it is also about her coming to terms with her sexuality, her relationship with her girlfriend and her family, and her bulimia. She moves to St. Louis and finds the community she feels right in, and who embrace her, in the world of roller derby. But when she suffers a devastating accident and is immobile for months, she faces the family who has never accepted her and the eating disorder that has plagued her.

She wonders if the friends she met through the derby are only there when she is able to be an active participant; she wonders if she can reconcile her troubled relationship with her mother. All of this comes to a head during the latter portion of the book.

Roller derby and queer people? I am IN. Based on the description of BRACE FOR IMPACT, I could not wait to read it and was thrilled when I received the approval. Gabe Montesanti paints a very vivid picture of the roller derby world and the people in it. I also appreciated the sly mentioned of the movie "Whip It" and how the rules have changed. These mentions fit the tone of BRACE FOR IMPACT while also educating this reader that I couldn't make assumptions about roller derby based on a movie I had scene.

Montesanti tackles thorny, painful subjects, especially those around body image/shaming, homophobia, and abuse. Combining these issues with a vibrant, scene-stealing culture like the skaters she met is a tough combination. Unfortunately, it fell short. The storytelling and writing ability is definitely there. Montesanti can really bring a reader into a scene. The book's structure is what failed her. The interweaving of parental memories with the new(er) roller derby events dulled story momentum and made it difficult to keep track of any timeline. One of the most forced examples is when Montesanti is borrowing a dress and sees the person's pet fish, which then triggers a memory about pet fish and her mother. Even if this is how the memory was triggered, on the page it felt forced and manufactured.

Overall, the book's lack of a narrative question (or questions) hurt it the most. I didn't know why I was reading this story: What had the author learned from these experiences? Why was she sharing this story? What was she trying to figure out/solve by writing this and how was I, as a reader, being brought on the journey? This read more as I was supposed to find it interesting because of the combo of a queer person overcoming homophobia and finding family through roller derby. That is interesting, but why Montesanti's story and why now?

This book had me gripped right from the start. It’s an interesting introduction to the derby fringe community, which I had absolutely no prior knowledge of, but found so fascinating. The author is a wonderful narrator, sharing her vulnerabilities and the coming of age confrontations between her mother’s control and her emerging identity.

This is a brutal book - physically and emotionally - and it’s done very well. The author, Gabe Montesanti, has written a memoir about an important time in her life. A member of the LGBTQ community, at the time the book takes place, Gabe and her partner, Kelly, have recently moved to St. Louis, where Gabe is starting a master’s program in writing at Washington University (my alma mater).

Growing up, Gabe felt she never fit in anywhere. - not in school, not in her family - and the only way that she found to prove herself to herself was through competitive swimming, in which she participated throughout college. Now, in a new city where neither she nor Kelly know anyone, where Kelly has no job, and they barely subsist on Gabe’s scholarship stipend, she’s desperate to find something to belong to. And then she discovers roller derby, a sport quite possibly more brutal than football and ice hockey combined.

Gabe is a driven person, and her drive to succeed in roller derby gives her life some meaning. She and Kelly (who doesn’t skate but comes to events) find an unusual family and not only camaraderie but love and support. This becomes especially important when Gabe has a serious accident on the rink.

Throughout the book, Gabe reflects upon her need to be accepted and the extent of her anguish about being unloved and not good enough, born in childhood and persisting in her young adulthood is terribly painful. I found myself making notes like “please get therapy” although in the end she seems to figure out who she is and just how worthy she is as well.

This book is an exceptional insight into a sport that I didn’t know much about as well as an excellent insight into the LGBTQ community. Highly recommended.

I received this book as an ARC from the publisher and NetGalley.

Thank you to NetGalley and to the publisher for this ARC in exchange for an honest review copy.

Brace for Impact was an incredibly cool and unique memoir that delves into the intriguing and badass culture of roller derby. I really enjoyed this!