For fans of [b:Lose You to Find Me|61896629|Lose You to Find Me|Erik J. Brown|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1673721541l/61896629._SY75_.jpg|90222703] by Erik J. Brown & [b:Darius the Great Is Not Okay|37506437|Darius the Great Is Not Okay (Darius The Great, #1)|Adib Khorram|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1520460519l/37506437._SX50_.jpg|58014975] by Adib Khorram

Skater Boy by Anthony Nerada is a Young Adult Achillean Contemporary novel that can be easily summed up with the (slightly tweaked) lyrics from Avril Lavigne’s ‘Sk8er Boi’ – “He was a Punk. He did Ballet”. The story follows seventeen-year-old Wes whose life hasn’t been easy to this point. He is a bad boy who doesn’t care about school and loves his momma (shoutout to Ma) and has a group of friends who are bad influences on him but then enters Tristan. Tristan is a dancer who entrances Wes and makes him reconsider the shape his life is taking. This story is one of identity and realising that you don’t need to change entirely if you’ve made mistakes in the past, but there’s a happy middle ground between the person you are and the person you want to be.

Representation – Gay MC with Anger Issues [Unconfirmed but Mostly Clear]; Black Gay Love Interest with Generalised Anxiety Disorder; Queer, Achillean Secondary Character

Spoiler

who is in Alcoholic Recovery by the end of the story

; Black & White Sapphic Mothers; Vietnamese Non-Binary Side Character; Multiple POC Side Characters

Content Warnings – Bullying, Alcoholism, Self-Harm (MC punches a mirror and a tree causing himself to bleed), Injury, Blood, Domestic Abuse (Mentioned, Pre-Story), Car Crash (Memory), Parental Neglect/ Abuse (Mentioned, to a Side Character), Mild Homophobia



The standout element of this story was definitely the central theme found above. Throughout the story, Wes is told what he should be and what he should aspire to become. He has his own ideas too, especially at the start of the story, about what is right for him and what isn’t but a core theme of the story is learning that you shouldn’t change yourself based on others’ expectations of you. The change should come from within and be for your own benefit and from your own desire to be better. This is definitely an idea that Nerada nails.

Wes as a protagonist is fantastic, to me. He is deeply flawed, but also deeply lovable which makes him three-dimensional to me. He stands out in the Young Adult market by not being a paragon of morality but rather from being rough around the edges (and beyond) and making consistent mistakes but always striving to be better and repair them. Wes is bigger than his past and is always trying to prove that, something that can occasionally land him in more trouble than intended. I think Wes is an amazing representation of Queer men, gay men in particular, because he is proof that the Queer community can be messy, and angry, sometimes but it is our togetherness and our will to be better that drives us.



The romance between Wes and Tris is complicated, but that’s what makes it so compelling. Tris is patient and forgiving and Wes doesn’t believe he deserves that, but he knows he loves Tris. I think Tris is definitely more forgiving than he needs to be, and could definitely have cut Wes off after one too many mistakes but he is a very loyal and loving character. Seeing Tris strive to succeed was an amazing part of this story and it was also so lovely to see a Gay man, especially a Black Gay man, be so proud of his identity and be so forward facing with it.

All of the side characters were fantastic and honestly could do with their own novellas based on the detail and background we manage to get on them. From Ma, Tad and Hannah to the Tripod to the Photography group, there are so many lovely and intricate characters to fall in love with (or to be frustrated with, depending!).

This story is absolutely going to be for you if you’re into punk music (the chapter titles in particular will delight you), messy Queer boys, Grumpy/Sunshine and complicated friendships – in particular complicated male friendships – in stories. I’d highly recommend this; it’s in my top ten books of 2023.

Alright,this was... interesting. I liked it but I didn't love it. It was a fun read, I spent all of today listening to it but there's a couple things I didn't like about the story.

We are made to see Wes as this little dude who's driven by misdirected anger throughout the entire book but holy hell was this guy horrible. No matter how many times it's reiterated that he mostly stood by instead of participating with his friends, he was still complicit and it made it hard to feel bad for him at the start. He did eventually grow on me though and even though his redemption arc made little sense I still enjoyed it. I'm still not sure how I feel about Tristan. I liked him as a love interest but oftentimes the things he says and his conversations with Wes were very obviously the author sneaking in life motivations...and I get it but it just set me off a bit lol.

Brad and Tony, Wes's best friends, I didn't get their complete 180 at the end of the book. With the way the author wrote them at the start it's just a tad bit unbelievable that they suddenly became people who talk about their feelings like damn where's the build up???! I'm not even going to get into Wes's relationship with Tad, his mom's fiance.

A lot of the characters just acted out of character for the sake of the story wrapping up in a happy ending and it was frustrating. I was literally screaming at my wall like "now you know damn well he wouldn't say that", it was quite ridiculous.

Ultimately I had fun!!! I haven't had that a lot lately especially since I finished percy jackson.

Shout out to Michael Crouch, his voice really brought the story to life. I couldn't put it down.