[4.75 stars rounded up]

My brain chemistry is forever altered by this book.

TW: alcoholism, bullying, childhood trauma.

Skater Boy follows the life of Wesley Mackenzie, or 'Big Mac' as he's better known. Wes is your typical bad boy - has anger issues, steals lunch money, and skips class - but he didn't want to be labeled that in the first place. He loves skateboarding, taking pictures and cares deeply for the ones closest to him. Then his mom drags him to see the Nutcracker, and Wes becomes enthralled with Tristan Monroe, who plays Mr. Nutcracker. Wes and Tristan start off awkwardly, but as days pass, Wes' feelings for him grow. Skater Boy is a book about destroying the labels society gives us, learning to be vulnerable with yourself and others, risking everything for the ones you love, and of course, skating and ballet.

Okay, where do I start? To be honest I have never heard of Sk8er Boi by Avril Lavigne (shocker! I'm sorry) but I did listen to it somewhere around the 2/3 mark of the book and holy shit! This is so Wes and Tristan! Also, the chapter titles are modified pop-punk song titles! How cool is that?? I audibly gasped when I saw 'I write sins, not essays' and 'Who I am hates everything I've been' and 'Dear photographer count me out' (among many other great chapter titles)!!

Wes' voice in this book is just so raw and so believable. He's incredibly written and he got my sympathy in the first few pages, where he was bullying some kid in the hallway but you can clearly tell that he's only doing that because it's expected of him and he's just as weak as the kid. (I know this sounds questionable, but trust me, you'll warm up to Wes) His actions with his friend group (the Tripod) did make me grimace and I didn't like ALL of them at first, but the relationship between Wes, Brad and Tony is so tightly woven and strong that I did warm up to them when they were just being goofy friends. I felt the pain Wes went through when his only family (other than his mother) fell apart. I love that Brad got professional help with his drinking problem too!

I SO love Wes and Tristan's relationship, despite them having a rocky start. Tristan is rich, loud and proud, and a perfectionist - which makes him a total opposite of Wes, but he makes it work. Wes teaches Tristan how to skate, and Tristan shares his love for ballet with Wes. Also, I love Tristan's fashion sense! What an icon. And I love how they're just casually touching!? Tristan is aware of Wes' flaws, and I like how he still loves him anyway! The dialogue and interactions between them are just so cute! AHH!

Also, did I mention I'm a skater??! Skateboarding is the main thing that drew me to this book, and I'm so happy how Wes and his friends are so into skating too! I thought I'd never see actual tricks like varial heelflips, nosegrinds, and pop shuvits in this book. And Pro Skater!! oh, how I wish to play that with my friends.

There are many real-life issues addressed in this book, like childhood trauma, racism (on Tristan's part), homophobia, classism, and alcoholism. I think they were written well and for some of them, doesn't feel too heavy as the book doesn't focus too much on those.

Other than skating, Wes likes photography too, and after some pushing from Tristan, he joins the photography club in school. There, he meets the kids he bullied before, and despite that, they still accept him as their own. Wes is truly humbled, and he does apologize to the ones he'd hurt, and I'm just- OUGHH! Found family and so many talented photographers!!

The main theme in Skater Boy is recognizing your flaws and trying to become a better person. I think this was written very well as Wes is growing as a person on every page and when things go south, he tries his best to fix his problems rather than just running away from them. The character development is just so good that I stared blankly at the wall after reading to process it.

I think the only problem I have with this book is that with the focus solely on Wes and his life, some of the secondary characters felt flat to me. Brad and Tony felt more fleshed out than Tristan, the love interest, which is such a shame because I wanted to connect with Tristan too. And everyone is so mean to Wes! I get that he's not a nice person in general but please just give him a break! And the pacing: I think some things happened too quickly or some happenings of the book were skimmed over and condensed into a few paragraphs.

There were many awkward moments, times I felt like throwing up from all the tension and things going wrong, and moments that made me sit up straight in shock. This is a book I'm sure to remember when I skate, visit NYC, or even see a ballet production. I still haven't recovered from this book, and I think it shows in my (somewhat) disjointed review.

Thank you NetGalley and Soho Press for this ARC, my opinion is my own.