Synopsis (copied from Goodreads):
Frankie Towers has always looked up to his older brother, Steve. And with good reason—Steve is a popular senior gets whatever he wants: girls, a soccer scholarship, and—lately—street cred. Frankie, on the other hand, spends his time shooting off fireworks with his best friend, Zach, working at his parents' restaurant, and obsessing about his longtime crush, Rebecca Sanchez.
Although Frankie has some reservations, he doesn’t spend much time thinking about about Steve's crusade to win the respect of the local cholos. Then Frankie gets into a fistfight with John Dalton—longtime nemesis of Steve's, and the richest, preppiest kid in their New Mexican high school. After the fight, Steve takes Frankie under his wing, and Frankie’s social currency begins to rise. The cholos who used to ignore him start to recognize him; he even lands a date to Homecoming with Rebecca.
But after another incident with Dalton, Steve is bent on retaliating. Frankie starts to think that his brother is taking this respect thing too far. Soon he'll have to make a choice between respecting his brother and respecting himself.
In an honest and humorous debut novel, Coert Voorhees examines what it means for a young man to come of age. A compelling look at where loyalty ends and the self begins.
Read my full review here.
In a nutshell:
Excellent book, but if potty-talk bothers you, read with caution. There's also a hot-and-heavy scene near the end that I kind of skimmed because I personally don't like reading in great detail about characters' backseat make-out sessions.
Besides that (and maybe because of it), Voorhees gives his readers a very realistic portrayal of a sophomore boy's struggle to figure out how he relates to his older brother. I was impressed by the writing, the plot, and the unforgettable characters. There were natural consequences, but the book never crossed over into "preachy" territory. And I loved the minor characters as much as the major ones. Voorhees has a talent for staying out of the stereotype pit.
Great read!
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