I felt my college emo phase really peaking through for a hot second while reading this. Everyone goes through one, right? I didn’t go full grunge, but I was always on the pop side of the genre anyway, which makes sense for me, I guess.

Skater Boy spoke to that kid still learning who he was all those years ago. I went through a time in my life not knowing how my family would react to me coming out. I would have rather ran and hide than have to tell people that I was/am queer. It’s an awful experience that should have been eradicated long before it began. So I definitely felt for the MC, Wes, in that sense.

I wasn’t sure if I liked him in the beginning. I haven’t read many books that are written through the high school bully’s eyes. And that’s basically what he is. Albeit, he is reforming himself so that he can be better for the guy he likes, but at the start, he’s still that one kid in school everyone turns the other way when they see. But as the story moved along, I started understanding and appreciating his journey a lot more.

I think this is a cathartic book to read if you’ve ever been bullied for being different in school. It’s a look at what’s really going on in the mind of someone else. While every story may be different, it definitely shows that everyone, even people who treat us like crap, can be going through something at the same time as we are. Does it give them a right to do what they do? Absolutely not! But I know life can be life-ing!

“we can convince our own minds we aren't good enough, we can't really be disappointed when we don't get what we truly want.”

I don’t know what I was expecting for this book but it was different than what I got. I usually only skim synopsis or just judge a book by its cover or title and it’s what I did with this book. This story is more than a romance, I would say romance is pretty much on the back burner, even though the romantic interest plays a big part in the story. This is about a boy who is angry, angry at life and himself and how he overcomes this anger and tries to just be him. It’s about realizing that your friendships aren’t always healthy and how you have to try and make a change in yourself and others to have a life you want. We see Wesley struggle being who he wants and what people think he should be. This is a coming of age, a coming to terms with yourself and your life type of book. I thought it was good, frustrating at times because life is frustrating but I enjoyed it. I’m glad he gets a HAE.

Thank you NetGalley for the audio ARC

This book completely blew me away. It hits some heavier topics (CW for internalised homophobia, toxic masculinity, bullying, past parental abuse, anger issues due to anxiety and panic attacks that present as angry outbursts), but it's also so so sweet and cathartic.

I think it's so important to have books that represent anxiety, especially the less talked about symptoms of anxiety, and this book does a great job of showing how anxiety can give you terrible mood swings and anger issues. The first time I read Take a Hint Cloe Brown by Talia Hibbert I was struck by the lines "People think anxiety makes you nervous all the time, and it can. But no one ever talks about how it makes you angry." That was the first time I ever saw ANYONE talk about how anxiety can make you angry, and I felt so seen by it. And I hope this book has the same effect for teenagers who might read it.

There's a lot of aspects of this book I really enjoyed. Wes's relationship with his mother and his mother's boyfriend/fiancé was probably one of my favourite things, and I cried (like big sob fests, not just prickly eyes) THREE times because of it - once for Wes's heart-to-heart with his mother, once when Wes told Tad he loved him, and also for the epilogue where his mother and Tad get married. I also really liked the plotlines around Wes's friends (both the friends he starts the book with and the friends he makes along the way), and of course the relationship with Tristan - though for me the romance wasn't the main focus of the story, and I can see some people being disappointed with that.

I also loved each chapter title being a play on a song name, and the cheeky little "I was a skater boy, he did ballet" line near the end of the book.

The audiobook narrator also did a great job - he has a bit of a melancholic tone to his reading that really suits the story.

4.1

“He was a punk. I did ballet. But together we discovered there’s so much more to us than the labels we give ourselves.”

Skater Boy by Anthony Nerada was a smashing debut that emphasized the importance of creating your own identity and not being afraid to break out of the boxes that society fits you in. The narration was funny and I enjoyed the concept being based on Avril Lavigne’s infamous song, beloved by punks and emos and everyone in between all around the world. I was reminded of two other books I read in the past: Donick Walsh and The Reset Button by Nathaniel Shea (for the reformed bully coming to terms with his sexuality trope) and Social Intercourse by Greg Howard (with the copious amounts of Golden Girls references). Skater Boy felt like a love child that reminded me of some amazing queer debut novels I’d read in the past, despite it releasing in 2024.

“If we can convince our own minds we aren't good enough, we can't really be disappointed when we don't get what we truly want.”