I really loved this book and couldn’t put it down, read it fully in two sitting. The author portrayed the thoughts and concerns of a young adult coming to terms with both trauma and her queerness in a new city really well, giving good depth to the protagonist, and showing the different ways life can be for a LGBTIA+ teen. I thought the setting worked really well, and I enjoyed the roller derby aspects.
Overall I really enjoyed this, and couldn’t put it down.

This emotional YA story follows a 16-year-old girl whose life is turned upside down after a tragic fire claims both of her dads’ lives and leaves her severely injured. Left with visible scars and panic attacks, she moves in with her 26-year-old half-sister in Portland. The older sister struggles to take on a parental role she isn’t fully prepared for, while also trying to be there as a sister and friend. As the younger girl finds healing through roller derby and forms close bonds with her teammates, her emotional journey unfolds. I enjoyed seeing how she gradually grew more mature and self-aware as the story progressed. The story remains heartfelt and features a diverse, well-rounded cast.

I really liked this book! The characters were well thought-out and likeable. Being gay and a former derby skater, I can also attest to the truth of those elements. The relationships were good and believable. Practicing for only one hour seems kind of short, considering how long it takes to get your gear on, warm up, drills, and scrimmage. I did think there were some unrealistic elements, as in who would let their 16yo daughter drive alone from Oregon to Arizona? Also, Moose as a nickname. I don't think too many teen girls would agree to that. And her behavior was a bit erratic and not always applicable for her age, but we can put that down to the trauma of losing her dads. And the burns on her hands and arms were never mentioned again, but if she had held that hot pole and ripped off melting skates, she'd have some damage and scarring, not just the one in her throat from the trach.

I didn’t know much about this book before I went into it, aside from it being a queer coming-of-age YA novel, but once I started it, I couldn’t stop.

This book was SO incredible. I loved every moment of this book, from the heartbreaking beginning, to the bittersweet and hopeful moments in the middle, to the touching end. This book was everything I love about a contemporary YA book and I sincerely enjoyed every part of this story.

The characters in this were SO good. I loved that Moose was flawed and not afraid to admit it. She was so gut-wrenchingly traumatized by what she went through, but she still didn’t let that stop her from moving on with her life and finding ways to grow and become a better version of herself. I also loved that was willing to acknowledge how she needed to adapt her language and view of the world when it came to other queer people since she hadn’t had much experience with anyone other queer people aside from her dads. Learning to adjust her language and assumptions of people was so nice to see and it was nice to show that you don’t have to be perfect with it, just willing to learn and change when it comes to gender non-conforming people.

I adored how Moose and Eden’s relationship changed and grew, as well as how Moose came to be accepted by the roller derby crew. It was so lovely to see her find a new family and find a new home when she didn’t think she could ever find happiness somewhere new.

Overall, this book was absolutely amazing and I can’t wait to read more from this author. I will definitely be recommending this book to people and doing a video review of this book on my YouTube channel.

First off, thank you to NetGalley for the ARC. What a debut novel! This book was an emotional rollercoaster… love, loss, pain, growth… and an amazing cast of characters. I did struggle a bit with the relationship between Moose and her half sister but that was more out of my adult frustration about how they were acting. Definitely worth your time!

I really liked Fisher's Leave It on the Track. A very emotional tale with interesting and loveable characters and a compelling plot.

I read an Advance Reader copy, so the final product will likely look a little different. However, I hope the ending does not change, because it is a perfect way to end the story. If you get emotional when reading, there are moments in the book that will definitely get to you.

Moose, Eden (Riley), Mercury, Prince, Powerhouse, Carmen, and the other roller derby players make for interesting and enjoyable characters. A major aspect of the story is Moose coping with the injuries she sustained in a roller rink fire, and the loss of her fathers (the only gay couple in Finney's Mesa -- a fictional suburb of Moab, Utah). That makes it an interesting choice by the author to have Moose join a roller derby team called Hotshots whose team chant is "TRACK ON FI-RE."

Many of the characters are queer -- lesbian, transgender, non-binary -- and much of the story is set in Portland, Oregon, where being queer (and being openly queer) is quite common. That makes for an interesting dynamic, as Moose has grown up in a very conservative town with a heavy Mormon presence where being queer is not seen as acceptable and so being openly queer is a rarity (as previously noted, Moose's dads were the only known gay couple in Finney's Mesa). So, Moose, who is a lesbian, finds herself in an environment in Portland where being queer is common and respected and openly celebrated, and she has to figure out the "rules" for being queer -- how do you let others know you are queer; can you ask others about their status; etc. She also worries that she is not "queer" enough for Portland.

I will admit there were times I got annoyed at Moose and Eden (her sister) for their passive-aggressive behavior [or rather how the author chose to write certain scenes involving them] and wished the author had chosen to have them confront their issues earlier and/or more openly.

Moose has grown up skating: the rink is her dads' happy place, and it's hers too. Utah isn't always easy—not everyone is accepting of her dads, and Moose isn't ready to be out herself—but it's home. But when a devastating fire upends her life, she's sent to Portland to live with Eden, the sister she barely knows...and finds a new way to get on the track.

By the time I picked this up, I'd sort of forgotten the details of the setup, and all I remembered was that there was roller derby involved. (I am predictable! If it has roller derby in it, I'll read it!) And man, while I really do recommend forgetting almost everything about a to-read book except that you want to read it—it makes for a more raw reading experience, with more surprises—my heart was immediately torn into little tiny pieces and...well, left on the track. I am not a crier and can count on one hand the number of times I've cried over a book, but "Leave It on the Track" tested that.

There's a fair amount going on here—grief, survivorship, new home, coming out, new sport, romance. I probably could have done without the last of those, but then, I am a broken record on this subject; I desperately want more books, and especially more YA books, that are about fierce, platonic female friendship. It all works well together, though. Moose's grief is so *present*; even as the world starts looking a little brighter, she's navigating a whole new landscape and reality. Some parts of it are objectively better than her old life (e.g., casual and visible acceptance of queerness at school), but none of it can make up for the depth of her losses. (If you've faced parental loss, maybe approach this one with caution, in a know-what-you're-up-for kind of way.) And while Moose's eventual derby name fits—my gosh am I disproportionately glad we got to hear "Moose on the Loose" so many times.

Eventually I'd like to see two things in roller derby books: First, I'm looking forward to eventually getting some derby fiction in which the rules don't all have to be explained to the protagonist as a way to explain them to the reader. I get it, of course; most readers will probably have at most a passing understanding of roller derby...just, someday I want this to be to the point where we have more books where the protagonist already knows and loves roller derby, and less time can be spent on learning how it all works. It was interesting to note, though, that there's at least one character in here whose parent did derby at one point in time. I like that it's gotten popular enough (again) to have multiple generations in on it. Second, I don't see enough books featuring blockers. Jammers get a lot of the visibility (they're the only ones who can score points), but there are four times as many blockers as there are jammers on the track, so...proportionally, there should probably be more books featuring blockers. (That said: Judging by Fisher's website, she is or was a jammer herself, so this book gets a pass; these are both more general observations.)

Overall, a very solid addition to the roller derby corpus.

Thanks to the author and publisher for providing a review copy through NetGalley.