#Beck Rourke-Mooney

[bookaddict24-7]

NEW YOUNG ADULT RELEASES! (MARCH 19TH, 2024)

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HAVE I MISSED ANY NEW YOUNG ADULT RELEASES? HAVE YOU ADDED ANY OF THESE BOOKS TO YOUR TBR? LET ME KNOW!

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NEW STANDALONES/FIRST IN A SERIES:

We Are Mayhem by Beck Rourke-Mooney

Rules for Rule Breaking by Talia Tucker

Where Sleeping Girls Lie by Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé

The Revenant Games by Margie Fuston

Cancelled by Farrah Penn

Under this Red Rock by Mindy McGinnis

In the Orbit of You by Ashley Schumacher

The Last Bloodcarver by Vanessa Le

NEW SEQUELS:

Cursed Cruise (Horror Hotel #2) by Victoria Fulton & Faith McClaren

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Happy reading!

[ilikereadingactually]

We Are Mayhem

We Are Mayhem by Beck Rourke-Mooney

i have so much fondness for this book. it's feel-good, it's affirming, it's cheesy, it's earnest, it's queer. what a delight! plus i learned a little bit more about pro wrestling, which i only understood the basics of before.

i adored Bird, adjusting to a move to upstate NY and the loss of her hoped-for career as a gymnast (because she's "too big"), trying to find her place socially and trying to understand herself internally in the summer before her senior year. i adored Abigail Rose--feminist, disabled, ferocious wrestling supporter and promoter--fighting for her place in a family with a long wrestling legacy. i loved the side characters, each of them unique and delightful in their own ways.

but i think what i loved most was just the way this book so accurately captured the feeling of being an "outsider" teen. of being confused about yourself, of trying new things, of being torn between conformity (and popularity) and doing what feels best and most you. Bird's internal and external journey was so charming as they followed their gut into new friendships, a new look, a new approach to their body and gender expression and athleticism, and started to discover not only how complicated and unique they were, but how complicated and unique every person is, even the ones they had written off. it's definitely a book aimed very specifically at teen readers--more straightforward and repetitive in its affirmations and lessons than i personally needed, i've been out for 25 years--but for me that just added to the earnestness of it, echoing a time of life when everything is kind of new and confusing and important. (and i genuinely did not know a lot of wrestling names or vocab going in, so i appreciated the hand-holding in that regard.)

overall an uplifting read that's kept popping up in my thoughts in the couple of days since i finished it, i might reread it on vacation this summer just for the joy.

the deets

how i read it: an e-galley from NetGalley! i am running a little behind on my shelf there, but this was a quick read and i'm excited to order a physical copy.

try this if you: were, are, or know an outsider teen, love good friendship and coming of age stories, dig a training montage, or like a happy ending! (or ever watched GLOW)

a bit i really liked: felt this one hard!

"Shut up! Seriously?" Kayleigh shoves her the way only friends can without consequence, and I wonder if there's a maximum capacity for loneliness, or if it's the kind of thing that can keep expanding forever until it's completely overtaken all other feelings. Like an invasive species.

pub date: March 19, 2024! it's already out! go get it!

[pithia]

My eyes are misty with joy, but the kind that doesn't come from anywhere. The kind of joy that lives somewhere inside you, mostly hiding and waiting until, if you're lucky and the conditions are just right, it blooms without warning.

—from We Are Mayhem by Beck Rourke-Mooney

[pithia]

Your shadow is the anger you tell yourself you shouldn't feel. The thoughts you think you shouldn't have. The moments that make you wonder if there's something wrong with you. Spoiler alert: There's something wrong with all of us. Humans are a mess.

—Angel (We Are Mayhem by Beck Rourke-Mooney)

[pithia]

Today I want you to unleash a lifetime of anger. I want you to destroy what you've given up to survive in this world. The parts of yourself you abandoned or shamed, so you can hide in the open without being disturbed. I want you to smash whatever's lurking in your shadow, holding you back.

—Angel (We Are Mayhem by Beck Rourke-Mooney)

[pithia]

A gimmick needs to be so specific and true that it's relatable. Like a part of you, magnified until you're like a character out of a comic book. Or so supernatural and abstract that it transports us.

—Abigail Rose (We Are Mayhem by Beck Rourke-Mooney)

[pithia]

I keep oscillating between feeling like I'm on some new, exciting path, and feeling like a train that's gone off-track.

—from We Are Mayhem by Beck Rourke-Mooney

[pithia]

[I]n order for your character to work, they need to be you. The you that some of your friends would throw a side-eye at because you're maybe a little MUCH.... The audience wants your weird. Your weird. Your quirky. Your courage. Whatever makes you memorable, which is usually whatever makes you think that you don't belong.

—Angel (We Are Mayhem by Beck Rourke-Mooney)

[pithia]

I wonder if it's possible to ever let something go—or if, maybe, it's true what they say, and matter in our universe is never created or destroyed. It's recycled. Redistributed. Rearranged.

—from We Are Mayhem by Beck Rourke-Mooney

[pithia]

We write and burn, until we've scraped the bottom of our barrels of insecurity and sit on rocks, doubtless husks of ourselves, listening to the water as it flows.

—from We Are Mayhem by Beck Rourke-Mooney

[pithia]

[T]here is no right or wrong place to start from, and the rest of your life isn't some future destination. This is it.... The rest of your life is always happening, and there are infinite futures for you to step into. You can backtrack, change tracks, do whatever you need to find your way in the world.

—Beverly McCoy (We Are Mayhem by Beck Rourke-Mooney)

[pithia]

[F]ear and excitement are sometimes too similar to tell apart.

—from We Are Mayhem by Beck Rourke-Mooney

[pithia]

Lately, I've felt like bliss was this thing from childhood.... You vaguely remember it was kind of awesome, but it's packed away in a closet somewhere, and if you take it out, it might not seem so great after all.

—from We Are Mayhem by Beck Rourke-Mooney

[pithia]

[W]hen I think someone doesn't like me, it feels like an actual, physical ache in my ribs. Like a splinter in my brain.

—from We Are Mayhem by Beck Rourke-Mooney

[pithia]

I'm pretty sure every mean thing anyone's ever said to me is lodged somewhere inside my body.

—from We Are Mayhem by Beck Rourke-Mooney

[pithia]

How do you know when it's time to bend, or when it's time to break through?

—from We Are Mayhem by Beck Rourke-Mooney