Important things you need to know about the book:
Pace: Medium and stays medium throughout the book.
POV: 1st person (told from Wes’s POV)
Trigger Warnings: There are scenes of alcoholism (off and on page), alcohol (consumption/off and on page), bullying (graphic and on page), drug use (marijuana only/on page), panic attacks/disorders (on page), violence (on and off page), car accident (on page), domestic abuse (off page for actual assaults but on page with the aftermath—bruises, etc), homophobia (on page), injury/injury detail (on page), child abuse (off page/remembered through memories), and racism (on page). If any of these triggers you, I suggest not reading the book.
Language: Graphic swearing is used in Skater Boy. There is also language used that could be offensive to some people.
Setting: Skater Boy is mainly set in Valentine, Ohio. Towards the end of the book, a chapter is set in New York City. Wes also remembers living in Louisiana.
Plot Synopsis (as spoiler-free as I can get):
Wes “Big Mac” Mackenzie is known for his anger, petty crimes, bullying, and rowdy friends. What people don’t understand about him is that he loves photography and musicals-and he is gay. On top of that, Wes is in danger of failing out of school. The day he receives that information, his mother makes him go to a local production of The Nutcracker with her obnoxious boyfriend and his daughter. He was expecting to be bored out of his mind, and he was until he got a look at who was playing the Nutcracker: Tristan Monroe. Tristian is everything Wes isn’t, including being comfortable in his skin.
As Wes meets and spends more time with Tristian, he starts falling head over heels for him. Wes begins to see a future that isn’t as grim as the school’s counselors and teachers have made it out to be. But when Wes’s friends find out that he is seeing Tristan, it sets off a chain of events that could ruin not only Wes and Tristian’s relationship but also Wes’s future. It is up to Wes to set everyone and everything straight. And if that means coming out, then he’ll do it. Can Wes make things right? Will he get his happily ever after? Or will everything crash and burn?
Characters:
The main character in Skater Boy is Wes. I will be brutally honest about him—Wes was not likable for more than half the book. But he was a sympathetic character. He had gone through a lot as a child, and that shaped him into the angry, violent teenager portrayed in the book. But, as the author peeled back Wes’s layers (surprisingly, there were many), a different person was revealed. This person was artistic, sweet, a little (who am I kidding, a lot) insecure, unsure, and an anxiety-ridden mess. I loved Wes and liked that the more he hung out with Tristian, the more that side of him came out.
I do want to talk about Tristian. While he technically wasn’t a main character (the book was more focused on Wes), he was a considerable part of Wes’s life and the driving force behind Wes doing certain things. I wasn’t a fan of his to begin with (the whole talking about Wes behind his back was crappy), but that didn’t last long. I could see his feelings for Wes growing and understood his impatience with Wes (who was in the closet) to go public with their relationship.
Other secondary characters in this book are fascinating and have backstories that pique my interest. The author was able to incorporate those backstories into Wes’s story without taking Wes’s story over (if that makes sense). The author also used them to show how much Wes grew during this book.
My review:
The main storyline of Skater Boy centers around Wes, his relationship with Tristian, his growth throughout the book, and how his past trauma shaped him into the person he was. It was an emotional read for me. There were times when I wanted to hug Wes and tell him it was OK. But mostly, I was a captivated bystander to Wes’s ups and downs and his character growth.
As I mentioned above, I enjoyed seeing Wes’s character growth. At the beginning of the book, Wes is miserable. He had this facade of a bad boy to maintain. That included doing petty crimes, ditching school, bullying people, and just being a jerk. Add in his massive panic attacks (as someone who suffers from those, I sympathized with him) and the fact that he was gay and hiding it, and I could understand why he was stressed all the time. By the middle of the book, a different Wes emerges after he starts seeing Tristian. I wished this Wes showed up more initially, but I understood why the author let this Wes gradually out.
Wes and Tristian’s relationship is interesting and cute. I say interesting because I didn’t think Tristian liked Wes (only tolerated him). It wasn’t until Wes started shooting Tristian’s headshot and other pictures (for his portfolio) that I think Tristian started to like Wes. However, their relationship is very rocky throughout the book. Wes was very closeted, and it did affect their relationship. The whole bridge scene made me mad. No one deserves to be treated like that, and Tristian had every right to be upset with Wes.
Interwoven with the main storyline are numerous secondary storylines. Each storyline added extra depth and understanding to Wes’s character. Some of them explained why he wanted to keep Tristian a secret. Others explained why he bullied people (and it wasn’t as black and white as the author made it to be). And still, other storylines explained his past.
The end of Skater Boy was interesting and sweet. Once Wes did something, he committed wholeheartedly to it. I was surprised at the music Tristian chose to dance to. Also, his reaction to Wes outside the audition was one of the sweetest ones I have ever read. And the last chapter warmed my heart!!
Many thanks to Soho Press, Soho Teens, NetGalley, and Anthony Nerada for allowing me to read and review this ARC of Skater Boy. All opinions stated in this review are mine.