This was a fantastic verse poetry style written story about the dangers of steroid use in young men and boys especially.

Showing how in the social media age we live in and how it can pressure young guys to view themselves and others in an unhealthy way wanting to be seen as 'bigger' or more 'manly' and muscular.

The story developed flowing excepionally well, touching on health, relationships and friendships and feelings of feeling inadequate to others older and the danger on mental and physical health of bulking and steroid use and pushing your body into unhealthy habits from outside pressure not of focusing on what makes you happy deep inside.

The book also had plenty of shocking twists and turns along the way and the title was a clever play on words too.

An eye opening read on the complex dangers of steroid use and eating/training disorders that can effect men and women equally.

Great book about Max feeling the pressure to measure up and not be called weak, and so he ends up taking pills and steroids. So many things happen with him becoming addicted to posting selfies on social media, stealing pills from his dad’s meds, and stealing money from his mom and lying. He gets in trouble at school. He meets Maxine who wants him to enter a contest where they can win $1000, and so he changes his appearance. One day he has a nose bleed, his heart races and blood won’t clot. When something happens, Maxine tells him you ruined everything. Then he hears an ambulance. Will he realize he needs to make changes before it’s too late?
Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for the eARC of this book. All opinions are my own.

An extremely important read, especially for tween and teen boys. With the normalized use of steroids and enhancers on the rise amongst young men, especially through the use of social media, this story spotlights truths and consequences that are kept in the dark. The story unravels in a poetic manner that allows the reader a quick, and still deep, emersion into the main character's emotional experiences. This is the type of book young readers absolutely need access to!

Thank you so much to Rosen Publishing/ West 44 Books and Netgalley for the ebook to read and review.

Max becomes obsessed with bulking up his body, levelling up his life, being the biggest and becoming popular online. This leads him to a dangerous path of steroid use to bulk up quicker, but when things go wrong he gets the help he needs finding solace in his therapy group.

Nothing is this book is something I would usually be drawn to, it’s not my typical topic to read. I’m not the targeted demographic for a story like this, but I still learnt a lot and it was written so incredibly well, it was very powerful and really full of emotions throughout it.

It’s a vital read for teenagers, there are so many different body size disorders and people don’t talk about them enough, teenagers especially. They suffer in silence letting everything get worse and worse, so I love that this book address so many different areas to do with it, from impudent thoughts, to acting on these impulses, to the realities of what it’s doing to your entire life, then to how to fix it and recover and finding the true version of yourself once more.

It really is a very powerful story, but we also have that beautiful family story his connection with his parents was so sweet, but he caused strain on them when he lied and snook around. He could caused so many more issues for his dad’s health than he actually did. But I was glad that they knew it wasn’t him, that it was his disorders thinking that lead him that way.

I really enjoyed following our protagonist Max on his journey, seeing his journal pages as he went from the scary and destructive parts of his life, the obsessiveness and the scariness of what he felt he needed to do to be who he thought he should be. Then on to following his journey into recovery and finding his true self and his true friends he needed in his life. It was such a wonderful story of healing and recovery.

What happens when the pursuit of the “perfect body” becomes an obsession? And how far is someone willing to go to achieve it?


Gym Junky is a raw, emotional, and incredibly timely novel that explores body image, social media pressure, and the dangerous pursuit of validation. Told primarily through powerful poems, the story follows Max-- a teenage boy determined to transform himself after years of being mocked with the nickname “Twig Boy.” What begins as dedication to the gym slowly spirals into something far more consuming.

From the very first pages, readers see how deeply Max’s identity is tied to his appearance. He documents every workout, every meal, every change in his body. The gym becomes his sanctuary —a place where he feels a sense of control, belonging, and recognition that he struggles to find elsewhere. At home, his father battles muscular dystrophy (which caused them to move away from their life and friends), and at school, Max feels isolated, unsure where he fits as a mixed-race teen navigating expectations and identity.

When Max notices a fellow gym member exchanging pills, curiosity turns into temptation. Soon, the line between dedication and desperation begins to blur. With encouragement from others at the gym and attention from Maxine- another gym regular that Max is crushing on, and who quickly becomes part of his social media glow-up-- Max’s online popularity skyrockets. Together, they chase likes, followers, and validation, even entering the viral “hottest gym couple” contest, bringing attention, money, and a whole new level of pressure, causing him to increase his consumption of steroids.

But the more Max chases the image he wants, the more real life begins to unravel. His grades slip, his behavior changes, and the people who care about him most start to notice that something isn’t right. The story raises an important question: when does self-improvement cross the line into self-destruction?

What makes Gym Junky especially powerful is the format. The verse style, white space, and sharp, punchy poems mirror Max’s emotional state-- intense, fragmented, and deeply personal. The pacing keeps the pages turning, and the vulnerability in Max’s voice makes his struggles painfully real.

This is a story that will resonate with many young readers navigating social media culture, body expectations, and the pressure to appear perfect. With themes of identity, self-worth, family, belonging, and the search for validation, Gym Junky is both a cautionary tale and an empathetic look at how easily someone can lose themselves in the pursuit of approval.

This is an impactful, thought-provoking novel that I cannot wait to add to my classroom library. It’s the kind of book that sparks important conversations-- and one I know students will remember long after the final page.

Thank you to NetGalley and Rosen Publishing Group for providing this book for review consideration. All opinions are my own.

A powerful novel in verse by Brentom Jackson explores the lengths Max is willing to go to be noticed. After Max's dads diagnosis everything changed, Max's home, his friends, and his safe place. Max's new obsession with "getting big" and getting noticed takes a dark turn when he discovers steroids. A thought-provoking book to put in the hands of any middle school student.

Thank you to NetGalley, Rosen Publishing Group, West 44 Books, and Brentom Jackson for the opportunity to read Gym Junky in exchange for an honest review.

Gym Junky is a HiLo novel written in a poetic verse style. The style in particular with this novel is very thoughtful and well-executed haiku and tanka styles for the majority of the novel. This choice is deliberate in that the main character, Max, is half Black and half Samoan, with Japanese ancestry, so the use of a Japanese poetic form ties into his culture, but also makes for a concise and direct way to share his thoughts and feelings in a less-is-more format.

Max, being mixed-race with two cultural backgrounds, has always struggled fitting in. He has the general frizzy hair of a black person's physiology (which he learns to braid fashionably), but the muscles and body more of someone from Asian heritage (so a bit smaller in build.) He loves going to the gym and is obsessed with building his body bigger, bigger, bigger. He wants more followers and to impress the gym girl he has a crush on.
When Max meets Ghost, he learns that some people use drugs (steroids) to build up their body mass. He trades his father's pain pills for steroids so he can get that bigger build and enough followers to win a contest. All drugs have side effects, some more detrimental than others. Max is going to learn the hard way what those side effects are, what the other possible repercussion's could be, and how to heal after such an experience.

This is a phenomenal novel-in-verse. The poetic form is so perfectly direct, with every word and piece of punctuation chosen with eloquence to provoke a certain level of meaning for the reader. The novel shows how detrimental taking one's obsession with self-image can be, going too far on multiple levels. It also shows how one's past very clearly effects who they are in the present and who they want to be in the future.

This novel encompasses so much in so few words, it is truly masterful craftsmanship on Jackson's part as a writer. The story is fast-paced, meaningful for young readers, and offers some serious lessons about actions and consequences. A must-read for teens.

Gym Junky tells the story of Max and his desire to bulk up and gain followers. Told in verse, the story quickly demonstrates how obsession with appearance can have dangerous impacts, even on boys.

I appreciated the hi-low format of this book and I think it will be a good pick for reluctant readers. The story moved too quickly for my likely, hence the 3 star review. I would prefer this as a fully fleshed out novel in verse with more depth, and I think the format will still appeal to reluctant readers even if it were a little bit longer. Solid incorporation of recovery, even if the depth is lacking.

I expected Gym Junky to be engaging with a positive message, and a bit of a “junk” food feel. I expected it to be best recommended to the specific target of young boys/men struggling with body image, which would’ve been valuable on its own.

I was impressed however at how much depth, relatability and life skills applicability were packed in this quick read.

The author, Brentom Jackson, uses skillful means to get a message across that is enlightening for any one. Drowning from past and current experiences of being out of control, a human experience we all face, how do we learn to swim and make it to the other side having lived a life worth living. That is what this quick moving, gripping, heart whelming story conveys.

I will definitely be incorporating this book in lessons and recommending to any reader, regardless of age.

Thank you Rosen Publishing, West 44, and Brentom Jackson for the opportunity to preview this book.